Page 25 of No Harm No Howl

He was confident with his assessment. Gia didn’t consider herself a high-maintenance or hard-to-please person, so she figured she would love just about any place he wanted to show her as long as they were away from the casinos.

The flat roads began to twist and turn. Soon they were traversing large hills and dipping down into even lower valleys.

“It’s beautiful out here,” Gia said as they continued to wherever Russ was taking them. She couldn’t get over the difference in physical terrain. It was astounding and almost alien. She knew Nevada was a desert area, and she had seen many pictures over the years, but being here and seeing it in person was a completely different perspective.

What had looked brown and dry before now turned to a stunning orangish red. From the dirt to the nearby sides of hills and mountains. They turned off onto a small, red dirt road.

“What is this place?” she asked, mystified by the sights around her.

“This place is called Valley of Fire.”

“I can see why.”

They pulled into a small area where several other people were gathered.

“I want to show you something really cool.”

A mammoth rock formation stood in front of them. Several sets of stairs had been erected next to the rock.

“Is that plexiglass covering the rock?” she asked.

“It is. The rock is covered by petroglyphs,” he said.

“What are those?” she asked.

When they reached the top of the stairs, he showed her the tiny drawings that had been etched into the rock. “These are petroglyphs. They are ancient drawings that were carved into the rock by the native people who once inhabited this area.”

“That is amazing,” she said, studying each of the drawings. Some were of tiny, odd-looking people riding even weirder-looking animals. Some were of animals with horns. Some of the people had arrows or spears in their stick-figure hands. One of the drawings looked like a spaceship hovering over a crowd of people. “How old are they?”

“Some date back hundreds of years, and they have no idea how old some of the others are,” he explained.

Gia snapped a few pictures of the petroglyphs. “These are really cool.” They walked around the area for a bit. She snapped several more pictures of the ancient rooms that had been carved into the side of some of the rocks. “It’s hard to think that people actually lived in places like this.”

“It is. Humanity has come a long way.”

“Thank God for that. I have to say, I like my creature comforts. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to live in a cave on the side of a mountain. My house may not be a mansion, but at least it has running water and electricity.”

“I suppose for the ancient people, being able to escape the elements was probably the best thing in the world.”

“True. I guess as long as you have your family, you’re good. Well, at least back then, anyway,” Gia said.

“What about you, Gia? What is it that you want?” Russ asked.

“Freedom to be who I’ve always wanted to be,” she said matter-of-factly.

“And who is it that you want to be?”

“Myself. Everyone has this idea of who I should be, and most of the people in my life have no idea what I really want despite my telling them repeatedly. Everyone seems to think they know what’s best for me.”

“And that pisses you off?” He laughed.

“Is it that obvious?”

“You don’t seem like someone who needs to be told what to do.”

“Yeah, I’m not. I like my life. Right now, I want to concentrate on my career and my professional goals. I’m not interested in just being someone’s mate. Becoming a stay-at-home mom with a million pups just doesn’t interest me.” She shrugged.

I can’t believe you just said that,her wolf chimed in.

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