Along the borderline

Nico’s question about Calico just coming out the den takes the patchwork pup by surprise. Eyes blink in confusion and his head tilts as the coyote pup looks at him. The next words that Nico says has a chuckle rumbling out of Jack’s throat. One white paw waves through the air as he says, “Nah. Not huge. Well… maybe. I don’t know. Say, how old are you anyway?” Eyebrows lift, curious as to how much older the coyote is. Eyes track down to the crab and the pair talk about but then, Calico Jack comes up with the brilliant idea of sharing their knowledge.

Eyes are bright with eagerness as Nico grins wickedly at him and Jack’s ears stand a little taller as the coyote drawls on. An eyebrow raises, as if to say, ‘Work? I ain’t scared of work!’. Maybe Calico would be scared if he knew what work was, the tediousness and pain-staking attention that goes into work. But, the oblivious pup has never heard the word so he does what he does best; plays if off like it is nothing. The coyote waves a paw at him and Calico’s tail slowly wags as Nico admits he was going to share his knowledge.

As the talk turns to food, Calico Jack watches the pup that seems to be alone in the world. Is that hunger he sees burning deep his eyes? Jack shrugs off the question about his family minding, saying, “Nah, they won’t mind. We got plenty and you got none. Seems only fair to share, ya know?” A paw is waved as Nico voices his concern about upsetting Calico’s family and he says, “Nah, don’t you worry about. I’ll fix it so you get all the food you want.” A twinkle is in Jack’s eye as he gives his new friend a wink all while trying to figure out exactly what ma will say when he starts sneaking food to a coyote pup.

Ah, but that is problem for tomorrow Jack! Nico asks if he can leave the beach and Calico shrugs, pointing to the cavern that is the other land they occupy as he says, “We can go in there and on the ship to sleep. But I don’t know about other places. Do we need trees and stuff? I know some of the bigs catch fish in the water. I have a my very own net that we could use!” Thoughts spill out of his mouth as Calico considers his options, mind still working the problem as he leads the way to where the family’s ship is.

The beach bends and, as they follow it, the huge hull comes into view. Jack is silent as he looks to Nico, a shit-eating grin on his lips as he watches the pup’s reaction. He slows to allow the pup more time to take in the absolute size of the thing, all while Calico Jack happily prances along.



"Calico Jack"