After sixty steps, he decided he made a bad choice to leave the car to photograph Joshua trees in the Nevada desert. He wanted a swallow of the water sitting in the passenger seat now getting hot in the light. The sun burned the bald spot he forgot to cover with a hat. He thought about going back. Then, a quail hawk lifted off its perch of evergreen bayonets and dove to the ground. It pursued its prey by half running and half flying until it snagged a meal. He snapped a series of pictures before sprinting to the car.
© 2018, Michael Shawn Sommermeyer. All rights reserved.
