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Back The Wilderwomen Save as PDF
Chapters (37)
  1. Copyright Notice
  2. Dedication
  3. BEFORE
  4. AFTER
  5. ONE THOUGHTS ON SUN HATS
  6. TWO TIME FOR CAKE
  7. THREE TWELVE MONTHS
  8. FOUR PSYCHIC KARAOKE
  9. FIVE A SECOND SLEEPING BAG
  10. SIX SIX MONTHS
  11. SEVEN THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE PANCAKE
  12. EIGHT SIX MONTHS
  13. NINE FOLLOW THE MUSIC
  14. TEN THE STARS ARE BRIGHTER IN THE DESERT
  15. ELEVEN SIX MONTHS
  16. TWELVE EVERY STAR HAS A SONG
  17. THIRTEEN PSYCHIC KARAOKE
  18. FOURTEEN ONE MONTH
  19. FIFTEEN A WELL-TRAVELED HAT
  20. SIXTEEN JOEL VS. THE VOLCANO
  21. SEVENTEEN TWO WEEKS
  22. EIGHTEEN HOUSE OF MEMORIES
  23. NINETEEN IF TREES COULD TALK
  24. TWENTY THREE DAYS
  25. TWENTY-ONE SEARCH PARTY
  26. TWENTY-TWO NOT THE SAME ZADIE
  27. TWENTY-THREE WAVES OF SMOKE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR THE DAY OF
  29. TWENTY-FIVE THE SKY IS FULL OF BIRDS
  30. TWENTY-SIX NEST
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. EPILOGUE
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT A SONG ABOUT A BIRD
  34. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  35. Also by Ruth Emmie Lang
  36. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  37. Newsletter Sign-up

Finn gathered the rest of her belongings and carried them to Zadie’s car. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Zadie asked.

Finn’s smile answered for her.

SIX SIX MONTHS

(UNTIL NORA WILDER’S DISAPPEARANCE)

They had been on the road for eight hours, although the bleakness of the desert highway made it feel like they’d been driving for as many days. The arid landscape looked like a beach at low tide, an expanse of sand dotted with wiry black sea-urchin shrubs and not much else. Nora had barely said anything since they’d left. Zadie, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was unnerved by her mother’s silence. Normally, Nora would be singing along with the radio or goading her daughters into playing I Spy or some other inane game conceived for the sole purpose of tricking children into thinking that road trips are actually fun, but today she held her body with a military stillness, elbows locked, hands clamped at ten and two on the steering wheel.

“Where are we going?” Zadie asked for what was probably the tenth time.

Nora’s eyes barely flicked in her daughter’s direction. “Man, you really don’t like surprises, do you?”

Zadie crossed her arms. She did like surprises, just not this one. She’d spent the last three hours wishing a premonition would come along and ruin it.

She turned to look at her sister in the back seat. Finn had barely uttered a peep, thanks to a book of crosswords she’d found in the seat-back pocket. If Zadie had had time to pack, she would have brought her iPod or a magazine, something to pass the time other than reading bumper stickers, but Nora had shaken the girls awake at seven A.M., tossed each of them a banana, and practically shoved them out the door with no explanation.

“Seriously, Mom. Do you even know where we’re going?”

“Cool it, Zadie! Jeez … what has gotten into you lately?”

Six months had passed since Zadie had followed her mom to the edge of the cliff. Ever since that night, she’d been keeping a close eye on Nora, spying on her through the front window as she wheeled the trash can to the edge of the road; offering to drop her off and pick her up from work. She even hung a bell on the back door that she’d listen for at night when she was supposed to be sleeping. But Nora didn’t go anywhere, and she appeared to have no memory of the incident that had been haunting Zadie for months. The burden of that night should have belonged to both of them, but it became apparent that Zadie was going to have to carry it alone.

“It’s nothing.”