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-------. ------- ------- ------- ------- -------“Can we have lunch?” Terry asked. “I’m hungry.” -------Morris poured hot coffee into paper cups and set them in his cup holder. -------Terry inspected the smoked turkey sandwiches and handed Morris the one with hot peppers. They ate in silence and watched the geese. It was early fall. The leaves had been turning, one at a time it seemed, for almost a month. -------Morris and Terry never talked about the past. Morris’s past was off limits. Terry said hers wasn’t worth discussing. -------A car drove into the nearly empty parking lot. A middle aged couple got out and carried a bag to the picnic table at the edge of the pond. The geese watched them. Then they paddled ashore a few at a time and in no hurry, looking in every direction except towards the picnic table. The couple seemed oblivious. -------“Jesus,” Morris said, “don’t they see them?” -------The geese circled the table. A large one hopped onto the bench and then to the table top and began to investigate the bag. The couple quickly packed up and went back to their car. They’d driven off before Morris finished his coffee. The geese returned to the pond. -------“It’s nippy out,” Morris said. -------“Feels good,” Terry said. -------They started along the path that led around the pond and through the beech forest. It was early afternoon, but the sun was already low in the sky. Morris had rarely noticed the sun at all before he moved to the Cape. The path was soft sand. Slow going. Bear oak, beach plum, and stunted pitch pine held back the dunes. Nothing moved in the woods except the chickadees that followed them from tree to tree inches above their heads. -------The path wound over the top of a low hill and passed through a field of bearberry. Big old beech trees clung to the steep sides of the dune as the path plunged down into a little valley. Some trees had initials carved into their skin-like bark. -------“Aren’t they wonderful!” Terry said. -------Their feet made no sound on the leaves. At the far end, the path led steeply up the side of a dune. Terry went first. Morris struggled to keep up, glancing nervously at the precipitous slope. -------“Quick,” Terry said in a loud whisper. Morris glimpsed two shapes as they slipped into the shadows. -------“Coyotes,” Terry said. “Really shaggy ones. I love coyotes.” -------The path circled back towards the pond. -------“It’s nice here in the spring,” Terry said. “The new beech leaves are so green.” -------Morris raised his eyebrows. -------“Really green, Morris. So green you can’t believe it.” -------“I believe it,” Morris said. He put his arm around her. -------Terry stopped. “What made those tracks?” -------Morris looked at them. “A bear?” -------“Noooo,” Terry said. “There aren’t any bears on Cape Cod.” -------“There are bearberries.” -------“There just aren’t any bears, Morris. Maybe there used to be. Whatever it is has really big feet.” -------They walked more quickly on their way back to the parking lot. A park ranger had stopped his truck beside Morris’s car. -------“Afternoon, officer,” Morris said to him. “Something wrong?” -------“Some kids scratched your car.” The ranger pointed to the letters crudely cut into the car door. “I know them.” -------“Thank you, officer,” Morris said. “I’d rather just let it go. I can touch up the scratches.” -------“It’s your decision, sir,” the ranger said. “It might be a favor to the kids to charge them.” -------“No,” Morris said. “Eventually they’ll scare themselves. Then maybe they’ll stop.” -------The ranger frowned at Morris. “All right, sir,” he said. “Have a nice day.” He got into his truck and drove off. -------“You really think it might be a bear?” Terry asked. -------“No,” Morris said. -------“We could have taken a picture of the tracks.” -------“We could have,” Morris said, “if we had a camera.” ------- ------- ------- |