The next morning as Gabriella was driving towards Santa Fe, taking Simi to the preschool, she noticed her daughter was wearing the necklace given her by the mysterious woman the night before. She spoke to her in the back seat while looking in the rearview mirror.

"Simi, . . . maybe you shouldn't wear that black moon to school."

"Why, Mommy? I like it. I never saw a black moon before. Have you?"

"No, Sweetie . . . and maybe that's why people might . . .well . . . think it's odd or . . ."

"Or what, Mommy?"

"Oh I don't know . . . strange, I guess?."

"Well I'm not afraid of that."

"What?

"Being strange. The kids at school say I am anyway."

Hearing this hurt Gabriella deeply. She would constantly blame herself for givng her daughter such an isolated life.

"Simi, no one wants to be seen as . . . strange. It's just not . . . I don't know. Good for you."

"Well I don't mind. Really. I like being different."

It had started to rain lightly when they were about a mile out of the town on Highway 14. Suddenly, an animal the size of a very large dog ran out onto the road in front of them. It paused in the road momentarily. Gabriella slammed on the breaks and she and Simi flew forward against their seatbelts as the car came to a stop. The animal was a mountain lion, extremely rare to see, but still extant mostly in the Sangre de Christo Mountains to the north. The brazen cat, hearing the squeal of the brakes turned and stared at them. It was close enough for both to see its yellow eyes. Then, in an instant, it ran and leaped off the road into the tall brush, where it instantly disappeared.

As the large cat pounced off the asphalt into the green and brown foliage, Simi got a notion of just how elegant and graceful it was. Gabriella, fearful from the sighting, had heard stories of mountain lion attacks on hunters and even joggers  in the past. These were both in California and New Mexico. She had remembered the story of an unfortunate woman who was mauled and killed by one on the outskirts of Santa Fe while running some four years before.  Just when they had arrived in New Mexico.

Wow! Did you see him, mommy? That beautiful cat? It was like a lion?"

Yes, Simi, I saw it." Gabriella took a deep breath and started the car forward again, gaining speed on the highway. There were no other cars around, fortunately, as she had to stop so suddenly, which could have been an accident.

 "It was a mountain lion, Honey. Yes . . . they're very beautiful and . . . very dangerous."

 "Why mommy? He was so pretty and looked so friendly."

 "Well . . . just forget friendly, Simi. Those animals have . . . hurt people before."

 "Why mommy?"

"Because they're . . . they're just so big and . . . just not pets, like Winter. OK Sweetie?. They're very wild and . . . sometimes they can go after people"

"To eat them?"

 "NO! No, Sweetie. Just to . . . scare them away. From where they live. That's all."

 "And they live here?"

 "Well, not really here . . . up in the mountains. Pretty far from us, mainly."

 "So why was he here, Mommy? So close to Madrid?"

 "I don't know, Baby. Maybe he's . . . I just don't know."

All day at school Simi was thinking about the large beige cat with the kind face, golden eyes and white-tipped ears.  She remembered how it leaped off the road covering the distance a horse could jump. When sharing time came she boldly told the class about seeing it on the way to school. Several students, as had became their habit with Simi, held back laughter at her peculiar interests and her sincerity with things most of the children found of no use to them.  

 When the class began its art hour, she insisted on painting the mountain lion. And she curiously painted it just outside of her house, standing in the back yard as if it were a pet. Even Simi's teacher was concerned at how she seemed to ignore the cat's potential danger. She tried to discuss it with her, explaining it was a creature people could never trust like a dog or other smaller pets.

Nevertheless, Simi painted the animal as she remembered it and in the context of her own house and yard. The children were amused with the painting and some of the more friendly girls told her she had done a nice job on it.  When Luis picked her up from school and drove back to Madrid he didn't want to tell Simi the news that the large cat, or one like it, had been spotted near the town. Some had even said it was seen as close as the parking area outside the local museum. When Simi wanted to go on about the animal and showed her father her painting she had made that day, he seemed strangely aloof and made several attempts to change the subject.

After dinner, Steve Foley, the local car mechanic had come by to warn the neighbors that the cat had been observed several times inside the limits of the town and that he and several other men were armed and ready to deal with it. They wanted to be notified by cell phone if Luis or Gabriella were to see anything during the night near the houses. This information was, of course, not made known to Simi and she was sent to bed earlier than usual while Luis and Gabriella would stay up nervously  keeping a vigilant eye and ear outside.

That night the rain came back with a strong wind and most everyone in the town alerted to the news, slept uneasily hearing sounds the air had played on roofs, shutters, and bushes close to their homes. Several times in the middle of the night Winter growled and went to the door to listen more intently, as he too had become more sensitized to the present danger from Gabriella's and Luis' body language and anxious behavior.  

The next morning everyone went about their business while the sun came up haltingly through blustery skies. As Luis made ready his work and gathered his tools for the day, he came back into the house for breakfast looking as he had seen a ghost. When Gabriella asked him if he was feeling alright he simply told her quietly to put on her raincoat and step outside a moment. She did this while Simi was dressing for school. As they reached the back of the house, he pointed down at the muddy, rain-soaked ground. There, scattered up close to the house and particularly near Simi's bedroom were the large distinctive footprints of the cat. It had obviously been active during the night pacing just under her window.   

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