Chapter 9
THE BITE OF MEMORYThe heavy boom of a dynamite blast rolled across the fiat to the
hills that flung it back in a tardy echo like a spent ball of
sound. A blob of blue smoke curled out of a hole the size of a
hogshead in a steep bank overhung with alders. Outside, the wind
caught the smoke and carried streamers of it away to play with. A
startled bluejay, on a limb high up on the bank, lifted his slaty
crest and teetered forward, clinging with his toe nails to the
branch while he scolded down at the men who had scared him so. A
rattle of clods and small rocks fell from their high flight into
the sweet air of a mountain sunset.
"Good execution, that was," Cash remarked, craning his neck
toward the hole. "If you're a mind to go on ahead and cook supper,
I'll stay and se
