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Tucker kept his approach as quiet as possible in case they were trying to listen for something, but when he reached them, he figured out what was going on.
Still in her crouch, Wynona looked at him over her shoulder with wide eyes that seemed to defy the darkness with their shine. “Scat!” she said, her whisper loud with her excitement.
“I see that,” he said without whispering. “Is it fresh?”
She shook her head. “Not very, but I swear it wasn’t here when we set up the site.”
He could believe that. It was right in the middle of a big, flat, gray rock, so they likely would have seen it.
It was definitely scat, but Tucker wasn’t so sure it was toad scat. He also wasn’t sure that he should challenge the wildlife biologist on that fact.
Martin approached with a small, clear plastic bag, which Wynona took excitedly from his hand and scooped up her prize.
“Do you want me to leave now?” Martin asked.
“Are you okay to hike out on your own?” she asked.
“Hold up,” Tucker said.
They both looked at him.
“Where’s he going?”
“To the lab,” she said, as if he were stupid. “Do you want to hike out with him?”
Well, no, not exactly. It was stupid for Martin to go alone, but Tucker wasn’t about to leave Wynona up here with Mr. Dirt Bag. “There is safety in numbers. What’s the rush? We pack up in a few hours. The scat isn’t going to degrade in two hours, and will anyone even beatthe lab when he gets there?”
She sighed, looking down at the prize poop in her hand. “I just want the results as soon as possible, you know?” She looked up at him. “If it’s from the western Blake, then maybe I don’t hike out at all.”
He almost laughed. “You’re going to stay here all day?”
“If it’s the western Blake,aren’t you?”
“Well, no, because I need to walk Martin out of the forest.”
She was obviously struggling to make a decision, so he stepped closer, lowered his voice and said, “Are you sure it’s even toad scat?”
Her face snapped up toward his, obviously mad as a hornet, and the first thing that occurred to him was how pretty she was when she was furious. This was an insane thought, of course, and he chalked it up to exhaustion. “Of course it’s toad scat,” she snapped. “Iama biologist, you know?”
“I know,” he said, suddenly less charmed. “And I’m not a biologist. I’m not even sure I’ve taken a biology class.” He thought he had in high school, but he wasn’t willing to swear by it. He had skipped a lot of school. It was a wonder he’d even graduated. He was certain that some teachers had passed him just to avoid dealing with his father. “But it could be frog scat, or mountain lion ... or even coyote.”
Her mouth dropped open in wrath. “Do you see any bodies of water around?” she cried. “And a mountain lion? Are younuts?” She was shouting now, and he simultaneously wanted to back away, laugh at her, and take her into his arms and shut her up with a kiss. But bewildered by the chaos in his own mind, he simply stood there and let her holler at him. “Do you honestly think a mountain lion ambled through here withoutanyof us noticing? And I coyote? Oh sure! I’m sure it was a coyote!” Her voice shook with anger.
She finally stopped shouting and stared at him. Was it his turn to talk now? And if it was, what was he allowed to say? What wassafeto say?
There was really only one option. “Sorry.”
She stared at him for a moment, and as she did, her expression relaxed. Their eyes locked, and remained locked for so long that it became weird, yet Tucker couldn’t pull his eyes away.
His eyeballs were stuck.
Tucker didn’t think his eyeballs had ever been stuck before.
Finally, she broke the lock and looked down at the poop in her hand. Keeping it sealed in the plastic bag, she broke the sample open. “If it were carnivore scat,” she said slowly, “it would be full of fur. It is not.” She held it up to him, and he had to work not to recoil from the baggie of poop that was suddenly in his face. “It is full of insect exoskeletons.” She pushed it closer still, and because he was so incredibly uncomfortable, he laughed.
“Okay, okay, you win.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I was not trying towinanything.”
