I sighed, studied her ever so briefly, and grew slightly irritated. “You do understand that I’m your professor, your married-with-child professor?”

“It’s the snakes.”

I wanted to say that she should have left for Los Angeles with the others, but I didn’t. It didn’t make sense to comment on something that was done and over. “It’s hardly likely that that will happen again, a snake showing up in camp,” I said. “Get in your tent and zip it up. If by some incredible magic a snake shows up, it can’t get inside your zipped-up tent.”

“Really?”

“They don’t have hands, Rachel.”

She laughed.

“Good night, Rachel.”

“I’m scared. Can’t I just sit here and we talk for a while?” Before I could scream for help, she was seated on the ground.

I sat up in my bag. “There’s not much for us to talk about.”

She said nothing but looked at the quiet campsite.

“What are we supposed to talk about?” I asked. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Anything.”

“Where are you from, Rachel?”

“The Seattle area.”

I nodded. “Siblings.”

“Nope. My mother had a miscarriage before I came along. She says she was lucky to have me.”

“No doubt.”

“What about you? Where did you grow up?”

“Durham, North Carolina.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” she asked.

“No.”

She used her finger to draw in the sand in front of her, something she couldn’t see in the dark. She raked her dark hair behind her ear and offered a nervous smile. I hoped she could sense how uncomfortable I was. I looked back at the quiet campsite to see if anyone was observing us. No one was.

“What’s your major?” I asked.

“Biology. But I’m thinking of changing to geology.”

“Why is that?”

“You,” she said, happily. “You seem to love your subject so much.”

I had never heard such bullshit in my life. I opened my mouth and said, “I have never heard such bullshit in my life.”

Her face went blank. Blanker.

“Really, Miss Charles, do you think I will date you? Kiss you? Sleep with you? You don’t know how I feel about anything. I have taught you a few terms about sediment and rocks and watched you have sex for a nanosecond. I didn’t even watch long enough to have any interest.”

To her credit she did not cry in front of me, or perhaps at all. She got up and marched away without a glance back at me.

I felt like shit. I was a shit.

I didn’t sleep that night. And not because of snakes. Perhaps in some perverse way it was because of snakes. I got out of my bag and walked through the desert. My footfalls were heavier than normal, and so my own noise bothered me.