Charlie is at that stage where half the time he still looks so young and small, and the other half he looks like a real coyote. His little legs are soooo long… but he still only reaches about halfway up the tires of my truck. One afternoon, he was sleeping on the bed – a deep, deep, sleep – and when he woke up I swear he was an inch taller and an inch wider. Charlie’s now twice the size of the cat, but still defers to Eli completely. When the cat returns from his nighttime escapades, Charlie runs up to him with his head and shoulders dragging on the ground so that he’s lower than Eli, his tail wagging so frantically he nearly shakes himself in two.

Charlie loves to run and is incredibly fast now. Some days, I can’t tire him out afoot, but he loves the game of fetch. I throw a dried out piece of dung (lovely, yes, but sticks are a rarity out here) and Charlie runs for it, finds the exact piece I threw, and races back. Over and over. We found a small skull on one of our wanderings and that is like cake to him. When I throw the skull, Charlie flies over to it and then right before reaching it, hurls himself into the air and somersaults onto it, full of joy, then grabs it and shakes it and is ready to repeat the game over and over.