Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

In every episode I hand pick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

Today we are going dear listener into the woods with a story by Rick Bass.

Rick Bass is a writer who lives in the remote YAK country in Montana.

That's why AAK.

He grew up in suburban Houston but found himself drawn to the wilderness to wide open spaces.

He became first a petroleum geologist who wrote stories on his lunch breaks and then he says he

started driving and didn't stop until he got to the wide open spaces of Montana.

He's been there quite a few years now spending his time writing and on environmental activism.

Rick is the author of more than 30 books has won so many awards including the O'Henry and the push

cart prizes and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Today's story comes from his collection entitled For a Little While.

This particular piece is called Fires and you can find in Fires Rick's love for physical space

and the pace of the wilderness within it. The writing is relaxed but steady more like

upon dripling than a fire roaring and blazing.

As you listen I want you to think about the primal nature of human beings and the feeling of

acting on impulse without exactly knowing why you are acting on that particular impulse.

Okay so if you're ready let's take a deep breath.

And begin Fires by Rick Bass

Some years the heat comes in April.

There was always wind in April but with luck there is warmth too.

...