But this was no dream, Jackson thought, the rain wet on his face, the wet air heavy in his lungs. Light was the dream. He remembered how Light had walked off, the jungle closing around him. Light might build a hut near one of the temples, his clothes rotting away, no one to talk with, only the ghosts of the men he had imagined he had raised. Light had raised no one, all of that a crazy dream. One day the battery would run down, and the starlight would go dark. Too late for Light to go home. No place for him but the city of ghosts.
Crazy, fucking crazy, Jackson thought.
Jackson touched his belly with his fingertips, traced with them where the scars should be. Yes, he would walk to the sea, walking at day and night also. Maybe he would come upon a Yard village where he could buy food. If not he would live off the land. Food was everywhere: snakes, insects, grubs under rotten logs, fish in the rivers. Light had lived that way. Maybe he would get lucky. The next ridge might be one that ran all the way to the sea.
Once at the sea he would follow the coast to Vung Tau, walking on the white sand by the blue water. At Vung Tau he would hire one of the fishing boats to take him out to the line of freighters. Then he would buy passage home, standing on the deck and watching the green mountains fade and disappear as the ship carried him out into the South China Sea.
About the Author
Scott Ely (1944–2013) served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. After the war, he received an MA from the University of Mississippi and an MFA from the University of Arkansas. He taught at Winthrop University in South Carolina and other schools. He wrote five novels and four collections of short stories.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Grateful acknowledgement is made for the following:
LITTLE WING by Jimi Hendrix. Copyright © 1968 and 1973 by Sea-Lark Enterprises, Inc. and Yameta Co., Ltd. All rights controlled by Unichappell Music, Inc. International Copyright Secured. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used by permission.
PURPLE HAZE by Jimi Hendrix. Copyright © 1967 by Sea-Lark Enterprises, Inc. and Yameta Co., Ltd. All rights controlled by Unichappell Music, Inc. International Copyright Secured. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used by permission.
THE WIND CRIES MARY by Jimi Hendrix. Copyright © 1967 and 1968 by Sea-Lark Enterprises, Inc. and Yameta Co., Ltd. All rights controlled by Unichappell Music, Inc. International Copyright Secured. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used by permission.
BOLD AS LOVE by Jimi Hendrix. Copyright © 1968 by Sea-Lark Enterprises, Inc. and Yameta Co., Ltd. All rights controlled by Unichappell Music, Inc. International Copyright Secured. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used by permission.
FOXY LADY by Jimi Hendrix. Copyright © 1967 and 1968 by Sea-Lark Enterprises, Inc. and Yameta Co., Ltd. All rights controlled by Unichappell Music, Inc. International Copyright Secured. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used by permission.
VOODOO CHILD by Jimi Hendrix. Copyright © 1968 by Sea-Lark Enterprises, Inc. and Yameta Co., Ltd. All rights controlled by Unichappell Music, Inc. International Copyright Secured. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used by permission.
ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER by Bob Dylan. Copyright © 1968 by Dwarf Music. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. International Copyright Secured. Reprinted by permission.
Copyright © 1987 by Scott Ely
Cover design by Mauricio Díaz
ISBN: 978-1-4804-6680-7
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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