A Canine Encounter
A Canine Encounter
The sky was grey. Birds landed on the soft green happy grass to drink from the babbling brook. Buffalo grazed, their hair and maines long, their heads majestic, like kings. There were elder ones with horns pointing up in pride. In the distance, we saw rows upon rows of cars parked on the side of the road. We pulled over because when lots of people pull over, you know something exciting is happening. I was so anxious to see whatever it was before it was gone. We pulled over and me and my brother jumped out of the car, grabbing our birding scope. We ran with the scope and sprinted for the nearest hill, where ten people stood looking at something through their own scopes. As we ran, a woman looked at us like we were doing something suspicious. She said, “Hey, BOYS! Don't run when there is a kill! It’s DANGEROUS!”
I said okay, without listening to what she said. I didn't even care. I was too focused on seeing what everyone was looking at. The plants under us crunched as we pulled the legs of the scope. We got it set up and I scanned the scenery. It was beautiful. There were clouds overhead, beautiful and grey, but not dulling the view. There were mountains and lakes and rivers and bison. You could even smell the wilderness as the light breeze wafted around me, but I didn't care at the moment. I just needed to see what it was.
I asked two people next to me, “What was causing all the commotion?”
They said, “There is a wolf.” Just as I had hoped. I was brimming with excitement. We could see the wolf even with our bare eyes, a black figure moving cautiously around a hill, paranoid, yet graceful. We took turns looking through the scope. I held my phone right over the eyepiece and started recording a video. It was majestic with its long mane and snout. It was inspiring to see an animal untainted by stress, pollution, and all of the bad things humans are doing for the world.
The muscular wolf held something in its mouth, It was a baby bison. I felt sad that it died, but I overheard that it had died at birth. We watched the wolf move stealthily and purposefully behind a hill, we were losing sight of it. We picked up the scope and just like last time, we ran to a second hill with fewer people on it. We were motivated to see it for as long as possible. We waited and waited and then suddenly saw it come out from the other side of the hill. I was very excited because a lot of other people had left thinking that was the last time they would see it. I watched it move without a sound, and with confidence in its step. It looked at the crowd of people, vigilant, and aware. For a second, it looked at me and I felt peaceful, calm, and hopeful. I was hopeful for the future and the leaders who could change our forests and our world for the better; hopeful for the protection of the environment and all of the delicate threatened species in it; hopeful for humanity, how we could come to live alongside mother nature in unity and not harm the perfect balance that nature sustains. It took bounding strides as it moved. I as I gazed at it, it strode and ran with all of its might away from the people and the crowds and disappeared behind a hill.
My brother and I looked at my parents. We all walked back to the car in awe. We got in, packed up the scope, and drove. We were almost out of the overwhelming crowd when the cars in front of us stopped dead. I was so frustrated. We were two or the cars away from escaping the crowd when we saw it: The same wolf we had thought left trotted out from the cars in front of us and looked to its right and its left. I could see it clearly. It ran, probably petrified of these large, shiny behemoths that were surrounding it and in its path. I watched, amazed that we saw it for the third time in that hour. It quickly stumbled behind a hill. The cars in front of us moved away. And we drove, free from the crowds yet excited.
