The yard had been quiet all morning until a noise broke through; a short, uneven cry that didn’t sound like it came from any direction at all. It echoed strangely, low and muffled, as if it were trapped beneath something.
A California resident stopped what they were doing and turned their head toward the rocks. The sound came again, then silence. That kind of silence that makes you second-guess what you heard.
Moving slowly, the resident traced the noise to a narrow gap between two boulders. Nothing visible. Just still air and that faint noise again, somewhere deep inside…