Into The Wild Page #4

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Yeah, hang on a second.

Now, the deal is

it's gonna be me and you

or it's gonna be me, you and her.

Next available is May 17th, 2003.

Great. Done. The three of us, then.

Twelve years?

- What's that?

- Twelve years?

To paddle down a river.

Let me call you back.

You can do that,

or you can join a commercial raft trip,

go with a licensed guide.

They may have some

last-minute cancellations,

but that's gonna cost you $2,000.

Thank you very much.

Helmet, man!

I'm Supertramp!

"If we admit that human life

can be ruled by reason,

"the possibility of life is destroyed."

Hello!

Hello.

Come. Join us.

We have hot dogs.

- I'm Mads.

- Mads?

- Mads. Hi.

- Mads.

- Alex.

- Hi, Alex.

Hey. I'm Sonja.

Hey, Alex.

We are from Copenhagen,

and you are from the rapids.

I am.

- You're crazy! You're crazy, man.

- My God!

Sonja, get away from him. Get away

from him. He's crazy! Look, he's crazy.

I'll make you a hot dog. One minute.

I love this. Don't you love this?

You know, this is nature.

So where are you going?

- I haven't decided yet.

- Really?

Well, we like it here very much.

And it's so good to meet you, man.

So good to meet you.

You know, we went to Los Angeles,

and then we went to Las Vegas.

Oh, yeah. Las Vegas is very nice.

The universe is so good.

- The universe is very good.

- You know what I mean?

- Yeah.

- The whole universe.

Just the place. The city, she means.

Her English is not very good.

But then we came here. I don't care

if she's a little stupid, but I like her.

You know you can actually go

all the way down to Mexico from here.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

You can take the kayak,

and you can take it all the way around

down to Hoover Dam,

you can sail around,

and then from there you can take

the river all the way down to Mexico!

- Really?

- Yeah.

Come on, come on!

She's so slow sometimes.

- Here's the map.

- But I like her.

- Here. Hoover Dam.

- Okay.

About 330 kilometers, I think.

- Miles?

- Yeah, miles, about 200 miles.

- Two hundred miles.

- Two hundred miles. Yeah, man.

You know, I wonder if I could paddle

all the way down that

into the Gulf of California.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can.

You know, I will go with you.

I will go with you. We leave Sonja here,

and then we take the kayak.

No, no.

We go all the way down into Mexico.

You know, because in every man's

heart, there is a Mexican mistress.

Oh, man.

I've gotta go, you guys.

I'm really sorry. I gotta go.

- What's going on?

- Why?

The river patrol's after me. I'm actually

not supposed to be here, you know.

You have to have, like, a permit,

it's like a government thing to be here,

and I didn't get one.

If you see anybody,

any of the rangers or anything,

just tell them you didn't see me, okay?

Okay.

Okay, again, I'm really, really sorry,

man. I wish I could stay, you know.

Take care, man.

- All right. Take care, Mads.

- Nice to meet you.

- Bye, Alex.

- I wish... I wish I could stay.

Say hello to Mexico from me.

Bye, Alex!

It would be Christmas

in a couple of months,

and the last news we'd had

was about his car being found.

I woke up a couple of days ago,

and for the first time, it bothered me

that it wasn't only my parents

who hadn't heard from Chris.

Honey?

It's me. I'm sorry.

Everything that happened, it's my fault.

Give me another chance.

Please do that... Come on.

Do that for me.

Come on. They're calling

for another quarter right now,

and I ain't got it, so will you hurry it up?

Come on now, don't hang up on me.

Hey, here's a quarter.

Thank you.

There's a quarter

just happened out of the sky,

so I'm on here talking to you again.

I got the quarter now, let's...

No, no, no, no, no!

I wondered why he hadn't tried to call

in case I might answer.

He could've hung up if it wasn't me.

Why wouldn't he send a letter,

maybe through a friend?

It hurt a little,

but I told myself it was good.

He knew I loved him enough

to bear with the not knowing.

And it helped me remember that there

was something more than rebellion,

more than anger that was driving him.

Chris had always been driven,

had always been an adventurer.

When he was four years old,

he once wandered six blocks away

from home at 3:
00 in the morning.

He was found in a neighbor's kitchen

up on a chair,

digging through their candy drawer.

Whatever drawer he was opening now

must have something pretty sweet in it.

- You lived in a cave for 36 days?

- Yes, sir.

And how did you get into Mexico

in the first place?

Through the spillway at Morelos Dam.

River dries out pretty quickly

beyond there, doesn't it?

Yeah. Turns into a maze of irrigation

canals, thanks to our dams up north.

So I ported my kayak over the desert,

and I hitched down to Golfo.

But after a few weeks, a sandstorm

came up and blew the kayak away.

So I walked back north. Here I am.

Well, you just can't be crossing

the borders without any identification.

- Are we understood?

- Yes, sir.

I've eaten enough sand to send me

back to the city anyway.

All right. Sit tight. I'll be right back.

Some may ask,

"Why act now? Why not wait?"

The answer is clear.

The world could wait no longer.

Hi. Do you have the time?

- Time?

- Time?

Yeah.

Okay.

Front and back.

I don't have any more clipboards,

so get one from the other fellas.

- Next.

- Hi.

Can you tell me how to get an ID?

- Did you lose your identification, sir?

- Yeah.

No birth certificate? Nothing?

Ouch.

All right. Well, you're gonna

have to work that out with the DMV.

You can catch them in the morning.

The closest one is Montebello,

and we can help you

with the bus voucher.

So just come to this desk

when you're ready for the voucher.

- Okay.

- What's your name?

- Alexander Supertramp.

- What's that?

- Alexander Supertramp.

- Supertramp. Really?

Yeah.

Okay, so I'm gonna look for you,

Supertramp. I got something for you.

- Here you go, Supertramp.

- Thank you very much.

Okay, baby.

- And one last thing.

- Yeah.

Do you have a bed for me? I'm sorry...

Oh, no. Sure, I got a bed for you.

Sign your name right here.

You fill this out. And I'll set you right up.

Now, I'm out of...

- What's going on back there?

- I got it. I'm sorry.

- Come on, now. Work with me.

- All right. Thanks, ma'am.

Supertramp, huh?

You know the drill.

Move it!

Thanks, but I'm not gonna need

that bed after all.

You leaving us so soon? Supertramp!

Show me your face.

I never, ever, ever forget a face.

If I see yours again,

I won't arrest you, I'll kill you.

This is the goddamned railroad,

and we will do whatever we have to do

to keep you freeloaders

from violating our liability.

Yes, sir.

You got any ID?

- No, sir.

- Of course you don't.

Last time, my friend.

All clear.

Good boy!

Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.

Finally!

It's a mystery to me

We have a greed

With which we have agreed

You think you have to want more

than you need

Until you have it all you won't be freed

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