SandScript 2020

A Death in the Desert
Lee Fike
VISUAL ART
I
left the highway and took a county
road north, roughly paralleling
the desert river—tall, leafy cottonwoods,
mesquites, and desert willows tracing a
thin green line in the valley between blue
mountain ranges on either side. A Turkey
Vulture floated in lazy circles on a thermal,
high above the desert floor. The pavement
turned to sand and dirt almost immediately,
and the smooth, sweeping curves of the
empty road reminded me of my youth, when
I had lived in this desert, an hour away from
the city. The sun was perched on the peaks
to the west when I came to a side road,
marked by a low wooden sign— “Flanagan”
was painted on it, in white paint with drip
lines. Just the sign I was looking for.
I took the sandy road, slow across
the washboard, uphill into the gloom of the
mountain shadow.
An old ranch on the side of a little
hill. A large adobe house with a rusty
corrugated metal roof. A barn opposite,
across a large barnyard, with more
Eva Kamenetski
Reminiscent
Photograph, Gelatin Silver Print 8”x8.1”
24