The Trap

The Story

Ellie lives with animals -- an old cat, a stray dog she calls Fang, a goldfish. And until she wakes one spring morning to the taunting bark and yip of coyotes, she's thought she understood God's creatures and loved them. But not the coyotes. Ellie soon meets one at the corner of the family's garage, its yellow eyes cool and unfathomable. A few days later, her cat, Bob, disappears. Fearing the worst, and feeling the worst -- a burning for revenge -- Ellie heeds a tough-acting classmate and with him sets a trap on a hillside coyote trail she's found. But it is Fang, her faithful follower, who is caught. And with the cruel snapping of the trap, Ellie sees firsthand the suffering she has meant to inflict on her enemy. Bob the cat was not killed, he was eaten, as is nature's way. Ellie comes to this realization, most surprisingly, by tracking her foe to his den -- and beyond his den to an understanding of life and death. Ellie is a regular kid, seen to her depths, as is a storyteller's way, with clear-eyed vision, apt language, and a considerate heart.