I get out and meet her at a sign for the trailhead. I read it out loud. “Saint Valentine’s Falls. One point five miles. Who’s that? Saint Valentine?”
“Oh. I dunno. I guess I never thought about it before.”
She reaches for my hand and our fingertips touch. It startles me for a moment, and when I don’t immediately grasp on to her, she pulls back. “Sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“I guess I was being presumptuous. By trying to hold your hand.”
I reach for her hand and lace our fingers together. “You weren’t.” This makes her smile. And shyly look away from me. Perhaps hiding a blush.
“Come on. It’s not a far hike.”
We begin walking up the trail, our hands swinging a little. And it’s quiet. Which I don’t really mind because I’m usually alone. But it feels a little awkward when I’m with a woman in the dark. So just to make conversation, and because it’s still fresh in my mind, I ask, “Are there any other things with the name Saint around here?”
“Hmm. Yeah. I guess I never thought about it before but lots of places around town have the name Saint in them.”
“Really?” I look down at her, confused. Because is it odd that the sanctuary is called Saint Mark’s and this waterfall is called Saint Valentine’s? “Like what, for instance?”
“Like what?” She sighs. “Well, there’s the bar. Savage Saints. And the laundromat. Spinning Saints. And, of course, there’s the church, Saint Augustine’s.”
“Is it normal for places to be called after saints?”
“Normal?” Madeline thinks about this for a moment. “I’m not really sure if it’s normal. I guess it is. I never thought about it much. And I haven’t been very many places to compare the names of local things. Not any farther than Pittsburgh, actually. Sad, right?”
“Why would it be sad?”
“Well, I’m so… unworldly. Ya know. Hick.”
“Hick? What does this mean?”
“Backwards. Dumb. Simple.”
Her face has changed, going from bright and excited to… I’m not sure. Possibly sad. “I like simple,” I say. “And you’re certainly not dumb. You know everything there is to know about hay.”
A laugh bursts out of her. “I’m not sure that’s a selling point, Tomas. But thank you.”
“Oh, it’s a marvelous dataset to possess. I had no idea what I was doing the other day. And Pell”—I chuckle—“he was quite perplexed as well. I love seeing him off his game. He’s always walking around the sanctuary like he’s the King of Beasts.”
“The sanctuary?”
Oh, shit. I should not have said that.
“What’s the sanctuary? That’s the name of your camp?”
“Ummm. Part of it, yes.”
“Why do you call it a sanctuary? Is it a religious place?”
“Mmm. No. Not quite.”
She giggles. “OK. Now you’re being cryptic. And that just makes me want to know more. Tell me about it. You live up there with no power. It’s like… what? An off-grid community of oddballs?”
“That’s a good way to put it, I guess.”
“Does your family live there with you? Are you related to that other guy? Pell?”
“No family. But Pell and I are like…” I let out a breath. “Friends.”