Notes from Cottonwood

We drove up the Trans-Talas Highway to the reservoir at Kyzyl-Adyr this weekend with the Parkers. About fifteen minutes out of town there's a roadside cross, with a small stone beside it, and some withered flowers. Mark slowed down and asked what it was. The Iradi man in the back seat (Parker's driver) didn't say anything for a while. Then he said, "Two years ago. A wedding bus." Five names on the stone.

I didn't know. I had read about it, in the way you read about something that happened to other people. The driver crossed himself and so did Mark. Sam asked why the flowers were fresh. Nobody answered him.

I don't know what to write. We're guests here, and some of the people who gave us soup are the same people who stood on that road with candles. I think that's the whole thing.

The reservoir at Kyzyl-Adyr, an hour later. It was very quiet.