“I’m so sorry I did that,” said the woman, stunned by all the feelings she was feeling.

“It’s okay,” said East. He hadn’t minded at all that the woman had hugged him.

“I don’t know why I did that. I guess I just really appreciate you letting me stay here—so I can do what I need to do. You have no idea how much it means to me. Thank you.”

“Sure,” said East.

And the woman smiled and focused her attention skyward again.

And East watched the woman watch the sky. And felt like he could have watched her forever.

And then the woman suddenly gasped and said, “Oh, no!” And she started pressing her hands to her chest as if she was having trouble breathing.

“What’s wrong?” asked East. “Are you okay?”

The woman had gotten her flashlight out of her backpack and flicked it on and started searching frantically for something around her campsite.

“What’s wrong?” repeated East.

The woman shone her flashlight on East and suddenly gasped again and cried, “Oh!” She had found what she was looking for.

“What?”

“I need that!” The woman was pointing at something East was holding.

East looked down to where the woman was pointing.

And was surprised to find a small brown paper sack in the crook of his arm.

He had no idea he had been holding it.

Or how long he had been holding it.

Or how he had gotten it.

Or that the woman had been holding it the whole time they had been talking.

He simply hadn’t seen it.

When the woman had hugged him a few moments ago, it had gotten lodged between their bodies and a seamless transfer occurred—so seamless that neither East nor the woman realized that the bag had exchanged owners.

East held the small brown paper sack out to the woman, and the woman snatched it from him. “Thanks,” she said, holding the bag close, relieved to have it back.

“Sure,” said East.

And then the woman clicked off her flashlight and put it back in her backpack and resumed looking at the sky. And hoped that East would go back inside his house and let her do what she needed to do.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Because East was too intrigued by this woman.

And he wanted to know why she was there.

So he said, “So … I don’t mean to bother you, but did you say—when I came out here and asked you if there was somethin’ I could do for you—did you say that you were here to see the northern lights?”

“Yeah,” said the woman, happy that East wasn’t asking her about the brown paper sack that she had just recovered. “I’ll only be here tonight. I’ll see them tonight. And then I’ll be gone.”

“Um, well … you never really know if you’re gonna see ’em, you know. They’re not on a schedule or anything. So you might not see ’em tonight.”

“Oh, no! I’ll see them!” insisted the woman. “Your latitude is good.”