He bent over. “Then you’re not married, are you?”

“No,” I replied.

“Then you’re smarter than me. Life is short. You gotta grab it. You know what I mean? If you don’t look after yourself, who will?”

“You tell me,” I said.

“No one. No one looks out for you but you. You gotta watch your own back.”

I didn’t bother to point out that this was literally impossible. “Where are you headed?” I asked.

“Headed back to where life was good. You know what I mean, back in high school? Chicks and beer, we knew how to live back then. Life was one big party. That’s where I’m going.”

“Over the rainbow …” I said, picking up a couple cassettes with skanky covers.

“What?”

“Nothing. Do you think what you’re looking for will still be there?”

He stopped and looked at me as if he was annoyed by my stupidity. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

I didn’t answer him. We finished gathering the rest of his things, then I helped him lift the mattress onto the heap and we crisscrossed a nylon rope over the mattress and secured it to the truck bed. When the last knot was tied, I picked up my pack. “Well, good luck.”

“Thanks for the help,” he said. “Can I give you a lift?”

“No thanks. I’m walking.”

“Suit yourself.” He slammed his door, fired up his truck, which backfired a couple of times, then peeled off, spitting gravel at me. I shook my head. I think of all the people I had met so far on my journey, he was the most pitiable.

A few hours later I came to a building with a sign that read:

Petrified Gardens

“Family Approved Site”

Bring your camera!

I didn’t have a family or a camera, but I was curious about this building in the middle of nowhere so I went inside. A bell rang as I entered, and a gaunt, middle-aged man who looked a little like Christopher Walken met me at the door. “Would you like to buy a ticket?”

“Sure,” I said.

“How many?”

“It’s just me.”

“One ticket,” he said. “That’ll be seven dollars.”

I paid him. He handed me a ticket. Then (I’m not making this up) he said, “Just a second.” He walked back ten feet to the museum’s entrance and held out his hand. “Ticket, please.”

I handed him back the ticket.

“Right this way,” he said, motioning me forward.

I walked into a long, dark room with displays of mounted rocks behind glass and chicken wire. The room was lit by ultraviolet light, causing the rocks to fluoresce. I stayed there a few minutes, then walked out of the room through a door that led to the backyard.