An Old Book

        It was a typical winter day. School was out and there wasn’t much else to do when the internet was down. Certainly a good day to explore the old weathered books out in the garage. Mostly there were engineering books, but if you looked closely enough there were fictional books too. All were undoubtedly old, torn up, and in general had seen better days, something I tend to look for in books. Arguably, my favorite books tend to be from before the 1950s. They have that distinct book smell and feel to them that newer books tend to lack. As well, stop and admire the cover of an old book sometime. They’re undeniably beautiful things.

         I’d read most of the books on the shelf that weren’t engineering or computer programming related. I was beginning to think I’d have to settle for an outdated book on java when the title “The Yellow Horde” caught my eye. The Yellow Horde? I thought that was a weird name for a book.  My curiosity was piqued, and as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back. The cover of the book was slightly faded, though the book was in better condition than the books I usually find in the garage.

         Wolves. I thought “Well, I mean, maybe it’s like Call of the Wild.” Yes, I do indeed think like that. So I began to read it. It was an okay book, the beginning was mysterious, and the end was satisfying. No strange mystical stuff like in Call of the Wild (or what I felt to be strange, mystical stuff.) A book about a coyote and wolf hybrid leading the coyotes to become what they are today. Probably not based in facts or history, but then, perhaps I wouldn’t have liked it quite as much if it were.

          It quickly became my second favorite book, no book can replaced “A Dog Called Kitty”, that story is too close to my heart. Still, The Yellow Horde is a new favorite of mine. I was terribly upset when I lost it one summer. With it not being a popular book, it isn’t as replaceable as say, a copy of Anna Karenina or Phantom of the Opera might be. I hunted for it nearly everywhere. Except in the garage, on the bookshelf. It wasn’t until the following summer that I found it again. More cautious and experienced now, I keep it in a special part of my room where my other old, “handle with care” books dwell.

          Though the main character starts off as a ‘nobody’ in the realm of the coyotes, he quickly becomes the leader. The book tries to explain how and why coyotes started to travel in ‘packs’ like the wolves, and curiosity led me to research coyotes more, though in the past I’d brushed them off. They’re the survivors, the ones that adapted to mankind’s presence, and I feel like coyotes are a good example of surviving. Though not probably what wanted, this is my story on an object. So, yeah.