The cart was too heavy to push into the wet woods and they nooned in the middle of the road and fixed hot tea and ate the last of the canned ham with crackers and with mustard and applesauce. Sitting back to back and watching the road. Do you know where we are Papa? the boy said.
Sort of.
How sort of?
Well. I think we’re about two hundred miles from the coast. As the crow flies.
As the crow flies?
Yes. It means going in a straight line. Are we going to get there soon?
Not real soon. Pretty soon. We’re not going as the crow flies. Because crows dont have to follow roads?
Yes.
They can go wherever they want. Yes.
Do you think there might be crows somewhere? I dont know.
But what do you think? I think it’s unlikely.
Could they fly to Mars or someplace? No. They couldnt.
Because it’s too far? Yes.
Even if they wanted to. Even if they wanted to.
What if they tried and they just got half way or something and then they were too tired. Would they fall back down?
Well. They really couldnt get half way because they’d be in space and there’s not any air in space so they wouldnt be able to fly and besides it would be too cold and they’d freeze to death.
Oh.
Anyway they wouldnt know where Mars was. Do we know where Mars is?
Sort of.
If we had a spaceship could we go there?
Well. If you had a really good spaceship and you had people to help you I suppose you could go.
Would there be food and stuff when you got there? No. There’s nothing there.
Oh.
They sat for a long time. They sat on their folded blankets and watched the road in both directions. No wind. Nothing. After a while the boy said: There’s not any crows. Are there?
No.
Just in books.
Yes. Just in books.
I didnt think so.
Are you ready?
Yes.
They rose and put away their cups and the rest of the crackers. The man piled the blankets on top of the cart and fastened the tarp down and then he stood looking at the boy. What? the boy said.
I know you thought we were going to die. Yeah.
But we didnt.
No.
Okay.
Can I ask you something? Sure.
If you were a crow could you fly up high enough to see the sun? Yes. You could.
I thought so. That would be really neat. Yes it would. Are you ready?
Yes.
He stopped. What happened to your flute? I threw it away.
You threw it away? Yes.
Okay. Okay.
In the long gray dusk they crossed a river and stopped and looked down from the concrete balustrade at the slow dead water passing underneath. Sketched upon the pall of soot downstream the outline of a burnt city like a black paper scrim. They saw it again just at dark pushing the heavy cart up a long hill and they stopped to rest and he turned the cart sideways in the road against it rolling. Their masks were already gray at the mouth and their eyes darkly cupped. They sat in the ashes by the side of the road and looked out to the east where the shape of the city was darkening into the coming night. They saw no lights.
Do you think there’s anyone there, Papa? I dont know.
How soon can we stop? We can stop now.
On the hill?
We can get the cart down to those rocks and cover it with limbs. Is this a good place to stop?
Well, people dont like to stop on hills. And we dont like for people to stop.
So it’s a good place for us. I think so.
Because we’re smart.
Well, let’s not get too smart. Okay.
Are you ready?
Yes.
The boy stood up and got his broom and put it over his shoulder. He looked at his father. What are our long term goals? he said.
What?
Our long term goals.
Where did you hear that? I dont know.
No, where did you? You said it.
When?
A long time ago. What was the answer? I dont know.
Well. I dont either. Come on. It’s getting dark.
Late in the day following as they rounded a bend in the road the boy stopped and put his hand on the carriage. Papa, he whispered. The man looked up. A small figure distant on the road, bent and shuffling.
He stood leaning on the handle of the grocery cart. Well, he said. Who’s this?
What should we do, Papa? It could be a decoy.
What are we going to do?
Let’s just follow. We’ll see if he turns around. Okay.
The traveler was not one for looking back. They followed him for a while and then they overtook him. An old man, small and bent. He carried on his back an old army rucksack with a blanket roll tied across the top of it and
he tapped along with a peeled stick for a cane. When he saw them he veered to the side of the road and turned and stood warily. He had a filthy towel
tied under his jaw as if he suffered from toothache and even by their new world standards he smelled terrible.
I dont have anything, he said. You can look if you want. We’re not robbers.
He leaned one ear forward. What? he called. I said we’re not robbers.
What are you?
