Continue...

I grab the earbud again.

It's not like I wanted this you know.. I tell him. For what is worth, I'm sorry.

"Whatever"

My cell rings. I dig around in my pocket and toss the phone to Jeffrey. He cathes it, startled. Could you get that? I ask sweetly. I'm driving. He siggs, open the phone and puts it to his ear. "Yeah" he says. Okay yeah.

He flips the phone closed.

She says we're about to come up on Teton pass. She want us to pull over at the lookout.

Right on cue we come arounda corner and the valley where we'll be living opens up below a range of low hills and jagged blue and white mountains. It's an amazing view, like a scene from a calendar or postcard. Mum pulls into a turnoff for the scenic overlook amd I come to a careful stop next to her. She practically bounds out of the car.

I think she wants us to get out, I say to my brother. He just stares at the dashboard.

I open the door and swing out into the mountainy air. It's like stepping into a freezer. I tug my suddenly much too thin stanford hoodie over my head and jam my hands deep into the pockets. I can literally see my breath floating away from me every time I exhale.

Mum walks up to Jeffrey's door and taps on the window.

"Get out of the car," she commands in a voice that she means business.

She waves me towards the ridge, where a large wooden sign shows a cartoon cowboy pointing into the valley below. HOWDY STRANGER, it reads. YONDERBIS JACKSON HOLE. THE LAST OF THE OLD WEST. There's a scattering of buildings on either side of gleaming silver river. That's Jackson, our new hometown.

Over there is Teton National Park amd Yellowstone. Mum points out toward horizon. We will have to go there in the spring, check it out.

Jeffrey joins us on the ridge. He isn't wearing a jacket, just jeans and a T-shirt, but he doesn't look cold. He's too mad to shiver. His expression as he surveys our new environment is carefully blank. A cloud moves over the sun, casting the valley in shadow. The air instantly feels about 10deg colder. I'm suddenly anxious, like now that I've officialy arrived in Wyoming the tress will burst into flame and I'll have to fulfill my purpose on the spot. So much is expected of me in this place.

don't worry.. Mum puts her hands on my shoulders and squeezes briefly. "This is where you belong, Clara."

I know, I try to muster a brave smile.

You.. she says, moving to Jeffrey.. are you going to love the sports here. Snow skiing and water skiing and rock climbing and all kinds of extreme sportsm I give you full permission to hurl yourself off stuff.

I guess, he mutters.

Great! She says, seemingly satisfied. She snaps a quick picture of us. Then she moves brisky back to the car. "Now let's go."

I follow her as the road twists down the mountain. Another sign catches my eye. WARNING, it says, SHARP CURVES AHEAD.

Right before we reach Jackson we turn onto Spring Gulch Road, which takes us to another long amd winding road, this one with a big iron gate we need a pass code to get through. That's my first inkling that our humble abode is going to be fairly posh. My second clue is all anormous log houses I see tucked away in the trees. I follow Mum's car as ahe turns down freshly plowed driveway and makes herbway slowly through forestbof lodgepole pine, birch and aspen trees, until we reach a clearing whereour new house poses on a small rise.