At dusk, they showered and put on clean clothes and walked to the amphitheater, passing the wood-frame cabins. A middle-aged couple sat in folding chairs before the open door of a cabin, listening to a portable radio turned down low. They nodded greetings to each other.

"Going to the meeting?" Edward asked.

The man shook his head. "Not tonight," he said. "It's too peaceful tonight."

"You'll hear it from here, anyway," Minelli warned.

The man and woman smiled and shooed them away.

"Tell us if there's anything interesting."

"Casual," Minelli commented to Edward as they passed the Curry Village administration building and general store.

The valley was wrapped in cool shadow. Straying clouds obscured the tops of Half Dome and the Royal Arches. Edward zipped up his suede jacket. The amphitheater—benches arranged in curves before an elevated log and wood-beam stage—was full, people of all ages milling while engineers worked on the sound system. The loudspeakers popped and hummed; echoes of the crowd and the electronic noises bounced back at varying intervals from several directions. They found a bench halfway out from the stage and sat, watching the others, being watched in turn. A scruffy gray-bearded man of about sixty-five in a khaki bush jacket offered them unopened cans from a half-empty case of Coors and they accepted, popping and sipping as the gathering came to order.

A tall middle-aged park ranger climbed onto the stage and stood before the microphone, raising the stand to her level. "Hello," she said, smiling.

The audience replied in kind, a low, warm murmur.

"My name—some of you know me already—is Elizabeth Rowell. There are about three hundred and fifty of us in the Yosemite now, and a few more coming in each day. I think we all know why we're here. We're all kind of surprised there aren't more here, but some of us understand that, too. This is my home, and I plan on staying home." She thrust out her jaw and looked around the audience. "So do others, and not many people live here year-around, as I do. Those of you who have left your homes to come here, you're welcome to stay.

"We're awfully lucky. Looks like the weather is going to be warm. It may drizzle off and on, but there's not going to be much rain and no snow at all for a week or so, and all the passes are open. I just wanted to say that the park rules still apply, and we're all behaving as if things are normal. If you need help, we're fully staffed with rangers. Park police are on duty. We haven't had any trouble, and we don't expect any. You're good folks."

The man with the Coors box smiled and raised his can to that.