48
THE DRY LAKEBED was wider than Sean thought. It seemed to take an age to cross it, the ground hard like rock beneath their feet. The sun had risen above the trees, and his skin prickled with the strength of it, the heat cutting through the mountain air’s chill.
By the time they reached the other side, the ribbon of smoke had thickened, become darker. Sean kept hold of Louise’s hand as they ascended the slope on the other side and re-entered the trees. Cold again, the sun blocked by the branches.
Sean peered up through the pines, felt a moment of panic when he couldn’t find the smoke. He stopped, released Louise’s hand, and turned in a circle.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘I’ve lost it,’ he said.
‘Lost what?’
‘The smoke. We need to follow the smoke, but I can’t find it.’
He turned in a circle, his eyes to the shards of sky he could make out through the canopy. Think, he commanded. Where’s the dry lake? He faced that direction. Now where was the eagle? He stretched out his arm as if it was a needle on a compass, rotated until he felt sure his fingers pointed in the right direction. Then he looked up, stared hard.
There. Thank God, there it was, the pale smear of gray in the sky.
‘Come on,’ he said, taking Louise’s hand again.
They picked their way through the trees, Sean keeping his attention on the smoke, for fear of losing it again. No matter how fast they walked, however long, the smoke seemed to come no closer. A phantom against the blue, a mirage to trick them deeper into the forest.
‘Can we stop?’ Louise asked after a while.
‘No,’ Sean said. ‘We’re almost there.’
‘You said that ages ago, and we’re not. Can we stop and have a candy bar?’
‘No,’ Sean said, quickening his pace, his hand tightening on Louise’s. ‘Just a little further, I promise.’
Then he looked to the sky once more and stopped, causing Louise to stumble into him.
No smoke. He’d lost it again. Panic threatened to crack open in him. They were too far now from the dry lake to use that as a waypoint. Sean wasn’t even sure whether he’d be able to find it again if they turned back.
‘Shit,’ he said.
‘You said a curse,’ Louise said.
‘I know. Be quiet a second.’
Look, look, look. He stared at the sky until his eyes ached. He dared not turn in case he lost their direction entirely. He focused and unfocused, searching for even the faintest wisp. Nothing. His gaze dropped to the ground, ready to give up, but something caught him. Something flickery orange. He looked up again, through the trees.
There it was again. Like a glowing eye blinking in the distance. A fire, he was sure of it.
Sean dropped the bag of supplies, grabbed Louise’s hand, and ran, dragging her after. She shouted in protest, but he kept going, as fast as he could run while keeping her with him. Soon a clearing was in sight, a break of light through the trees.
‘See it?’ he asked between ragged breaths.
‘No,’ Louise said. ‘Slow down!’
‘Look,’ he said. ‘It’s a fire.’
He could see it now, a cluster of flames over the rim of a metal drum. The clearing coming closer as he ran faster and faster, the blisters on his feet forgotten. Now, in the spaces between the trees, he saw a small cabin. A pickup truck, dull red against the green.
They burst from the treeline into the clearing, and Sean halted. Louise carried on until his grip on her hand stopped her. The barrel stood in front of the cabin, a metal grille placed over the top, flames licking up through it. No one in view.
A peal of barking startled them both, and Louise came close to Sean. Around the side of the cabin came a dog, a scruffy mongrel with a shaggy black coat and bright amber eyes. The dog advanced toward them, its teeth bared. Sean pushed Louise behind him, his arms out to shield her.
‘What’s the matter, Constance?’
An old man dressed in weathered khaki gear walked around from the rear of the cabin, his arms full of scraps of cardboard and paper. He paused when he saw Sean and Louise at the edge of the clearing.
‘Quiet, Constance.’
The dog kept barking.
‘I said, quiet, Constance, goddamn it.’
Constance’s barks lowered to a deep growl in her chest. She continued to stare at the visitors.
‘Go to bed,’ the old man said. ‘Constance, go to bed, right now. I reckon these two are a little small to be coming to rob us.’
Constance trotted to the cabin’s porch, glancing back at Sean and Louise, and nestled down into a dog bed. The old man walked to the barrel, dropped the armful of cardboard and paper, and used a pair of tongs to remove the grille. He scooped up the garbage and dropped it into the barrel. Fresh flames and embers rippled up, and more smoke. He returned the grille to its place before turning to Sean and Louise.
‘So, what are you kids doing all the way out here in the asshole of beyond?’
Sean took a step forward. The dog lifted its head and barked. The man told her to shut up, goddamn it. He turned back to Sean and said, ‘Speak up, boy.’
‘Sir, we’re lost. We need help.’
The old man looked from Sean to Louise and back again.
‘That right? Well, then I guess you’d better come inside,’ he said.