VACATION

sobs. What to do? It wasn’t like her to say only
clipped responsible things. She was usually
pretty happy and liked to laugh a lot. He hadn’t
expected her to burst out crying, hunched over
the wheel, crying.
He climbed over to the front, put his arms
around her from the side, and hugged her.
“Don’t worry, I like it here,” he said,
feeling a little guilty about wishing he were with
the museum class.
The group was driving to a remote
canyon with its paleo fossil bones and
mysterious rock shelters and maybe even cougar
tracks. They would be hiking in the desert with a
purpose. Exploring. And bringing back the
fossils that night and talking about their finds by
the light of a campfire, roasting marshmallows.