CALL ME KAI-YOTE

Coyote here.

You say that in two sounds
not three, two-leggeds. 

Surprised to see me here? 

Buddha on a pogo-stick! 

But Roland sure has been grim these past two days.  And I do not do grim!

Time for me to liven things up as only Coyote can.

You say you don't believe in me?  Wonderful! 

When that good-looking hombre saddles up beside you tomorrow night in your favorite bar, you may sing a different tune in the morning.

But you'll be smiling. 

Don't go glaring at me like that, Alice.  I am always true to my nature ...

except when I'm not.

You wonder how I know Victor's ghoul friend? 

Well, now, there are a pack of tales how that came about.  You can find one in THE THREE SPIRIT KNIGHT:

http://www.amazon.com/THE-THREE-SPIRIT-KNIGHT-ebook/dp/B00AD94EQE/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3

{Cover courtesy Leonora Roy}

Let me tell you another one.  I'll even call it "ANOTHER ONE":

One morning in a Time that could have been but wasn't, yet might still be, Coyote paddled his canoe furiously down the River Lethe.

He glanced cautiously over his shoulder many times. At the shore a blonde ghoul, yes, children, ghoul, called out, "Oh, sir! We are being chased!"

Coyote snorted, "Me, too, ghoul. Every legend for himself I say."

The young gypsy beside the ghoul laughed, tossing a ball bearing up in the air. "I say that you would hate a hole in your canoe."

Coyote smiled wide with all his sharp teeth, "I like you."

Coyote looked at the ghoul skeptically. "Will you make a meal of me if I let you in?"

The gypsy laughed, "She already had her fill of finger sandwiches ... Trojan fingers."

Coyote winked at her. "I begin to like you, too, The Wentworth."

The ghoul gasped, "You know me?"

Coyote laughed as he pulled up to the shore, "I always know what I need to ... unless I don't."

A splash of water, a swirl of skirt, and a leap of legs later, and the gypsy and the ghoul sat behind Coyote.

"Oh, you are naked!" squealed the ghoul.

Coyote nodded happily, "Under my fur I surely am."

The gypsy grunted, "You've lost one of your tails, too."

The ghoul frowned, "What do you mean 'one,' Victor?"

The gypsy laughed, "Well, Alice, he is sitting on one tail but the bushy one seems to have slipped its moorings."

Coyote sighed, "Don't remind me."

The ghoul named Alice grew sad. "How did that happen?"

Coyote laughed bitterly. "There I was fighting a river monster when the most beautiful fox woman strolled on the shore with her canoe to stare at my wonderfulness."

The gypsy named Victor arched an eyebrow. "That's what you call it, huh?"

Alice slapped his arm and said, "Do go on, sir."

"Well," said Coyote, "the monster must have never seen a naked fox woman before and bellowed, 'Another one!'"

Coyote smiled at the memory. "I took the opportunity to drive my spear into his heart."

He shook his furry head. "I turned to the fox woman and said, 'Thank you for the distraction, Another One.'"

Coyote snorted, "She told me her name was not 'Another One' but Inari and took my lovely tail."

Coyote chuckled, "So I took her canoe and came away with wisdom as well."

"What wisdom, sir?" asked the ghoul named Alice.

Coyote turned and winked at her. "The problem for us two-leggeds is that too often we let monsters tell us who we are."