CHAPTER SIXTEENIt's now late September. Neil's favorite time to hike. And I'm back on Chocorua, just as Jeremy had said I should do.
This time, I'd made it to the summit, from Neil's favorite trail on this mountain: Champney Falls. I'd watched idiots send golf balls into the sunset. Then I'd found my way over to the Jim Liberty Cabin to see who would be spending the night there. Seemed like maybe two couples. Two straight couples.
It had been disconcerting to see how different it looked now, with the distant hills covered in the colors of early autumn, with the granite ledges empty of snow and ice, with people milling about in their brightly-colored hiking gear. There were even a few dogs running around. I'd sat down on a rock and contemplated the scene, reconstructing in my mind the day
