NAM (52)

We're on a hike along a friendly route, well-traveled, relatively safe. Still, everybody keeps one eye open in the back of their heads.

There is the feeling that anything could happen at any time. You're joking around with the guy next to you, everybody's full of piss and vinegar. But at the first glint of metal in the underbrush you're ready to jump into Hell. Could be a tin can, for all you know. Fuck it, you'll find out after you've emptied a clip at the bushes.

We spot a girl coming up behind us on a bike. She's maybe seven, eight years old. She rides by and we all get quiet. Its tense, you can feel it, a dozen guys ready to blow this little kid away at the slightest provocation. She must have felt it too because she doesn't even look at us, just keeps her head down, pedaling slow and steady. We let her pass.

Maybe it was the bike, the sound of the wheels. You can close your eyes and almost see a girl from back home. Dress blowing around her legs. Probably half the guys pitched a tent, listening to the wheels on that bike spin around.