Riddley Walker

by Russell Hoban

  I said, ‘Whatre you crying about?’

  He said, ‘Im crying for what ben Im crying for whats going to be.’

  I said, ‘Whats the use of that?’

  He said, ‘Whats the use of not?’

  I said, ‘May be it dont have to be.’

  He dint say nothing he jus let my words littl off and dwindl stupid on the air. The black dog bumpt agenst my leg like he wer showing me at leas his part of the dark wer frendy.

  I said, ‘I wunner where they gone them 2 boys of Eusas?’

  Lissener sung:

  1 to live and 1 to dy 2 boys gone

  1 to lite and 1 to dark roading on

  Never did the Good Luck brother

  Tern a roun to help the other

  Never did the other 1

  Ever have the sents to run

  I said, ‘Whats that then? I never heard that song is it about Eusas boys?’

  He said, ‘I dont know what it is its jus a bit of a old song nor I dont even know the res of it.’

  I said, ‘Did you ever hear any story of Eusas boys tho?’

  He said, ‘No I never. Whats the diffrents any how it wunt help us nothing knowing what be come of them.’

  I said, ‘Why do we have to go to Cambry why do we have to go for that gethering?’

  He said, ‘What else is there to do? Wait for Goodparley to close his han on us?’

  I said, ‘It dont look like there ben no foller on us parbly he dont have the leas idear where we are.’

  He said, Thats what Mr Mouse said jus befor he be come owls meat.’

  I said, ‘You lissen hes on to us then?’

  He said, ‘Thats what I ben lissening for a wyl now.’

  I said, ‘Since when?’

  He said, ‘I aint sure only it wer some time after I had the fit.’

  Then I membert that smel back at Rose & Power and it come to me what it ben. If that dog pong hadnt ben so hevvy over it Iwdve knowit right off. Partly it ben that wax they dip hard clof in to keap the rain out and partly it ben hash smoak and sweat and mud and meat smoak and torch smoak and beer. What it ben wer Goodparley & Orfing with ther fit up. They cudve ben there befor us they cudve gone a head to Fork Stoan thatwd be like Goodparley to suss which way wewd jump. I said to Lissener, ‘You think theyre in front of us or behynt?’

  He said, ‘I lissen them in front.’

  I said, ‘Whynt you say nothing befor this?’

  He said, ‘What diffrents does it make? Be they follering behynt or leading on a head weare going where weare going any how aint we.’

  I said, ‘Even if they ben right on our backs they cudntve seen us take them stoans off that dead bloak. At leas they dont know nothing about that.’

  He said, ‘If I have any Luck gethering in Cambry theywl know soon a nuff.’

  Thats when it come to me what them hevvys roun the fire ben talking about. I said, ‘Belnot Phist.’

  He said, ‘What Belnot Phist?’

  I said, ‘Thats the littl witey bloak them hevvys ben talking about wylst you ben lissening the boat and the stoans.’

  He said, ‘What about him?’

  Which I tol him then how Phist wer coming the do it man at Widders Dump plus I myndit him what them hevvys said about him being Goodparleys boy and ben throwt over and how his dad ben 1 Stoan Phist and parbly past on knowing. I said, ‘It wunt sneak me if hes got knowing hewl use agenst Goodparley nor it wunt sneak me if Belnot Phist is out to be Belnot Goodparley.’

  He said, ‘Iwl give odds youve sust that right and you know what the nex thing is.’

  I said, ‘What?’

  He said, ‘Split up and dubbl our chances. Iwl go on to Cambry with ½ the stoans and gether how ever I can. May be Goodparleys waiting there may be not. May be I can work some thing with them stoans its a chance any how. You go to Belnot Phist with the other ½ and see if you can put some thing to gether with him. If hes Goodparleys nemminy he cud wel be our frend.’

  I said, ‘And yet you know may be weve boath got it wrong. May be Goodparley aint on to us may be Belnot Phist dont have a thot in the worl agenst Goodparley may be the bes thing is jus vack our wayt over the border in to Outland and take our chance there.’

