Last Days in the Desert Page #2

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Any words of advice, holy man?

Talk to him about something

that he's interested in.

What is he interested in?

Riddles.

He makes up a very good riddle.

I don't like riddles.

That shooting star last night.

You enjoyed that.

- It was a bore.

- Liar.

I am a liar. That is the truth.

I've seen every shooting star

since the first one.

Every flash of lightning.

I've heard the last gasp

of each thing that ever lived.

Nothing's interesting anymore.

Nothing surprises you? Not a thing?

The repetitiveness.

The obstinate, dull repetitiveness of your

father's plan is bewildering to me.

The same lives lived over

and over and over and over again.

Is there a plan?

It all has to turn into something, it has to

pour out into something, but into what?

And that's my weakness...

curiosity.

But I'll stay as long

as it takes, forever...

to witness the end.

The final sunset. If there is one.

Maybe on that day,

late in the afternoon, seconds away,

he'll want to start it all over again...

from the beginning.

He's done it before. Recreated

the whole thing, retold the whole thing.

On a whim. With little differences

that must mean the world to him,

a branch that crooks

in a different direction,

one egg more or less

in the nest of a flea.

What a self-centered...

self-indulgent creature he is. Isn't he?

Deaf-mute. Insatiable.

These things he expects of you.

Do you think anyone will care?

Men of 1,000 years from now?

What's it like to be in his presence?

Is there a face?

No.

There is no face.

There is no face.

There's a thing that swallows you.

It holds you together while it's

tearing you apart and it's terrifying.

It makes you feel worthless...

and it makes you want to be worthless.

And all the while, it makes you believe

that you and he are one and the same...

That... that is...

Well, that can be quite confusing.

That's how I remember it, anyway.

It's been a million years since he

so much as looked in my direction.

- Your pride made him angry.

- I'm not proud. I am not proud.

He's the proud one.

- How's our little wager going?

- I do not wager.

Oh, dear me, course not.

- What?

- You already know the outcome, don't you?

- No. Not at all.

- Yes. Yes, you do.

I am able to do that generally, yes.

But when it comes to you

and your little things, not always.

I could tell you what would've happened if

you'd passed by this place a moment earlier.

Would you like to know?

The boy would not have met you.

After the mother's death,

his relationship

with the father deteriorates.

He puts up with it

for several years,

expecting that the father

will not live long.

Eventually, he poisons the father

and is hanged for it.

Along the way, the boy

has a son who remains here.

Like the grandfather, he loves the desert.

That's how it would have been this time.

In previous tellings of the world,

it was all a little different.

Sometimes it was nothing but love

between the father and the son.

That's how your father amuses himself.

Now it's your turn to take a hand.

Can you do any better?

Why do you live here?

Because the desert is ruthless.

It strips you of your vanities,

your illusions, and...

gives you the opportunity

to see yourself for who you are.

Isn't that why you're here?

Because your god speaks louder here?

God speaks wherever a man wants to listen.

What I said to you about my son...

It doesn't matter that we don't talk.

We're not women.

A father talks through example.

He's the best boy in the world.

Too good, perhaps.

Do you see that?

The smooth rock jutting out.

- Just below the crack there.

- The reddish rock?

Yes. That's Jasper stone. I'm sure of it.

I need a sample to take to market.

- I would share any profits with you.

- No, that wouldn't be necessary.

I can't in good conscience allow you

to do more work for nothing.

If you don't want the money,

you give it to the poor.

How would you go about it?

It would take three people.

Two to lower the third.

Yes, that's right.

You and I would lower the boy.

Just to pick at the rock.

And if it's all that I think it is,

I will return with laborers and dig deep.

It could change the course of our lives.

The boy's life, anyway.

I feel better.

You do? Good. That's good.

My mother had this when she was my age.

And then she was fine.

My father, my sisters and I...

once spent a night in Jaffa.

Did I tell you this already?

Tell me again.

My father's cousin put us up by the port.

I could barely sleep...

with the sounds of the city...

dogs barking...

music from a wedding...

men quarreling...

a pig brought to slaughter...

a drunk woman laughing.

And the smells...

pepper, cedar wood...

garum.

If you're ever there...

you think of me.

Yes. I will.

I took her to doctors,

brought doctors to her.

Magicians, quacks. I tried them all.

She's going to die, holy man.

There is nothing to be done about her.

When her eyes close for the last time...

our whole world will come

to an end forever.

It's stunning, isn't it?

That life ends.

You will meet again.

We will have been here together.

And we leave the boy behind.

That'll have to do.

How far can a man walk into the desert?

Only halfway.

After that, he's walking out.

When you leave,

you could take me with you.

I could pass for your son.

That would be believable, wouldn't it?

Believable, yes, but nevertheless a lie.

But a lie that wouldn't hurt anyone.

My mother and father

wouldn't be there to hear it.

A lie hurts the person who tells it.

You could adopt me.

That way it wouldn't be a lie.

The Romans do it all the time,

adopt each other.

Have you found what you

were looking for out here?

Yes. Yes, I have.

What were you looking for?

I was looking for a place to reflect

and to pray in peace.

A place to look inward and to find myself.

I walk out there, too.

Sometimes when I'm out there,

I feel this thing rising inside of me,

that I am everything

and that everything is me.

That I will always be alive. Forever.

And it's very conceited,

I know, to feel that way.

I'm ashamed of that feeling.

Some wine, holy man?

No. Thank you.

Boy. Boy.

You are an easy target.

Because you're weak.

- How's your mother doing?

- She's feeling better.

She thinks it's passing.

Take your knife, boy.

Just in case.

If I had fallen behind like that,

my father would have caned me

on the soles of my feet.

Come.

I am stronger than 10 men...

and I am taller than 10 men,

but a boy can carry me.

What am I?

It's a riddle.

I am stronger than 10 men,

I'm longer than 10 men,

and a boy can carry me.

What am I?

A rope.

It's a rope.

Come.

Come.

Do you see that piece of rock?

The holy man and I

will lower you with rope.

All you have to do is chisel out a piece

and we'll pull you back up.

No.

No. I'm not going down there.

You will.

No. You know I'm afraid

of falling from high places.

That is precisely why you will do it.

I will not do it!

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