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Zero stopped moaning, and his body slowly unbent.
“I’m taking you back,” said Stanley.
Zero managed to sit up. He took several deep breaths.
“Look, I got a plan so you won’t get in trouble,” Stanley assured him. “Remember when I found the gold tube. Remember, I gave it to X-Ray, and the Warden went crazy making us dig where she thought X-Ray found it. I think if I tell the Warden where I really found it, I think she’ll let us off.”
“I’m not going back,” said Zero.
“You’ve got nowhere else to go,” said Stanley.
Zero said nothing.
“You’ll die out here,” said Stanley.
“Then I’ll die out here.”
Stanley didn’t know what to do. He had come to rescue Zero and instead drank the last of his sploosh. He looked off into the distance. “I want you to look at something.”
“I’m not—”
“I just want you to look at that mountain up there. See the one that has something sticking up out of it?”
“Yeah, I think.”
“What does it look like to you? Does it look like anything?”
Zero said nothing.
But as he studied the mountain, his right hand slowly formed into a fist. He raised his thumb. His eyes went from the mountain, to his hand, then back to the mountain.
36
They put four of the unbroken jars in the burlap sack, in case they might be able to use them. Stanley carried the sack. Zero held the shovel.
“I should warn you,” Stanley said. “I’m not exactly the luckiest guy in the world.”
Zero wasn’t worried. “When you spend your whole life living in a hole,” he said, “the only way you can go is up.”
They gave each other the thumbs-up sign, then headed out.
It was the hottest part of the day. Stanley’s empty-empty-empty canteen was still strapped around his neck. He thought back to the water truck, and wished he’d at least stopped and fille
d his canteen before running off.
They hadn’t gone very far before Zero had another attack. He clutched his stomach as he let himself fall to the ground. Stanley could only wait for it to pass. The sploosh had saved Zero’s life, but it was now destroying him from the inside. He wondered how long it would be before he, too, felt the effects.
He looked at Big Thumb. It didn’t seem any closer than when they first started out.
Zero took a deep breath and managed to sit up.
“Can you walk?” Stanley asked him.
“Just give me a second,” Zero said. He took another breath, then, using the shovel, pulled himself back to his feet. He gave Stanley the thumbs-up sign and they continued.
Sometimes Stanley would try to go for a long while without looking at Big Thumb. He’d make a mental snapshot of how it looked, then wait maybe ten minutes before looking at it again, to see if it seemed closer.
It never did. It was like chasing the moon.
