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Email Anita at anita@anitadaher.com 

I’ll walk a little farther, she thought.  If it’s not the right way I can always turn back.

Was her mom  fighting this fire, or had she gone to the other one out west?  Probably this one.  If her mom had gone west, she would have been called back.  She would be worried about her.   She had probably asked Jack to check on her.

Kaylee stopped.

In school all the kids were taught that if they got lost, they were supposed to hug a tree until they were found.  Jack would know she was in the woods.  After all, she went hiking pretty much every day.  He would come looking for her.  He kept a key to their house – just in case – would let himself in, and check the map for her feather.  She needed to do what she had been taught, and wait.

Except that she had pinned the feather on Red Sector

Something snapped in the woods to her left.  Probably just a fox.  In town, old Mr. Frank always had pelts hanging behind the trading counter of his general store.   Mostly it was fox, but sometimes he had lynx, and would let her gently stroke the pelt.  It was the softest thing she had ever felt, even softer than a baby’s hair.  Lynx were pretty rare -- hard to trap, and mean when cornered.

A poacher would be mean too.

It was probably just a fox.

All she could see of the sky were scattered puzzle-pieces of light.  The bombers sounded louder now.  She swallowed.  The inside of her mouth had a flat, rusty sort of taste, and her eyes stung a little.  She stared hard into the brush around her.  It didn’t look smoky.  Still...what if the fire wasn’t almost out?  Needing more air she opened her mouth, sucking deeper.  What if Jack couldn’t find her?