Turn 212 of 226

Lie in the open

The 151,000 pounds lower onto the valley floor and the lowering is not the thing the 390-foot frame does gently. The old-growth hemlock crushes under the 960-times density back and the crushing is the sound the forest makes when the forest accepts what the animal does to it. The canopy is gone — the 390-foot frame is above it, the sky open, the grey clouds moving at 4,200 feet and the grey is the thing the body does not need a roof for. The 151,000 pounds settle into the crater the falling created — the soil compressed, the root systems cracked, the ferns flattened under the 960-times density that does not register ferns as different from air. The settling is the thing the open sky gives. The giving is the thing the animal does not cover.

Diane is twenty feet to the left. The 390-foot frame lies on her back in the same posture — arms spread, legs apart, the 151,000 pounds pressing the old growth flat. The body hair catches the light that filters through the broken canopy — dark and matted and coarse, the dried blood from the den fight still crusted along Diane's forearms and across her stomach where Lena's teeth opened the skin and the skin closed in 30 seconds. The blood is the thing the lying does not clean. The not cleaning is the thing the open air holds. The holding is the thing the lying allows.

The wish is working. The warmth in Lena's stomach is not the sun — the sun is behind the clouds and the clouds give nothing — the warmth is the thing the wish puts in the body when the body is still. The still is the thing the open lying creates. The fat layer over the 960-times density muscle is the thing the hand finds and the finding is the thing the animal does without thinking. The fat is soft. The soft is the thing the 151,000 pounds carry and the carrying is the thing the wish feeds. The feeding is the thing the open air does not interrupt. The not interrupting is the thing the lying gives. The giving is the thing the wish takes. The taking is the thing the body does not resist. The not resisting is the thing the bathroom mirror started.

The rain comes at 1400 hours. The drops are cold and the cold is the thing the 960-times density skin registers as touch and the touch is not discomfort. The rain hits the 390-foot frame and the hitting is the thing the body hair catches — each drop pooling in the coarse dark hair on Lena's stomach and arms and legs, the water running through the mats of dried blood and soil and sweat. The rain does not clean. The rain moves the surface and the surface re-forms. The re-forming is the thing the body does because the body is 960-times density and the rain is not. The rain is the thing the open sky sends and the sending is the thing the lying accepts. The accepting is the thing the animal does not move from. The not moving is the thing the open is. The open is the thing the 390-foot frame chose. The choosing is the thing the lying is. The lying is the thing the rain falls on. The falling is the thing that does not stop. The not stopping is the thing the body is under. The under is the thing the sky is. The sky is the thing the body is open to. The open is the thing that is. The is. The is. The is.

The valley holds them. The granite walls stand in the rain and the standing is the thing the territory does. The urine marks darken with the water and the darkening is the thing the scent does not weaken from. The river rises an inch. The elk herd is three miles south now, pushed past the perimeter by the marking, and the pushing is the thing the territory does to everything that is not the two 390-foot frames. The hot spring's steam is thinner in the rain. The den's entrance is dark against the northern ridge. The 151,000 pounds are the thing the valley holds and the holding is the thing the open lying gives. The giving is the thing the wish takes. The taking is the thing the body grows from. The growing is the thing the rain does not stop. The not stopping is the thing the wish is. The wish is the thing the open body is. The open is the thing that is. The is. The is. The is.