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.Part of him didn’t want to stop at all, but he did.The thing that kept Jeffrey there, in the middle of the highway, was the placement of the body.It wasn’t splayed out like a run-down animal; the body’s arms were by its side as though someone had simply dragged it out of a car and left it there.One of the people from the monster truck caravan must have ditched it.He kept staring at it, wondering if the body was on the side of the road because whoever it was had already died, and transporting them any further would have been wasted space.Or was it a Block who had been abandoned when it became too much of a burden? The body—a young man—looked to be the same age as Galen.This last thought compelled him to climb out and inspect it.Tiny lines of ants were making their way up and down the man’s skin.There was nothing to differentiate the body to know for sure if it had been a regular person or a Block.It was the Block’s life that separated it from normal people, not its death.As Jeffrey looked at the body, the only thing he could think about was Galen.Galen lying there on the ground.Galen being abandoned.Galen needing love.Galen on fire.Galen as a singed skeleton.If only he hadn’t convinced Katherine to have a baby in the first place.The years afterwards would have been quiet and lonely without his son there, but the twenty years of not being a father would have been worth it if he didn’t have to know his boy was burned to death.Flies came and went from the man’s body.Given time, maggots would work away at anything the birds and foxes didn’t nibble on first.The skin would begin to smell awful.Thinking back to the cars passing by him in that caravan, he thought about all of the drivers who hadn’t looked his way, didn’t smile or wave, only continued south in the direction they felt they needed to go.One of them had just recently pulled their son, this boy, out of their vehicle just long enough to ditch the body at the roadside before speeding ahead to rejoin the rest of the caravan.Just then, with Jeffrey only two feet away, the man blinked.“Fuck,” Jeffrey screamed, falling backwards.And yet there was no flicker of recognition from the body on the ground, no relief at being saved, not even uncomprehending blinking of trying to figure out if he was alive or if he was already in the afterlife.The eyes closed again.That was the man’s only movement.And Jeffrey knew that this was the only movement the body ever had and ever would make.Physically, it would have been easy to wave the monster trucks ahead and let the rest of the cars go by.But how could you actually do that to another person, just leave them there? Maybe the driver had acted as though they were changing another flat tire until the caravan disappeared over a hill.Then they would take the Block under his armpits and drag him onto the road.The car would smell better as soon as the unchanged diapers were no longer there.But to simply abandon your flesh and blood on the side of the highway, to let this man starve to death, if the elements didn’t get him first, how could you drive away from that, rejoining the caravan as though nothing had happened?If only I hadn’t let my boy out of my sight, Jeffrey thought.Unsure of what to do, he simply stood over the body.There was no way he could keep driving as if he had never found this young man.If nothing else, he had to at least give the man a blanket and some water.That wasn’t enough either, though.The Block would never know if it was suffering from dehydration, would never shiver from the cold, but that didn’t mean it was acceptable to leave it to the frigid nights.He went back to the tank and when he approached the body again he had blankets and a bottle of water.He unrolled the blanket, pulling it up around the Block’s shoulders.Then he unscrewed the water bottle and poured a sip’s worth into the man’s mouth.The water dribbled out the sides of his lips.Jeffrey hadn’t manually fed a Block since Galen was a little boy.The thought made him groan.If only Katherine would have trusted me that everything would be OK.He sat with the young man on the side of the road.It was just him and the Block for as far as he could see.Nothing else.There were a lot of things he could do.He could race back and catch up to the group.But for what, to search for one family within the caravan? To have them feel ashamed for a day or a week until they abandoned the Block again a few days later? You don’t abandon somebody once and then take it all back.He could go back to Newark and try to find the man who had been left behind by the caravan.But why would that man want the burden of this Block? And if the man was foolhardy enough to wait in the middle of the highway until he was too hungry and thirsty to save himself, this Block was just as well here on the side of the road as he would be sitting next to the other man’s dead daughter.He could take the young man with him.But surely, it was a matter of time until the Block died.What was the difference between the Block dying here or dying further north? No living person would turn to Jeffrey and say, “Oh sure, just strap me to the back of your tank and check on me every hundred miles.Oh, and if a bird shits on me, would you be a good chap and clean it off? Thanks!”So he sat with the young man, the tank remaining in the middle lane of the highway.How comical it would be if there were still police officers around and one came across a random tank in the middle of the road during his daily patrol.Now, the police cars were just as likely to be abandoned as any other mid-size car.He put his ear to the Block’s mouth to listen for how often the man was taking breaths.The breathing was so faint Jeffrey couldn’t hear anything at all [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Part of him didn’t want to stop at all, but he did.The thing that kept Jeffrey there, in the middle of the highway, was the placement of the body.It wasn’t splayed out like a run-down animal; the body’s arms were by its side as though someone had simply dragged it out of a car and left it there.One of the people from the monster truck caravan must have ditched it.He kept staring at it, wondering if the body was on the side of the road because whoever it was had already died, and transporting them any further would have been wasted space.Or was it a Block who had been abandoned when it became too much of a burden? The body—a young man—looked to be the same age as Galen.This last thought compelled him to climb out and inspect it.Tiny lines of ants were making their way up and down the man’s skin.There was nothing to differentiate the body to know for sure if it had been a regular person or a Block.It was the Block’s life that separated it from normal people, not its death.As Jeffrey looked at the body, the only thing he could think about was Galen.Galen lying there on the ground.Galen being abandoned.Galen needing love.Galen on fire.Galen as a singed skeleton.If only he hadn’t convinced Katherine to have a baby in the first place.The years afterwards would have been quiet and lonely without his son there, but the twenty years of not being a father would have been worth it if he didn’t have to know his boy was burned to death.Flies came and went from the man’s body.Given time, maggots would work away at anything the birds and foxes didn’t nibble on first.The skin would begin to smell awful.Thinking back to the cars passing by him in that caravan, he thought about all of the drivers who hadn’t looked his way, didn’t smile or wave, only continued south in the direction they felt they needed to go.One of them had just recently pulled their son, this boy, out of their vehicle just long enough to ditch the body at the roadside before speeding ahead to rejoin the rest of the caravan.Just then, with Jeffrey only two feet away, the man blinked.“Fuck,” Jeffrey screamed, falling backwards.And yet there was no flicker of recognition from the body on the ground, no relief at being saved, not even uncomprehending blinking of trying to figure out if he was alive or if he was already in the afterlife.The eyes closed again.That was the man’s only movement.And Jeffrey knew that this was the only movement the body ever had and ever would make.Physically, it would have been easy to wave the monster trucks ahead and let the rest of the cars go by.But how could you actually do that to another person, just leave them there? Maybe the driver had acted as though they were changing another flat tire until the caravan disappeared over a hill.Then they would take the Block under his armpits and drag him onto the road.The car would smell better as soon as the unchanged diapers were no longer there.But to simply abandon your flesh and blood on the side of the highway, to let this man starve to death, if the elements didn’t get him first, how could you drive away from that, rejoining the caravan as though nothing had happened?If only I hadn’t let my boy out of my sight, Jeffrey thought.Unsure of what to do, he simply stood over the body.There was no way he could keep driving as if he had never found this young man.If nothing else, he had to at least give the man a blanket and some water.That wasn’t enough either, though.The Block would never know if it was suffering from dehydration, would never shiver from the cold, but that didn’t mean it was acceptable to leave it to the frigid nights.He went back to the tank and when he approached the body again he had blankets and a bottle of water.He unrolled the blanket, pulling it up around the Block’s shoulders.Then he unscrewed the water bottle and poured a sip’s worth into the man’s mouth.The water dribbled out the sides of his lips.Jeffrey hadn’t manually fed a Block since Galen was a little boy.The thought made him groan.If only Katherine would have trusted me that everything would be OK.He sat with the young man on the side of the road.It was just him and the Block for as far as he could see.Nothing else.There were a lot of things he could do.He could race back and catch up to the group.But for what, to search for one family within the caravan? To have them feel ashamed for a day or a week until they abandoned the Block again a few days later? You don’t abandon somebody once and then take it all back.He could go back to Newark and try to find the man who had been left behind by the caravan.But why would that man want the burden of this Block? And if the man was foolhardy enough to wait in the middle of the highway until he was too hungry and thirsty to save himself, this Block was just as well here on the side of the road as he would be sitting next to the other man’s dead daughter.He could take the young man with him.But surely, it was a matter of time until the Block died.What was the difference between the Block dying here or dying further north? No living person would turn to Jeffrey and say, “Oh sure, just strap me to the back of your tank and check on me every hundred miles.Oh, and if a bird shits on me, would you be a good chap and clean it off? Thanks!”So he sat with the young man, the tank remaining in the middle lane of the highway.How comical it would be if there were still police officers around and one came across a random tank in the middle of the road during his daily patrol.Now, the police cars were just as likely to be abandoned as any other mid-size car.He put his ear to the Block’s mouth to listen for how often the man was taking breaths.The breathing was so faint Jeffrey couldn’t hear anything at all [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]