Days Between Stations

by Steve Erickson

  The girl was mildly fascinated to hold the bottle up and, in the light of every star she knew in the skies above, see two blue eyes blinking up at her. They seemed old, nearly blind, and very sad.

  But it was not a star, after all; and she was disappointed. She turned to the bus and the superintendent of the ranch who stood on the roadside waving at her, and then she turned to Lauren behind her. But Lauren was walking away, without a goodbye; and it was only at the final moment that Kara decided not to bury the bottle back in the sand but to keep it, since it was odd there were two eyes watching her, and since they were so sad, she thought. Tucking the find beneath her arm, she ran to the bus.