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"I bet there are things in there." |
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Kyna opened one eye. "Russ, I'm older and wiser than you. Let me assure you, a couple of minuscule mountain trout or tadpoles aren't going to kill me." |
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"You never know," he replied, scratching under his arms. |
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Kyna closed her eye and raised her arms to work the water into her hair. As she did, her breasts popped out and Cyrus could see she hadn't been totally honest about the water temperature. He watched her splash around for as long as he could stand it and then trotted over to the edge of the shelf and looked back down the trail. The canyon was still as brown, dry and hot as before, but there wasn't a soul in sight. In the distance, the suburbs of Tucson shimmered like a mirage under the unblinking eye of the sun. It was a view that would make a camel thirsty. |
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Cyrus raced back to the pool, sat on a rock and began untying the laces on his boots. As he removed each piece of clothing, he folded it the way his mother had taught him and stacked it one atop the other. |
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"Anal retentive!" Kyna chuckled. |
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He walked over to place his clothing on top of a pile of stones left over from an old camp fire, and as he bent over, he heard a high-pitched whirring noise coming from the bushes beside the rocks. He glanced down and saw a six-foot diamondback rattlesnake coiled next to his foot. The reptile was obviously unhappy about nearly being stepped on, for it was shaking its ringed tail like a fist. |
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"Whoa!" Cyrus hollered, and jumped back. |
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"What's the matter?" Kyna called from the pool. |
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Loath to intrude on the reptile's sunbathing, Cyrus walked clear to the other side of the shelf to find a nice shady spot for his clothes and was dumbfounded when a second rattlesnake slithered out of the grass at the base of a cottonwood tree. This rattler was brownish in color, but no less indignant. |
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