Page 248 (1/1)

It was on their final night that Michael produced the bottle of whiskey He had found it in an aparte tools and clothes The cap was sealed, the glass caked with dust so thick it was like a layer of soil Sitting by the fire, Michael was the first to try it "Absent friends," he said, raising the bottle, and took a long s As his throat bobbed, he began to cough while also, so to like this," he wheezed, and handed it to her

Aet the feel, then, as Michael had done, tipped her head back and let the whiskey fill herher sinuses with tingling warmth

Michael looked at her inquisitively, eyebrows raised "You o easy," he warned "That’s a hundred-and-twenty-year-old Scotch you’re drinking"

She took a second pull, savoring the flavor more deeply

"It tastes…like the past," she said

In the h the park and down Eighth Avenue At the water’s edge they loaded the last of Michael’s supplies into the Nautilus He would head first for Florida, where he would restock, thenthe land until he reached the Strait of Magellan Once through, a final stop to rest and resupply and he would set sail for the South Pacific

"Are you sure you can find theh they both understood the danger of what he was atte "After all this, how hard can it be?" He stopped, looked at her, then said with a note of caution, "I know you don’t think you can come with me--"

"I can’t, Michael"

He hunted for words "It’s just…hoill you get along? All alone"

Amy did not have an answer, at least not one she believed would e" She looked at his sad face "I’ll be all right, Michael"

They had agreed that a clean break would be best Yet as the moment of separation arrived, this see each other for a long ti a little; they both were He shook his head "I don’t know that she did"

"Perhaps not the way you wanted But it was the way she kne" Amy drew back a little and placed a hand to his cheek "Hold on to that, Michael"

They parted Michael stepped down into the cockpit; Amy cast off the lines A snap of the sail and the boat streamed away Michael waved once over the transom; Amy waved in reply God bless and keep you, Michael Fisher She watched the ie recede into the vastness

She put on her pack and hiked north By the ti suleamed upon the surface of the water, far below She made her way across and on the opposite side stopped to drink and rest, then donned her pack once more and continued on her journey

Utah was four months away

--

Fro--one of the last intact structures between Grand Central and the sea--Alicia watched the Nautilus sail down the Hudson

It had taken her hts of stairs,ascent on her reat, her hands and knees For hours she had lain on various landings, perspiring and breathing hard, wondering if she could go on Her body was broken; her body was done In those places where there was no pain, she felt only a creeping nu out inside her

But her , no Amy How she’d escaped the subway tunnel she possessed no memory of; soments, flashes She remembered Michael’s face, backlit by sunshine, and his hand reaching down; the water slae as a planet’s; all volition gone, her body plunging and tu her choke, her throat opening instinctively to take a second breath, pulling the water deeper into her lungs; pain, and then aof dispersal, her body and her thoughts losing their distinctiveness, like a radio signal fading fro at all

She’d awakened to find herself in theon a bench; around her, a sround deep in tall, feathered grass Slowly her awareness expanded Vast crags of debris surrounded the perih the park itself was miraculously untouched The sun was out; birds twittered in the trees, a peaceful sound Her clothing was soaked and her ap in time between remembered events and her present situation, the cal she had ever known She wondered, sohost But when she atteh her body, she knew this wasn’t so; surely death would bring an absence of bodily sensation