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At dawn, Cyrus drove back to the motel so they could shower and get into clean clothes. They had a seven-hour drive ahead, but neither of them felt much like sleeping. Breakfast was coffee and cold cereal at the motel coffee shop with a somnolent waitress leaning over their shoulders. Then they pulled out onto I-10 and headed east. Just across the New Mexico state lineat Lordsburgthey turned off the interstate onto Highway 90. They followed 90 until it turned into State 152 and then picked up Interstate 25 at Caballo. As on the trip to Tucson, the landscape was dry and desolate, but had been climbing steadily and if possible was even more rugged. The air was still very warm, but now had a thin taste that often accompanies high altitudes. |
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"God, what a place," Kyna muttered. "It's like the dark side of the moon." |
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"What do you mean?" Cyrus asked. |
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"Dirt, sand, sand, cactus, cactus, rocks. No life!" |
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"You're kidding, right? We just passed a hawk circling up over that last hill. There's some kind of big lizard sunning on top of that rock over there. And we passed at least two dozen mice sleeping in their burrows, just in the last quarter mile alone." |
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"And how, pray tell, do you know all this?" She saw his amused expression and said, "Never mind. You're spooky at times, did you know that?" |
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"How do you think I feel?" |
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