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Arizona

by Rachel Khong

1. Where I live in Arizona, the lawns are aquarium floors: all gravel, punctuated by the occasional upright succulent. In recent weeks, a coyote has deemed it his duty to howl at quarter to eleven each night.

2. My research on coyote-human attacks does not confirm my primary hypothesis, which is: this coyote wants to devour me. Evidence points unequivocally to the contrary. In the U.S., in the past fifty years, it seems, there have only been two known coyote attacks.

3. The body of texts in support of my second theory—the animal is my ex-boyfriend, in actuality a shape-shifter, come from Boston to haunt me—is large.

4. A woman comes by selling tubes of charm. Pheromones are what she calls them, with authority. The only pheromones I know about are the ones that make my period cycle in tandem with my sisters’ and mother’s, which was what happened during the six months I lived at home. I moved away and now my monthly rhythms are my own.

5. Failure in logic pertaining to ex-boyfriend, who cares for me no longer: Why would he be here?

6. I have a habit of— I have a habit. I have a habit of telling this terrible joke. I am not a true nun, though I dressed as one for Halloween. My then boyfriend was Captain Von Trapp.

7. The look, sound, and feel of “then boyfriend” is much preferred.

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