VACATION

His mother stopped sniffling. “I’m going to
take a nap,” she said blowing her nose on a T
shirt from the backseat.
“We’ll drive on later.”
She settled herself against the cushions,
levered the seat back, removed her shoes, put
her feet on the dash, and closed her eyes.
Eagerly, he jumped from the car.
An afternoon breeze rustled the grasses that
were interspersed with silvery Artemisia
tridentata. Three toothed Artemisia. Big
Sagebrush. Chris had told him the name came
from Artemis, the Greek goddess of wild nature.
He liked the sound of the five separate syllables
and repeated them to himself, “Ar-te-mi-si-a.”