Coyote Falls in Love

I was challenged to write a "supernatural romance tragedy." This is it.

     A long time ago, Old Man Coyote fell in love with a human girl named Norma Jean. She was an ordinary girl, though she became a near-goddess to men later, under another name. Coyote was a god, and a trickster who could shape-shift, so he became a man to court Norma. As a god-man trickster, Coyote was extremely handsome. His manners were impeccable and sly. He would do anything to be with Norma and win her love. He was so effective, she was dazzled within a week. She was very young.

---

     He was very old. Coyote had been around since the beginning of the world. But he was also bowled over by love, knocked silly by Cupid and blind to all but Norma. He lived for her eyes, her laugh, her breath and her words. Coyote forgot his duties as a god. He forgot he was a god. He thought only of convincing Norma to be his. He measured himself by her love and joy, and worked tirelessly for them.

---

     Coyote neglected his place in the Spirit World. This caused so much suffering among his charges that his cousins decided to intervene. The tricksters Owl and Rabbit formed an odd alliance to do this. They entered Norma Jean's world as human gods, government agents, and approached Old Man Coyote one pink-dawn morning in the parking lot of the motel where Coyote stayed, a handsome young human man.

---

     Both cousins were uncomfortable in their human bodies. Owl wore round spectacles to touch his own spirit, and Rabbit's nose often twitched. But they were determined. When they saw Coyote, looking completely at ease in sharp clothes, his car keys ready, they looked at each other and nodded. They could be as gruff as any human, they were sure.

---

     "Hey, you!" Rabbit yelled. Coyote stopped short. 

     "Come here, son," Rabbit shouted, trying to sound mean. "You have some explaining to do!"

     Coyote shielded his eyes with one hand. "Is that you, Rabbit? My god! And is that Owl? You two, together?"

     He laughed. "Well, hello, cousins! Rabbit, you usually run from Owl. What brings you two here?"

     Then Coyote's eyes narrowed. "Wait. Why in this world are you here? I don't need you here. I'm busy! Go away!"

---   

     Rabbit and Owl used their stocky human bodies to block Coyote from reaching his car. They took strange implements out of the pockets of their rumpled suits. They each held a paper, and Owl began to read.

---

     "We have a warrant for your arrest," he said. "We charge you with multiple crimes against the universe. They are as follows - Neglect, Impudent Impersonation, Imprudent Ideas, Neglect, Neglect and..."

     "Oh, stop it, Owl," Rabbit said. "Coyote, you have to come back with us. You have a lot to do. Your people are dying and many are lost in transit. You forgot to give them guidelines, and even if your guidelines get pretty strange, your people need them...."

     "No!" Coyote barked. "What people? I only have Norma Jean, and she's all I want. We have a date for breakfast. She likes sweets. She likes pancakes with butter and lots of syrup, a little milk. She's hungry now. She's the only one who needs me. Hey! Don't take those keys!"

     Rabbit tossed the car keys to Owl, who swallowed them. He coughed up a feather doing it, but he got it done.

     Coyote growled. "That's okay. I can start the car without them. Get out of my way, you clowns!"

     He put his head down and charged. The cousins fired what were human guns. It was a human reflex they weren't expecting.

     The man Coyote immediately collapsed. He clutched his stomach and rolled on the pavement.

---

     "What did you do?" he whined. "Did you kill me? Cousins, help me. I think you killed me!"

     Owl stepped forward, assuming the role of a doctor in a flash. He looked grave. "I think we killed him," he said to Rabbit.

     Coyote snarled and reached for Owl, angry and determined to live. But his body grew feeble and he collapsed once more.

---

     Rabbit crouched next to him. "I think we're safe, Owl. This human can't hurt us, and neither can Coyote. Say, Coyote! Can you hear me?"

     Coyote opened one eye. "It hurts," he said. "It hurts like a thousand deaths. What did you do? What will I do? Oh, to be or not to be..."

     "Come with us," Rabbit said. "We'll leave these human bodies here and return to the Spirit World. You have no choice anymore."

     "Ah, no," Coyote said. He writhed a little and his voice was weak. "I can't leave Norma! She'd never get over it. She loves me, and I love her. Let me stay, cousins. She needs me!" He sighed. "I think this body is dead. I don't feel good myself. What will I do? Why did you kill me?"

     "It's just the you that's here," Rabbit said. "You have to come back with us before you do anything else. You can't live here."

     "Oh, poisoned potion, it o'ercrows..." Coyote whispered. He went slack. Rabbit and Owl waited. They were dying, too.

---

     Neither of them noticed the small human crowd gathered around them, watching the scene as if it were TV. Nobody at all noticed a small, brown-haired girl pushing her way to the front. She stood still, hand to her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Norma never forgot her first love, dying by gunfire in the morning, held down by two strange men who collapsed as well. She hated mornings for the rest of her life.

---

     Coyote opened his other eye one last time.

---

     "Did you have to bring her here?" he wheezed. "She's too delicate. You better run and fly when we get home, because I'll be after you!"

---

     Three spirits left the parking lot with a twirl of papers, and three dead human bodies didn't do anything.

---

     Norma Jean turned away. She pushed through murmuring onlookers and ran, crying, to her room. She loved Charlie, and now he lay in a pool of blood. Her young soul filled with sorrow and fear. Shaking, Norma considered what to do. Maybe she should call the police. No, she was too afraid. She might be arrested as a run-away. Let someone else do it. She didn't know it yet, but Norma would be a mystery and a tragedy, soon to take the name Marilyn Monroe and hide in plain sight throughout her short life.

Author's Note

does it fit the prompt? what do you think of the pace of the story? anything else?

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

This was such a well written and surreal bit of short story. I really enjoyed reading it. It felt like one of the native American stories about the origins of things or perhaps one of Kipling's "Just So" stories explaining the nature of things. It seemed to fit the prompt just fine. My favorite Norma Jean quote: " Sometimes, I feel, you know, like one of those paper mache' dragons in a Chinese New Year Parade; all pretty colors and beautiful on the outside and empty on the inside."

[LJ]

Very glad you took the time to read this and even more glad you enjoyed it. I tried hard to make it read as if it were a known fable of sorts, though Coyote stories often twist and turn on their own. I like the quote, too. That she said such a thing shows the depths of her sadness.

[Samuel Dickens]

Fit the prompt? You knocked this one out of the park! I love it! How I adore an imagination that can come up with something this clever and entertaining. A bit of Indian lore mixed with Twilight Zone is my cup of tea.

[LJ]

Yes! A home run, and from one of my favorite reviewers. This comment pleases me no end. Thank you and I'm so glad you like this "tea."

[Little-Red-Hat]

I loved the surrealness of this. It feels like a myth crossed with a pop culture biography.

[LJ]

Thanks! I aimed for that - "..a myth crossed with pop culture..." - and am very happy you described it like that. :-D