Wunderlich
By Mary Sawyer
The headline “Utah Hiker Found Dead After Apparent Fall” was one of those articles Mandy knew she didn’t have time to read. And she shouldn’t read—she had already wasted several minutes reading the triumphant story beneath the headline, “Woman Rescues 4-month Puppy from Florida Alligator.” She was about to close the tab when her eye rested on the Utah hiker’s name and hometown: Adam Brownmiller, Menlo Park, California, along with the location of the fall, Devil’s Castle in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. Her heart stopped and confused emotions flooded through her. Just then her phone rang. The caller ID was Richard Larkin. She knew him as Larks, a friend she first met in high school. She had only seen him a couple times in the past decade.
“I’m afraid I’m calling with sad news about our friend Adam.”
Mandy knew what he was going to say and let the sound of his voice bring her back to high school. The spring of senior year. A party in Wunderlich Park in Northern California’s coastal foothills. That night Mandy felt thin. She had so far survived four days on the “liquid protein diet,” and could fit easily into her new black pants. She hadn’t felt like eating much because her life had an exciting new element: Adam. She had met him about a month ago at Leslie’s party, when they were with a group of people sitting in the living room talking about music. They both liked The Grateful Dead. She learned that he played guitar in a band. He had thick dark brown hair and a beard which made him seem older. When she and her best friend Greta were leaving, he whispered in her ear, “Come over to my house later tonight.” Mandy had never had a guy “come on” to her.
She asked directions to his house and said she would think about it.
Mandy had heard that last year he had gotten his girlfriend– a senior– pregnant. Maybe this was why he chose to graduate a semester early. She remembered sitting behind him in chemistry, watching him give his girlfriend back massages while their teacher, Mr. Olsen, explained
HVWP COMMONPLACE 10
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