The Poster

First dibs or none at all

They strolled past the hand-written poster that was duct taped to the metal STOP sign and paused.

“The poster. Ever seen it before?” he asked.

“Maybe, maybe not. Not saying if I did.”

“Why not?”

“Might incriminate me.”

“You? You’re not one to be easily incriminated.”

“You don’t know me then, Sweets,” she said. “I have my guilty pleasures that I’d rather not discuss right now.”

“Cute thing, ain’t it? Nice little pink bow tie.”

She said, “I’ll say.”

“It’s a she and they call her ‘Lucky.’”

“How ironic.”

“Reward of $200 if found.”

“Meaningless,” she said.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“Any way to get them to take it down?”

He replied, “Not without some sort of proof that Lucky’s completely out of the picture or found.”

“It’s pretty safe to say that Lucky’s out of the picture but I’m not revealing my sources.”

He looked at her and smiled.

“Was she good?” he asked.

“Good? Tasty I’d say.”

At the sound of the vehicle coming over the small hill, the coyotes both leapt into the woods, looking back only to watch the headlights pass by.

“Next time I think you should share.”

“You weren’t around. You were chasing a rabbit or a squirrel or something.”

“Or something.”

“I don’t want to know. If you’re around next time, I’ll share. If not, I’ve got first dibs.”

“Deal.”

*****