Water in the Desert

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

The Nabataeans did, the desert people who built the hidden city. They cut this channel through the whole canyon, so spring water could flow to their homes. In a land with almost no rain, they were masters of water.

Where the water once ran, life still grows. Polly found a green oleander bush in a bend of the canyon, full of pink flowers.

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