A Good Day

There was a glimmer of light on the horizon which meant that the sun would be rising soon. That gave him at most two or three hours before it was too hot to move, so he needed to find a hole he could hunker down in until evening. Usually there were several holes off to the side of the road where previous travelers had camped but he didn’t see much that looked deep enough. The deeper the hole the cooler the air was the rule of thumb. And the cooler the air the less moisture he would lose to perspiration.

He continued to trudge along until he spied something that looked like it had potential about 100 yards ahead. Leaving the road he worked his way through the dry brush until he stood directly over the hole. It was only about 5 feet deep. He’d have to make it deeper before it got too hot or it would be little better than an oven.

He pulled his entrenching tool out of his pack and began shoveling slowly and methodically, conserving his energy as much as possible since he had only a few pieces of jerky left and no idea where he would find his next meal.

After an hour or so he paused for a few minutes to rest. The sky to the east was bright red and there was ash in the air which meant something was burning somewhere. He wondered where that could be. He hadn’t passed anything resembling a town or a forest for weeks.

The sky was brightening and as he bent down to continue shoveling he saw a metallic glint. Brushing the dirt aside he picked up a gold, heart-shaped locket that dangled from a long gold chain. It was in remarkably good shape with no dings and very few scratches. He hadn’t seen an artifact like this from the old world in forever. Jamming it into a pocket he continued shoveling. He’d have time to look the locket over later.

The ground was pretty rocky but he managed to dig down another couple of feet. Not ideal but it would have to do. He dug foot rests in the wall of the hole and climbed out, positioned his tent with its highly reflective surface directly over the hole and then turned on the exhaust fan that was powered by solar cells mounted on the exterior. He took one last look around, hoping to see reflections from other tents in the vicinity but there was nothing. Finally he climbed back into the hole, sealed the opening behind him and curled up and went to sleep, using his pack as a pillow.

He slept deeply and dreamlessly. When he awoke hours later he stretched as best he could in the cramped space and then checked to see how much water the accumulator built into the tent had acquired. Not much. It worked better at night but that meant he’d have to spend an entire 24 hour period in one place and he preferred not to do that. He wanted to get to the northern refuge as soon as he could. He’d heard that there were over a hundred thousand people living deep underground above the arctic circle where there was still ice during part of the year. He tried to imagine that but failed. He’d never seen ice before. Cold, hard water. Difficult to believe but people said it was real. They used to put ice in water to cool it down for drinking in the old world! He shook his head at the thought of such a thing.

Remembering the locket, he fished it out of his pocket and looked at it. As he turned it in his fingers he caught a glimpse of his own face reflected in the shiny gold surface. It was dirty and criss-crossed with scars. His hair was long and pulled back in a thick braid as was his beard. In another time he might have been reckoned a handsome man but no one thought about things like that these days. Survival was all that mattered.

There was a tiny indentation on the locket. He put a dirty fingernail under it and flicked it open. On the left the words ‘True Love’ were engraved and on the right was a tiny picture of a young man and woman, smiling lovingly at each other. They were perfect. No scars or deformities, shiny, perfectly coiffed hair. Their clothes were clean and pressed. Their dewy completions shone with good health. He grunted in disgust. He’d never seen a human being who looked remotely like either of these two. They couldn’t be real.

He dug the picture out of the locket with his Bowie knife and tossed it into the dirt. He noticed that behind the picture tiny engraved letters read ‘18k.’ That was good! He could trade this for food, maybe even a bath! He smiled at the thought of the insane luxury of sitting in a pool of hot water he had all to himself.

As he emerged from the tent he saw that the entire sky was orange with particulate from the fire. It was hot but with no direct sunlight it was manageable which meant he could get an early start, maybe find a settlement of some sort or even a town on this next leg of his journey.

Things were looking up. Life was good!