They’d no way to answer the question. He wiped his nose with the back of his wrist and stood waiting. He had no shoes at all and his feet were wrapped in rags and cardboard tied with green twine and any number of
layers of vile clothing showed through the tears and holes in it. Of a sudden he seemed to wilt even further. He leaned on his cane and lowered himself into the road where he sat among the ashes with one hand over his head. He looked like a pile of rags fallen off a cart. They came forward and stood looking down at him. Sir? the man said. Sir?
The boy squatted and put a hand on his shoulder. He’s scared, Papa. The man is scared.
He looked up the road and down. If this is an ambush he goes first, he said.
He’s just scared, Papa.
Tell him we wont hurt him.
The old man shook his head from side to side, his fingers laced in his filthy hair. The boy looked up at his father.
Maybe he thinks we’re not real. What does he think we are?
I dont know.
We cant stay here. We have to go. He’s scared, Papa.
I dont think you should touch him.
Maybe we could give him something to eat.
He stood looking off down the road. Damn, he whispered. He looked down at the old man. Perhaps he’d turn into a god and they to trees. All right, he said.
He untied the tarp and folded it back and rummaged through the canned
goods and came up with a tin of fruit cocktail and took the can opener from
his pocket and opened the tin and folded back the lid and walked over and squatted and handed it to the boy.
What about a spoon? He’s not getting a spoon.
The boy took the tin and handed it to the old man. Take it, he whispered.
Here.
The old man raised his eyes and looked at the boy. The boy gestured at him with the tin. He looked like someone trying to feed a vulture broken in the road. It’s okay, he said.
The old man lowered his hand from his head. He blinked. Grayblue eyes half buried in the thin and sooty creases of his skin.
Take it, the boy said.
He reached with his scrawny claws and took it and held it to his chest. Eat it, the boy said. It’s good. He made tipping motions with his hands.
The old man looked down at the tin. He took a fresh grip and lifted it, his nose wrinkling. His long and yellowed claws scrabbled at the metal. Then he tipped it and drank. The juice ran down his filthy beard. He lowered the
can, chewing with difficulty. He jerked his head when he swallowed. Look, Papa, the boy whispered.
I see, the man said.
The boy turned and looked at him.
I know what the question is, the man said. The answer is no. What’s the question?
Can we keep him. We cant. I know.
You know. Yeah.
All right.
Can we give him something else? Let’s see how he does with this.
They watched him eat. When he was done he sat holding the empty tin and looking down into it as if more might appear.
What do you want to give him? What do you think he should have?
I dont think he should have anything. What do you want to give him? We could cook something on the stove. He could eat with us.
You’re talking about stopping. For the night. Yeah.
He looked down at the old man and he looked at the road. All right, he said. But then tomorrow we go on.
The boy didnt answer.
That’s the best deal you’re going to get. Okay.
Okay means okay. It doesnt mean we negotiate another deal tomorrow. What’s negotiate?
It means talk about it some more and come up with some other deal.
There is no other deal. This is it.
Okay. Okay.
They helped the old man to his feet and handed him his cane. He didnt weigh a hundred pounds. He stood looking about uncertainly. The man took the tin from him and slung it into the woods. The old man tried to hand him the cane but he pushed it away. When did you eat last? he said.
I dont know.
You dont remember. I ate just now.
Do you want to eat with us? I dont know.
You dont know?
Eat what?
Maybe some beef stew. With crackers. And coffee. What do I have to do?
Tell us where the world went. What?
You dont have to do anything. Can you walk okay? I can walk.
He looked down at the boy. Are you a little boy? he said. The boy looked at his father.
What does he look like? his father said. I dont know. I cant see good.
Can you see me?
I can tell someone’s there.
Good. We need to get going. He looked at the boy. Dont hold his hand, he said.
He cant see.
Dont hold his hand. Let’s go.
Where are we going? the old man said. We’re going to eat.
He nodded and reached out with his cane and tapped tentatively at the road.
How old are you?
I’m ninety.
No you’re not.
Okay.
Is that what you tell people? What people?
Any people.
I guess so.
So they wont hurt you? Yes.
Does that work?
No.
What’s in your pack? Nothing. You can look.
I know I can look. What’s in there? Nothing. Just some stuff.
Nothing to eat.
No.
What’s your name? Ely.
Ely what?
What’s wrong with Ely? Nothing. Let’s go.
