##@@%††~,¨                                          ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨                                          ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨                                          ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨                                          ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨                                          ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨             ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨             ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨             THE ALVAR FIELDS             ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨             %%%##########%%%             ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨                                          ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨ FROM   NORTH   TO   SOUTH,  THIRTY   ODD ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨ KILOMETERS.  FROM  WEST  TO  EAST,  FOUR ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨ THOUSAND  METERS. FROM TOPSOIL TO STONE, ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨ A FOOT OR TWO. NO ROOTS CAN  FESTER,  NO ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨             DUST CAN LINGER.             ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨                                          ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨ HERE  IS  EARTH,  CLAY, AND  STURDY  LOW ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨ PLANTS.  BUSHES  FRAME  THE  STRIP.  THE ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨ EARTH  IS  BARE  IN PATCHES AS LARGE  AS ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨               YOU AND ME.                ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨                                          ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨ CROSS IT TO GET TO THE  OCEAN,  OR DON'T ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨          TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE.          ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨                                          ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨                                          ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨                                          ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨                                          ¨¨,~††%@@#
##@@%††~,¨                                          ¨,~††%@@##
#@@%††~,¨¨                                          ¨¨,~††%@@#