Reflected Image (A Story from The Hermit’s Cave)

In “Reflected Image” two soldiers, Taylor Wiley and Dan Torrance, have become separated from their unit and are lost in the desert. All their water is gone and they have almost given up hope when Taylor sees a beautiful woman beckoning to him across the desert. The woman calls to him and tells him to follow her to a cabin. She assures him that there is a well at the cabin and all the water he needs.

Dan does not see the woman. All he can see is a dead tree and he believes that Taylor must have seen a reflected image on the desert sand. Despite his doubts, Dan follows his friend and, to his surprise, they do find a cabin.

The cabin belongs to an old gold prospector, but when Taylor enquires about the woman who directed them towards it, who he presumes is the old man’s wife, the prospector says he lives alone. He then promises that, after they have eaten, he will tell them a desert story that will put their story of seeing a woman in the desert in the small class, as stories go; his story is a real desert story!

The Hermit’s Cave: Reflected Image

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