  Lissener said, ‘You can do what you like moon brother but my peopl ben the Power Leat when Goodparleys peopl ben the maggits in the iron. My peopl ben the Is as bilt the Power Ring and sent the air boats out beyont the sarvering gallack seas. He aint nothing only rottinness growt out of rottinness nor I aint leaving Inland to him jus yet.’

  Wel I wernt realy too kean to split up I wernt realy on for what I wer getting in to. When I gone over the fents at Widders Dump it ben jus me throwing my self in to the black and taking my chance what it myt do with me. Swaller me up or spit me out I dint care I dint have no 1 on my back only my self. Only my self! Looking at them words going down on this paper right this minim I know there aint no such thing there aint no only my self you all ways have every 1 and every thing on your back. Them as stood and them as run time back way back long long time they had me on ther back if they knowit or if they dint. I had Lissener on my back plus a woal lot moren him I cudnt even say what all it wer and mor and mor I wer afeart it wer coming to some thing I wernt going to be hevvy a nuff for.

  I said, ‘I know you all ways say every 1 goes in to every thing blyn but you know if you go in to Cambry oansome you aint got the same chance as a bloak with eyes.’

  Lissener said, ‘You know and I know Ive parbly got a better chance so dont try to bul shit your self out of it if youre afeart to go jus say it strait.’

  I said, ‘Im afeart and Iwl go but we myswel road on to gether a littl way yet. Iwl fork off in a few faggers.’

  He said, ‘Lissen me now Riddley we dont have no minims to spare. The sooner you piss off out of here the sooner Phistwl have them stoans working for us.’

  There wernt no mor to say about it. We boath knowit cud jus as wel be arga warga at boath ends. I said, ‘Im off then. The sooner I get to Phist the sooner Iwl get back to where you are.’

  He said, ‘Good Luck moon brother.’

  I said, ‘Good Luck to you the same.’ O I dint want to leave him. We huggit each other and I ternt to go. The black leader bumpt his sholder agenst my leg. I dint even want to think if any dogs wer coming with me or not I wer progamming to go it oansome what ever. Soons I movit off tho the 2 nexter dogs movit with me and it lookit like ½ the pack follert on behynt so I wernt qwite oansome in the worl after all.

  Lissener gone Norf and Wes tords Cambry then and I gone Wes and Norf tords Widders Dump. For a wyl I dint hardly know which 1 of us I wer with. I knowit I wer Riddley Walker heading for Widders Dump but I wer mor with Lissener heading for Cambry. I never ben there I never ben no closern the Ring Ditch yet I cud feal it coming closer to me with every step I took the other way. No 1 uses the old place names now they ben unspoak this long time but mos of them are stil there in the places. You know Cambry ben Canterbury in moufs long gone. Canterbury. It has a zanting in it like a tall man dantsing and time back there ben foun there girt big music pipes as big as fents poals peopl said. You try to think of how it musve soundit when the Power Ring ben there and working not jus crummelt stannings and a ditch. It musve ben some girt jynt thing hy hy up and with a shyning and a flashing to it time back way back when they had boats in the air and all the res of it. Did it woosh and hum or ben it dumming and beating like the hart of the worl and what ben the music come out of them pipes? You dont know nor you wont never know. You can feal how there ben Power there. You go down 1 side of the Ring Ditch and up the other side you can feal it in your knees how youre walking tremmery and you can feal it in your belly. Feal it hy hy over you and overing you. Old foller in the air the after blip and fading of what ben. Fading fading dwindling on the air but the fading and the dwindl sending out ther sylents roun and roun that circel never slowing to a stilness. Wel realy there aint no stilness any where is there. Not Ice you begin to take noatis.

