BooksBarbecue
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

Zadie opened hers and read the title aloud: “Porrima in A major.”

“From your star sign, Virgo,” Nic explained. “Ursula wanted me to tell you it’s a binary star, two stars that orbit around each other. She said the first few bars sound just like a lullaby.”

Zadie’s hand instinctively drifted toward her stomach. The Ladybug lifted the two halves of its shell to reveal a pair of gauzy wings. It had outgrown its ladybug body, Zadie realized. Or maybe, it had never been a ladybug at all. Maybe it had always been a star.

Zadie placed the music carefully back in its tube and cleared her throat. “Thank you,” she said sincerely.

After they had said their goodbyes, the girls climbed into the station wagon and snapped their seat belts. Zadie slid on her sunglasses and glanced at herself in the mirror before flipping up the sunshade. “Ready?” she said.

“Ready.” Finn wrapped her fingers around the rock in her hand, closed her eyes, and waited. As they pulled out of the campground and onto the highway, it hit her:

How long had she been walking?

Finn/Nora wasn’t sure.

The buzzards knew. They had been watching her.

Her mouth was dry, tacky.

Eyes hurt from squinting in the unrelenting sunlight.

Suddenly her chest burned. Like a cigarette had been snuffed out on her heart.

I don’t have much time, Finn/Nora thought.

Her mind was a weak radio signal.

One moment she was there and the next …

 … static.

A pickup slowed beside her.

Out of gas? a man said.

He pointed to something in her hand. It was red, plastic, with a long nozzle.

What’s your name?

What’s my name?

She couldn’t remember.

Another bolt of pain. A gasp.

Ma’am? Are you okay?

It’s getting worse, she thought.

She didn’t have much time.

THIRTEEN PSYCHIC KARAOKE

(PART 2)

The one hundred and fifty miles between the Constellation Campground and the Arizona-Utah border were as varied as they were long. As the girls wound their way north, the red cliffs were replaced with snowy peaks trimmed with fragrant pine forests. Farther north still and closer to sea level were vast badlands, striated hills in hues of orange and lavender that reminded Finn of the sand art she made as a kid. Beyond the hills, copper desert stretched for miles in every direction, high winds whipping sand like snow across the highway. Too low on gas to wait out the dust storm, Zadie had to wear a bandanna over her nose and mouth to fill up her tank. After they crossed into Utah, they began seeing green again—farms and trees and grassy lawns—only to be plunged into harsh desert an hour later.