“Whoa!” He laughed. “That’s what I’m talking about. It’s too quiet here.”
Cocking her head, she listened. Oh.
It was the deep quiet of the woods readying itself for the darkest days of winter. The peepers and bull frogs and assorted musicians of the forest symphony were all tucked away in their beds for their icy winter hiatus.
A deep breath of moist air, redolent with the pungent smell of decaying leaves, reminded her again that she had missed her favorite season entirely.
“Yes. Well—” she cleared her throat, “you will hear some rather loud noises out there. Falling trees and branches are the loudest, but there are owls, foraging deer—” She recalled her objective almost too late. “Coyotes, bears—”
“Wild boar?” he asked solemnly, but she could swear a smile was tugging at the corner o
