Down The Path Page 5

  People were happier, more productive, taking interest in both their own appearance as well as the appearance of the community. It was a wonderful thing and Cooper was happy to have helped create a positive change. He had come to understand that as a member of this community, he was partly responsible for changing the things that he didn’t like. He only prayed that all their hope was not in vain. He felt confident that he had what it would take to complete his mission.

  Slowly strolling down the path to his box, he spied Walter. It appeared that he had one last thing to give him and it was tucked under his arm. As he approached, he began to smile and shook the thing, which Cooper could clearly see was a shirt, in his hands. “I know you find them unbearably itchy, but Christopher let me know that you needed more wool, so I have brought you my very best shirt.” Walter beamed as he handed him the shirt, obviously pleased with still being able to scrounge up things he needed, even now in the final hours before his journey begins.

  He did hate the wool, but he had learned that it had a very amazing quality. Unlike most of his other clothing, this wool material was able to keep him warm even when it got wet. He had been trying to find another wool shirt that he could fashion into socks for his feet and perhaps even crude gloves for his hands. He had planned on keeping his own wool shirt complete and cutting up another one if he could fine one, but this new shirt was in much better shape than his own so he reversed his plan. It wasn’t very cold anymore as spring had progressed, but some evenings got cold and if he expected to be out through the winter, he would certainly need the extra material.

  Cooper thanked the old man graciously for yet another gift that he sorely needed and handed him a cup of tea. Walter took it and sat down gently on the chair, wincing ever so slightly.

  “Are not feeling well, sir?” he asked him.

  “Simply some sore bones, young man, you’ll understand it well when you’re an old man,” he smiled as he said it, but Cooper could see true pain behind his eyes. His bones were not simply sore, it appeared that his entire body ached.

  “I didn’t walk all the way down here to complain about being an old man. I wanted to wish you well on your journey and ask if I could walk you to the gate when you are ready?” All the pain had melted away from his face as he settled into his chair. “Also, I wanted to tell you how impressed Christopher was with your skills!”

  “Well, he was a very good teacher”

  “No, it was more than that. Christopher said you grasped his skills beyond his imagination and were even improving on some of them only one day into your training! I knew I was right about you boy. You have what it takes.”

  Cooper remembered changing a few things he had learned in the book; mostly he changed them just to fit his own style of doing things. He didn’t think it was exceptionally good, but who was he to argue with a compliment from an elder?

  “I would be happy to walk to the gates with you. I have a few more things to organize and then I need to find the best way to pack it all into my pack so it is comfortable on my back.” Said Cooper, looking around quizzically at all the things he had laid out on the floor of his box.

  “Also, I have a favor to ask of you?” Cooper said, his voice rising slightly and he finished the sentence.

  “Of course, anything you ask, I can accomplish”

  “Please make sure that John has company.”

  “The cross-eyed man you tend the garden with? I had assumed he could play with a ball of yarn for the duration of your voyage and not notice you had left,” He chuckled.

  “He’s a good man, sir, with a good heart. I have asked him to look after my box while I am away and am paying him with all my honeysuckle tea, but I fear he will still be lonely. I have learned much more about him these last few days and he truly has a good heart.”

  Cooper had not been surprised to hear Walter’s thoughts on John, as they had been his own not that long ago. Still he wanted to make sure he had someone to talk with and to, occasionally, drink tea with. Walter had no problem agreeing to this and even apologized for insulting the man he obviously did not know enough about. Then he walked off and agreed to come back soon, when Cooper was ready to begin his voyage.

  ---

  It wasn’t as hard as he imagined to get everything to fit into his pack. The tricky part had been to arrange everything to fit in such a way that something wasn’t poking directly into his back; while tolerable for a short while, he knew that would get annoying very quickly as he was walking.

  He had tried many configurations, and every time something was jabbing him directly in his spine. The worst part was that as he tried to shift his weight to move the object slightly, it always dug in more.

  He had learned the secret was to put his wool shirt against the inside of his pack. That gave it extra cushion and made it nicely comfortable. He practiced several times taking the pack on and off again; both quickly and slowly. He made sure that when he removed the pack and dropped it, nothing could be broken. He wasn’t carrying much that could be broken, but he was worried about the red liquid bottle breaking or anything puncturing his sack of salt.

  Once he had everything set, he began to look around for Walter and saw him next door drinking a cup of tea with John. He could tell by both of their faces, that John was off on a rant and Walter was unsure how to stop it. Cooper strolled up to John’s box and said “well gentlemen, I think I am all set”.

  Both men stood up immediately, John surprised Cooper by giving him a hug and telling him, yet again, that he would make sure nothing happened to his box in his absence. Walter smiled and thanked John for the excellent tea and the conversation and told him would stop by later with some of his own tea made from some of the dried skins of berries. John was excited by this and waved at the pair of them as they walked off.

