He was the only one who had noticed. Or the only one who asked. I‘m just feeling, I don‘t know. She hesitated.

What?

Crowded, Kate said.

Her answer surprised them both, Old Sam because it wasn‘t the one he was expecting, and Kate because she hadn‘t known it was there. She tried to make a joke of it. The world is too much with us nowadays. It didn‘t used to be. Crowded, he said. Huh. Old Sam looked thoughtful. Mine getting to you, girl? No! He cocked an eyebrow at the explosive emphasis of the word. No, she said again. It‘ll be a good thing, Uncle. There will be industry, and a tax base, and jobs to keep the kids home. Villages are dying up and down the river because the kids are leaving. Chulyin, Potlatch, Red Run. There‘s no one left in Tikani except for Vidar Johansen, and he‘s older than you. She paused. Auntie Vi sold her B and B to the Suulutaq Mine people this morning. She‘s going to run it for them.

No shit? He shook his head, it looked as if in admiration. How ‘bout that old broad. I hope she held them up for all the traffic could bear.

Kate told him about the zeroes on the check.

He whistled, long and low. All right, Vi. He looked down at Kate‘s woebegone expression. All change is of itself an evil, which ought not to be hazarded but for evident advantage.‘ That grin broke out again at her look of astonishment. Sam‘l Johnson. What, you thought you were the only one in the family who ever read a book? Girl, I got— He broke off, looking over her shoulder.

Kate turned to follow his gaze and beheld a Mutt who had retreated all the way back down her genome to the Jurassic era. Her ears were erect, her hackles were standing straight up, her back was arched, and her lips were drawn back to expose all of her teeth all the way up to her gums. Her head was sunk down between her shoulders, her front legs were spread and planted, and she was en pointe. As if she had only been waiting for their complete and undivided attention, she let forth with something between a snarl and a sonic boom.

Which was about when the noise registered on Kate‘s consciousness, a not-distantenough sound of brush crunching underfoot from beyond the edge of the lower side of the clearing. It seemed to all three of them to be coming nearer, fast. Kate looked around. The guys were long gone.

Mutt took a step forward. No, Mutt, Kate said as forcefully as she could. No. Mutt snarled, yes, snarled at her, and Kate cuffed her once, hard on the side of her head. Mutt! No! Mutt whined once but she didn‘t drop and roll, and Kate knew she had to get them out of there pronto or there would be blood spilled. She didn‘t want it to be Mutt‘s. She jerked her head at Old Sam. Come on, Uncle, time to go. They retreated backward, away from the increasing crashing and thrashing in the bushes, the tops of which were now moving violently, as if in a strong wind. Whatever it was was moving pretty fast, and to move that fast through that primeval old-growth forest it had to be pretty big.