Driving In

Seven miles into town. Day in, day out. You notice the new things. A large piece of cardboard near the big turn. A refrigerator box? Was it going to the dump? Your eyes search the shoulder left, right. To the girls--"Tell me if you see any elk." The rut is well underway. And the new things in the road: things you drive around. Don't want that mess on your tires. Audrey reads. Kate hums to herself. We have, with us, a posterboard cutout of a Sonoran pronghorn. It fills the passenger seat. "You just passed one," Kate says. What? An antelope? "An elk." An elk! I never saw it. I turn up the heater. I'm going to have to start parking in the garage now.

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skunk conversation
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