“Excuse me,” he said. “I wonder if you could help me.”

One of the boys took a bite of his doughnut. “Who’re you?”

“I wonder if school is in session.”

“Who wants to know?”

“Shut up, Blake,” another boy said.

Blake looked at them, and then he looked at Bardem. He squinted a little, as though wanting to get a closer view of the man who stood there. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

“I’m looking for Jack Dahl,” Bardem said.

“We ain’t seen him.”

“What does he drive?”

They looked at each other.

“Old Chevy,” one said. “Red, I think.”

“Do you know where he is?”

They shook their heads.

The sun shimmered on ice-topped pavement. Bardem stood there, gazing at them. “Do you know where you are?”

“What?”

“I said, do you know where you are?”

The boys looked at each other again.

“Every moment in this life is a choosing,” Bardem said. “You’re on a path, and with each choosing, you head farther down the path. You draw the destination. The shape of it. You see? The paths diverge in a yellow wood. You cannot travel both.” He waited, watching them. “Today you’re eating doughnuts in a parking lot. Where will you be tomorrow?”

The boys didn’t move.

“Look, mister,” Blake said. “We don’t know what you mean.”

Bardem smiled. “You’re a bit stupid, aren’t you?”

“Blake,” one boy muttered. “Let’s go.”

Bardem stood with his arms at his sides, his fingers resting against his pressed jeans. Snow bits fell on his hair and gathered in clean white clumps.

Blake licked his lip. “We better go.”

“That’s good,” Bardem said. He nodded. “Good choosing.”

XIV

Maybe you think it’s wrong. Me, guarding all these memories.

I don’t care.

I will guard them.

Jack lay in the blankets and weighed what to do. The sun had been up for a couple of hours, but Matty still slept by the fire. He probably wouldn’t get up for a while. Still, if he did, Jack knew he’d be scared. No, better to wait. Wait until you’ve given him the phone. Until you’ve said goodbye. In his head, Jack kept hearing Dad. What he’d said. Eat or be eaten. Why say that?

Yeah, so you read some books together. It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.

Just forget, Jack.

All these memories.

He is gone, and you are here. You and Matty.