Stunned. That's how she felt, and how she looked. Jessie struggled to make herself coffee Sunday morning with her right arm in a sling. She had got back home in a taxi about midnight and tried to sleep but her arm hurt and her thoughts kept racing. Her quiet, simple life seemed to have disappeared. In no way was she prepared for any of this!
Saturday afternoon was a blur. Jessie remembered Darren getting arrested, an ambulance ride with a nice woman who kept reassuring her that everything was fine while her body kept shaking, an emergency room where she waited for hours to get her arm x-rayed and stitched up. Whatever they'd given her to calm her down had been nice though - she'd felt a little high for a couple of hours and even dozed off for a while. Thank heavens it had worn off before the police officer came to get her statement or she might have blabbered on about things best kept to herself.
She'd kept her story simple. In the cemetery to visit her Mom's grave, she saw a dog and two coyotes get into a fight, the man she knew was her neighbour's son started shooting and she lay on the ground and covered her head. When the shooting stopped the coyotes ran by her and into the trees. Yes, she'd seen coyotes in the cemetery before but no, she'd not seen any aggressive ones for years. It had all happened so fast, she hadn't looked up for much of it, and no, she didn't see any distinguishing marks on the coyotes to be able to identify them.
The officer seemed happy and went on his way. At the end of the interview Jessie had asked him if there were security cameras in the cemetery and he'd chuckled, asking if she wanted to change her statement. After assuring him that she didn't, he'd told her there weren't any (whew) but the city was discussing it - something about people's right to privacy vs. need for security.
Jessie had also asked the officer if there would be any attempt to cull the coyotes that lived in the golf course because of this incident. He assured her that only troublesome individuals are dealt with if they are found - with thousands of coyotes around the metro area, if they cleared out a greenspace more would just move in. Jessie found herself hoping her "special" ones would keep away for a while to stay safe and had to remind herself that she'd just seen them tear a dog apart - they were dangerous.
"Jessie girl, it may have looked like they were protecting you but don't get all mushy for heaven's sake! Why would they do that?" she muttered to herself.
Jessie called in sick for a few days. By Thursday her arm was out of the sling and she was back at work. When she got home Friday she picked up her mail from the mailbox and found a get-well card. It had a cute little puppy on the front holding a bone with a ribbon around it. Laughing, she opened it up and gasped. The only thing written inside was "We mean you no harm. Please don't be afraid of us." Shit. This was not all just a dream she'd wake up from. It was real.
The next two weeks were uneventful, thank heavens. Signs went up in the cemetery warning residents of aggressive coyotes, telling everyone to keep pets on a leash and children under close supervision. Armed conservation officers walked through the golf course a few times looking for any coyote with odd or aggressive behaviour but found none. The neighbourhood was a bit on edge and generally everyone stopped walking alone. Except for Jessie. After a few hours of contemplating that note, she felt free for the first time in a long time. She started walking outside again, even in the early darkness right after work. She began sleeping through the night, and when she heard the coyotes howl she enjoyed it. She wasn't stupid though - she remained vigilant, nobody was going to sneak up on her.
Darren and his monstrous yellow vehicle left after he got out on bail. Unfortunately he kept returning every few days, staying overnight, then leaving again. No loud parties though, that was nice. Jessie had no idea what he was up to but she avoided him like the plague. She was actually supposed to, given that she was a witness to his previous illegal actions and could be called to testify in a future trial. She was very unhappy about one of his obnoxious habits - he used the remote starter to warm up the Hummer every morning before he left at 5am, letting it idle for more than half an hour. The noise would wake her up and leave her unable to get back to sleep since her bedroom was only about 15 feet from where that thing was parked. If he kept coming back she was thinking she'd move her bed to the other side of the house, even if she had to sleep in her dining room.
Tuesday morning 4:30am Darren pressed the remote starter ... and his Hummer blew up with a huge bang and a giant flash of flames. Within seconds heavy black smoke was filling the area. Jessie staggered off her bed, which was covered in shards of glass from the shattered bedroom window. Her smoke detectors were going off as smoke billowed into the room. Coughing, confused, she headed down the hallway to get out of the house. At that point, the badly damaged natural gas meter at the side of the house had leaked enough gas to reach the burning Hummer.
