Corporal Weaver led Mrs. Pendleton’s horse on the short rope and when the sun crested the horizon and painted the desert in soft pastels he began to paint with words the colors as they reflected and refracted off of rocks and plants—the oranges and reds, greens and yellows. He told her about the lizards and snakes that scampered from under the horses’ hooves, and of the antelope and deer stirring in the warming morning and running from their presence.
