The hunter narrowed his eyes, scrunching his eyebrows, two white centipedes across his forehead. “Lady, I don’t know what you’re selling, but I ain’t seen nothing wrong except you making me late for hunting.” He fumbled for something beside him. The hairs on the back of Calliope’s neck stood on edge. What was wrong with this man? She backed away, but he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. She looked back at Eunjoo, still in her booster seat. She’d never thought before that she might need a gun. Out in the country, her students told her, everyone carried guns. She should protect herself, though she wasn’t sure from what.

“The volcanoes behind us,” she said, with more force. “Look!” She wasn’t crazy.

“Those volcanoes been dead thousands of years.”

She searched his eyes, but he was unreadable. She felt nebulous, a dream in which one is floating and must awaken or disappear into the ether. “Your hunting buddy, have you been in contact with him tonight?”

He raised his eyebrows, centipedes outstretched. “No. These are long-standing plans. Why?”

“Can you try calling him? Just to check?”

“Now why would I want to do a thing like that?”

“Please.” She kept her voice steady despite her trembling.

“I don’t have a cellphone,” he grumbled.

“A radio, then?” She nodded toward the CB radio on his dashboard.

He turned the dial. Static.

“No signal.”

“What does that mean?”

“Darned if I know.”

“So maybe he won’t be there.”

“Look, miss, I don’t know who you are, but I ain’t got time for this.”

She stepped back, hand on her belly. She wanted to ask how she could have been responsible for his lack of radio signal but let it go. Something was clearly wrong. Talking to him was useless. He flicked his cigarette out the window, inches from her ballet-slippered feet, and drove away. She slouched into her car, started the ignition. They needed food and water, that much she knew. The babies teemed inside her, pulling knots and rubber bands in her gut, heavier than usual. She had to get to the South Valley. She had a colleague there, Susana, who would know what to do. Susana was tough. She grew her own food, raised animals, used the acequias for farming. The smell of smoke grew stronger although she was heading farther away from the volcanoes. Still no lights. She felt like a cave creature, eyeless.

Eunjoo began crying.

“What’s wrong?”

“I had an accident.”