Hide and Seek

I saw Casey watching me and waved her up. She was a good climber.

"See this? Seagulls' restaurant."

She stooped to examine the dry empty shell of a blue-claw crab.

"They fly over here and drop them. Their aim is very good. Usually,

that does it. If not, it will crack them a little. So they find

cracks and do the rest with their beaks. They'd probably be here now

if it weren't for us. See?"

We watched them wheel through the blue-gray sky a quarter of a mile

away.

"You know about things like that?"

"About the sea? Some."

"What else do you know about? Tell me."

I shrugged.

"Lumber. Wood. Henry Miller. Dostoevsky. I can make a fire with a

couple of sticks if I really have to. I build a pretty comfortable

campsite. I know about Dead River, what there is of it. I cook a

pretty decent fried egg. Not much, actually."

"What about me?"

"What about you?"

"What do you know about me?"

"I can guess some things."

"Yes, but what are you sure of?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

She stood up and moved her hand around behind her back and saw her

halter shudder free. She slipped it off and tossed it away. It

drifted down the rock and settled below.

Her breasts were small, firm, with a high lift to them. Beautiful.

She stared at me. There was hard challenge in the blue eyes.

Challenge but no mockery. She stooped a little and drew down the white

shorts over her hips. She wore nothing underneath. The pubic hair was

sparse and delicate, a light golden brown. She watched me through all

this and then smiled.

"Now you know more."

"Now I do."

She turned away and moved easily down the rock, agile as a cat.