  When I
forkt off from Lissener it musve ben about a 6fag after 1st seeing that boat with the dead bloak in it. I stil had plenny of time and a nuff to get to Widders Dump befor day lite. I begun to get in front of my self thinking how Iwd do when I got there. Even if Id sust it right as Belnot Phist wer agenst the Ram I dint know how things stood at Widders Dump. For all I knowit they cud all be hard Ram there and Phist permuch a persner amongst them. I neverd had much to do with any of them formers only Chalker Marchman at the digging and chatting some times to the bloaks at the reddy. I cudnt realy see my self stepping up to that gate and saying Trubba not. On the other han if I slyd in over the fents how wud I fynd Phists shelter befor some 1 foun me? And the woal time I wer thinking them thots part of me wer heading for Cambry with Lissener wylst a nother part wer wunnering when some thing wud come up to stop me. Realy I cudnt beleave I wer going to be let to walk all over Inland any where I fantsyt and partly I wantit some thing to stop me. Becaws I knowit by then any thing at all myt happen and parbly wud. Ice that eye starts roaling itwl roal right off the board and gone so easy. So easy. You can go the worl a way so easy. This nite Im writing down here it wer jus only the same nite of that very same day I gone over the Widders Dump fents in the morning. Which that seamt time back years back and long long pas. Yet here I wer now coming back to that same fents and thinking how to get inside agen.

  With my mynd going all diffrent ways stil my feet gone jus that 1 way. Them dogs and me we slyd a long thru dark and girzel by forms and fentses pas all them sleaping in ther doss bags and all them looking out on hy walks be twean Fork Stoan and Widders Dump. No 1 seen us no 1 heard us nothing stoppt us nor it dint seam no time at all til we come sydling that hy groun sholder and nearing on to Widders Dump. My face and hans wet with the girzel my does hevvy with the wet my feet slyding in the mud my boots and leggers sogging with it. Smelling the dog pong the rain the mud and the nite. Sylents in my ears only the rain hisper. Far far back behynt my eyes some other place some other time the dry dus rising and the hotness wivvering on the air. No me. Jus barrens and the dry dus blowing. I thot: Who knows? May be Goodparley is the Littl Shyning Man nor he dont know it his self. That thot come to me then sydling that sholder in the rainy dark so I write it down here now.

  Looking down to the low groun in the farness I cud see candl glimmers in the gate house at Widders Dump. Where I wer then its where the hy groun sholder goes in and out theres a long deap holler its like a short valley its that place they call Mr Clevvers Roaling Place. They say some times when Mr Clevvers roading thru Inland he gets a larfing fit he cant help his self he jus has to let his self go he roals on the groun there. It wer stil common groun they use to forage there time back. Long befor my time the goats had et it bare and since then there bint nothing only granser rats. They use to say there ben the goast of a batcherd living there hewd come out and show fight when dogs come too close to where he use to play with his cubs when he ben a live.

  I dont know what made me go down there may be I wer hoaping for a site of that goast batcherd or may be Mr Clevver wantit me to have a larf. Userly any crowd I wer with wewdve took the upper track the 1 what come down easyer off the sholder by where Belnot Phistd put the crew to timbering. Any how I dint go down that way I gone thru Mr Clevvers Roaling Place. I wer thinking thinking how wer I going to get to Belnot Phist and wishing I wer clevverer that way. Thinking if I wer realy clevver I wunt be busting my head over it oansome Iwd sly in to How Fents and have a word to Fister Crunchman him asd wantit me to stop pontsing for the Ram and do a mans doing. There wernt much wind then jus a littl and freshening it wer fulling and lulling fulling and lulling. Come the nex littl ful and whatd it bring me but Fister Crunchmans very voyce. Its very qwyet and small thru the hisper of the rain its like it ben pickt up ever so delkit by the wind the way you myt lif a keepaways egg from a ledge on a clif and clym down with it only this here wind egg it hatches in my ear and littl qwyet words come out of it. ‘I dont feal right about it,’ says Fister Crunchmans littl voyce.

  Nex voyce is Straiter Empy he says, ‘For his oan good and all.’

  Farner Salvage is the nex voyce he says, ‘Fister you know they wont do nothing moren dock his fraction for the nex 14nt or so. You jus cant go sticking Mincery peopl in bogs when ever you feal like it. Weare living on burrow time as it is. Wunt take hardly nothing at all for them to largen us in the same as Dog Et done Littl Salting. If youre thinking of putting some thing to gether youre wanking man youre roaling a fools pair of dice.’

