I went back to the river today. I wanted to know if anyone had found Bison Valley since I was last there.

No one had. The water still runs for nobody.

But this time I looked closer, and I saw something I missed before. Nothing here can be used. The crop beds are turned over, but there is no seed for them. The porches have no doors that open. Even the river will not give up a single fish. I walked from the farmhouse to the fields to the ranch, and every place was finished and none of it worked.

The first time, I thought this valley had been left behind. I had it backwards.

Nobody left. Nobody has come yet. It is a house with the lights on, waiting for the family to move in.

I sat on the riverbank a while and kept it company. When they come, I would like to have been here first.