Nothing Lasts Forever

Mammoth Pass to Reds Meadow, July 7, 2011NOTHING LASTS FOREVER, said Jasper, aged 6, before brushing his teeth. Maybe the sky, I said. And the earth, he added.

I don't know about the earth, I said. If we keep treating it the way we have.

He thought about this. Then he brushed his teeth, counting to one hundred in his head, spat and crawled up into his bunk. A little while later, Beckett, aged 3, came out to tell me that Jasper was crying.

He was inconsolable. You said the earth won't last forever, he said, sobbing. You shouldn't have said that.

Merced River, Yosemite Valley, June 18, 2011