On a sweaty afternoon in Massachusetts, we four strolled down the abandoned road to the beaver pond. Returning, Hannah and I lagged behind—botanizing, listening to birds, telling stories about being southern. Hiking a path, no water, huffing up an incline, we began to question. “Is this right?” I heard a human sound from behind us: Haloo! I answered, “Hello!” Haloo! “Hello!” Was that help? Speeding up, not help, Hannah and I heard the words. You went the wrong way! Like sonar guiding us—“Hello!” Haloo! In five minutes we were saved from our fifteen-minute stroll turning into a two-hour trek.
Julia Clebsch writes CNF and memoir, has been published in Legacy, Five Minutes, and Lesbian Connection, is a two-time WOW finalist, and two-time reader at the Salem Literary Festival.