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She began seeing the butterflies before Tina did, but soon they couldn’t be missed, they were everywhere: the phenomenon At the overlook, the road had been widened into a co out Tina stared, still belted into her seat Cordie and Preston also sat up straight and took notice, as they did when a favored prograh the windshield
The cavernous valley before theolden motion Cordelia had never seen the butterflies, Dellarobia realized And Preston just the once, on a rainy day when they weren’t flying around She let Preston get out of the car
"Stay close, honey, and don’t go near the edge where it drops off" She pulled open the door on her side and shifted Cordie to her hip, leaving the diaper bag "Yes,Billies," she said quietly, "just like at Grandma’s" She didn’t want Tina to know her kids had not seen this before It see Itto her less Tina wouldn’t understand, the road was new, prior to this week there had been no way to bring a toddler up here
She watched wonder and light cohter’s eyes Preston stood with the toes of his sneakers at the very edge of the gravel road and his arht Dellarobia felt the saht of all this never wore out The trees were covered with butterflies at rest, and the air was filled with life She inhaled the scent of the trees Finally a clear winter day, blue doreen firs, and all the space between filled with fluttering gold flakes, like a snow globe She could see they were finding lift here and there, upwelling over the trees Millions of ht into their eyes
"This is your shot," Tina said, out of the car now and suddenly bossing Ron around bluntly, calling into doubt Dellarobia’s earlier impression that Tina was afraid of him She pointed to where he should set up his tripod, and stood Dellarobia on the precipice, so to speak, with the view of the valley and backdrop of butterflies behind her Tina patted Dellarobia’s face with a powderpuff so she wouldn’t shine, and explained that they would talk for a while with the camera on Dellarobia, then briefly move it around to shoot Tina as well Later they would patch it together into one conversation It didn’torder, or made mistakes They could cut and paste, Tina said They would ood
Dellarobia was flattened with anxiety The questions Tina asked were mostly personal: Who was she, where did she live, how did she and her family feel about what had happened here? To her shock, even Tina knew the circulating story about aDellarobia and soht Did she want to talk about that? Not especially, was Dellarobia’s reply
"Then say whatever you want Whatever you think is important," Tina said
"Well, here’s what I think is probably io to Mexico for the winter They’ve never co like a million years, and now all of a sudden here they are As you can see He saidokay, wait Stop Can I tell you so?"
"Sure"
"There’s a scientist that came here, Dr Byron You need to talk to hi there is to know about these butterflies Could you come back maybe later this week and talk to hiht now, let’s just be here" Tina gave Dellarobia an indulgent smile She felt the depths of her own incoain?" She stuck her hands in her jeans pockets and tried to calood ords Cub always said she could argue the wire off a fence post She’d done speech and drah school
"As many times as you want No worries Just be you" Tina put up her hands and waved the away and start all over "What ant is to be up close and personal with Dellarobia Tell me about the first time you saw the butterflies What did that feel like?"
"The first tilanced at her kids Cordie was safely tucked into the Jeep now, playing with her plastic barn, but Preston was inching his way out to the edge of the overlook "Preston!" she yelled "Not one o sit in the car with your sister" She winced apologetically at Tina, as still s The patience of a saint "Sorry," Dellarobia said
"Nothing to be sorry about Go ahead"
"What I was going to say before is that these butterfliesplace this year, for the first tih it looks really pretty, it ht be a problem It could actually be terrible"
"And why is that?" Tina asked
Why was that Words left herout of its tie, the curls around her faceher, and suddenly she felt co Or not buttoned at all This day was crazy She touched her chest with one hand, checking the button placket "Hang on a sec, can I just, is ? I’esture Dellarobia was starting to recognize "Do you knohat I was thinking just then? Honestly? That this is probably theMonths You, that gorgeous hair, the butterflies behind you It’s just about killingto look like a corpse next to you and all that aht, Ron?"
"Gorgeous," Ron said fro Dellarobia Since as Ron on her side? Gorgeous She wondered if Jiely the result of nicotine deprivation and not entirely at Ji in a skirt Had he never been serious about her at all? Just because she was older, and , sex without risk of attachment Did he even care that she’d ended it? She hoped the sweater looked as good on her now as it had in the store, the rare dressing-roouest idea what Tina had just asked her "What was the question?"