After lunch, Nick decided to go back to the library and look up some more topics that he and Josh had talked about.
"What are you guys up to?" Hannah asked Ben and Josh, once they had paid and walked away from the restaurant.
"We're going to drop by the visitor's center to get a program for Movies in the Park," Ben replied. "You know, the annual open-air movie theater. You coming?"
"Nah. I'm going to skip town and go to a quiet spot for a while. To enjoy nature."
Josh looked intrigued. "By yourself?"
Like he cared. He'd left her standing by herself this morning too.
"Yes, by myself. I can't open up to my environment with other people around. Call it meditation or whatever."
"Beware, the Crazy Hermit is on the loose," Ben teased.
Hannah punched him. "Sticks and stones..." she replied. "Yada, yada. See you guys later."
"But ... what time are you going to be home tonight?" Ben sounded a bit worried all of a sudden.
"No idea. I'm not going to keep an eye on my watch the whole time. That's not really my idea of a relaxing, peaceful afternoon."
"Do come back before nightfall." Josh unexpectedly put his hand on her shoulder.
"Oh. Okay," she stammered. So he did care about her after all. "Will do."
She waved at the two guys and turned around. As she started the car and drove away, she could still feel the spot on her skin where Josh had touched her.
Twenty minutes later, Hannah had found herself a nice spot on the beach of Lake Powell, a bottle of water in the one hand. She breathed deeply in and out, letting the beauty and tranquility of her surroundings sink in. The longer she sat at the lakeside, the more she became aware of how much sound there was all around her. Nature rustled and moved without pause. A soft wind tousled her hair, a small bird hopped around on a branch tweeting, the leaves of the trees whispered in the breeze. She spotted a beautiful, dark-blue beetle crawling past her feet, making its way toward the rock next to her.
So this is what young Navajo men learned to listen for during their vision quests. They'd go off into the wilderness for days without food or water, learning how to be in sync with nature. They'd find edible plants, learn to listen for subterranean springs, train themselves to hear animals coming from miles away.