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Then she takes her clothes fros theh the rusty stains won’t come clean and, she supposes, never will

By the tirown an inky purple, and stars are visible between the ss and slash frorass to light a fire behind a rocky outcropping, where it won’t be seen from the direction of the town behind them She drapes her clothes over the rocks near the fire and watches the steaht wind cooose bumps

She watches the fire and feels sleepy, and when she pokes it with a stick, the embers fly up into the air like a crazy squadron of insects and then sied in one of thenext to her, his flat eyes brimful of contemplation of the flaht now the space is occupied with the shape-shifting vision of the fire

The thing that happened back there, she says I mean, it ain’t like you asked--but anyway

He doesn’t take his eyes off the fire

I , she continues Soot flicked somewhere in my brain, you know? And then my hands’ll start rippin and tearin and they don’t care about the whys or wherefores

The fire pops and sizzles with the sap fro, it’s a sin as big as the world we live in, bigger even--to lay your hands on a creation of God’s and snuff it out It don’tit is, it’s a sin, and God will send a terrible vengeance down on you for it--I know, I seen it But the truth is--the truth is I don’t knohere I got off on the wrong track Moses, he says I ain’t evil, but then if I ain’t evilIf I ain’t evil then what aot no purpose except when they’re bashin in a skull or slittin a throat That’s the whole, all around truth of the et any satisfaction out of it Maury, you sure are wanderin a lonely earth--full of breach and befoulht next to you

Overhead, the moon is just a sliver in the sky, like a candle flaht Like you should hold your breath for fear of blowing it out altogether

If the big man next to her has comprehended a word of what she has said, he does not show it

She nods to herself

I guess what I’et you to Texas so you can get shut ofThey follow the tracks and keep thesun behind the invariably--a gravitational iven direction only by her When she walks into the woods because she thinks she hears so, he folloithout question or confusion When she stops to look at the sun or soak her feet in the river that still runs parallel to theone, they eat berries and fish caught fro the rubble of the railroad tracks Where the tracks cross roads, she looks for cars suitable for driving, but the railroad has taken theet back to the hways but decides instead they may be better off where people are unlikely to follow Besides, it’s peaceful here with the tracks and the river running straight and twinned They go for hours at a tile er, so, while she is splashing water on her face, she sees a figure floating ai about with slow ht itself or keep its head above water, carried forward by the slow current--perhaps, she i next to the tracks, they come across a pile of creher than she is, and all the tangled, burnt li a black igloo When the wind blows, the charred flakes of papery skin whip back and forth like tinsel There are no signs of life anywhere, and she wonders what such a construction could mean out here away from the common flow of human discourse

On the third afternoon, they are passed by aten or fifteen people, including two children who look at her through oversized sunglasses The driver of the boat swings it around but does not cut the noisy motor He waves to Te thu her status She gives hi his thus the boat back around and continues to drive it upriver

During the day, the dry dust is kicked up under their feet, and they have to keepso it stays behind thee catches up to theh and sputter

Sos, and they search these for useful iteht she boils water in old cans she finds by the tracks She adds berries and aromatic leaves she knows are not poisonous

Riverwater, she says It ain’t the elixir of the gods, but it goes down all right when you’re thirsty

Soht and like a fairy,

And her shoes was nu boxes without topses

Was sandals for that Clementine

Drove her ducklins to the water

Every ainst a splinter,

Fell into the foamin brine

Ruby lips above the water,

Blowin bubbles clear and fine

But alas I weren’t no swimmer