They bivouacked in the woods much nearer to the road than he would have liked. He had to drag the cart while the boy steered from behind and they built a fire for the old man to warm himself though he didnt much like that
either. They ate and the old man sat wrapped in his solitary quilt and gripped his spoon like a child. They had only two cups and he drank his coffee from the bowl he’d eaten from, his thumbs hooked over the rim. Sitting like a starved and threadbare buddha, staring into the coals.
You cant go with us, you know, the man said. He nodded.
How long have you been on the road?
I was always on the road. You cant stay in one place. How do you live?
I just keep going. I knew this was coming. You knew it was coming?
Yeah. This or something like it. I always believed in it. Did you try to get ready for it?
No. What would you do? I dont know.
People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didnt believe in that.
Tomorrow wasnt getting ready for them. It didnt even know they were there.
I guess not.
Even if you knew what to do you wouldnt know what to do. You wouldnt know if you wanted to do it or not. Suppose you were the last one left?
Suppose you did that to yourself?
Do you wish you would die?
No. But I might wish I had died. When you’re alive you’ve always got that ahead of you.
Or you might wish you’d never been born. Well. Beggars cant be choosers.
You think that would be asking too much.
What’s done is done. Anyway, it’s foolish to ask for luxuries in times like these.
I guess so.
Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave. He lifted his head and looked across the fire at the boy. Then he looked at the man. The man could see his small eyes watching him in the firelight. God knows what
those eyes saw. He got up to pile more wood on the fire and he raked the
coals back from the dead leaves. The red sparks rose in a shudder and died
in the blackness overhead. The old man drank the last of his coffee and set the bowl before him and leaned toward the heat with his hands out. The
man watched him. How would you know if you were the last man on earth? he said.
I dont guess you would know it. You’d just be it. Nobody would know it.
It wouldnt make any difference. When you die it’s the same as if everybody else did too.
I guess God would know it. Is that it? There is no God.
No?
There is no God and we are his prophets.
I dont understand how you’re still alive. How do you eat? I dont know.
You dont know?
People give you things. People give you things. Yes.
To eat.
To eat. Yes.
No they dont.
You did.
No I didnt. The boy did.
There’s other people on the road. You’re not the only ones. Are you the only one?
The old man peered warily. What do you mean? he said. Are there people with you?
What people?
Any people.
There’s not any people. What are you talking about?
I’m talking about you. About what line of work you might be in. The old man didnt answer.
I suppose you want to go with us. Go with you.
Yes.
You wont take me with you.
You dont want to go.
I wouldnt have even come this far but I was hungry. The people that gave you food. Where are they?
There’s not any people. I just made that up. What else did you make up?
I’m just on the road the same as you. No different. Is your name really Ely?
No.
You dont want to say your name. I dont want to say it.
Why?
I couldnt trust you with it. To do something with it. I dont want anybody talking about me. To say where I was or what I said when I was there. I mean, you could talk about me maybe. But nobody could say that it was me. I could be anybody. I think in times like these the less said the better. If something had happened and we were survivors and we met on the road then we’d have something to talk about. But we’re not. So we dont.
Maybe not.
You just dont want to say in front of the boy. You’re not a shill for a pack of roadagents?
I’m not anything. I’ll leave if you want me to. I can find the road. You dont have to leave.
I’ve not seen a fire in a long time, that’s all. I live like an animal. You dont want to know the things I’ve eaten. When I saw that boy I thought that I had died.
You thought he was an angel?
I didnt know what he was. I never thought to see a child again. I didnt know that would happen.
What if I said that he’s a god?
The old man shook his head. I’m past all that now. Have been for years. Where men cant live gods fare no better. You’ll see. It’s better to be alone. So I hope that’s not true what you said because to be on the road with the last god would be a terrible thing so I hope it’s not true. Things will be better when everybody’s gone.
They will?
Sure they will.
Better for who?
Everybody.
Everybody.
Sure. We’ll all be better off. We’ll all breathe easier. That’s good to know.
Yes it is. When we’re all gone at last then there’ll be nobody here but death and his days will be numbered too. He’ll be out in the road there with nothing to do and nobody to do it to. He’ll say: Where did everybody go?
And that’s how it will be. What’s wrong with that?
In the morning they stood in the road and he and the boy argued about what to give the old man. In the end he didnt get much. Some cans of vegetables and of fruit. Finally the boy just went over to the edge of the road and sat in the ashes. The old man fitted the tins into his knapsack and fastened the straps. You should thank him you know, the man said. I wouldnt have given you anything.
