Sarah crossed the wide muddy swath of land, riven with winding rills and watched Frank walk beside Anne and Jack toward the outlying fields of Manang. Next to her walked Matt and Penny. Tag-Along bounded back and forth between them. The large group of trekkers behind was now on their heels. Sarah listened to the staccato stream of Chinese mixed in with stilted English as they came on.
Matt took his floppy hat off, reshaped its brim and put it back on. He picked up a discarded bottle and tucked it away in his pack. “It’s always interesting listening to people talk to each other in their second language,” he said. “You wonder how much they really understand. For example, when one of them says, ‘I need to get moving’ and it’s interpreted as ‘I need to get packed up.’ Lots of chances for some
