Free The Nature of the Beast by G.M. Ford Page B

mechanics of the gun again.
    “You showed me,” she said.
    He grimaced and tried to calm himself.
    She sensed his discomfort, stepped over and threw her arms around his neck. Gilbert hesitated, as if unwilling to remove his hand from the gun, and then reciprocated, resting his head on her shoulder as he squeezed her around the waist. They stood in the yellow lantern light for a time, wordlessly embracing, seeking comfort from the storm their lives had suddenly become.
    Finally, Gilbert opened his eyes and separated from his wife. “It’s an hour and a half each way,” he said. “Figure a half an hour in St. George.” He checked his watch. “I should be back…one-thirty… two tops. We can sleep in.”
    Despite a growing sense of apprehension, she smiled and nodded, watching her husband scoop up his keys and don his jacket before he stepped over and brushed her cheek with his lips, careful not to allow the gun in his waistband to touch her. She followed him out onto the front porch, watched as Gilbert started the car and motored slowly down the drive. She put both hands across her belly, as if to keep her innards in place, and watched the red lights disappear into the forest
    __
    He watched the SUV roll down the dirt track and disappear from view. When the red glow of the vehicle ’ s tail lights no longer tinged the underside of the clouds, he held his breath and listened until the soft whine of the car ’ s engine faded to a whisper and finally to nothing at all, as yet another frenzied rush of wind sent the trees waving in every direction at once. The air was heavy with the odor of pine and the promise of rain.
    He turned his attention back to the cabin. The pair of square windows threw yellow shafts of light down across the porch. Mama cow stood, half in, half out of the darkness, pitifully reduced to massaging her barren belly with both hands while the handsome stranger rode off into the sunset.
    He watched her stand on the porch and stare into the darkness. No need to wonder what she was thinking. The swirling wind carried her scent to him. From forty yards, he could smell fear, rank and acrid.
    Women wanted to live forever. That ’ s what nature gave them in lieu of courage. The instinctive desire to persist and pass on their genes regardless of the degree of difficulty involved, like salmon struggling upstream to order to spawn.
    After several moments, she sidled to the front of the porch, stuck her hand out from under the roof and tested for rain. As if to answer, a sudden gust of wind swirled the dust in the yard. She used her hands to swat at the thick airborne screen and then hurried to the front door. A volley of raindrops slatted noisily on the ground as the leading edge of the storm finally arrived. She disappeared inside.
    He leaned back against a small tree and slipped his backpack from his shoulders. He unzipped the pack and removed the contents which he then laid out on the hill by his right side, making certain they were properly arranged, evenly spaced and oriented, then turned his attention to the Blackberry in his parka pocket. He pushed a series of buttons and watched the Google map appear on the screen. Waited as the little red pin finally appeared and began to move up route eighty-nine, past Jacob Lake, toward the Utah border. As he ’ d surmised, papa cow was on his way to St. George and the wonders of WiFi. He pushed the power button, watched the screen go dark and leaned back against the hill. His head was spinning.
    No hurry. No hurry. No hurry. He said it in a low voice, over and over until the drone became part of the wind.
    __
    At first she thought it was lightning. The sudden white flash then slow fade to black. She counted, waiting for the thunder to tell her how far away the storm was. One, two, three…” When it didn’t come, she listened more intently. Four, five, six, seven.. Nothing but muffled roar of wind and rain reached her ears.
    Or was it the other way around? First