Covet Thy Neighbor

around, particularly in the higher altitudes, but we were low enough we didn’t encounter any lingering snowpack. If the afternoon got warm, which it likely would, the evergreen canopy would keep us shaded. Perfect weather, as far as I was concerned.
    On the way up the trail, we shot the shit about whatever came to mind. Small talk, mostly. Bantering. Sometimes we didn’t talk at all. Darren was the kind of hiking partner I liked: he enjoyed carrying on a conversation, but didn’t feel the need to fill every silence.
    A slight movement caught my eye, and I turned. Then stopped dead and put up a hand for Darren to do the same.
    “Hey, check it out,” I whispered, pointing through the trees.
    Darren craned his neck. “What am I look— oh .”
    On the other side of the ravine, picking their way over some rocks and a fallen tree, were several bighorn sheep. Mostly females, with the smaller, straighter horns, but there was at least one ram sporting an enormous set of those distinctive, curved horns.
    “You see a lot of those out here?” Darren asked.
    “Oh, they’re around, but you won’t see them all the time. Last summer, though, I got a picture of a couple of the rams fighting. Cool as shit. Remind me one of these days, and I’ll show it to you.”
    “I’d love to see that,” he said.
    We watched the sheep for a few more minutes, and as the herd wandered into the woods and out of sight, we continued up the trail.
    “Doing okay?” I asked. “Altitude not bothering you?”
    Darren laughed. “I’ll be fine, thanks. But if you’re getting tired, we can slow down.”
    “Very funny. I was pacing myself for you, plains boy.”
    “Oh, is that why we’re going so slow?”
    We both laughed, and kept walking.
    “Man, it’s gorgeous out here,” he said after a while. “The scenery’s just unbelievable.”
    “One of my favorite things about Colorado.”
    “The whole state like this?”
    I shook my head. “Head east, and it starts resembling Nebraska as you get close to, well, Nebraska. Much more civilized out here.”
    “Civilized?” He quirked an eyebrow. “Is that what you call it?”
    “What would you call it?”
    He looked around. “Well, it’s . . . bumpier.”
    I snorted. “Bumpier? Really?”
    “Yeah. Oklahoma’s nice and smooth.” He made a circle with his hand like he was running it over an imaginary flat surface. “Now that is civilized.”
    “Uh-huh. Says the man who was just saying how gorgeous it is out here.” I shook my head. “So no mountains anywhere? How did you not go insane in a place like that?”
    “Would you believe I didn’t see an actual mountain until I was ten?”
    My jaw dropped. “Seriously? Dude, I went rock climbing for the first time before I was in first grade.”
    “Yeah, well, some of us were deprived youth who were forced to live in the flatlands.”
    “I’ll say you were deprived.”
    “Quite,” he said. “So do you still do rock climbing?”
    “Not for a good many years, no. It was something I did with my dad and brother, so . . .”
    “Oh. Point taken.”
    “But I might try it again someday.” I shrugged. “You know, if I ever find someone willing to dangle off a rock wall by a few ropes.”
    He laughed. “Well, if you’re ever willing to take a novice up there with you, I’d love to give it a try.”
    “Maybe I will.” Our eyes met, and the silence threatened to take an awkward turn, so I gestured up the trail. “There’s a place around that bend where we can stop and eat if you’re hungry. Couple of picnic tables and all that.”
    “I could eat.”
    “Let’s go, then.”
    Fortunately, that was enough to get us back on the path of casual small talk, and we continued up and around the bend to a clearing beside the river. Parks & Recreation had installed a picnic area a decade or so ago, and at first glance, the weathered old tables appeared to have been attacked by termites. On closer inspection, though, all the grooves and holes formed sharper, more deliberate patterns.
    I dropped the backpack on top of a few inscriptions about “M.R. was here” and “Casey loves Jordan.” We pulled out our lunch and sat on the weathered benches.
    As we ate, Darren said, “I have a question for you.”
    “Yeah?”
    “I’ve always been curious about this, but I think I can ask you without it turning into a nasty argument where one of us eventually tries to drown the other in the river.”
    Laughing, I unscrewed the cap on my water