Spider Rock

On the last morning, Polly flew further than before. She reached the place where the canyon splits into two arms. There, alone on the open floor, stood a tall tower of red rock with two points at the top. It rises more than seven hundred feet from the sand.

It is called Spider Rock. Navajo people tell that Spider Woman lives at the top, and that she taught the Diné how to weave. Polly had seen a lot of rock that week. This was the first one that made her stop and hover in the air.

She did not land on it. Some things are better to look at than to sit on. So she found a ledge on the other side and watched the light move down the tower. First gold on the two points. Then a band of orange. Then cool grey, rising from the base.

Below her, a canyon wren sang. It was a bright whistle that falls down the scale and stops. The sound came back off the walls twice. Polly thought about a canyon that was thirty feet tall on Monday and a thousand feet tall on Wednesday. Then she turned west and went.