It starts to get a bit chilly as it does when the sun begins its slow fade behind the Sierra Blanca. The Sacramento lie back yonder and the Capitan up that away. The same earth that the Niit'a-héõde knew. The same Ponderosa overhead.
On such a day as that, seasons and seasons ago, with the shadows growing long as they do, walking along with my older brother sharing chocolate mescaline and telling stories - I had a brief encounter with a particularly disagreeable phrynosoma. Most of the horny toads you meet are generally pleasant fellows, mind you. Mostly. I'm not here to bash lizards. This one however got in the middle of the trail and got all puffy and squared up. It never broke eye contact with me as it said, "f*** the Sabres you care more than they do. They don't care. You are investing time and money in an inferior product and getting mad at them when you're the one wasting what you can't get back. Be better with things of value".
It hurt. The dawg in my pride was euthanized. My brother nodded tacitly in agreement, "You keep buying into all that hope bullshit but hope is a long wait on a train don't never come". "Listen to your brother", the horny toad said. "He is always way more smarter than you". I could only stare at the ground and tell them, "I knowed it".
