He said, “Wandering around the backcountry is good for ones soul...

As long as one remembers.”

“Eeeuw!” she exclaimed.

He laughed, “Wrong rememberer.”

“Oh. Well...”

“The good parts. Remember the good parts.”

She thought, “You mean the whisper of the slight breeze in the understory brush?”

“Uh huh.”

“The flit and song of that surprising flash of crimson, the cardinal?”

He motioned, “And?”

“The brilliant orange and splash of yellow of the autumn leaves and the tan of the grass at the edge of the game trail. The multitude of grays in the granite cliffs, the smattering of impossible clinging green on the canyon walls and the distant rumble of the silvering waterfall in the gorge. The brown of the grizzly in the river valley catching leaping salmon and the near burnt black of the elk that was grazing the moss on the waters edge?”

“Yes.”

“He had a magnificant set of antlers.”

“That, too.”

“That slash of white as the mountain sheep we disturbed bounded over the ridge?”

His smile lit their world, “That was unexpected. How about the light grey of the descending mist?”

“As we were hiking into it?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Then it started to rain.”

“Wasn’t much of a rain.”

“You shared your slicker,” she said.

“You hugged close.”

“You saw the shadow of that cave in the canyon wall,”

“It was a slippery climb.”

“But we made it ... together.”

“Yes, together.”

“Wasn’t very deep.”

“It was dry.”

“Yes, dry enough.”

“We gathered what dry wood we could find.”

“You rubbed two sticks together and started a fire.”

“Two matches.”

“Wooden kitchen matches.”

“True ... wood is wood.”

“The smoke swirled about.”

“Yes ... into the back of the cave.”

“I thought you coughed.”

“I remember you asking. Wasn’t me. Wasn’t you.”

“Yes.”

“It was the bear.”

“Ah ... the bad parts ... the problem with remembering.”

“Yes.”

“I wonder if our bones are still there?”

“Yes ... but the wolves chewed them and then the mice came.”

“Well ... no sense in going there.”

“No ... we’re gone.”

“Who do you want to frighten next?”

He laughed ... she joined.

“What the fuck was that?”