Episode 332: Been Here a While

One morning Terrastina finds an abandoned car several yards off the road near the mountain. She stops her bicycle and approaches the car. It has run into a tree. She peeks through the driver’s window to see if anyone is inside. Empty. Water has pooled and dried in the well of the brake lights. Chalky circles nest there like the lines of rock layers exposed where road crews blast away hillsides. Terrastina looks up. She imagines someone running from this broken car, becoming lost in the woods for months, forging a life from the land, and ambivalent about rescue.