Hope and Undead Elvis - By Ian Thomas Healy Page 0,9
which was broken.
"I'm Gabrial. Gabrial Esparza," called the driver over the noisy engine. "My friends call me Gabe."
"Hope," said Hope. The let-down of being rescued made her feel worn out and she thought about fainting.
"You look like you had a rough day, señorita. There's a gallon jug of water down by your feet. You're welcome to have some."
"God, you are an angel." Hope bent down and fumbled by her feet until she found the smooth plastic, only a little cooler than the surrounding air temperature. She didn't care. She opened the lid.
"Don't chug it, Li'l lady," said Undead Elvis, "or it'll all come right back up."
"I won't," she said. She forced herself to sip. Her body was so parched that her first few mouthfuls didn't even make it to her stomach; her mouth and throat absorbed them.
The tepid water trickled down Hope's throat like the sweetest nectar. Her stomach clenched and threatened to expel it, but she clamped her teeth together and refused to give in to the nausea.
"Feeling better?" asked Gabe.
Hope nodded. She held the jug in her lap, afraid that if she released it, it might vanish like so many other things. She looked behind her where Elvis sat with his back against the huge fuel tank. "Do you want some?"
"I'm just fine, Li'l lady, but thanks."
Hope marveled at the way her parched tissues soaked up the water with greedy abandon. She felt like a deflated balloon given the breath of life. More water splashed past her lips as she watched Gabe. As he drove, he kept his left arm in the window and steered with the fingertips of his right hand against the bottom of the wheel. His lips pursed in a soft whistle of some melody only he could hear, stolen by the rushing wind the moment it escaped his mouth.
Hope asked, "Is this your car?"
"It is now."
"Was it… before?"
Gabe didn't answer. Instead he took his eyes from the road for a moment to smile at Hope, and then returned to his whistling.
"Are you from Arizona?"
"Most recently."
"But not originally?"
Gabe smiled again. "Is this an interview?"
Hope felt her cheeks grow hot.
"It's all right. May as well get to know each other, señorita. It may be a long time before we have any other company."
Undead Elvis poked his head into the window. "I'm sorry to interrupt y'all's conversation, but I'm seein' some smoke up ahead."
"I see it too. It's a long way off, señor. We'll get there eventually."
Hope squinted through the windshield. She saw a slender dark smudge against the blue sky. She'd have missed it had Undead Elvis not pointed it out. "I wonder what's burning?"
Gabe shrugged. "Hard to say. I seen some things that stuck around after, but it's been a long time."
"How can you tell? It's like time has stopped."
"Near as I can figure it, señorita, it has."
"What do you think happened to everything?"
"It ended."
"But why are we left? Why this road, this car?"
"Prob'ly because we're supposed to be here."
"I wish I wasn't here. I hate this desert." Hope took another sip of water. Her stomach reminded her it hadn't had any food for a lengthy period either.
"The desert ain't so bad."
"Do you have any food, Gabe?"
He shook his head. "I'm afraid not, señorita. I haven't found any yet. I'm pretty hungry."
"I saw some black birds earlier. Maybe we'll see more of them."
Gabe shivered. "I saw them too. I don't think I could be hungry enough to eat one of them."
"I could." Hope's stomach growled in agreement.
"Those birds didn't seem right to me," said Undead Elvis. "Like they didn't belong here."
"How can you tell what belongs here? How can you tell anything? It's like the rules don't apply anymore." Hope surprised herself by bursting into tears. Her great, braying sobs got the better of her and she started to retch.
Gabe braked hard and the car skidded to a stop. Hope fell out of the passenger door and heaved up water onto the sand beside the road. Gentle hands the color of seawater held her hair back from getting soiled. When she was finished, she was too weak to do anything except clutch at Undead Elvis's legs and bawl. He knelt down beside her and put his arms around her. She shrank into them, her chest hitching.
Tall sand dunes on either side of the road made it feel as if they were in a canyon. A gentle breeze ruffled Undead Elvis's cape and made an errant lock of Hope's hair flutter around her nose.