Dog Bite - Page 15

You ever see Orion’s Belt in the winter sky? I’m terrible at constellations, but that one’s obvious. When it climbs high, winter is coming. But when it falls just above the horizon, spring will be here soon. No matter how dark and cold the Valley feels, it’s coming. We learn about it at the Sand Dunes — Heather and me — when she’s pregnant with Bella. Some ranger crammed in a light brown uniform walks us out on the dunes at night. We normally don’t do things like this. But for some reason, we’re here. I can’t remember why. “The father’s fire,” the ranger says, pointing to Orion’s Belt slung low against the southern sky, “is always burning. Back when people traveled the Valley through cold nights and deep snow, and their fires burned low, embers scattered to the wind, Orion still burned. Even when their own fires died, pushed through darkness across the Valley floor, the Father’s Fire still burned.” I like that. I could be that. I always remember that story.