Salvation Canyon by Ed Rosenthal

Salvation Canyon by Ed Rosenthal

Author:Ed Rosenthal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DoppelHouse Press
Published: 2020-06-14T16:00:00+00:00


V.

Day three

Sunday September 26

As LIGHT FILLED Tree Canyon, I walked over to the yucca and stood in front of her. One by one, I held the stems of the yucca in my left hand and cut off their tips with my right. I still had trouble. The big blade of the knife got stuck halfway through the strongest stems, so I switched to the small blade. This worked. The place got hot as I cut the tips off enough blades in one area to get to the dark grey trunk. I stuck the tip of the knife in and saw soft pistachio inner bark around the blade just six inches from my face. It looked moist. I wanted to cut a slot, but the blade that I had stuck into the trunk could not cut downward. I pulled it out, opened my knife to all the different blades attached, and saw the fish-cleaning blade. I shoved in the point and sawed a vertical slot, anticipating a drink. The cut looked like it was filled with water. Something glistened across the cut’s little lips, but when I put my mouth to it and sucked, nothing came out.

The trunk had water but held it in its skin. I could see it but not taste it. I was tired of standing and sat down. I decided to pull off stems, hoping soft ends attached to the trunk would be moist. But the yucca was tougher and smarter than I was. When I pulled at a stalk with my arms, it didn’t budge, and instead my butt slid on the sand closer to the trunk. In response, I took a systematic approach to frond removal. First, I cut the tip of the stalk off with the small blade, then removed its supporting thatching on the trunk with the large and saw blades, then clamped the tiny pliers of the knife on the stem, tight in my fist, and pulled. The results were nothing to brag about. Sticking my arm out to grab one, I imagined reaching into the veggie drawers of our refrigerator at home for a cold stick of celery and hearing the plump green stalk crunch. No such luck. Each was disappointing in a different way. Some, bone dry, tasted like paper on my tongue. Others had small amounts of moisture. I sat cutting, de-barking, and pulling stalks until my arms flopped to my sides.

After three hours’ labor, I had eight or nine un-chewed stalks lying at my feet. The sun had lit up the canyon; it was time to leave. Even if I could hide under the tree all day, I could not take another cold night. I sat by the yucca and looked around Tree Canyon. Many green and yellow shrubs were lit in soft light. I wished I were a Native Mojave who could understand which of the plants held food or water. But the knowledge was hidden from me.

I shoved the stalks into my pack to suck on later.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.