by Chris Capps
"Go on," she said, "Warm up by the fire."
He hadn't noticed it before, but there did seem to be a slight chill in the air. He sat across from Molly and reached out to take her hand. She smiled when he did, and they sat in silence for a moment.
"How many times has this happened?" Felix asked.
"You saw the boats," she said, "But you didn't count them. Because you don't actually want to know."
"Isn't it getting complicated out there with all the Felix McCarthy's running around?"
She shook her head, her gentle voice saying,
"You chose this instead. I've been studying these moments ever since. I know how to make your passing kind and gentle."
"My passing?" Felix asked, "I'm going to die?"
"The Felix McCarthy out there will eventually grow old. He'll forget the moment he brought the book back, the heroic moment he kissed his best girl and drifted off to sleep by the fireplace. But you'll never forget. It will never end for you. He'll get old eventually."
"I drank that water outside," Felix said, "Is that what does it?"
"You don't die, Felix. You go to sleep. And then you wake up on the island all over again."
"Is that for everyone on the island? They all get a warm chair and a fire?" Felix asked, leaning his head gently into the plush chair behind him and closing his eyes. He was very tired. Comfortable without end. There was such a strange nostalgic smell in the air. It was something he must have once liked.
"It's different for everyone, but they all go peacefully and without pain or fear. Everyone gets something to remind them they are loved by the folks back home."
"Do you know what I dream about?" Felix asked slowly as a smile wrapped itself across his face, "It's not a nightmare, is it?"
"No," she said, "It's a beautiful dream," Molly said as she reached under her chair, picking up a small blue book.
"So all of this is like a piece of sheet music, then," Felix said, noticing that she started nodding before he even said it, "But that kiss back there. Did you mean that?"
"I mean it every time, Felix," she said, opening the book and clearing her throat, "From the bottom of my heart I mean it every time."
And with that she started reading aloud. It wasn't a story, or a series of images Felix recognized, but they took him to such wonderful places. His head bowed, and soon he was drifting into a deep sleep more peaceful than any he had ever experienced. After a few minutes, the dream started playing out in his head. He visited wondrous visions he had thought lost years ago. And as his pulse slowed to a crawl, Felix McCarthy gave out his last breath. And Molly Nayfack stood up, rounding the chair behind him to stroke his hair once, and say,
"From the bottom of my heart."
***
The journey ahead was fraught with hang-ups. The cows laden down with canned foods and supplies were all the same temperament. And it was a temperament that Sherriff Rind knew to be awful. He grumbled under his breath as one of the pack animals, sniffing the air, let out an angry snort, staring him dead in the eye.
"Careful Rind," Chance Cooper said with a grin on horseback, "That one's singled you out. He knows you're trouble."
"They've all singled me out," the formerly employed as Sherriff Rind said with a chuckle, "Don't know what I ever did to them."
"Maybe they can hear you threatening them," Felix McCarthy said. They were older now, having traveled on the road for the better part of the year through the harsh terrain. There were two dozen brave men and women, leading a long line of cattle toward distant parts unknown, each loaded down with everything they would need. If they came across another field, they might be able set down for a few days and give the cows a chance to fatten up.
"Hey Felix," Rind called up with a wry grin, "You think Pop Thomas is still playing those old country westerns?"
"God I hope not," Chance said, "I swear if I hear another shuffle I'm moving whoever has the radio to the back of the caravan."
"Enjoy," Felix said as he switched the old jockey box on. It fizzled and cracked as the dial twisted back and forth to tune in to KOIF. But there was nothing but static.
"We haven't moved out of range, have we?" Chance asked as the dial twisted and spat.
"Sorry about that folks," the familiar soothing voice of Pop Thomas said as they heard the sound of a creaking chair, "I guess I fell asleep during that last number. Those folk singers never do know when to quit, do they? Well this one is straight from my own personal collection, dedicated to those folks out in the hills. The hill folk. This is Bob Wills playing Steel Guitar Rag."
"This one's grown on me," Rind said as the familiar tune strummed out from the radio. And as they rode toward an ever brightening sky, Sherriff Rind grabbed Felix by the wrist and they spun around each other in an awful parody of dance that made everyone, even Mr. Hades laugh. His terrifying guttural laughter echoed off the trees, but it didn't scare the cows. They were used to it by now.
The End
Acknowledgments:
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity"
-WB Yeats
As he's leaving town for the last time, Mayor Sugarhill defends himself by quoting William Butler Yeats' "The Second Coming" from memory. In a rush, he alters the lines of the poem and doesn't credit the poet, but the sentiment was drawn from Yeats.
"All Flesh is Grass"
All flesh is grass is a biblical reference taken from Isaiah 40:6.
Master of cerebral speculative fiction Philip K. Dick is obliquely referenced several times in the story, but there is a direct use of his neologism "Kipple" (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) to describe the morass of ornaments along Sherriff Rind's office walls. KOIF radio is a reference to PKD's "The Broken Bubble."
Sincere thanks to the readers and editors who helped me during the course of writing this. Thanks to Craig Davis, Claire McCall, Zachary Seibert, Rose Berkman, and all the members of the 42 Club and The Syndicate.
This book is dedicated to Rose Berkman.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Prologue:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Acknowledgments: