I let go of my grip on her neck, but stayed close to her face. I could see the bones sticking out beneath her cheeks. She whistled and waved her arm at the rock behind her. I looked back to see our dog Rambo, slowly uncurl from the spot on the ground where he’d been sleeping. I remembered how much I wanted him last night, wanted him to sleep beside me and keep me warm with his thick fur. But now I wasn’t even excited. He trotted over and nuzzled my side, his slobber getting on my hand. I pulled my hand away and wiped it on my shirt, then patted his head.

            “How did you know where to find me?” I asked Rambo. I knew he couldn’t answer, but I couldn’t understand how they knew where I was. “How did you find me,” I asked Gujari, so happy to be found that I didn’t really care that much. They were there and the night was over.

            “I’ve been here the whole time!’ she said, as if it were a surprise I would be happy about.

            “Here behind the rock?”

            “No, silly. I was up there on the mountain with you.”

            “But I couldn’t see you. I was all by myself.”

            “That’s what you think!” she said. I looked at her confused. Then, in her smile I saw that she had known that I was up there all alone the whole time. And she hadn’t helped me. She let me spend the night alone and just watched. Where she had been?  Behind a tree? I started to cry again.

“You played a trick on me,” I said through my tears. “You knew I was up there all by myself and you didn’t come get me.”

            “Oh, you didn’t need me to save you.” Her face was sharper, not the soft, round face from before. Everything about her was harder. She looked like all the other Shivalila women with their short hair and plain brown clothes that hung on her body like bags.

“But I didn’t like it. I was all alone. And you knew I was alone, and you didn’t come.”

            “And did anything bad happen to you? No. You were fine.”

            “No I wasn’t,” I cried. I pulled away from her. I didn’t want to touch her anymore. She wasn’t nice. She was mean and laughing and making fun of me. She didn’t care that I was scared. I thought I was really alone when all along she was there. I thought it was something really dangerous but it was just play dangerous because she had been there to watch me. I stood up and stomped away. Rambo stayed for a second to see if Gujari would follow. When she did, he walked between us down the trail.

            “Oh come on, Tasaday,” she shouted after me. But I just kept walking.

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