in the name of . . . Mudcakes

     She leaned down and scratched the red earth with a short stick she'd been carrying to ward off gnats which consumed the perspiration on her face. The Sierra sun had warmed the insects' propensity for attack as much as it irritated the exposed skin on her face and back of her neck. 

    "Damn these bugs, alright- you guys need water an' salt too. An' if you're not particular go ahead an' suck on my face!" She took another swat at them with her stick and almost lost her balance. 

     "See what you made me do!" Again she leaned downwards to scratch the earth. She had spied the reddish soil from a distance and descended in elevation of about five hundred feet to this spot near a dried riverbed. It seemed like a clay type soil. This time she squatted down on her haunches and scratched again. She seemed sure it was clay.

     She righted herself to retrieve her canteen a stone's throw away and came back to the same patch of red. On her knees again, she scratched at the clay rifts of soil and formed a little mound. Using the palms of both hands, she formed it to approximately six inches in height. She transfixed a stare at her own motions and the red film of dust that had adhered to her jeans and particularly the skin of her freckled hands. She felt outside of her body as if she were elevated from above, gazing upon a person other than herself. 

     She stared at the mound, motionlessly as if contemplating her next step. Then she used her index finger to depress the top of the miniature hill to create a depression. She paused again as a tear welled up in the corner of her eye. It felt cold as it slowly gained volume from a tiny duct and then fell, a large droplet at the base of the hill.

     Taking her canteen, she unscrewed the cap off, hearing and recording the sound of the black plastic dangle from its aluminum chain as it hit against the canteen. She then poured the precious liquid into the top of the mound until the water reached the rim of its crater.

     "There. I'll just let you soak a moment or two."

     She heard the voices of her two brothers and sister. They were laughing and building mud cakes. The transport to her past time at play filled her with both joy and sadness as she reminisced.

     Another tear plummeted to earth. This one struck the back of her hand, forming a clean, wet drop brightly illuminating her skin. 

     "Okay time to remove the soil from around this volcano."

     She used the four fingers of each hand, working in tandem movements to carefully scoop the red earth from the sides, leaving a moist bowl of clay.

     "Here we are guys." She turned around to offer it to her siblings and found no one there but the landscape, rocks, shrubs, and backpack. And the gnats annoying her face yet again.

     This time the tears flowed from both eyes down her cheeks, which turned into quiet sobs, her convulsing chest and the gnats unabated.