Edward drew a line with his finger from the tiny speck of blue. "Look above that a couple of degrees. Here." He handed Minelli the binoculars. Minelli swept them back and forth in decreasing arcs and stopped, brows rising above the eyepieces. "Got him. Or her. Just hanging there."

"There's another above that one," Edward said. "They must be a team. You can barely see the ropes between them."

"How long does it take to get to the top?"

"A day, someone told me. Maybe longer. Sometimes they overnight up there, hanging in a bag, or on a ledge if they're lucky."

Minelli returned the binoculars. "Makes me queasy just thinking about it."

Edward shook his head. "I don't know. I could get into it. Think of the accomplishment. Standing up on top, looking out over everything. Be like building a skyscraper and knowing it was yours."

Minelli made a dubious face. "What else is happening here? The place is deserted."

"Practically. There's a group meeting in the amphitheater at Curry Village this evening. A band is holding a concert tomorrow evening. The rangers are really loose. Some of them are giving tours on the weekend."

"Everybody's staying home. Mr. and Mrs. Momand-dad huddling next to their TVs, huh?"

Edward nodded, then raised the binoculars, spotting another climber. "Do you blame them?"

"No," Minelli said quietly. "If I had a home or anybody I cared about—a woman, I mean—that's where I'd be. I said good-bye to my sister and mom. They don't know what the hell's happening. They're too ignorant to be scared. Mom says, 'God will take care of us. We're his children.' Maybe He will. But if He doesn't, I'm with you. I don't hold grudges. I can still admire the Old Dude's masterworks."

"It might be nice to be ignorant," Edward said, lowering the binoculars.

Minelli shook his head adamantly. "At the end, I want to know what's happening. I don't want that . . . panic, when it comes. I want to know and sit and watch as much of it as I can. Maybe that's the best seat in the house." He pointed to the mottled rock face. "Up on top somewhere."

Since Edward's tent cabin had two bunks, he offered one to Minelli, but he turned it down. "Look," he said, "they're not even charging for them now. I asked down at the village and the fellows there say go ahead, sleep in one, just keep it clean yourself. Me, I'm going to want someone of the opposite sex with me when it happens. How about you?"

"That would be nice," Edward agreed.

"All right, then. We party together, find women—some smart women, I mean, who know what's going on as much as we do—and we party some more. I brought some food in with me, and the village store is stocked to the rafters with beer and wine and frozen food. We're going to have a good time."