Things that went smoothly today:
Late start, but got everyone from place to place in decent time
Minimal complaints from the group—bodes well for good ratings
Great weather, good food—also good for ratings
Things that weren’t so great:
Matteo and I still aren’t speaking. It’s awkward, at best, but could be a real problem if we don’t deal soon.
Sadie—She’s trying, which I appreciate. Her shoes are definitely an issue. This morning’s late start was due to her elaborate setup.
My own focus. Between Matteo and Sadie, I’m more distracted than usual—be careful to maintain focus tomorrow for the sake of the group.
FOR DAD
Cloverleaf Creek looked healthy—not too high, not too low
Saw two types of hummingbirds near the creek bed—Anna’s Hummingbird and Calliope Hummingbird
9THORN
I wake up from a dead sleep in the middle of the night.
It’s windy—but I’ve slept through worse.
I sit very still, listen to the sounds of the nocturnal landscape: I hear a faint rustling, growing louder.
My first instinct saysbears, even though I’ve never had an encounter in this part of the Sierras—there’s a first time for everything, though. I’ve heard rumors of them raiding campsites in neighboring parks, in Kings Canyon and Sequoia and Yosemite.
All at once, the rustling stops.
The wind picks up again. Maybe I’m still half asleep, but it almost sounds like it’s saying my name.
“Thorn,” I hear again, more urgently this time—and also more distinctly human.
I unzip my tent and find myself face-to-face with Sadie.
The sight of her makes me forget everything, and for a split second the world is nothing but her silk pajamas and that mane of untamed hair and her eye mask haphazardly pushed up like a headband and her long, long legs—
But then she says my name again and it all comes into focus.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
It’s got to be three or four in the morning, and the last thing I want to do is wake up the entire camp.
“My tent, uh—it’s kind of annihilated at the moment?” She grimaces, glancing over to look at it. “Can you come help me?”
“?‘Kind of annihilated’?” I ask, rubbing a hand over my face as my eyes adjust to being awake.
“Just come see?”
I climb out of my tent, and—oh—
There’s a dark blob of fabric crumpled on the ground, limned in moonlight.
I can’t help it, I laugh. “Did this, like…fallon you?”
