Good logs and bad logs.
Money that repaired a tractor instead of making them rich.
She emphasized uncertainty because uncertainty had become one of the most important parts.
Afterward, an elderly man approached with a folded note.
"My father worked river salvage when I was a boy," he said. "Different county. He used to tell me something. Thought you might like it."
Norah unfolded the paper.
Written in shaky handwriting were the words:
MUD HIDES BETTER THAN WATER.
She looked up.
"What did he mean?"
The man smiled. "Same thing you found out. Everybody looks at a river and thinks that's where lost things stay. River moves. Mud keeps."
Norah placed the note in her notebook.
Marcus caught her near the coat rack before leaving.
"Good talk."
"Thanks."
"You made me sound almost respectable."
"I told the truth."
"Exactly. Could've been worse."
He nodded toward Eli across the room. "Your grandfather's proud of you."
Norah looked over.
Eli was arguing with Clara about whether an old map should be framed with ultraviolet-filtering glass.
"He'll never say it like that."
"Men his age have limited vocabulary for feelings."
"You're about his age."
Marcus looked offended. "I'm sixteen years younger."
"Emotionally?"
He laughed and walked away.
Spring of 1990 brought rain again, but not a flood. Norah watched the drainage channel rise and fall with an attention she never would have possessed a year earlier. She measured water at the old fence post after storms and noted where runoff entered the former chute.
One afternoon Eli found her standing in the lower pasture after rain.
"Looking for more logs?"
"No."
"Good."
"Looking at why the water goes there first."
Eli stood beside her.
The grass above the old channel was darker.
Water lingered in slight depressions invisible in dry weather.
"Once you know the map, you see it," Norah said.
"Map was here before paper."
She understood what he meant.
The land had been describing its history the entire time.
People simply needed to know how to read it.
That summer, Raymond helped Eli mill another moderate log after a furniture buyer placed an order. Norah did not feel the same suspense as during the first cut. Instead she felt competence.
They checked for metal.
Recorded the log number.
Photographed the cut.
Measured defects.
Stickered boards immediately.