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oxygen mask, they rounded a bend in the road, passed a series of terraced parking lots and stopped beside a dark green park service truck. At the end of the parking lot was an outdoor bathroom and past thatperched on the edge of the crest's steeply sloping face like one of the weather-beaten gargoyles atop Notre Dame Cathedralwas a multilevel general store and restaurant. Across the road in the other direction was a steel electrical tower and a large wooden sign. |
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"Here we are," Kyna said. |
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Cyrus stepped out of the car and was nearly bowled over by a forty-mile-per-hour wind. |
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"Jesus!" he exclaimed. "You said cold, but you didn't say anything about the frigging hurricane." |
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"It does get a bit brisk up here. It'll be warmer once we get into the trees." |
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They surrounded themselves with scarves and jackets and mittens and walked across the lot toward the general store. |
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"One more pit stop before the death march," Kyna said, slipping through the bathroom door. |
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Cyrus kept going. The general store was a narrow building made from rough pine planks held together by about a zillion pairs of graying deer antlers. He had to go down a set of concrete steps to reach the front door, and when he tried the knob, it refused to turn. In the window was a faded sign informing anyone who cared to look that the place would be closed until spring. |
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Pulling his collar up tight against the wind, Cyrus walked down a long flight of wooden steps to the observation platform. Albuquerque was spread out below him like a matchbox town for a kid's model railroad. The city appeared so tiny that it was hard for him to believe he wasn't staring down from a satellite in deep space. |
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"Quite a view, huh?" Kyna shouted in his ear. |
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She grabbed his arm. "Come on. The sooner we start hiking, the sooner we'll warm up." |
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