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"I know all about those," Autuovernot talk shows about UFOs on AM radio nearly every night Soht have happened to Mysty"

"Mysty’s the girl who disappeared from our town," I said, and Bernadette nodded

"She went out there to look up at the stars," Autuet her Who knows? Anyway, is that why you all are going out there--to see a UFO?"

"No, we’re going to study nature" Bernadette yawned "It’s one thing to read about it, soo to college" Autumn’s voice was suddenly decisive

"So ill you do after high school?" I reached to switch off the lamp

"I used to think I’d ned "Now I don’t know So no place fast"

I wanted to say so to comfort her, but all I could think of were clichés: You’re still young You’ll get over it

Bernadette said, "Yeah Some days I feel like that, too"

Autu Bernadette wrote her a note, telling her to stay as long as she liked "Don’t be sad about your ex," she wrote "You haven’t ht one yet"

She set the note near Autu Autu ar nice to my friend," I said to Bernadette, once ere outside

She shrugged "I feel sorry for her She see lot and found two seats at the very rear of the Hillhouse van The Marchsun Other students took their ti seats; some carried cups of coffee or hot chocolate, whose aroulp of tonic, straight froh for y from lack of sleep

Professor Riley and Professor Hoffing," Hoffman said to us

When the van finally left campus, I turned to watch Hillhouse disappear--and that’s when I saw a beige van pass, headed in the opposite direction I couldn’t see the driver or the make of the vehicle Despite the heater in our van, I felt a faint chill

Most of the students dozed on the brief ride to Okefenokee I stayed awake As the sun grew higher in the sky, e vans in Georgia, I told myself

By the time we arrived at the swa permits, and packed our canoes, it was nearly ten AM The teh to shed our down jackets and vests We put our sleeping bags and supplies in trash bags, set theee cords

As I was tying --look!"

An alligator lay on the bank about a hundred feet away fro to its skeleton--emaciated, but still alive We could see life in its s with hie, orto help?" Bernadette’s voice carried across the water, and one of the park guides ca ready to die We don’t interfere with nature"

Bernadette didn’t say anything, but her shoulders hunched, and I knew she disagreed Later she said toattention" She shook her head

Each canoe held two, and Bernadette and I were partners For the initial part of the trip, we both paddled; later, we took turns I wore a thick coat of sunblock on my skin, and she had sprayed both of us with insect repellent I told her that bugs never bit me, but she wasn’t convinced

The e rode was called a canal At first it was the color of slate--gray, with indigo veins and variations--and the canoes rode it cal barely a splash There was no wind, and the only sound was the low groaning of frogs Along the banks alligators lay, singly or in couples, so season o months away, and they weren’t yet inclined to be territorial

For several minutes, none of us talked The air s me a little of the smell of witch hazel My mother kept a bottle of it in the bathrooorize the scent more precisely: it was both acidic and sweet, with perhaps a hint of turpentine Nothing like witch hazel, really

After we rounded the canal’s last bend, we entered a prairie--a wide expanse of flowering swamp Here the water becaan, and conical yelloers bobbed close to the canoe As ent further, those flowers seee strewn across the prairie as far as we could see

Professor Riley said the floere called golden club Their other name was "neverwet," because their succulent-like leaves repel moisture They resist the elements that do not favor them, he said They are likely to endure

By the time we pulled our canoes ashore on the island late that afternoon, our eyes were as tired as our arreen and blue herons, sandhill cranes, ibises, kingfishers, and ators than we could count As I flipped our canoe over, a thick blue-black snake ed from a sandy mound close by

I didn’t like snakes then any ht to be on the island than I had I stood still As the snake slithered into the brush, I felt the presence of someone behind me

Professor Hoffman didn’t speak until the snake had disappeared "Well, well," he said "Recognize it?"

"An indigo snake?"

"Very good They’re an endangered species, you know Their natural habitat has been turned into shoppingdevelopments Now, unfortunately, they’ve developed the habit of napping on roads"