(Cedar Wells Arizona December 4 2006.)

Chapter two:

That's a big hole. Deanna Winchester said.

A big hole, Samantha repeated.

That's what I said. It's a big freakin hole. And somehow that river got stuck inside it. Replied Deanna Winchester.

Samantha shook her head sadly. Her sister leaned casually on a railing, peering into the canyon. Across the way, the lowering sun's rays slanted in from the west, dripping gold paint across horizontal layers of pale rose, bluff, and salmon strata of shale, limestone, and sandstone. Sometimes Samantha had to wonder if dad had destroyed Deanna's soul altogether, God's, nature worked miracles for millions of years to create the Grand Canyon the Colorado Rivers the reason it's here.

Deanna turned slowly, fixing Samantha with a steady glare. From the way her mouth curled into a mischievous grin, Samantha knew she'd been had. Just because I didn't go to Stanford doesn't mean I'm an idiot, college girl. Deanna said.

I didn't say... Samantha paused, stuck. Deanna loved to give her crap about having attended Standford and almost graduating prelaw while Deanna carried on the family business.

Look, Samantha, I know what made the Grand Canyon. I know about erosion. I even get why you wanted to stop here while we. Said Deanna Winchester.

We were just passing so close. Replied Samantha Winchester.

What did I just say? Hey, are you even listening to me? Deanna asked her.

When Deanna got in this kind of mood, there was no winning. After her years at college, away from her big sister, Samantha had to learn Deanna's habits and quirks all over again. These last months, riding around the country in Deanna's precious Impala, she believed she had reacquainted herself with most of those traits, good and bad.

Didn't stop her from stepping right into it from time to time.

It is pretty spectacular, Samantha said, hoping to change the subject. Another glance at the opposite wall showed that in just minutes shifting light and shadow had altered the view as surely as if the Winchester sisters had moved to a different vantage point. Hints of pine and sage tickled Samantha's nose on a whispered breeze from below, the same wind shushed through the branches of the firs and the gnarled junipers surrounding the overlook. I'm glad we made the trip. Samantha Winchester said.

Me too, Deanna said. She scratched her head, mussing her long blonde hair. Her leather jacket was zipped against the cold, the snow around her boots was hard packed, a week old or more. It's kinda cool. Said Deanna Winchester.

For a big hole. Replied Samantha Winchester.

Am I wrong? Deanna asked her sister.

More like incomplete, Samantha said.

You can give me detention. Oh wait, that's right... you aren't the boss of me. So I guess you can just bite me. Deanna said.

That's not happening, Samantha replied. Maybe we should get on into town. Even as she said it, she recognized that Deanna might take it as giving orders again. That was something she and Deanna struggled with. Deanna was older, and had stayed on the road with their dad while Samantha turned her back on the family at least, that's was Deanna's take on. Samantha was that, having announced her intention to go to college, dad had thrown her out, essentially disowning her. Dad's words, Don't come back, had seemed plenty specific.

But now that Samantha had rejoined the family business and the sisters were left to run it themselves since their fathers death there had been friction between the two of them. Deanna loved her little sister, and vice versa. But she didn't like being dictated to, and she made that abundantly clear.

Which didn't mean it was easy for Samantha to knock it off. She had been on her own for a long time, and she was used to doing things her way. Deanna, having worked with dad longer, was used to taking orders. More than that, she seemed to thrive on it, as if dad had crushed the independent spirit she'd been born with. What was left behind was a Deanna who Samantha bossed around whether she meant it or not. Maybe it wasn't the natural order of things, but sometimes it felt that way to her.

Deanna shot her a dark glance but didn't say anything. She pushed off the railing. Let's hit it. Said Deanna Winchester.