Metal print,
10 by 10,
black and white,
Justin Talbot.
It was a shot of Hope Pass probably taken from the Red Rooster,
or maybe the Forebay,
showing the sky a scramble of cumulus,
stratus,
cirrus,
and a few other more complex combinations of the above that he couldn't identify,
with several fields of summer snow still stuck to the rim of the cirque to the south,
and Mount Hope herself to the north,
defending her shoulder.
He'd been over that pass many times,
and up and down the peaks all around it,
and as far as he and his oxy-sodden mind could remember,
hope was just about the last thing anyone should ever expect to find up there.
…
He picked up the print and hung it in the bathroom,
right above the shitter right there at eye level,
so that every time he took a piss he'd be forced to stare directly at it,
and think very carefully about each and every step he'd taken to get to a place where he could no longer wake up,
make coffee,
open his door,
look southwest,
and see Hope Pass looking back.
…