The sun shone with a sharp brightness. A perfect spring day. I had taken off my long sleeved shirt and was hiking in T-shirt and jeans. The sun burned on my skin even as the high altitude breeze blew cool.

Yellow Pines grew tall by the side of the road. Their spring needles lush and green, shining. I recall the silence as my legs carried me, footprint by footprint, down the Homestake Creek road. I inhaled the moistness of the cool spring breeze, the forest aroma.

There I was, new boots and patched jeans. Long black braids and wire rimmed glasses. One strong leg moving in front of the other, my food carried on my back, dogs about my ankles, breathing air from the plants of the earth, learning to hear with my elbows.

I had a pretty heavy load. About half way to camp I needed a break. I let my pack to the ground and settled up in the shade against a tree. I sat silently, smelling the fresh air and listening to the wind in the trees. The dogs sat near my feet. Stubby was hiding in the bushes next to the road, a few feet ahead of us.

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The tone of the forest changed. I picked it up first on the outer edge of my arms and cocked up my ear. Levi and Sheela were both looking, ears up. The tone turned into the sound of an engine. We watched.

A pickup came driving up the road, so slowly it wasn’t kicking dust. It passed by me and came to a stop in front of Stubby’s hiding place. A tiny old man stepped from the truck and started calling in a shaky voice, "Kitty? Kitty? What are you doing here, kitty?" He was that peculiar shape that some old men get, thin legs sprouting out of a round, tree-trunk-like body. He was stooped at the shoulders, a misshapen dirty hat plastered to his head, a three-day growth of gray whiskers quilling out of his chin. I watched in amazement. Stubby strode from her hiding place and started rubbing back and forth across the man’s ankles, her teeny tail pointed straight up, as high as it could.

I stood up and walked over to the old guy, suspicious. "That’s my cat."

He looked up. "Where did you come from?"

This old guy had driven right past me and my shiny boots, my pack, and my two dogs without seeing us. Yet, he had seen a little cat hiding in the bushes. This was a guy who really liked cats, and this was my introduction to Ray Kelley.