‘Bats’ by John Kinsella
From AGNI:
I don’t believe you, she said to him, as the sun sat on the edge of the hill.
It’s true, he said emphatically.
And you said this was a mountain but it’s really a big hill.
It is a mountain, he said. It’s over a thousand feet above sea level and that makes it a mountain.
She stared hard and suspiciously at him, not sure what to say, and finally out of instinct said, I don’t think that can be right.
What would you know? he said, annoyed. You live in the city right near the beach. You live at sea level. What do you know about elevation?
She wasn’t entirely sure what he was getting at, but she wasn’t going to say so. Instead, she shook her gleaming blonde hair just because it was there to shake, and she thought it’d look special against the sunset.
He noticed.
