What the air does out here
One night each fall at Mile 103, the fire ring concedes the season and the fire moves indoors. Same marshmallows, better chairs: toasted marshmallow and cinnamon settle over smoldering woods in the hearth like they had always planned to end up here. The long forks hang by the mantel now. The stumps outside hold the snow.
Who rides with it
The fire tender, who holds poker opinions. Kids enforcing fire ring doctrine on new terrain. The household draft inspector, asleep on the warm stone. The move indoors upgraded the chairs and settled nothing about golden versus charred.
Pair it at the next stop
This is the same marshmallow that kept the ring at Campfire Marshmallow, Mile 93, outdoors with weather and opinions; tonight it has a roof. The cocoa arrives from Hot Cocoa and Cream, Mile 100, without being asked. The pour toasts toward amber over time, which is everything a marshmallow ever aspired to.
Campfire Marshmallow · Mile 93Hot Cocoa and Cream · Mile 100