  There wasn’t much talk between them on the walk to the gate, save for Walter reminding him again of the timeline and the best times to begin to journey back to the city. Cooper knew all this and absently nodded, his thoughts already well outside the gate, wondering where he would sleep tonight. If he might be able to scrounge a small amount of food in order to save his packed reserves as long as possible?

  As they rounded another corner, Cooper began to hear something odd. It was like a faint murmur or hum that got louder nearly every step he took. As they got within sight of the gate, he realized what it was.

  Nearly every inhabitant of the city had stopped what they were doing and gathered near the gate to see him off. Even the few children within the city were running every which direction, raising all kinds of trouble. As soon as they spotted him and Walter coming up the path, a hush fell over the mob of people.

  Cooper was unsure what to do in this situation. He had not expected such a sendoff. Should he give a speech? Maybe wade through the mob thanking them? Just then, Walter pinched his elbow and whispered for him to hold his head high and wave at the crowd just once.

  As he did this, the entire city broke out into cheers. He saw both men and women with tears streaming down their faces. Most of the kids had been lifted up onto other resident’s shoulders and seemed to be enamored with the fact that they were being encouraged to make noise. It was a sight Cooper had never dreamed possible. As far as he could remember, the city had never come together in such a fashion over anything.

  They had reached the gate so abruptly that the young man nearly bumped into it. He had been staring at the crowd, trying to soak it all in and had forgotten something was coming up to impede his progress.

  He wasn’t sure if he was meant to just stroll on through, maybe wave as he went? He had not prepared for this situation at all and was at a loss as to what he was meant to do. As they stood there, with Cooper anxiously wondering the proper way to handle this, Walter raised his arms to hush the crowd.

  “Residents of our city,” Walter spoke, projecting his powerful voice so all could hear. “We have been living a bleak existence for far too long. It’s as if we were here, just waiting to
die. I am just as guilty as the rest, I, too, had lost hope.” As he said this, he seemed to get even louder. “No longer! Today, we take back our lives.” The crowd broke into a round of applause.

  “This brave young man is leaving to find things we need. Many of you have faith in him because of the color of his hair. I tell you now; I have faith in him for his resolve! I have watched this lad grow up, and watched him train for this journey. I have both seen myself and heard from others about the remarkable ideas and skills he has.” The crowd broke into a very long bout of cheering with that comment.

  “His journey will take time, most likely he will not be back until spring comes around again, and I for one, promise him that we will be here, waiting for him, and we will keep his spirit alive within all of us until he returns. When that day comes, we will have this community in even better shape to welcome him home!” Walter seemed to have wrapped up his speech, seemingly pleased with himself. The mob of people was making more noise than anyone had ever heard.

  Walter came in to give Cooper a quick hug and a squeeze on the elbow and then walked over to the gates. The young man had never actually seen them open. The entire wall surrounding the city on the land side was the same slick metal that the boxes were made of. The gate was no different. For most of the residents, this was their first view of outside the city walls.

  With the help of some of the men and women nearest the gate, Walter gave the gate a giant shove and the age old hinges squealed in displeasure. As they got the massive gate open, a hush fell over the crowd once again. Necks were straining to the sides in order to peer around the person nearest them.

  The view outside was just a wall of lime green dotted with familiar yellow and orange flowers. Even Cooper was slightly let down. It appeared the honeysuckle bush they make their tea out of had taken over the area just outside the city. The sweet smell of the blossoms was nearly overpowering

  Cooper turned towards the crowd and yelled, “Well, at least I will have plenty of tea!” and stepped through the gate to more cheering and laughter.

  Part II

  The Journey

  8

  Pulling out his compass, Cooper knew to head southwest until he hit a large river. Both he and Christopher had gone over the plan for the journey extensively up to that point. Beyond that, they had tried to simply prepare for any eventually as he roughly followed the river south.

  He had left the city behind quite awhile ago, it was now well past midday and he was still trudging through the honeysuckle. He was amazed by simply how much there was. He had hoped to reach the river in three days, but with the pace he was making through the thick bushes, that didn’t seem likely.

  The other thing that struck him immediately was that nothing was growing under the honeysuckle. He had hoped to forage a great deal of his food but he knew that the honeysuckle offered nothing but tea and he saw no other options around. Not even the large grasshoppers that Christopher had taught him were edible, if a little bitter. In fact, the only insects he saw were the small, flat, slow spiders he was picking off himself every time he stopped to rest. He knew they were some kind of parasite because he had already found a few that had apparently stuck their heads in him! He hoped they stopped there rather than burrow all the way inside his skin.

  That was an image that nauseated him and made the lack of forage a moot point. As it was, these spiders pulled out easy enough and it wasn’t difficult to find them crawling on his skin.

  He had eaten a large breakfast in the city, so he needn’t worry himself too much yet. He was surprised that the honeysuckle field had gone on this long though, but really with his slow pace through the thicket, he didn’t imagine that he had traveled all that far. He would have no way of being sure he was walking in a straight line if it were not for his compass. In most places the bush was well over his head.

