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It got shallow surprisingly fast, and although the shoreline was littered with rocks, the ocean bottom was smooth and sandy The water was only knee deep as we plodded our way up to the stump and examined the reflector

“It’s in decent shape,” he said “I’d be surprised if it’s a year old”

“Is it glued on?”

“Looks like it” He lifted his gaze, scanning the area, and then his head tilted “Is that a path?”

From the boat, the rocky hillside dipped down and looked bowl-shaped, but noe could see that wasn’t the case It o separate slopes, one in front of the other It would be generous to call the sandy area in front of it a beach, but a s behind the slope and into the woods up the hillside

I dodged a clu the seawater out ofthrough our toes We didn’t talk about following the path Maybe we both sensed ere on to soh me This spot was so secluded, it made sense nohy it’d been marked

Tree branches and overgrown grass closed around the path which was so narroe could only walk single file Sunlight dappled through the leaves overhead Sand gave way to sticks, rocks, and exposed tree roots, and I ground o much farther I was about to tell hi me to run into him

“What is it?” I asked

He turned to the side, allowingchain link fence with a large gash in it and the ends bent away froh it for years

On the other side of the fence, there was a road

He pushed one side of it away frorabbed his shoulder “Wait, do you want to get tetanus? You don’t even have a shirt on”

It was enough to give hi the fence When it snapped back in place, so on the forest floor moved with it I motioned toward it “What’s that?”

He bent, brushed the dead leaves out of the way, and retrieved the thin, black tactical flashlight whose wrist strap es of thein to look at it as he rotated the flashlight in his hands

There was yellow printing on the handle, but it was faded and worn off in some places

“Any idea what that says?” I asked