Water in the Desert

Polly rested beside the little water channel and studied it carefully. She really wanted to understand it. Who carves a river into a wall of solid rock?

The answer was the Nabataeans, the desert people who built the hidden city. They cut this channel through the entire canyon so that spring water could flow all the way to their homes. In a land with almost no rain, they became true masters of water.

And where the water once ran, life still grows today. In a bend of the canyon, Polly found a green oleander bush covered in bright pink flowers.

That night she slept in one of the little carved doorways. High above her, the thin ribbon of sky slowly filled with stars. Tomorrow, she thought, she would finally reach the end of the crack.