Under A Painted Sky (Spirit Warrior Series) (4 page)

“I am good with
hiking,” I replied.

As we pulled into the
driveway of the house he said, “Don’t forget tennis shoes or boots and the
stuff from your survival kit and maybe a hat if you have one. I’ll pick you up
at eight a.m. while it is still nice and cool if that’s okay?”

As I got out of the
truck I said, “Okay, I can do that. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sweet dreams,” he
replied.

“The
same to you.”

I went inside, reset
the alarm system and turned on the music that filtered throughout the house and
headed upstairs for a shower. Afterward, I put on my camisole and sat on the
side of my bed and saw that it was late already. I looked at my phone and I had
eleven messages. I was too tired to deal with them, so I got under the sheet,
turned out the lights and decided I needed to sleep. I grabbed the remote
control by the bed and adjusted the music so Adele would sing me to sleep. I
adjusted the lights with the same remote.

I lie there in my bed
and sleep didn’t come. I was too excited about the day’s events. I had so much
fun and I really liked Logan. He was so dreamy and nice. He was not at all like
I had pictured a caretaker would be like. He really was an ‘old soul’ like he
said, because he seemed smart way beyond his years. The way he said my name
‘Isabella’, like it was beautiful. Oh, what was I thinking? I’d just gotten
divorced a few months ago, although it was not my fault. I must be crazy. Those
green eyes of his just glistened in the night light and his muscles—he was kind
of ripped.

He was so thoughtful.
He was very handsome. His skin was tanned and he was full of mystery and
wonder.

What is wrong with me?
Sleep, where are you?

CHAPTER FIVE

Sleep must’ve finally
taken me because my alarm woke me up into vivid reality.

I headed downstairs for
the coffee pot. I made a note to self, about the need to buy a coffee pot for
upstairs since I felt like I must have my coffee before I was even human.

I should have set the
pot last night to be made when I got down there. Wow, I was really starting to
sound so spoiled.

I looked out the
sliding glass door to the backyard and I saw hummingbirds, or hummers as I
sometimes referred to them as, all around a feeder. There looked like there
were six of them. I had never, ever seen six at one time.

I grabbed my camera,
opened the door and they flew. I looked back at the coffee pot and the coffee was
done. I made a cup of coffee with pumpkin spice creamer, then went to the
backyard and sat at the patio table to have my coffee. This was pretty nice;
nobody could see me with the brick wall around the yard except for people on
their verandas. I couldn’t believe there were no bugs. Just then, the
hummingbirds came back to the feeder. There were five birds this time. They
were amazing. They had such beautiful colors and they were so fast and magical,
as they hover around things. I snapped pictures and watched them long enough to
finish my coffee. I went back inside and turned off the coffee pot. I guess I
had better get dressed for my hike.

I headed back up the
stairs to get dressed. I threw on some jeans and a T-shirt and got my Nike’s. I
found earrings to match and a hat. I put my hair in a ponytail and stuck it out
the back of my Nike hat. I was all ready to go.

I made my bed and
headed downstairs. I got out my cell phone and answered all of my messages at
the dining table and then powered up my laptop and went to Facebook to check
things out. I started to catch up with the usual like, like, like, comment and
comment.

I don’t know why I
bothered. I only had one real friend left that actually cared. Sarah. She just
moved to Maui with her new husband, Gavin. Out of 326 friends on Facebook, I
had one true friend left. That was incredible. The other so-called friends
started ignoring me after the divorce and acted differently. At least I could
keep up with my family on there.

I got my survival kit
and water. There was a knock on the door. I glanced at the clock and he was
five minutes early. Answering the door, I said, “Good morning; I will just be a
second.”

“No rush,” Logan
replied.

I grabbed my survival
kit, purse, iPod, water and camera.

We headed out the door,
got into his truck and were off. He had the radio on.

“Where are we going
hiking?”

“I thought I would take
you to the Petroglyphs.”

“What are the
Petroglyphs?” I asked.

“A
national monument.
They are made out of volcanic rock and
were made by the Pueblo Indians and the Spanish. Most were made 400–700 years
ago, some even much longer ago than that. They are carvings on the rocks that
were carved by pecking like with a rock on the dark oxidized surface to reveal
the light color underneath. Nobody knows the meaning of some of the carvings,
except the people who carved them, who are long gone. Some are known. They are
viewed by many as sacred cultural expressions and some are religious. It is
just kind of neat to see and wonder about what those people were thinking and
doing. I think it is incredible and I hope you like it,” Logan said.

“Wow, it sounds pretty
cool and mysterious. I do love a mystery,” I replied.

The radio was playing
“Lullaby” by
Nickelback
.

My phone was beeping a text
message. I checked it and my mom was asking how it was going. I texted back to
her saying,
Everything
is going great and I
am touring Albuquerque with Logan and learning about the area.

She then texted back,
I
hear you are in good hands from my sister. I love you.

I texted back,
Love
ya.

“Is everything all
right?” Logan asked.

“Everything is great.
It was just my mom checking up on me.”

“You should use that
phone all you need before we get there because it will probably be useless in
the canyon,” Logan said.

“Maybe we should start
our own petroglyphs of sorts, so that people who come after us will have more
progress to look at. Like
iPads
, smartphones, cars
with park assist and robots to clean the pool and the floor. We could even have
artists draw pictures on the walls of manmade canyons,” I said.

