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On the day that Wile E. Coyote returned to the desert, he and his Road Runner immediately fell back into old patterns. At least a month had gone by since their last chase, but it felt like he’d never left. Even when he went sky high courtesy of a mistimed fuse on some sticks of dynamite, the coyote had missed this. The thrill of the chase. The intellectually stimulating process of a good engineering scheme. The building process where some things were tweaked.
The flash of blue feathers and “Meep Meep”s that registered a little differently since Washington D.C.
He had come back, even if he hadn’t had the signs to say so beforehand.
And yes, the traps and ploys failed. Every single one of them went belly up and blew up in his face (quite literally, in two cases). Some were more dramatic than others, but he always got up and tried again. Wile E. Coyote never threw in the towel, no matter how many failures he went through.
On a normal day, the chase lasted from dawn until dusk. Today, Wile called it quits before the sun even began to set. The saga of courtrooms and travel and learning the truth about ACME had kept him on his toes for way too long . He wanted to call it an early night and get some sleep. Besides, it had been a month since he’d last been in his cave. He was fairly certain there was something rotten in his little fridge.
Besides, early to bed and early to rise would make a coyote more well-rested to catch the Road Runner.
Wile began the trek to the cave up on the mountain. The more he climbed, the more he realized he was ready to call it a day. Once he reached his home, the coyote looked around him. The pile of ACME items he hadn’t taken with him to Albuquerque rose from the floor like an unnatural stalagmite. He’d go through those tomorrow. Maybe he should start putting them in evidence boxes like he did when he first met Kevin and Paige. He could pile the boxes next to his filing cabinet system.
Thanks to his homemade generator, there was power in the cave. After all, failed Road Runner traps aside, he was a genius. The lights he’d installed worked, which meant the fridge was likely functional. When Wile opened the door, he braced for the scent of soured milk and anything else that might have gone rotten. However, the fridge was devoid of spoiled food or drink.
Odd. He’d sworn there was a bottle of milk in there when he left last month.
The coyote shrugged and nudged the fridge door closed. Maybe he’d thrown it out the day before he’d left. Wile turned away from the machine and stumbled over to the mattress he’d scavenged a few years back. He stretched, gave a mighty yawn, and dropped onto his bed. A cloud of dust poofed up around him. Ah, how he’d missed his own bed with all its lumps.
Somewhere, far below his cave, there was a call of “Meep Meep!”. It reminded Wile that he’d made it home as he drifted off to sleep.
Road Runner was baffled.
For the past month, he had been alone in the desert. Wile E. Coyote had up and stopped chasing him. No sign, no explanation at all. Only desert litter of newspapers that told the bird that his coyote was suing ACME. It made his days much more lonely, running without anyone pursuing him. It was no way to live.
Then the humans from ACME attempted to set a trap for him. When Road Runner had first seen the enormous pile of birdseed, he really had thought that Wile had come back and this was his apology for leaving so suddenly. And he had thought that right until his feet had gotten stuck in the glue. His coyote would never set a trap this lazy with such an excessive amount of food. When the humans showed up and surrounded him, it had further confirmed that Wile had nothing to do with this.
The Road Runner didn’t regret anything that had happened in the moments that followed. They had it coming.
After making his escape, he put two and two together with the newspapers and ACME and their pathetic attempt of a trap. The Road Runner would not be a pawn against his coyote. So he took shelter in Wile’s cave after that. Speeding into the cave and finding it empty of anything coyote saddened the bird. A little part of Road Runner had hoped Wile was still sleeping here and just commuting to the city to go to court. Alas, that turned out not the case.
Road Runner had visited the cave a few times before, usually when the coyote got ill to deliver something that would aid with his recovery. That’s what friends…no, what partners did for each other. Wile seemed to have left in a hurry, so Road Runner spent his time in the cave tidying up for his return. He cleaned the old food and milk out of the fridge, wiped down his desk, sharpened some new pencils, and watched news of the trial on Wile’s television.
