Baby Gopher Snake
White sand, not snow
Me next to a tree in White Sands
We took a trip to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, and just as we were leaving town a road runner dashed in front of the car with a rattlesnake in its beak. It stopped on the side of the road because the snake was still fighting back. I don't know how these birds manage it. They EAT rattlesnakes. It has been so cold here I didn't think anything could slither. The snakes hibernate in the rocks above our house and don't emerge until Spring. First the young ones come out and then, when it is really warm, the older three-foot plus ones arrive. White Sands looks like it's covered with snow, but it is really powdered gypsum. It tastes sour and salty, and melts in your mouth. I don't suppose it's healthy to eat. I want to go back during a thunderstorm and see whether the whole desert dissolves.
To Julia Tiell: I think I met you at a conference in Phoenix or Tucson. I met someone from Ajo who asked me for a copy of my talk. I told the audience about how Harold and I rescued an illegal immigrant who was dying of thirst, took him to Ajo and left him with a bottle of water, a big chocolate bar and twenty dollars. This was while I was doing research for The House of the Scorpion. At that time we had no idea what to do with the man. We couldn't abandon him. Later, we were told to call the Border Patrol, but at that time we didn't have a cell phone. And it was Christmas. And you don't turn people in over Christmas. Unfortunately, the attorney general for Arizona was in the audience. One of the police officers turned to him and said, "You didn't hear that, sir."
To Rya: Fani and Benito both died at El Patron's funeral. Her father, Glass Eye Dabengwa, is an African drug lord who appears in the sequel. He's 99 years old and lives by harvesting clones, but parts of him are machinery. He's called Glass Eye because he never blinks. He's totally scary.
To Julia Tiell: I think I met you at a conference in Phoenix or Tucson. I met someone from Ajo who asked me for a copy of my talk. I told the audience about how Harold and I rescued an illegal immigrant who was dying of thirst, took him to Ajo and left him with a bottle of water, a big chocolate bar and twenty dollars. This was while I was doing research for The House of the Scorpion. At that time we had no idea what to do with the man. We couldn't abandon him. Later, we were told to call the Border Patrol, but at that time we didn't have a cell phone. And it was Christmas. And you don't turn people in over Christmas. Unfortunately, the attorney general for Arizona was in the audience. One of the police officers turned to him and said, "You didn't hear that, sir."
To Rya: Fani and Benito both died at El Patron's funeral. Her father, Glass Eye Dabengwa, is an African drug lord who appears in the sequel. He's 99 years old and lives by harvesting clones, but parts of him are machinery. He's called Glass Eye because he never blinks. He's totally scary.
