# Interlude — Chapter 02: Thomas’s Map
Thomas squares the paper on his knee the way he taught seventh graders to square a lab sheet. Ridges first, then roads, then water. He draws the valley like a patient’s chart—pressure here, release there—and marks the safe culverts with a carpenter’s triangle. He leaves room for a rumor: a caretaker under a star of steel who keeps a lens ready for the day signals come home.
When he finishes, he folds the map along old county lines and slides it into Naomi’s pack without a speech. Teaching isn’t talking, he reminds himself; it’s putting the right thing in the right hand at the right time. From the trees, a crow cracks a walnut against a rock and scolds the latecomers. Thomas laughs, pockets the shell, and writes one more line: **bend before you break**.
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American Prophet 