ASIN: B00P8DT8EI
Publisher: Copper Publishing
Pages: 14
"I notice her when she leaves the marked path. There’s a point where it turns away from the alligatored two-lane road that it followed for miles, and goes around a thicket of scarlet-stemmed manzanita. It is late afternoon; the shadows are growing long. In full daylight most hikers never see the trace that leads through the bushes, they circle around and pass on, thinking of cold water, beer, and a shower. Instead, she eases her way into the brush. Once she is sure of the trail, she moves in a storm of sound: sticks snapping, leaves rustling, the patter and clonk of a stone rolling. Her silver Catrina bracelets chink together every so often. With all the noise, she is safe from most things except poison oak and ivy. She stops, once, and stands still. Except for the rustle of leaves, the tick of sun-heated stone, there is nothing to hear. And yet she listens. She is listening for the ...