Maybe I should and maybe I shouldnt. Why wouldnt you?
I wouldnt have given him mine.
You dont care if it hurts his feelings? Will it hurt his feelings?
No. That’s not why he did it. Why did he do it?
He looked over at the boy and he looked at the old man. You wouldnt understand, he said. I’m not sure I do.
Maybe he believes in God.
I dont know what he believes in. He’ll get over it.
No he wont.
The old man didnt answer. He looked around at the day. You wont wish us luck either, will you? the man said.
I dont know what that would mean. What luck would look like. Who would know such a thing?
Then all went on. When he looked back the old man had set out with his cane, tapping his way, dwindling slowly on the road behind them like some
storybook peddler from an antique time, dark and bent and spider thin and soon to vanish forever. The boy never looked back at all.
In the early afternoon they spread their tarp on the road and sat and ate a cold lunch. The man watched him. Are you talking? he said.
Yes.
But you’re not happy. I’m okay.
When we’re out of food you’ll have more time to think about it.
The boy didnt answer. They ate. He looked back up the road. After a while he said: I know. But I wont remember it the way you do.
Probably not.
I didnt say you were wrong. Even if you thought it.
It’s okay.
Yeah, the man said. Well. There’s not a lot of good news on the road. In times like these.
You shouldnt make fun of him. Okay.
He’s going to die.
I know.
Can we go now?
Yeah, the man said. We can go.
In the night he woke in the cold dark coughing and he coughed till his chest was raw. He leaned to the fire and blew on the coals and he put on more wood and rose and walked away from the camp as far as the light would carry him. He knelt in the dry leaves and ash with the blanket wrapped about his shoulders and after a while the coughing began to subside. He thought about the old man out there somewhere. He looked back at the camp through the black palings of the trees. He hoped the boy had gone back to sleep. He knelt there wheezing softly, his hands on his knees. I am going to die, he said. Tell me how I am to do that.
The day following they trekked on till almost dark. He could find no safe
place to make a fire. When he lifted the tank from the cart he thought that it
felt light. He sat and turned the valve but the valve was already on. He turned the little knob on the burner. Nothing. He leaned and listened. He tried both valves again in their combinations. The tank was empty. He squatted there with his hands folded into a fist against his forehead, his eyes closed. After a while he raised his head and just sat there staring out at the cold and darkening woods.
They ate a cold supper of cornbread and beans and franks from a tin. The boy asked him how the tank had gone empty so soon but he said that it just had.
You said it would last for weeks. I know.
But it’s just been a few days. I was wrong.
They ate in silence. After a while the boy said: I forgot to turn off the valve, didnt I?
It’s not your fault. I should have checked.
The boy set his plate down on the tarp. He looked away.
It’s not your fault. You have to turn off both valves. The threads were supposed to be sealed with teflon tape or it would leak and I didnt do it. It’s my fault. I didnt tell you.
There wasnt any tape though, was there? It’s not your fault.
They plodded on, thin and filthy as street addicts. Cowled in their blankets against the cold and their breath smoking, shuffling through the black and silky drifts. They were crossing the broad coastal plain where the secular
winds drove them in howling clouds of ash to find shelter where they could. Houses or barns or under the bank of a roadside ditch with the blankets pulled over their heads and the noon sky black as the cellars of hell. He held the boy against him, cold to the bone. Dont lose heart, he said. We’ll be all right.
The land was gullied and eroded and barren. The bones of dead creatures sprawled in the washes. Middens of anonymous trash. Farmhouses in the fields scoured of their paint and the clapboards spooned and sprung from
the wallstuds. All of it shadowless and without feature. The road descended through a jungle of dead kudzu. A marsh where the dead reeds lay over the water. Beyond the edge of the fields the sullen haze hung over earth and sky alike. By late afternoon it had begun to snow and they went on with the tarp over them and the wet snow hissing on the plastic.
He’d slept little in weeks. When he woke in the morning the boy was not
there and he sat up with the pistol in his hand and then stood and looked for him but he was not in sight. He pulled on his shoes and walked out to the
edge of the trees. Bleak dawn in the east. The alien sun commencing its cold transit. He saw the boy coming at a run across the fields. Papa, he called. There’s a train in the woods.
A train?
