“Think we’ll see a lion?” I asked.

“Have you ever seen one out here?”

“A couple of times over the years,” I told her. “From a pretty good distance. I think I prefer it that way.”

“Just how much chaperoning are we supposed to do?” she asked.

“They’re college students. If they want to fuck, they fuck. Who can stop them? It’s all cool as long as we don’t fuck them. Perish the thought.”

“I understand. Though it’s really not going to do much to make my job security any worse.”

I ignored her comment. “We can’t let the underaged ones drink booze. That’s the only policing we’re required to perform. And all that means is that we don’t supply the booze. Might as well accept that they’re all going to drink and smoke pot.”

“And fuck.”

“And fuck.”

After some more small talk, Hilary asked if I would write her a letter of recommendation for fellowships.

Turns out I am not a nice man. “Hilary, what kind of letter do you think I can write for you?”

“Never mind,” she said.

“No, Hilary, I’m serious. I would like to help you, so tell me what I can write. Do you have anything I can read? Do you even have your raw data in any kind of shape for me to look at?”

“Why are you such an asshole with me?”

At this I smiled. “Good. I’ll write you a letter. A good letter.”

She tossed me a confused glance.

“If you can tell everybody else to fuck off the way you just told me and do your work, you’ll be all right. I’ll write you a letter.”

“That’s all it took?”

“Apparently.”

“Thank you.”

“What kind of shape is the data in?” I asked, trying to make nice.

“Not very good,” she admitted. “I’m really not cut out for this. I’m no scientist. My sister is a great scientist. I’m not.”

“I wouldn’t say that. You’re plenty smart, but as you can see, you don’t have to be smart to be successful.”

She laughed. “What do you think I should do?”

“I’m not one to offer advice. Mainly because I, unlike you, am not very smart. What do you want to do?”

“Classical piano.”

“I didn’t know you played.”

“I don’t.”

“A couple of lessons then.” I felt more comfortable with Hilary. She had turned some kind of corner, though I don’t know what that corner was. She seemed to accept her situation; still quite obviously she was full of fear, but with good nature. I wished I could help, but I knew I wouldn’t.

Larus pipixcan. A partial ulna and the distal end of a humerus were recovered from the cave in pack rat middens and on rocks. Some other bones, yet to be identified because of the size of the fragments, were also discovered in similar nonstratigraphic contexts.