To Save an Angel

I guess I am about 18 now. I haven’t been as good as Jenna was about keeping track of things. Besides I don’t care much about having a birthday anymore. My rough guess is it has been about ten years since the world was destroyed and rebuilt. In the past six years I have seen myself only in the reflection of water. I have long blond hair, bleached out from the sun, though it seems to get darker in the winter. I have very light blue eyes. The very pale skin I had from being inside for three years is a distant memory. I guess maybe if it had been a different time maybe I would have been pretty, but what does it matter now? I can climb any tree or rock face. I can smell food in the treetops and have no fear of climbing to the highest of limbs to retrieve it, and that is where I discovered a glimpse of hope. It is late in the summer and there was a slight rain shower. It was raining just enough to be refreshing and cleansing. The mountain lion I had been watching and following was in a tree knocking fruit down for her meal. I picked a tree close by and climbed up. After a few minutes I was sitting at the top enjoying some kind of fruit I have never learned the name of when I saw it. A huge field tilled and planted with rows of vegetables.