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Sunday is ten and she finally has a name.  For a long time it was Cutie, followed by Girlie and then, one day, she was Sunday.

They’ve been riding for a long time and the desert doesn’t change.  She couldn’t guess how her father knows when to stop, but he does.  He lifts her from her horse.

“Do you remember this place?”

She doesn’t so she wanders here and there.  She kicks scrub.  She gets on her knees and plays with the coarse sand.

Her father is back in the saddle, scanning the horizon.  She brushes the hair from her face and watches.  His eyes are swallowed by the shadow of his hat.  Gray hairs sprinkle across the black field of his mustache.  He’s moving a little slower these days.  But he’s still the strongest man she has ever seen.

Something sparkles.  It’s a tarnished silver necklace.  She hangs it around her neck.  She digs around a little and finds some more jewelry.  And then some childrens’ toys — a sling-shot, a couple of ragged dolls.

And bones.  Lots and lots of bones.

This Ends the Second Cycle of  BURNT

The Story So Far