  As he struggled through the branches, he focused on the positives. He was happy that the bushes lacked thorns. Walking through a landscape like this if the shrubs were riddled with thorns would be nearly impossible and he would have to find a way around it. As it were, he was only forced to walk slower than he wanted to, but could maintain the proper course.

  Every so often, peeking through the litter of old honeysuckle leaves, he would see the remains of what he assumed were the remains of others dwellings from a very long time ago. Most were just piles of rubble covered in dead leaves with more honeysuckle growing out of the rubble. He tried kicking into these piles every now and then and would find they were mainly large, hard stones. In some spots, there were small clearings with the stone very flat and the shrubs had not yet penetrated this hard surface.

  As the sun had started to set, he could tell he wasn’t alone in this thick brush. Every so often he heard rustling within, and once he even saw a branch move. No sign of the animal doing it, but he heard several loud snorts. These snorts were starting to be a little unnerving to Cooper, so he began searching out for a nice place to put his tent.

  He came to another opening with a hard, impenetrable floor and decided that was as good a place as any. He knew he needed to eat to keep his energy up, but with his big breakfast he decided to save his food for tomorrow. Truly, he did not feel very hungry anyway, nor was he especially tired but Christopher had stressed the importance of not pushing himself if it was not needed.

  So, Cooper pitched his tent. While doing this, it occurred to him that even though he had set up the temporary structure many times, he had never actually slept in it. The thought of sleeping in it for the first time was very exciting, Cooper had never slept outside of his box before. He realized that with the hard stone, he would not be able to secure his tent into the ground, but the shrubs provided great windbreaks and with his pack in there, he did not expect it to blow away.

  Even though he had decided not to eat, he knew a fire would be nice and it would provide good practice in order to keep his fire building skills at their peak. As he pulled his sticks and leather strap out of his pack, a simple thought occurred to him. He had no wood. Although he had seen a handful of dead bushes, the sun was getting low and it was getting dark. No reason to stumble around the underbrush looking for wood and possibly getting injured for a fire he really had no use for.

  Instead, since the tools were already out, he simply took some of the dried leaves and built several small fires with them. They all started and then went out fairly quickly with no larger dry wood to feed it. He was happy enough that he had practiced his skill and crawled into his tent.

  Not being very tired, he pulled out his map and looked at it under the small amount of light he had left. Staring at the map in the dim light, Cooper knew he would not be able to pinpoint where he was, but he looked at his destination instead. The river appeared to be nothing but a small blue line when compared to the massive blue of the lake that his box sat near.

  The light quickly ran out and he could no longer see. After carefully folding his map back up and securing it with the handful of others he had taken inside his binder full of survival skills, he let his thoughts drift off. He wondered what John was up to and smiled as he imagined his lumbering figure standing guard outside his box, ever vigilant of course. Walter was almost certainly already asleep in his bed. When he thought of Christopher he imagined him pouring over his maps as well as his book of survival skills, just staring at them, already wondering what else he should have taught the young man that he didn’t.

  Cooper wondered if the residents of the city might be having some kind of a party. It would make sense that the attitude of revelry that was so apparent as he walked through the gate would have been hard to extinguish and would have bled into the darkening night sky.

  He very much hoped that the residents were having a party. They had certainly deserved it for sacrificing so many treasures to his journey. He imagined them dancing and cavorting around, things he had never really seen the city residents do as a group. It made him smile to think about it.

  His eyes had grown he
avy as he laid his head upon the bunched up wool sweater. It seemed he was more tired than he imagined as the itchiness against his face didn’t even seem to bother him much. His last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were that he very much planned on attending the next big party in the city….upon his arrival back home.

  9

  Cooper awoke with a start. He heard the strangest sounds outside his tent. He could see the sun was just starting to come up and his tent was beginning to glow in the faint light. Outside his thin but sturdy structure, however, were sounds like he had never heard before. All kinds of chirping and whistling seemed to accompany the rising ball of light, mostly though he heard many loud, lilting whistles just outside his shelter. The whistles all seemed to be following the same song, but there were so many things whistling, that they were not all synced up within that song.

  He sat up in his tent and peered out the mesh windows, very thankful that he had not added the extra layer in case of rain; with that attached he could not see out the windows. As he brushed off the grogginess of sleep, he realized what it was, but still couldn’t believe it.

  The call was coming from birds. He had seen birds occasionally within the city, but very few over the years and had only heard them whistle on a handful of mornings. This blast of song meant there had to be hundreds, maybe thousands out here in the thick brush!

  As he gently unzipped the door to his tent and slipped his head out, a few birds that were nearby flitted off the tops of the bushes and flew away. Once he was fully outside his tent, he could see the sun breaching the horizon, unsure if the birds were singing to the rising sun or if they called the sun forth with their song. As he listened and watched he began to cry without realizing it. Tears were gently flowing down his cheeks. The joy he felt was too much to contain within himself and the overflow appeared to be streaking down his cheeks.