Fuzz Finds a Home

Written by Melanie Master

Illustrated by Ella Gray, Sachi Bartlett, and Juliet Pierce  

Edited by Angelina Sweeney and Addison Gregory

March 2022

Fuzz jumped up with a jolt, snagging his head on the lemonade berry bush he was sleeping under. He bolted away, noticing a big yellow machine out of the corner of his eye. Although he was only born a year ago, he was already a young adult - 18 in human years. 

A week ago, he thought he had finally found the perfect plot of land with a perfect bush to sleep under during the day. He was surrounded by his favorite plants: sunflowers, monkeyflowers, sagebrushes, and buckwheats. Those plants were eaten by animals, so he had an easy time finding plenty of woodrats, rabbits, birds, raccoons and squirrels to eat. 

But now he had nowhere to go. 

That night, he began his search for a new home. He walked and walked, but just saw lots and lots big nothings. Suddenly, something with bright lights came speeding toward him. He barely dodged it with his tail between his legs.

Off the road, he spotted some bushes. “Finally,” he thought, “Sage scrub!” He scampered down into the brush and immediately spotted a perfect shelter. He peered into the crux between one fallen willow and another.

“Go away!” shouted a family of raccoons, “This spot is taken.” Fuzz considered eating them as a snack, but decided to let them be.

He continued further and further until he discovered an area that looked like the perfect sage scrub habitat. Just then, a twig snapped.

“Hey, you can’t be here! There’s already not enough space and food for us,” snarled an unfamiliar coyote. “Just yesterday we were forced to eat a cat!” 

Fuzz’s ears slowly lowered as he walked away.

He continued to the end of the sage scrub, and back onto the streets he went. He crossed a bridge and walked past more nothings. Nothing, nothing, nothing - cat - nothing, nothing, nothing.

He eventually spotted a storm drain tunnel and attempted to pass through. Inside, his paws splashed through a puddle. It opened into an area that he scanned intently. 

There was water! He immediately lapped it up.

Although there were mostly nothing plants, there were two lemonade berry bushes. And willows in the riverbed! It was already light out, so he crawled back into the storm drain to rest. 

“Ah! Hey! Wait!” Fuzz covered his ears with his paws. What was that awful noise? He slowly crawled up the hill until he came to a sturdy chain link fence. 

Through the fence he discovered little humans yipping and yawing and running around. He slowly licked his nose and lowered his head between his shoulders. He scanned the length of the fence and felt safer knowing there were no holes in it.

He maneuvered back down the hill, crawled into his storm drain, and tried to sleep while covering his ears with his paws. He dreamed that the yips and yaws were the familiar dinnertime howls of his mom, dad, and aunties that told him it was time to eat.

As the sun set and the noises stopped, Fuzz woke up. His fur was wet and his tummy rumbled. He rose from his storm drain, tired from the lack of sleep, and went in search of food. 

He stopped at the lemonade berry bush and ate as many ripe berries as he could. He counted them, “One, two, three,” and eventually counted twenty-six berries. “Thank you, lemonade berry bush,” he said.

But his tummy still rumbled.

He looked around for more berries, but only found lots of nothing plants. He tried his skill at hunting the way his mom taught him. He perked up his ears and readied his nose. 

He listened and listened and sniffed and sniffed. He couldn’t hear any noises of little rodents, which is what his mom and dad used to bring him. Maybe there were rodents making noise, but he couldn’t hear them. All he could  hear was a loud nothing noise coming in from a distance.

After 3 hours of listening and sniffing, he heard a little scurry to his left. It was close and he caught the scent. He slowly tip-toed until he spotted a little woodrat eating a seed that had fallen from the lemonade berry bush.

He pounced! and earned himself a mouthful of food. Afterward, he was a little less hungry, but still not satisfied. Nonetheless, he rubbed his belly and said, “Thank you, woodrat." 

As the sun crept up, he grew tired but continued his hunt. But eventually, a sound of a  small human invaded his ears, so he  decided it was time to retreat to his damp abode and rest.

But just as he started his retreat, he heard the loud CLINK of a gate! He hurried behind a small bush and peered through. It was a woman. What was she doing here? Oh, no, was she planning to take away his home again? She stood there for several minutes gazing across his home and scratching on a piece of wood. She looked up and then down several times. 

Eventually, she sat on a stump and did something Fuzz found puzzling. She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and… smiled. Then, she nodded once and walked out with another CLINK!

After that encounter, Fuzz continued his day-to-day business. He discovered a steady supply of rodents around the dumpsters nearby. Despite this discovery, the outline of his ribs were starting to show through his fur. If only he could reverse time and rejoin his parents' pack. But he was a coyote, and he had to make it on his own.

When he laid in his tunnel, he dreamed of a big, dry bush he could rest under during the day. He dreamed of sunflowers, monkeyflowers, sagebrushes, and buckwheats.

Soon, his life fell into a rhythmic pattern of searching for rodents at night and listening to the squeals of children as he tried to sleep during the day. 

But one special morning, the sound of an excited pack of people startled him awake. It was the woman again, this time with lots of  people, big and little, carrying tools and plants in pots. 

He watched her point this way and that, and her pack got to work. Some started pulling up the nothing plants, and others started digging holes. There was lots of laughter. He didn’t hear much throughout the day, but he did hear the word, “Katy!” shouted several times, and the woman always turned and looked. 

“She must be Katy,” he figured. 

After hours and hours, Katy’s Pack finally left.

When he heard the final CLINK of the gate, Fuzz walked out to survey the area. 

He couldn’t believe his eyes! His dreams had come true! He discovered little baby sunflowers, monkeyflowers, sagebrushes, and buckwheats! He wandered up and down the rows of baby plants, stopping to give each one a good sniff. 

They were small now, but he knew what would happen with time. And, most importantly, for him, he knew small animals would come to eat them.