Page 249 of Fury

Two buffaloes slowly ranged up a hill. Another one hurtled across the golden grasses in the distance. My pulse twanged. Hell, they were huge and fast. Impressive and intimidating. Wild and free the way they had been for centuries in their natural habitat. Grace had been on plenty of bike trips through the region and once told me how buffalo group together in herds as the sun faded from the sky. That would be a sunset to witness.

A long wavy ridge of rock rose in the distance. Butte and peak formations that looked more like a mountain range of frozen layers of sand or a lost city of the stone age. This corner of Nebraska had its own Badlands, just like the Dakotas. Slopes of ground were shadowed from the occasional low lying cloud suspended in the wide open sky, making the greens of the hills sharper, the golden yellows of the dipping valleys deeper. Nature’s pure drama.

He turned his head, gesturing at the sign.“Toadstool Geological Park - Oglala National Grassland”

We rode over a stretch of well kept dirt road, and in no time Finger parked his bike at the turn of the loop trail, and we got off. He immediately took my hand in his large one, keeping me close. Following the signs, we hiked on a dirt trail leading through the ancient riverbed that meandered and twisted. Tufts of grass and brush sprouted the occasional yellow wildflower. Rising before us were unusual rock formations and huge bluffs—an incredible strata of color and texture.

“This is thirty-million years worth of lava ash and sandstone,” Finger said.

People milled around the great stones. A family with two teenagers talked excitedly about having seen animal fossil remains, and an elderly couple with walking poles and protective hats read from a guidebook admiring Nature’s sculpture. And what stones they were—great mushroom-like formations, unlikely swirls and chunks of rock seemingly teetering on pillars at odd angles.

“Wow.” I snapped photos with my phone. “Thus the toadstool.”

“Yeah. A real walk back through time, huh?”

“It’s amazing.”

I took in the vista. A stark wilderness. Remote, desolate even.

He rubbed a hand across his chin. “I like coming here. Clears the mind.”

I winked at him. “I can see the appeal for you. Do they know how these formations came to be? They’re so unusual.”

His lips tipped up. “This is all slow erosion. There are layers of soft clay which erodes away under layers of the hard sandstone, and that creates the strange shapes.”

“It’s strange all right. Even ugly. They look like the building blocks of a prehistoric monster.”

He laughed. “I like that.”

“That strangeness makes them beautiful, though. Wonder what they’ll be like in another couple thousand years.”

His long gaze clung to the big toadstool, unmoving.

I put away my phone. “You come here a lot, don’t you?”

“I do. Here, I get away from the noise. There’s something still yet not still about this place. The light’s always changing, making you discover something new, different. Things get put into a better place when I come here. I sit on a bluff, take in the endless view. Sometimes a mountain sheep wanders by.”

“Oh, what are they like?”

“They have these curled horns like rams. I’ve seen them once up on bluffs watching the sunset. You don’t see them too often, but when you do, it’s pretty cool. They’re kind of majestic actually. Not your run of the mill sheep.” An almost boyish, uncertain look swept over his features, and my heart swelled. There was something shy about him sharing his fondness for this land with me, for the simple private pleasures he treasured. A gift.

I took his hand. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

He dug a boot in the dirt. “I thought you might like it.”

“I do like it. I’d like to come back again with you and see a sunset.”

“Can’t beat the pink and purple sky out here.” He squeezed my hand.

“We’re definitely coming back soon.”

The lines of his face tightened suddenly. “Babe, I realize we aren’t the same people we used to be. We’ll be learning new shit about each other and maybe we’ll like it, maybe we won’t, and it’ll take some getting used to. It’ll take patience. Respect.” The sunlight gleamed off his sunglasses. “Right now, I need to know that from here on in, you and me in each other’s arms is at the end of every one of my days.”

My insides fluttered, and I stood up on my toes and kissed him. “I need that too.”

“Want you with me, baby.” He gently brushed my lips with his. “I don’t care much for my apartment in Elk. It’s not a home for us, and I don’t want to bring you there. You’ve got your store and your house in Meager. We can make it our home too.”

Our home.

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