Afternoon sun beat on Todd while he climbed the trail from the canyon to the top of La Jarita Mesa. The forest was thin on the rocky slope and shady places to stop were hard to find, so he struggled in the dry heat. It reached its worst near the top where he had to scramble up a cleft in bare rock.
He dragged himself up the last few steps and stood to look down the barrel of a deer rifle. "Stay where you are," she said, and Todd stopped with his heart pounding.
Todd showed her his empty hands and said, "I'm not armed." The girl facing him might have been pretty under different circumstances. But now, her long, brown pony tail fell over the rifle stock, and her dark eyes focused through the sight. It wasn't an appealing presentation.
She stepped back toward the old jeep behind her and looked him over. His skin gleamed under a sheen of sweat and his chest heaved from the effort of climbing out of the canyon. He didn't seem very threatening in his straw cowboy hat and hiking shorts.
"That's my truck back there," Todd said and gestured past her to where he'd parked that morning. "I have to pass you to reach it."
She glanced to where he pointed, lowered her rifle and said, "Walk around." They stood beside a small lake—a pond, really—perched on the edge of the canyon. A pair of shallow ruts skirted the grassy east shore, but elsewhere its water lapped against rocky crags.
"Are you always this friendly?" Todd asked. He kept his eyes on her and walked a circle that took him to the water's edge. She had a tent pitched beside her jeep. An easel held an unfinished painting of the lake.
"I'm careful," she said, "and you surprised me."
"Sorry," Todd said. "I didn't mean to. I'm Todd Stephens, and I'll be here for the next two nights." He stopped once he was past her and waited to see what she'd say.
"Are you camping alone?" she asked, and Todd nodded his answer. "Good. That way I'll only have to use one round."
Todd didn't like they way that started—there were too many firearms involved. He watched her from the back of his truck while he opened the topper and tailgate, tossed his equipment into the truck, and sat down to pull his walking shoes off. She leaned her rifle against the jeep, tugged a canvas hat down on her head, and sat in front of her easel.
The sun was dropping low over the peaks to the west, and Todd still needed to cook his dinner. He slapped a mosquito off his arm and found the bottle of bug repellent lotion in his day pack. He was lotioned and busy with his camp stove when he heard another slap echo off the crags. Todd looked up and watched his neighbor swat away one unseen bug, and then another.
Todd recognized an opportunity he wasn't sure he wanted. He looked at the little bottle of repellent and shrugged to himself. If that could cut his chance of being shot, then why not use it?
He stopped thirty yards away from her. "Hey!" he said. He didn't want to surprise her again.
She put her easel in the back of the jeep and stopped to slap another bug off her arm. "What do you want?" she asked. Now pink from his sunburn, hatless and barefoot, Todd looked even less threatening than before.
"It looks like you could use this," Todd said. He walked to within five yards and offered her the bottle. "It's bug repellent, and it works."
She raised a suspicious eyebrow at Todd, and then at the bottle. "What do you want for it?" she asked.
"For a few drops? Your name." Todd said. "You know mine, but I don't know yours."
She put her hand out and Todd stepped closer to give her the bottle. "I'm Cosima," she said. "Cosima Tafoya. Thanks." She squeezed a little of the lotion into her hand and rubbed it on her arm. "What are you doing out in the middle of nowhere?"
"I'm a Geologist," Todd said. "Actually, I'm a Geology student. I'm studying this area for my Master's Thesis." Cosima lotioned her other arm, and Todd asked, "Are you just here to paint?"
Cosima spread lotion on her neck and under the collar of her shirt before she handed the little bottle back. "
Si,
just that," she said. "I paint."
Todd cocked his head at Cosima. She looked younger than he was—certainly she wasn't old enough to have built a career in art. But then, the day was turning to dusk and the sky was pink. Maybe her looks were deceiving.
A small flock of ducks settled into the pond and started talking to each other, and Todd and Cosima both turned to watch. "It's a pretty place, isn't it?" Todd asked.
"That's why I come here," Cosima said. "Now, leave me alone."
Todd had no trouble leaving Cosima alone. He fixed dinner, wiped the pans clean, and then stretched out in the bed of his truck to read a dog-eared paperback by lamplight. He listened to the coyotes howl in the forest and slept until the heat of the morning sun made him move again.
Cosima's camp was quiet when Todd left in the morning. He didn't see her until late in the afternoon when he climbed the trail from the canyon again. He stopped on the scramble at the top of the trail and his voice bounced off the bare rock when he called her. "Cosima! It's Todd. I don't want to surprise you again."
When Todd topped the trail, he found Cosima's rifle on its rack in her jeep. She was packing her camp. She stopped her work and watched him nearly stumble off the trail. "You look bushed," she said. "Long day?"
"Yeah," he answered, and waved toward the peak that dominated the northern horizon. "I went across the canyon, up the peak, and took a wrong turn on the way back. Right now I need water."
Todd watched Cosima for a moment. She had a scarf tied over her hair and wore a loose t-shirt and shorts. "It look's like you're leaving," he said.
Cosima reached into the front seat of the jeep and backed out with a water bottle. "On me," she said and tossed the bottle at Todd.
She leaned back into the jeep and took her rifle off the rack. "Before I go, I want to clear up something. I probably gave you the wrong impression yesterday." She held the rifle with its butt against her hip and the muzzle pointing away, and she slammed the bolt open and closed.
Nothing happened. If there had been a shell in the chamber, it would have ejected. "Full magazine," she said, "Empty chamber. I'm not crazy, but if you'd taken a step toward me I would have chambered a round in a split second."
Todd gulped from Cosima's water bottle and wiped his mouth. "You have a round chambered now." he said and used the bottle to gesture to the jeep. "Do you have a long drive?"