Monday, November 08, 2004 7:39:32 AM

A large bird made black by the sun above flew overhead. He watched it trace the sky - long unflapping wings slightly shrugged at the shoulders – and wondered if the bird ever questioned the unseen forces that pushed him around the sky.
She followed his gaze to the bird until its arch leaned her head against the seat. She left her head there and looked at him. He was looking at the line of her neck with its smooth gentle line and delicate skin. “You’re looking at my bones aren’t you?” He laughed because he was. “I know, I just watched the skeleton of a bird soar by,” she continued. He replied, “And I have been thinking, what a great skull you have. It is strange that we don’t consider the bones that lay beneath the skin of the people we love.”
“That may be because it is a little morbid.” “No, it is morbid if we are thinking about our loved ones dead. I am thinking about your bones animated. Your chomping mandible and tiny phalanges wrapped in mine.”
She looked down at their hands and the bones beneath them. He laughed at her repulsion as she pulled her hand away from his.
“Do you think you would recognize my bones?” She asked. His eyes narrowed as if he was looking through her skin, pealing away the muscles to examine her skull.
“Okay, stop,” she said, “that is too creepy to have you looking at my skull.”
She jumped out of the jeep. “Let’s go for a walk, Bones.”
He followed her in silence, watching her graceful skeleton negotiate the forest floor.