A note clipped to the Harrowbend ranch office board—RAMP DROP-OFF WORSE. LOW WATER. DO NOT USE AMPHICAR UNTIL CHECKED. Someone underlined DO NOT. Someone else drew a small boat beside it.

Porter the mechanic wrote "Told him" on the back in grease pencil after Benton's

death. The south ramp had cracked after a dry summer and sudden storm. Benton

accelerated anyway. The ramp did not lead into the lake so much as into the memory

of a lake. Someone finally removed the sign the morning after.