Until last night Sadie had never crashed outside—and for sure never in the middle of the desert like she had at Steve’s campsite. What a crazy night. First the screaming match with Reggie; then getting thrown into the car and tossed out in middle of nowhere, only to be picked up by this weird old do-gooder with the furry kink on the side.
She was surprised she’d even managed to fall asleep, but she ended up so tired that eventually she just dropped off. Not even the creepy silence broken by the distant cries of the coyotes had been able to keep her awake.
Tonight was a different story.
First off, she wasn’t really tired. Bored? Yeah, big time. It was hard to even think of going to sleep, though she did try. She changed into the oversized T-shirt Aggie had given her and stretched out on the bed, did the whole deal. But then just lay there staring at the ceiling.
She figured it was because Aggie’s guest room wasn’t a whole lot different from being outside, and who in their right mind lived with this kind of quiet? Aggie or Steve’d probably hate the city, but she was used to the sound of traffic wafting in through her windows, snatches of drunken conversation from a few houses over, distant sirens. There was something comforting about hearing life go on even while you were in your bed. It made you feel less alone.
Here, there was only the silence and the deep dark of the night lying thick over everything. She was also starting to feel a little trapped in this small room in the middle of nowhere. The paintings of all the weird animal/human hybrids didn’t help. She couldn’t see them in the dark, but she knew they were there. Watching her.
Okay, she wasn’t a little kid. She knew there was nothing about the paintings that could hurt her. They weren’t real. Just like Aggie’s stories about dog boys and the spirits of vegetables and crap weren’t real, though they at least had seemed a little cool until they went on and on. But the paintings still made her nervous. The longer she lay here, the tighter her chest got.
Her knife usually relieved her anxiety. She got up and pulled it out of her jeans pocket. Taking the woven Indian blanket from the bed, she wrapped it around her shoulders and quietly opened her door.
Ruby lay on the floor outside, head lifting. The dog had wanted to come in but Sadie hadn’t let her. Sure, she seemed nice enough, but what was to stop Ruby from suddenly deciding to tear out her throat in the middle of the night?
Aggie said the dog had taken a liking to her. Sadie just figured Ruby was keeping tabs on her, though why the dog would want to do that was anybody’s guess. Still, it made more sense than a dog she’d only just met liking her for no good reason. She knew from experience that everybody wanted something from you. That was the way the world worked, and she didn’t suppose dogs were any different.
“Is there any point in telling you not to follow me?” she whispered to the dog.
Ruby sat up and cocked her head.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
Tiptoeing across the tiled floor, Sadie pulled the blanket more tightly around her and went out the front door. Ruby slipped out before Sadie could stop her, brushing against her legs. Nails clicking on the tiles.
Sadie wasn’t sure what she was doing outside in her bare feet. For one thing, she knew there were more dogs somewhere out here in the darkness. There’d also be thorns, rattlesnakes, spiders and scorpions. Coyotes. Mountain lions. Pretty much a million things that would just love to have a piece of her.
She looked up.
And that sky. How did the sky get so big?
She shivered as much from the chill in the night air as from the immensity of what stretched over her head and the darkness that went on forever around her. Coming out here was dumb. It just made her feel more displaced and alone.
Looking for someplace hidden where she just could go make a quick little cut, she caught a flicker of light from the corner of her eye. It was a campfire, she realized. She looked more closely and saw there were figures sitting around it.
She remembered Aggie saying something about people coming over for a sweat tomorrow night. Tonight, actually, she supposed, since it was long past midnight. She wasn’t entirely clear on what a sweat was, but she hadn’t wanted to ask since it would’ve meant listening to yet another long story, and she’d heard more than enough of them for one day.
She got it already. Everything has a spirit. Thank the beans and corn for letting you eat them. Don’t throw stones at the little birds because they’ve got just as much right to be here as you do.
That’s probably what was going on over there. People sitting around telling endless stories to thank the wood for letting itself be burned up in their fire. Maybe a shout-out to the clothes they were wearing.
Just do what you came to do and go back inside, she told herself. You don’t need any more stories, and whatever’s going on over there is none of your business.
All true, but she still stepped off the porch to walk in the direction of the fire, her bare feet scuffling in the cool dirt, Ruby padding silently at her side.
Sadie didn’t have anything to worry about. The fire cast dark shadows beyond its circle of light, and that same darkness would hide her from the people at the fire. And maybe Ruby really was looking out for her.
She’d just get close enough to see what they were up to. She sure wasn’t going to go skulking around in the brush off the path, where everything had a thorn.
She could see the people a little better now. They wore blankets like the one she’d borrowed from the guest room, except they were pulled up over their heads like hoodies. A murmur of conversation came to her, not clear enough to make out the words yet, but they were obviously talking to one another, not telling long stories.
A coyote cried out in the darkness and Sadie started. It sounded so close. But then one of the figures lifted an arm as though in greeting to the wild dog’s call. The blanket fell away from where it was shadowing his features. Sadie sucked in a quick breath and put her hand over her mouth before the scream inside her could burst out.
A bird’s head was on the man’s shoulders. He was like Aggie’s paintings.
She must have made some kind of noise because they all turned in her direction, animal features showing under their blankets. Dogs, deer, a lizard, a rabbit.
Sadie ran as fast as she could back to Aggie’s house.