Spindrift
Adrian had spent much of his time looking outside the window of his home in Everett- it was a beautiful view of the Pacific that he enjoyed. On days of sunshine, the wolf would go outside and dip his feet into the inviting waters and feel the crisp Washington afternoon. But today was different for the wolf- his girlfriend of several years had just broken up with him and there was no sun, either in the wolf's heart nor in the forecast. In fact, life would not be good at all for the people of Seattle as a tropical storm was barreling for the coast. Though not a hurricane and not powerful enough to warrant an evacuation, this would still be reason enough to cancel another weekend in paradise. And cyclones were something for the people further down the coast in California had to deal with, not the people of Seattle. This storm started out in the Pacific and had been weakened considerably after its landfall in California but was still somewhat strong as it approached Washington. This was a rare event indeed for the people of Washington, having to deal with a tropical storm, though of course, they would often get rain just as part of the climate of their rainy city.
The sky was dark, the sun completely obscured by rain clouds as the wolf looked outside his window at the torrential downpour which was drenching the entire beach. The waves were crashing on the Western shore, assaulting the beach and ripping it away, just as Sandra's refusal to be his fiancee threatened to rip his away. The she-coyote was currently in Phoenix, in the blast furnace of the desert with its sweat and heat, a place far from the watery climes Adrian loved. She had always hated the excessive rain that Seattle was prone to year after year. The spray that was tearing away large sandy pieces of his favorite beach from the shoreline created the perfect image of his soul- no firm foundation at all against the storms in life. No matter how good the beachfront property was, there was no way that the seperation would be overcome by beautiful views of the ocean. His uneasy heart thought constantly of rejection and the sadness came in waves of fear and desperation, as he thought of ways that he might win Sandra, his coyote girlfriend back.
Meanwhile
The temperature had reached 110 degrees for the fifth consecutive day, and life could not be worse for Sandra. Her car had broken down on the way to Sedona three days ago and now she needed a ride back home to the Valley where she lived. This was to be a relaxing retreat but now in the Phoenix wilderness, how was she to contact anyone with her cell phone when there wasn't a tower for miles around? As any good Zonie does, Sandra always kept a cooler packed with bottles of water and ice during the hot summer months as well as several day's worth of ready-to-eat meals for quick consumption.
Those desert survival classes which were offered at her college had paid off big time but the most important lesson was something that the professor spoke of every single day- be prepared. Luckily, her car broke down near a canyon with a cave carved right into the face into the rock. Sandra could move her supplies from her very hot car into the cave at night and sleep during the day and she had arranged several pebbles to form a large "HELP" near the entrance to the cave where she had been living the past few days.
Out of desperation, she called "911" hoping to get a police car from Maricopa County and a towing company to help her. She needed food- she was so desperate that even the cacti around her looked appealing. At least as a coyote, she could eat raw meat, including whatever unfortunate birds might pass her way but she needed help to return to civilization. When least she expected it, her cell phone started to ring as she walked out of the cave wearing her woolen clothes before sundown to prepare for the cold night.
"I'm sorry I was such a jerk during our relationship. It hasn't stopped raining in Seattle so I..."
"Adrian, I'm so glad to hear from you. I'll go out with you again, even marry you if you could call the sheriff's office in Maricopa County and tell them there is a cave with rocks reading "Help" on Highway 17 leading to Sedona from Phoenix. Ask for the Phoenix Highway Patrol", she told Adrian through the phone, her paws shaking with every word she spoke.
But as she was giving out orders over the phone, the winds started to swirl and before she knew what happened, a dust devil had swept over her. Not as dangerous as tornadoes, the hot dry rasp of these Devil Winds still have the ability to blind people with the particles and choke someone when the sand reaches inside the throat. The dust cyclone was a mirror of her last few weeks- filled with chaos and indecision as to where to go next. Like its victim, it wandered around aimlessly, not knowing which way to go next. While the wind blew over her, she thought back to the events of her own life- the Navajo regarded entering a sandstorm as equal to entering stores of memory that would remain hidden to most people. And through the swirling sands, she could hear Adrian and her parents mumbling incoherently- or was it just the desert heat? In spite of her best efforts to shield her face, Sandra now could not see as the alkaline sand had gotten stuck inside her eyes, burning them with their high quantities of borax.
Blinded by the sand, she wandered for several torturous hours trying to find her way back home until she heard a car whizzing by her with sirens blaring. Rescued at last- the police car took her home. Sandra had no idea who was behind the wheel due to her temporary blindness until the officer gave her special eye drops which cleared the alkaline sand from her eyes- the whites of her eyes were now blood-red but somewhere in her heart she knew that Adrian had not forgotten her. In fact, her life had been saved because of "the greatest boyfriend in the world". It was all a matter of God's blessing that a phone call from Seattle could make it when phone calls from a cave near Sedona could not. As much as Sandra, loved Arizona, the she-coyote was leaving for Seattle to see an old boyfriend- one who had just saved her life. His actions spoke across the spirals of wind and water and emotions between the two lovers to re-unite them and save her life.