Coyote Cartoons - Sparky's Tavern

Jerry Fuhriman has an eye and wit that finds humor in almost every situation. Several years ago Jerry was sitting under a pinyon pine in red rock country when he saw a coyote dart from under a tree and scramble to the top of a small nearby mesa. The coyote stopped running and just stood watching Jerry for many minutes. “I had the sensation the coyote was somehow studying me and what I was doing and trying to make some sense of the situation.” Jerry then began to wonder about all the human activities that coyotes observe and what those observations might mean to a really quick-witted coyote. It was at that moment that Sparky the Coyote entered Jerry’s life.

“ SPARKY’S TAVERN”

Coyotes have always been recognized for their intelligence and quick thinking and sometimes mischievous behavior. One such coyote goes by the name of Sparky. Sparky has spent a large amount of time studying people and trying to find out what makes them tick.

Sparky’s interest in people started merely as a means to ensure his own longevity, but soon he began to learn that most people were really not that bright and that they were a really uptight lot. Sparky gave a lot of thought to this combination of qualities and the more he thought about it the more he could see the potential enjoyment he could get by putting this knowledge to practice. At first it was just a little joyriding in “borrowed” government vehicles. This lead to acquiring U.S. National Park Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management uniforms. Sparky found tourists were happy to take travel directions and even guided tours if he just wore a uniform. This provided great fun for Sparky even though it resulted in lots of lost tourists and some pretty wild tours of the desert.

Sparky discovered that people were pretty goofy about their vehicles and realized cars and trucks and the trailers they pulled offered lots of opportunity for fun.

Have you ever driven through a desert on a moonlit night and thought you must be totally alone. A nice middle-aged couple had that same thought when they pulled their trailer off the road so they could enjoy the beauty of the starlit desert. How were they to know that Sparky the Coyote was wandering through the desert looking for fun….and as always with Sparky…a bit of profit as well.

It didn’t take Sparky long to round up enough friends to hijack the trailer. Tying the couple to a nice large cactus was sort of fun because they yelled and screamed a lot The screams were
loud enough to be heard for miles and of course this in itself attracted quite a bit of attention among rabbits, snakes and other desert creatures. Word spread from rabbit to rabbit and snake to snake until the desert was alive with animals and reptiles headed toward the trailer. By the time they arrived the trailer was lit up, drinks were being served and Sparky had sent five snakes to look for a karaoke machine.

Sparky generally charges a dollar for his events and this was the price he charged for entrance into what he called “Sparky’s Tavern.” Whether drinks and sheep dip were included in the price we don’t know but we can easily believe that as the sun was coming up the next morning Sparky was already conjuring up his next event.
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