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caught a hidden root and he fell forward, palms out, onto the
     earth before him. His shin struck the root and his palms stung as they pressed into
     the small stones hidden beneath a layer of dirt and leaves on the forest floor.
    “Can you stay on your feet ?” said Sugar.
    Bird nodded. He could.
    “Then follow.”
    Sugar took the boy’s shoulder and drew him up.
    As Bird’s hands left the dirt, he unearthed what he’d mistaken for small
     stones. The yellow edges of two cracked teeth shone up from the earth as a third
     worked its way from where it had impressed into Bird’s palm and fell to join
     them.
    “It’s a graveyard,” said Bird.
    “You’ll find that’s always the case,” said Sugar, “if you pay
     attention.”
    Bird was sniffling behind Sugar now, being led by the wrist. Bird said
     nothing in return, made only a few soft sounds, pausing every now and then to suck
     air through his nose.
    “Are you hurt ?” said Sugar.
    Bird did not respond.
    Suddenly, they could hear water. After a moment they couldsee it, too. A silver stream and its heavy movement through the earth.
    “We’re almost there,” said Sugar.
    Bird cut his whimpering then and began to tremble slightly against
     Sugar’s grip.
    “You should cut all of that before we get there,” said Sugar. “If he sees
     how scared you’re acting, he will fuck with you.”
    The trembling sped up for a bit, then slowed. Sugar could hear the boy
     breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. The air was still then.
    “We’re here,” said Sugar.
    Before them was a modest camp. There was no smoke. No fire pit. Only a
     few scattered bundles and a thin man in a suit, sitting upon a rock.
    “Sugar,” he said, “you’ve brought a friend.”
    “His name’s Bird,” said Sugar.
    “For now,” said Bird.
    “And the baby ?” said the man.
    “I’m not a baby,” said Bird.
    “Indeed,” said the man. “Sugar, I’m happy for you.”
    He drew a knee to his chest, set his heel against the rock beneath
     him.
    “Can you tell me anything about Bird ?” said Sugar.
    “Like what ?”
    “Where did he come from ? Who’s his family ? Where can we leave
     him ?”
    Sugar finally loosed Bird’s wrist from his grip, but Bird’s hand came
     back to Sugar’s arm only a moment later, clutching his elbow, his forearm, his
     bicep, his shoulder.
    “Don’t leave me,” said Bird.
    “We could get you home,” said Sugar.
    “I can’t tell you anything about him,” said the man,
     “because there’s nothing to tell.”
    “What does that mean ?” said Sugar.
    “You should keep the baby this time,” said the man. “The woods are crying
     out with all you’ve left them.”
    He looked up and around, as if at nothing in particular.
    “There is no baby,” said Sugar. “Enough about the baby.”
    “Nothing’s gone away. You know that as well as I do.”
    He was smiling then, eyeing Sugar and Bird, one after the other. He was
     calm, somehow comforting. It wasn’t a feeling Bird recognized. He could not tell if
     he liked it.
    “He’d be better off with his family,” said Sugar. “Brooke and I can’t
     help him. He’s in danger if he’s with us, and we’re in danger if he slows us
     down.”
    “Most are better off with a family,” said the man.
    “So help us,” said Sugar. “Give me something to go on.”
    “Keep the baby,” said the man. “Make my life easier out here.”
    “Your life,” said Sugar.
    “I am being straight with you,” said the man. “But you are not being
     straight with me.”
    Sugar did not respond.
    “Are you ?”
    “At the very least, you can tell us if the boy has people,” said
     Sugar.
    “He does now,” said the man. He rose then. He brushed his knees and waved
     them on.
    Sugar protested, but the man moved steadily from the rock and then away
     from his own camp. He did not look back and he did not register Sugar’s increasing
     alarm.
    “He’s not ours,” said