Ancient, Strange, and Lovely by Susan Fletcher

Author:Susan Fletcher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 2010-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

Gradually, it grew dark. The critter climbed into my lap with his hairbrush and sleepily chewed. Traffic thinned; soon we were out of the city, passing through rolling farmland, dark groves of trees, wind farms, and photovoltaic arrays.

Sasha’s car had zero audiotech, unless you counted the ancient AM/FM radio. Fiddling with it, we occasionally managed to tap into some faint, staticky eco-rock frequencies: White Raven, Mutant Tide, Ghost Meridian.

The stars came glimmering out. The critter thrummed against me—asleep, I knew—and somehow, I didn’t feel quite so lonely. I touched one of his wings, unfolded it. It reminded me of an umbrella, with thin, flexible ribs and a membrane between them—tissue papery, translucent, with tiny, branching veins.

He sighed, snorted out a puff of warm breath.

Burnt toast.

We pulled in at a rest stop about halfway to Seattle. When it was my turn to go to the bathroom, Sasha stayed in the car with the critter, not looking too happy about it.

Not so much the lovefest with those two.

A sweet old couple in a rusted-out Airstream trailer were giving out free coffee and cookies. I ate a peanut butter one and took another for later. When I got back, I noticed that the diaper under the critter was damp. I folded it, threw it in a trash can, and replaced it. The critter yawned, gazed up at me. I had a feeling he might have to go. I set him on the grass to one side of the car, out of sight of the coffee people. Right away, he produced a hill of those small, round, hard stools. Like goat poop.

Sasha came up beside us, stared down at the pile. “Is that normal?” she asked.

I looked at her. “Normal?”

“Point taken,” she said. “All right, then. Vamoose.”

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