Ringgold, Georgia.
You couldn’t tell me he’d do some crazy shit like that?
He said he’d eaten every animal he was scared of.
And why is that?
He says it’s the only way to get rid of a fear.
Hell, how many animals was he scared of?
He said too many to count.
Well, how long has he done that?
Long as I’ve known him.
Well, I figured I shouldn’t go alone. The woods grow too thick out past the first few miles. After them woods, it’s real tranquil. The sky grows arid, the world seems still out there. A fire goes nice, but too much fire runs the real big holes dry. If you look in the right spots, you can still find ones that light. Once it lights, it’s good for a night or two. That’s why we oughta head out early.
Have you ever gotten lost out there?
Last time I went, I brought too many people I didn’t know. I left angry. One of Pike’s friends got it in him to eat a bat. He found it in a cave and hit it with a rock. He carried the damn thing by the legs the rest of our way out there. It had a putrid little face. Its awful eyes set behind its smooshed nose. It felt like the eyes would follow you. I feel sick when I see those things, but when something freaks me out, I just can’t stand to look away. When we finally got out past the woods, he set a fire. He didn’t scald or scrape the damn thing, so when it got cooking, it smelled like hell. That smoke seeped into our clothes. That whole way back, we stunk. Pike and him smelled the worst. I could hardly get rid of the headache from being around em, so I ditched and walked back alone. Felt like the smell didn’t leave my skin till about two days later.
Did it scare you?
Bet your ass. I hate bats.
No, walking back alone.
Walking out there isn’t that bad. Well, it’s not too bad until something reminds you you ain’t alone. Only time I’ve been real scared out there was when Pike brought back that friend of his.
Did he eat another bat?
No, he was quiet the whole time. He’s one of those people who’ll keep quiet if he don’t like you.
I do the same, but I don’t go around killing bats for fun.
The pair arrived at the arid junction. Sat in the distance was a tall man wearing a tall hat. His head swayed along to the rhythm of the flames from a large fire. He had found a hole in the ground where gas seeped out. The gas was petroleum, and it seeped from an arid patch of clay that filled a dry basin where an ancient pool once rested. Twenty thousand years ago, the autumn pool dried due to a sudden rise in global temperature. 60.3 million years before, tectonic activity caused small ruptures in shale deposits deep underground. This ruptured shale allowed for the naturally occurring petroleum seepage; this shale was similar to the shale in the Appalachian Basin. This shale is known as Rhinestreet shale. While the small city of Ringgold is located near the Appalachian mountains, the basin rests much farther north of Ringgold. The presence of Rhinestreet shale deposits south of the basin, especially in such high quantities as those in Ringgold, is unprecedented.
I just can’t get my head around that.
What? Around him eatin that bat?
Yeah.
Hell, Donny, you can ruin anything by thinking about it.
Writer | Jorge Rodriguez Jr. ’26 | jrodriguezjr26@amherst.edu
Editor | Jihyun Paik ’24 | jpaik24@amherst.edu