Q CCAP TLE Roth EER EE G he rumble of diesel trucks awakened Ezra to a sun rising in a red haze. He rubbed his eyes and stared at a yellow cocoon— Walker huddled in his mummy sleeping bag. Ezra rose, pulled on his pants and boots, and splashed canteen water on his face. “Time to rise and shine,” he said to the cocoon. A head of dark, curly hair emerged through the yellow drawstring followed by a squinting face shadowed by three-day stubble. “Man, it’s too early and too cold,” Walker said. He sat up with the bag pulled to his neck and his knees drawn to his chest and rocked there until his eyes opened sufficiently to see Ezra shouldering his pack, then he jumped out of his bag and quickly began dressing. His body was slender with long muscles and thick dark hair on his chest and legs. Ezra had never felt at- tracted to boys or men. He loathed the idea of homosexuality. Yet, in that fleeting glimpse of his unclothed companion, there was a stirring within him that was not sexual, but artistic. From his curly hair and oversized eyes to the flowing lines of his limbs and torso, Walker was a model of physical excellence. “You slept naked?” Ezra said. “Didn’t you get cold?” “] froze to death,” Walker said. “Isleep clothed,” Ezra said. “You never know what might happen in the night.” “Thate clothes,” Walker said. He dressed quickly and followed Ezra up the embankment. The morning was cool and clear with just a thin film of dusty haze on the horizon. Some of the passing trucks still had their lights on. Ezra stuck out his thumb. “Man, what’s for breakfast?” Walker asked, “Don’t you have any food?” “Naw, man. That’s what restaurants are for. They feed people.” “Look in the top left pocket of my pack,” Ezra said. “You will find some granola bars.” Walker lifted Ezra’s pack. “Whoa, man, what do you have in this thing? Rocks? What does it weigh anyhow?”