Cheri couldn’t help but compare it to the busy Houston neighborhood she’d left two days ago. It felt like one of those bright desert landscapes the movies used as sets for space operas, almost as if it was on overexposed film. She pulled up in front of the house her GPS pointed her to and parked, her hair sticking to the back of her neck, her sunglasses no match against the August daylight. School would start soon and Cheri had to get settled in her classroom, her new house and her new life. No more inner city for her. She was all about the country life again. She loved, teaching, loved having her little pack of students, but the city had gotten so scary… Her phone interview had made the job sound so attractive. “You’re from West Texas originally?” Mrs. Alvarez had asked, sounding so pleased. “I am. Small town. I’m ready to get back to that slower pace,” Cheri had replied, just as she’d rehearsed. Endlessly. “Oh good. We’re very close to the land out here. Very into nature.
