“Under yucca, the little beasts burrow”—Francisco Feather Cloud, Apache shaman (1811-1963)

There was one major disappointment on my recent trip to the Big Bend region of Texas--finding that the Chihuahuan Desert contains no wild Chihuahuas. I had naturally assumed the second largest North American desert was home to packs of small canines that lived in prairie dog-like colonies, and, centuries ago, some brave soul began capturing them for domestication.

After arriving in the national park, I hastily struck camp near a spring and set my chair in a cluster of thorny brush. I spent the next several days quietly observing, but saw only javelinas. I decided on a more aggressive course and spent three days trekking through ocotillo and prickly pear, but still, no luck. Frustrated to the verge of tears, I walked into a ranger station and inquired as to where was the best place to see wild Chihuahua, and imagine my surprise when the ranger asked me to repeat my query and carefully wrote something on a pad of paper. He gently explained that there were no wild Chihuahuas, but by the time I had reached the door, peals of raucous laughter were escaping from the back room.

Horribly embarrassed, I wandered until finding a cave in the base of a cliff. I hid there for nearly a week. Just before leaving, I overturned a stone and found beneath it a small skeleton with canine incisors. Could it be? I showed it to that haughty ranger and he was perplexed. I have sent the bones to the Smithsonian and am breathlessly awaiting results. Shutter and Scrawl readers will be the first to learn about, what will likely be, validation of my Chihuahuan dreams.

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