[15. Enclosed spaces.]

Jessie woke with a start, and for a moment, panic set in. No light from
any window, and she smelled gasoline. She tried to push the blankets
down, but found the soft resistance of the sleeping bag around her.
Still half asleep, she sat up and hit her head on the curving ceiling
just above her.

She yelped softly, and her mind finally settled enough to let her
remember that she was sleeping in the back of her truck. She rolled over
and wriggled out of the sleeping bag that had somehow tightened around
her in the night, and groped her way out of the back of the truck.

The night was moonless and cold, and she pulled the tattered plaid shirt
around her as she stumbled in the uneven field, half remembering where
the holes in the ground around her were, and half finding them as she
moved.  A dark shape floated past her, black against midnight, barely
visible, and making no noise.

She felt like her eyes would adjust any moment, but no more light came
and she put her hand out to steady herself, sure that the truck was
right there, but misjudged the distance and stumbled before finding the
cool metal.

She turned around, groping through the tailgate for her bag, and then
through the bag, trying to remember where she’d left her lamp. Grasping
each object, suddenly aware of the texture of each, soft cloth of
clothing, the plastic rustle of maps tucked in a bag to stay dry,
finally the firm but stretchy material that held her headlamp.

She pressed the button and winced at the light. She opened her eyes
again, and startled when two eyes and a glowing, flat face looked back
at her. An owl had landed not ten feet away, and watched her intently,
like a dinner plate with glowing eyes for a moment, then it turned what
seemed like the wrong way,  and took wing back toward the forest at the
edge of the clearing.

The air was cold enough that she could see her breath, and she perched
on the tailgate, shifting from side to side as the part of her that sat
on the cold metal got chilled.

She still marvelled at how quiet it could be here. No car noise, tonight
there wasn’t even wind. Just a cold, even quiet. Almost uncomfortable
silence, she thought.

The stars overhead seemed more distant than usual, points of light
against a smeared glow, but barely giving enough light to see the ground.