“Gandalf was one of the first traveling merchants after the Rise,” explains Griffin. “And he was the first to come to our lab to trade. He gave us the idea to build theBeetle.”
The old man stares at Griffin, as if surprised that he’s offering me details about his life.
“And the tarp?” I ask.
“Military-grade too,” says Gandalf. “It reflects the light, like hundreds of tiny mirrors. It works best in the desert, where your eyes are easily tricked. The US army invented it to be used during their wars in the Middle East, but it ended up being mostly useful for little me.” He cackles like an old witch. “It also works as a solar panel, and I use it to charge the hovercar.”
We sit on the stools, and I watch in awe as Gandalf pulls out ice cubes from a compact freezer. He opens the trunk of his hovercar, and I get a glimpse of the inside. The back has been turned into storage for his wares. Everything is stored neatly. There are electronic devices, cables, books, clothes, tools, cans of food, alcohol… Everything that can be traded in the wastelands and beyond. He grabs three glasses made of metal and shakes the tea with ice cubes.
He offers me a glass. A fresh drink in the desert. Nothing has ever tasted so good.
“You’re living the best life in the wastelands,” I say, impressed.
“Been doing it for more than twenty years!” Gandalf says.
“Anything for me?” Griffin asks.
“You know I do,” says the old man, his eyes twinkling.
He disappears inside his trunk and comes back with three books. Griffin smiles when he notices my eagerness to check the book covers.
“Thank you,” he says to Gandalf.
“They’re in pretty good condition. I traded them with another merchant I met in Nebraska.”
“I have some fresh food for you, as usual,” says Griffin.
“Perfect! Let’s camp together tonight, and we can eat dinner together and share stories!”
Griffin smiles again. “It’ll be a pleasure.” I’ve never seen him so open with anyone. “Where do you plan to sleep tonight?”
“The Sea of Bones,” says the old man.
My “friend” frowns. “Not that damn place again…”
“You know that nobody ever bothers me there!”
And rightly so, I think. I’ve only ever seen the Sea of Bones once, and I made sure to go the long way around it. That place is unsettling.
Before the Rise, it was one of the biggest cattle ranches in the United States. Thousands of cows were kept on acres of arid lands. On this unforgiving territory, they were relying entirely on humans to feed and water them.
In the year following the Rise, an old god traveled that way and all the inhabitants and workers were evacuated. The cows weren’t. They were left to starve to death. Their corpses littered the fields for months, until their bones were picked clean by animals and insects. Their skeletons were whitened by the sun and half buried into the dust of the growing wastelands. Today, the bones still stand stark against the red dirt. It became the Sea of Bones.
“I don’t mind the company of bones if it spares me from unwanted visitors,” adds Gandalf.
Griffin sighs. “Very well. Let’s get moving, then. We still have a long way before we reach it.”
“Yes. Yes. Let me say hello to my dear Beet, and we can go.”
As soon as Gandalf has exchanged a few words with Beet, we help him put his things back inside his hovercar and secure the tarp to make sure it doesn’t drag on the desert floor. We let him lead the way, theBeetlefollowing close behind. From an outside eye, we must look like a giant insect running after a mirage.
It takes us four hours to reach the Sea of Bones. We have a little time to spare before nightfall to help Gandalf set camp for our dinner. I grudgingly move bones out of the way to install a bigger table that could accommodate the three of us for dinner.
In exchange for the books, Griffin gives a crate of fresh food to Gandalf that he has grown in the little green house on top of theBeetle. The old merchant cackles again as he sees the strawberries, cucumbers, and tomatoes.
“This is how I keep the scurvy away!” he informs me, pointing at his missing front teeth. “This is what a vitamin C deficiency does to you after months in the wastelands without tasting a vegetable or fruit! Never again!”
I make a face. Growing up, my mother made sure that we ate enough vitamins. She had read enough books to know what would await us if we had deficiencies. In the first years after the Rise, vitamin tablets were still in circulation. It was easy to swallow a few every week and they would get you going for months. Nowadays, vitamins are harder to come by. It’s rare to meet someone my age in the wastelands who has all their teeth. Meat and canned food aren’t considered healthy nutrition in the long run. I often had to chew on bitter roots and plants just to make sure I kept my teeth.
