Song of the Mockingbird: My Journey with Josefina

I whisper to Josefina to throw the rock. Her eyes are steely. The mountain lion leaps. Josefina slings the rock at him and he twists in midair like a spring. The rock catches him on the shoulder and he lands heavily, scrambling with his back feet for an instant. He stumbles, hesitates, and with a glance over her shoulder, lopes away, disappearing over the rise.

We both breathe a sigh of relief. Before we have time to say a word, Miguel comes running up. Josefina explains what happened, and once he sees we are both unharmed, he tracks the cat down the hill to make sure he’s really gone.

Josefina scoops up the goat, and we stand for a long time, feeling her heartbeat return to normal. Finally, Josefina’s eyes meet mine, and we burst into giggles. Josefina heaves aside and places Sombrita on the ground. She instructs her to not wander off anymore. The goat gazes up at Josefina with yellow eyes, and I wonder if she knows how much danger she was just in.

Josefina asks me if we should go back to the house to rest. As the adrenaline ebbs away, I suddenly realize I’m exhausted. Between the trip through time and this brush with danger, I feel as if I’ve been running for a week without stopping. I think lovingly of the sheepskin bedroll in Josefina’s room. But at the same time, we’ve barely gotten started on our collecting trip. I don’t want to let Josefina down by not finishing the task we plan to do together.