M0R1BUND

Two spreads from a lab notebook.

The first page has two photos taped into it, a snapshot of an Appalachian highway and a picture of a rusted mile marker that reads “923.” All around the photos are drawings of various local plants and forested vignettes. A bundle of pressed rhododendron leaves are also enclosed, with (legally collected) northern saw-whet owl feathers.

Notes are scribbled all over the page. Some parts are obscured by the pressed leaves, inkblots, etc. They read:

“#923

Date: September 23, 20[…]
Site: Unmarked turnoff, Tail of the Dragon, NC
Source: “Mile marker 923,” Appy Trails message board

Rhododendron maximum
Oconee bells
Northern saw-whet owl[…] Collected for[…] With federal migratory bird collecting permit[…]

Recorded by: N. Munemori
Date: 9/23”

The second page has two more photos taped into it, along with a scribble on a coffee-stained receipt. One of the photos depicts a gathering of dark-eyed juncos after dark, silhouetted by the moon. Another depicts a gathering of fireflies among the rhododendrons. Two of the flickering lights are rather large, though, and are silhouetted by a big black shape behind a tree.

The drawing on the coffee-stained receipt depicts a ranger, perhaps a member of the Forest Service. She has sharp eyes and a hard-set jaw. Arranged around the enclosed receipt and photos are other drawings, too. A drawing of the wooded creek stretches across the spread, with a sketch of a bank-side tent underneath it. Finally, American chestnut leaves are pressed into the top corner, with a coffee-stained ring around them.

The spread’s notes read:

“#923 cont.

East fork
Camp at the creek

‘You lost?’ @ 1.5 mi.

Time: 8:53 PM
Temp: 61° F
Sky: Partly cloudy […]

Dark-eyed junco […]
Red-breasted nuthatch x3 4
Hawk? X1
Barred ow”

The notes abruptly terminate with a sharp scratch of the pen leading off-page. A soggy, three-toed footprint is stamped on the waterlogged edges of the page.]