My Body is a Cage and Other Stories

“You,” she replies, setting the binoculars aside. They resolve to get up at 8 A.M. before
the sun really begins to bake everything and searchfor Donna. Since Donna’s tent is still intact,
Astrid crawls into it to sleep. It smells like cleanlaundry and coffee. Like her mom. Any time her
mom took her out on a work trip, they would alwayssleep in the same tent and chat until sleep
overtook them. About meaningless things, Astrid issure, but she craves to have that back. She
closes her eyes, imagining Donna is across from herasleep. Astrid herself falls asleep for maybe
an hour. But when she jerks awake at 3 A.M. like shealways does, and feels the empty space
squeezing her on all sides, she climbs out shaking.
“Ezra,” she whispers outside his tent. “Ezra!”
She hears him grumble and door zips open. His hairis mussed and his eyes are half
closed, and Astrid has no choice at that point butto laugh. She pushes him aside and unrolls her
bedroll a foot from his. Couldn’t sleep, she mumbles.Ezra is quiet, zipping the door closed and
flopping back down on his pillow.
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Their search the next morning does nothing but givethem both a trucker’s tan. They
drive everywhere in a two-mile radius from the campsite,Ezra making her stop the jeep at some
points so he can get a good picture of the landscape.She doesn’t particularly understand, since
everything out there is just tumbleweeds and cactiand lizards, but he seems enthralled. There are
tire tracks from where Donna must have come out herea few times, but otherwise no evidence of
humans ever being there. On their way back, Astridasks him if he believes in extraterrestrials.
“I suppose so.” Astrid senses hesitance in his answer.The kind that she’s heard before
when people around her think her mother is insane,but do not want to offend her.
“Go on,” Astrid says.