That’s how he learned of the case moving to Washington D.C. and knew he had to do something. The story kept getting bigger and bigger. Road Runner had begun to worry that his coyote might never be coming back. It had been so long. Maybe if he stepped in, then Wile would see how much he was missed. So that’s what he’d done. And based on how Wile had looked at him, Road Runner had been able to convey at least a fraction of how much the coyote meant to him and how missed from the chase he was.
Now, on the day he’d come back, he up and vanished again. The sun barely started to set by the time Road Runner realized he was no longer being pursued. How could Wile do this? Where had he gone now? Had ACME come and gotten to him?
No, he couldn’t jump to ACME. Not yet.
After speeding along the highway and finding nothing, Road Runner decided to check out the next place Wile could have gone to. He sped up the path that went to his coyote’s home up on the mountain and stood at the entrance to the cave. The lights were on, so that seemed like a hopeful sign.
“Meep meep!” he called out, craning his neck forward.
Usually, that worked to get Wile’s attention. However, no coyote came running out, arms outstretched to try and snatch him.
“Meep meep?” Road Runner tried again.
Still no response.
Road Runner strode into the cave. Wile was not at his desk working up another blueprint, nor was he on a ladder against one of the filing cabinet towers. Awfully sweet of his coyote to keep all attempted plots to catch him in the middle of the chase. One day he’d like to look through them to go back down memory lane, but right now he needed to find Wile. Hopefully, he wasn’t in that maze of filing cabinets.
Finally, Road Runner spotted Wile E. Coyote, genius, on an old mattress. He strode over and looked down at his partner in chase. He was fast asleep. The coyote’s mouth hung open, a puddle of drool soaking into the mattress’s fabric. His ear twitched a little, but he showed no signs of waking up. He looked so peaceful. He probably was for the first time in weeks.
Perhaps it was the month being separated from each other and not being unable to engage in the chase. Maybe it was something of their long and shared history. Whatever it was, Road Runner didn’t want to let Wile out of his sight for a while. He had missed him so much. Hadn’t that been clear in Washington D.C.? Surely it had, since Wile had come back.
Maybe the long journey across the country and back had exhausted Wile. Even Road Runner felt a little pooped out when he’d run there and back.
He looked around the cave before spotting a rack of costumes in the filing cabinet towers. Zipping to it, he picked out the softest, most comfortable ones and brought them back to the mattress. As Wile continued to sleep, Road Runner built a makeshift nest right next to his coyote. He folded his body into it and laid his head down on Wile’s chest almost protectively.
Scratch that. He felt a little protective.
If he’d noticed anything, Wile gave no indication. He continued to softly snore as Road Runner allowed himself to get more comfortable. The chase could resume tomorrow. He’d stay here tonight to watch over his coyote. Road Runner would be able to make sure Wile was still there in the morning and not gone again.
A rumble roused Wile from his slumber. He blinked his eyes open. The light was still on in his cave, but night had fallen over the desert. Beyond that, there was a flash in the sky in the distance. His ears picked up another rumble of thunder. A storm brewed far away from his cave. It might roll towards him and his cave eventually. He hoped the Road Runner was tucked away safely from it.
He became slightly more aware of a weight on his chest. Blinking again, Wile lifted his head and looked down. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head at the sight. The Road Runner lay defenseless and vulnerable on his chest. It looked too good to be true.
His stomach rumbled hungrily. The moment he’d dreamed of so long had arrived. He could finally taste Road Runner, complete the task his father had set forth for him so long ago…
“Meep meep meep meep meep,” the Road Runner chirped in his sleep, nuzzling into his chest fur.
Wile’s determination fizzled out at the noise and the action. This was his Road Runner. If he ate him right here and now, there would be nothing to look forward to tomorrow or in the days that followed. He couldn’t do that to his friend, his partner, his North Star, his…reason. Not after everything the Road Runner had given him in Washington, and in all the days before.
The Road Runner meeped again. Wile cracked a smile at the adorable sound. Tugging a blanket from the other side of the bed, he spread it to cover his lower half and the Road Runner’s body. Now that he was satisfied, Wile laid back down and closed his eyes. His paw brushed against the Road Runner’s neck before coming to rest against his wing.
As a gentle rain began to patter outside the mouth of the cave, the two halves slept together, happy to be reunited and ready for tomorrow’s chase.