Chasing Dust: Love, Family & Friendship in the American Southwest (6 Degrees Book 1) by Dani Keen

Author:Dani Keen [Keen, Dani]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paper Moth Publishing
Published: 2023-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

Lyla

TWENTY-FIVE

AS I CLIMBED higher into the thin mountain air, my breath heaved to keep up with my body. I was a mile in and my feet already hurt. Up ahead Otis walked along the worn trail. His tail swung in overdrive, eager to explore every budding smell, as the path cut through a patch of open plain.

The hike had turned out to be more grueling than I anticipated. It wasn’t far but the quick elevation changes and rough terrain were very different than my morning runs. Still, I needed to be here. These mountains had been staring at me for weeks and it was time for us to finally meet face to face. Not to mention Otis and I were both going a little stir crazy in that house, probably as a result of all the cleaning chemicals floating around. So on a whim I packed us up and drove north, knowing the outdoors was the only suitable remedy.

I wiped the sweat from my neck and looked forward down the trail. About a quarter mile out was a dense patch of pines. It wouldn't be long until the air would drop a few degrees and give me some reprieve from this sun. Otis however seemed unfazed by the heat and charged forward. I envied that enthusiasm.

As we ducked into the towering trees, I welcomed the shiver that ran through me from the damp air. The shadows were an oasis. Moss grew freely on the side of the pines and the forest floor echoed with the tiny sounds of bugs and decaying limbs.

My mind settled into a trance listening to the small pebbles on the trail beneath my feet. It wasn’t long until my breath fell into rhythm with it. Crunch, crunch, inhale. Crunch, crunch, exhale.

Out of nowhere a vision of a ten-year-old girl came to me. She was standing in a backyard, wearing a lab coat that hung past her knees, with her hands placed on a giant oak tree. Seeing her broke my rhythm. It was a version of myself I hadn’t thought of in almost fifteen years.

As a child I had gotten it in my head that being a tree doctor was a suitable career when I grew up. I don’t even know where I got the idea, seeing as trees don’t really have doctors, but it was my delusional dream nevertheless. Even at ten I spent most of my days working toward it.

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