Chapter 26

The ride up the mountain was marked by family sing alongs as was the usual with Anna’s family. They were always a lot of fun growing up. Amaris had gone on family trips with Anna and her family and they would go fishing or to the lake. They drove with the windows down. It was a beautiful, warm day. The mountain breeze made it pleasant. They wove up the mountain switchback roads toward Lyle’s village. As they drew closer she began to smell the smokey smell that lingered on the air from all the fires. When they had gotten within a couple miles Anna’s father looked at Amaris in the rearview mirror and asked her to duck down before they got into town. He felt it was safer for her not to be seen. Amaris took off her seat belt and got down on her hands and knees on the floor of the back seat. The good mood suddenly shifted and no one was singing or joking around anymore.

They drove into town and the family saw for the first time with their own eyes the devastation that had been wrought just