Page 11 of Leveling

Chapter 7

Finally they settledto the task at hand. Beckett spread a sleeping bag on the old carpeting and Luna topped it with blankets. Once the bed was made, Beckett tossed into the middle: a box of crackers, a chunk of cheese, and a flask with water.

Luna said, “Cheese and crackers? That’s literally all we needed.” She unzipped her jacket and pulled it over her head, going from overly outer-dressed, to revealingly under-dressed, in one graceful move.

She had been wearing the same clothes all day, yet somehow now, at night, after the jacket, they seemed like not-enough-clothes, though Beckett would never be the one to say it. He looked away, rubbed his palms over his wet head, and gave a little shake to get the extra water off. Luna dropped to the bedding and pulled the quilt around her shoulders. “It’s okay if I have your quilt?”

“Absolutely.” Beckett turned away, pulled his t-shirt off, and sat down across from her, wrapping a military-grade sleeping bag around his shoulders.

He had a nice physique, strong and lean. Like a runner, instead of a paddler. Luna was used to men with the kind of bulk capable of steering and paddling across the ocean. Their center of balance was lower. Beckett was too tall to paddle well. She giggled as she reached for the box of crackers, thinking about how his height would turn a paddleboard into a sailboat.

He asked, “What?”

“Nothing, just thinking about something.”

He pulled plastic off the end of the cheese, took a bite, and asked with his mouth full. “Do I have something in my teeth?”

“You, sir, have everything in your teeth.”

“I forgot to bring down a knife. But it works, you just have to bite, then shove the crackers in right after.”

“That’s why we come to the Outposts, for civilization.” She ate a chunk of cheese and stuffed a cracker in. “Delithious.”

Lightning struck, flashing and illuminating their room, demanding to be seen, causing Beckett and Luna to turn to the window and notice.

At the next lull, Luna said, “So you have a giant back tattoo of an Eagle, that’s overly patriotic of you.”

“It wasn’t very imaginative, I admit. I got it because everyone in the service gets one. My arms are my choice. Trees, here on my wrist, the mountains… This is my latest one, a Redwood tree. Have you ever seen one?” He looked up from his arms.

She shook her head no.

“You’re missing out. You really ought to see one someday. Are those wings on your back—a bird?”

Luna said, “An albatross.”

Beckett squinted his eyes, “You mean the bird that flies forever without coming to land?”

“Nah, I’m kidding.”

“I was going to say, that’s overly metaphorical of you.”

“It’s a moth, or Saturniidae. A family name.”

“I thought your name was—what was it—like that actress, Barlow?”

Luna sat for a beat. “Yeah, the other name’s older.”

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