Small Peculiar

Yes, this is the third week in a row with someone sitting at a desk. I’ll try to switch it up next week, but no promises.

Have you ever seen any of the cartoons where Wile E. talks? Mel Blanc gives him this wonderful professorial voice, and he pronounces his name “coy-oh-TAY.” “Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Coyoté. Wile E. Coyoté. I am a genius by trade.” That these cartoons present him as a foil for Bugs Bunny, rather than the nonanthropomorphic Road Runner, effectively makes him a cannibal—and he really is a genius; only the moral nature of the Warner Brothers universe prevents him from succeeding in his cannibalistic aspirations. Until Thomas Harris himself gets in touch to tell me otherwise, I will choose to believe that he saw those cartoons and put “pompous genius who eats people” in his back pocket for later.