Natural Selection or: How Dan McLane was Nearly Lost Forever

We were standing on the hill
knee deep in snow
(the powdery kind that gets
in your ear when you fall down
and you don’t notice it’s there
until it melts
and there’s water running
down the side of your face)
So anyway there we were
standing knee deep in snow
at Red Butte Gardens
supposedly taking field notes and
Dan said, right there in the open, standing at the edge of the hill
he said, “I’m the King of this mountain!” and that’s when
the ground dropped out
from under him
and he was gone
hands in his pockets
cascading down the mountain
sending up sprays
of crystal cold snow
his tumbling body
silhouetted
against the white ground
against the white mountains
against the white sky
until he got caught in some scrub oak
halfway down the mountain
halfway to the river
caught in some scrub oak
which Nick and I thought was hilarious
because he wasn’t the King of the Mountain at all.

---

Tim Wirkus, Age 18
Brighton High School
Salt Lake City, Utah
Teacher: Patricia Russell (ROW Teacher of the Year 1997)