“I guess ours will be
graffiti.”

“We’ve already
preserved those things with museums in our modern day,” I said.

“Yes, true. Here we
are. This is the visitor’s center and the Petroglyphs are a couple miles away.
We go in here to find out about everything. So, you can leave your things until
we come back out if you like,” Logan said.

“Cool,” I said.

We went inside and saw
a video and talked to the people in charge. We got maps, thanked them for their
hospitality and went to the truck to collect our water, camera and other
things, and Logan put them in his little backpack. He had thought of
everything. We even took our phones just in case we needed them and by some
miracle, there was a signal.

Logan said, “You might
want to stick by me since I have done this before.”

“No problem. Since they
said there could be rattlesnakes, I had planned to do exactly that,” I said.

Logan’s laughter filled
my ears. “They won’t usually hurt you unless you try to hurt them,” he said.

“I’m not worried about
them hurting me. I am worried about them making me hurt myself whenever I see
them.”

Logan laughed again.

I saw a bird with a
long skinny fantail. “Oh no, it looked just like that cartoon,” I said.

“Yes,
Road Runner
.
That is what it is.”

I snapped a picture.
“Wow, I thought that was just someone’s imagination. I didn’t know they were
real,” I replied.

Logan handed me a
bottle of water and said, “Drink up.”

We traveled on and I
saw beautiful magenta colored flowers on a weird tree. I approached to grab a
flower to look at and it stabbed me.

“Ouch!” I exclaimed.

Logan looked and my
left thumb was bleeding.

He said, “Hold on,” and
got a first aid kit out of his back pack and squeezed my thumb for bloodletting
I guess, and cleaned it with wound scrub. It had already started swelling. He
put that orange/red paint he called mercurochrome on it and a bandage.

“That was a Cane Cholla
Cactus flower. I guess you found the thorns.”

“Thank you so much. You
thought of everything,” I said.

“Here, have some more
water. I can’t have you getting dehydrated on me.”

We carried on through
the canyon and he told me about some of his favorite images on the wall. I took
many pictures. You could definitely tell what some of the drawings were, like
the roadrunner bird was very obvious. We saw animals, stars, spirals and even
crosses.

“It was said that the
crosses were put there by the Spaniards, Logan explained.

It was so neat to see and
read about the etchings on the rocks. I came up to a hand on the rock that
looked like the same size hand as mine and I reached up and placed my hand in
the hand etched on the wall.

Logan said, “No, don’t
touch.”

Oops. Too late,
I thought. My hand felt hot and my thumb was throbbing now where I’d hurt it.

“Oh, yes, I forgot
we’re not supposed to touch them to help preserve them for others.
My bad.”

It was weird that my
hand fit perfectly though,
I thought to myself. My thumb
stopped throbbing and my hand was cool again.

We carried on through
the Petroglyphs and I saw a lizard with a blue tail. Even the lizards were
colored here. We reached the top and I could see the Mountain.

“This is so beautiful.
I could never get tired of looking at it.”

“The
Sandia Mountains.
Yes, it is beautiful. I never get tired
of looking at it either. Look over there and you can see the volcanos,” Logan
said.

After taking pictures
and staring in awe for a good amount of time, we headed back to the truck.

I stooped over to look
at a white flower and Logan said, “Don’t touch. It’s Jimson weed and is
poisonous.”

“Wow, I am so glad I
have you with me,” I replied.

“Thanks. I’m kind of
glad myself,” Logan said.

“This was so cool! I
loved my tour.”

“I am glad you liked
it. I think it helps you learn about the history of the people here and makes
you understand what is important to them. This is a very sacred place for
Native Americans and they still come here often and hold rituals and
ceremonies,” Logan said.

“I love all the mystery
this place holds.”

We arrived at Logan’s
truck and got in. He started it and got the air going. We both grabbed our
phones and checked for messages and such. We both answered a few texts,
then
he started to pull out.

“So, what do you feel
like eating?” Logan asked.

I said, “Right now, I
could eat anything. I’m starving. It is amazing what a little exercise can do
for your appetite.”

“How
about sandwiches?”

“That sounds perfect.”

“I know a great little
place that makes the bread daily and has very good sandwiches. The owners are
very friendly and are serious about their Bakery and Deli,” he said.

“Great,” I replied.

My phone beeped. I
announced, “This is my Aunt Carol texting me.”

“Well, please tell her
I’m showing you the town,” Logan said.

“I will do better than
that. I will tell her how great you are and how much fun I’m having,” I said.

“Are you having fun?”
he asked.

“Yes. I have been
having a great time. You are so easy to talk with and we seem to be kindred
spirits in honor of the Petroglyphs,” I replied.

“Thanks,” he said.

CHAPTER 6

I texted my aunt as we pulled into the
parking lot of Roma Bakery and Deli.

We went inside and
Logan said, “Hello, Oscar and Bruce, how is it going?”

They both said,
“Couldn’t be better.”

“What can I get you?”
Oscar asked.

Logan nodded to me and
I placed my order for a grilled
cubano
and iced tea.
Logan ordered the same thing.

I made my way to the
restroom, as did Logan.

We’d hardly sat down before
our food was brought to us. I took a big bite and it was delicious.

“Do you like it?” Logan
asked.

“Yes, the bread is
wonderful and this is the best
cubano
I’ve ever had.”