Oscar sees many magical things in Monument Valley and meets one of his heroes

"Oh look! A cairn." Mom veered toward a little stack of rocks. I sniffed the pile. "Hello, Karen. My name is Oscar."

"Heights... I can't... I'm too scared to get close enough to take a good picture," she admitted. "I was kind of hoping you'd do it for me."

The monster halted and let out a screech like a carrion bird. Then it backed up for a closer look.

"Oh well. I suppose you've learned your lesson. Please move out of the way so we can go."

"Look, Mom. My piddle puddle is smoking!" I said proudly. "And have you noticed these strange droppings?"

The car-house picked up speed as it rolled toward the blinding whiteness. As we zoomed in, the grid lines on the ground began to show.

Even the raindrops were prickly, as if it were raining wasps. Beside the trail, the bristle bushes bloomed with food wrappers and underpants

"Imagine that! A truck stop! Who does she think she’s talking to?" Mom pulled the seat leash across her chest like a diva cape.

"Sheesh, there's absolutely nothing here," Mom narrated. "There have got to be trails around here somewhere."

I took a flying leap inside and shook the wet from my fur into the blanket. Mom humphed onto the bed beside me and peeled off her wet socks.

Mystery drew me forward until the rocks spread in a wide circle. I followed the rocks' instructions and stopped in the center of the henge.

The trail turned shiny as a mirror and the river turned to stucco as we ran. I squinted to keep the rain out of my eyes as the world outside

This looks more... residential Like the sort of place where people live when they aren't allowed within a thousand feet of a school or playg

The leash may have been gone, but the bond we'd built over so many thousands of miles could never be unhitched. When Mom let me off the lea

The little cove wasn’t a bad place to be shipwrecked. The cliffs shielded the beach from view so passing ship would never see you burying yo

"Seriously, what's gotten into you?" Mom asked as we walked back to the kitchen end of the car-house. "I'm calling this whole trip off if yo

With all the trip's mysteries already solved, Mom might follow her wandering mind and get stuck in its darkest corners like a Roomba until t

I sat in the back seat, staring at the sky and wondering how it could be so cruel as to ignore me on my birthday.

Schrödinger's Law follows the no harm/no fowl principle: as long as you use a short leash, don't wake the owl chicks, and leave no clues,