@@@@@See what?
She placed the memorized image
@@@@@See what?
She placed the memorized image before me: a ragged zigzagging line, four tight switchbacks,
the fifth point strangely blunt, like it was brokenNow I saw it as I should, a jagged range of
four pointed mountain peaks with the broken-looking fifth?
I scanned the skyline, east to west across the northern horizonIt was so easy it felt false, as
though I'd made the image up onlyafter seeing the mountain silhouette that created the
northeast line of the horizonThat's it,Melanie almost sang in her excitementet's go! She wanted me to be out of the car,
on my feet, movingI shook my head, bending over the map againThe mountain ridge was so far in the distance I
couldn't guess at the miles between us and itThere was no way I was walking out of this
parking lot and into the empty desert unless I had no other optionLet's be rational,I suggested, tracing my finger along a thin ribbon on the map, an unnamed
road that connected to the freeway a few miles east and then continued in the general direction
of the rangeSure,she agreed complacentlyWe found the unpaved road easilyIt was just a pale scar of flat dirt through the sparse
shrubbery, barely wide enough for one vehicleI had a feeling that the road would be overgrown
with lack of use in a different region?some place with more vital vegetation, unlike the desert
plants that needed decades to recover from such a violationThere was a rusted chain stretched
across the entrance, screwed into a wooden post on one end, looped loosely around another post
at the otherI moved quickly, pulling the chain free and piling it at the base of the first post,
hurrying back to my running car, hoping no one would pass and stop to offer me helpThe
highway stayed clear as I drove onto the dirt and then rushed back to refasten the chainWe both relaxed when the pavement disappeared behind usI was glad that there was
apparently no one left I would have to lie to, whether with words or silenceAlone, I felt less of
a renegadeMelanie was perfectly at home here in the middle of nothingShe knew the names of all the
spiny plants around usShe hummed their names to herself, greeting them like old friendsCreosote, ocotillo, cholla, prickly pear, mesquite?
Away from the highway, the trappings of civilization, the desert seemed to take on a new life
for MelanieThough she appreciated the speed of the jolting car?our vehicle didn't have the
ground clearance necessary for this off-road trip, as the shocks reminded me with every pit in the
dirt?she itched to be on her feet, loping through the safety of the baking desertWe would probably have to walk, and all too soon for my taste, but when that time came, I
doubted it would satisfy he