  Then some Is hushing them qwyet the talking stops and Im out of there. Thinking how clevver I ben to go down thru Mr Clevvers Roaling Place it cernly lookit like he wantit me to have a larf with him. That lernt me some thing about them dogs too they wernt all of them as fine tunet as that black leader. Hewdve give me warning and early. Even hadnt he smelt nor heard nothing hewdve col sust any body waiting a jump on that hy groun up of us and hewdve let me know. Thinking of Lissener roading in to Cambry blyn at leas he had that black dog. Plus I wer thinking how close I come to being jumpt and how stupid I ben not to know my crowdwd have the grabbers out for me. I dont think Fister Crunchman wer in it I think he ben keaping them talking so Iwd be lertit. I aint had a chance to ask him yet.

  I kep wide of the regler track then and working slow and scanful tords Widders Dump and that littl candl glimmer. I knowit I dint have too long til day lite I cudnt realy wayst no time nor chance on wrong gesses.

  I come out of the woodlings to the edge of the Widders Dump clearing. That candl glimmer I seen from up on the hy groun sholder lookit lovely and brite and ever so warm and coasy thru the col girzel it wudve ben nice to be abel to walk up to that gate and say Trubba not in stead of slying roun in the dark. Widders Dump Form is perwel spread out it aint no littl 40 peopl fents theyve got 200 and mor plus all ther stock and cattl which theyre all inside the main compoun at nite so its a big fents to walk roun and its a big fents to look out for as wel. Even a small fentswl have 4 lookouts on the hy walk so I thot they mus have at leas 6 at Widders Dump but them being formers and with the nite so col and all I thot there myt be emty spaces here and there with some bloaks keaping ther look out in the gate house with a nice cup of tea.

  Its a big clearing I crost it fas then working roun the Norf side a way from the gate house its the side tords the rivver. Cruising roun the primmeter ditch trying to keap my self on for any kynd of nindicater which there come 1 to me then it wer the terbel sharp pong from the dy working where they boyl up the pig shit earf. I thot: Hewl be close to the dyers. Dint realy think it it jus come to me.

  They dont have no poynty stakes at Widders Dump its jus only the ditch which its a wide 1 and it wer ful of water from the rains. I stript off and bundelt my does roun my spears then I throwit the spears over the ditch in to the bank on the other side. In to that col water then and swum acrost. Come out of there with my teef clattering loud a nuff to lert the lookouts 5 faggers off. Dryd off with my clout put on my does and lissent hard. Not a soun not a creak from that hy walk. I thot: Formers. There parbly aint a 1 of them on the hy walk. Throwit my roap over a fents poal and up I gone. All clear on the hy walk so Thump. Down to the groun and I wer over that Widders Dump fents 2ce that same day. Ice going out and Ice coming in.

  No lites in any shelters only the 1 neares the dy working which I thot that mus be Phist. Jus then I wunnert if I cud be walking in to a trap and in that same minim with that thot some 1 grabbit me from behynt.

  14

  Wel Im telling Truth here aint I. Thats the woal idear of this writing which I begun wylst thinking on what the idear of us myt be. Right then when I got grabbit my 1st thot wer: Wel now may be I dont have to progam nothing for a littl.

  Who ever had a holt of me clampt me in a strangl holt with a arm like iron and the other han stuck a knife agenst my belly. I thot: It aint even that long since I had my E cut in me I dont hardly have no parper scab on it yet.

  Any how this hevvy in charge of me he pushes me tords the doar of the she
lter and he says, ‘Here he is Guvner.’

  The doar opens and of coarse theres Goodparley sitting there who else wud it be. With his fit up. He dont have Orfing with him its jus him and Belnot Phist which Phists face is even witern userel. Looking at poor old Phist then I thot we myt even end up frends if the boath of us come thru this littl rumpa a live.

  Goodparley he smyls his teef at me and his littl eyes theyre near dantsing wylst theyre peaping over the fents of his cheaks. He says to me, ‘Wel Riddley yung Walker its ben a long day for you aint it. We bes change your name from Walker to Runner you ben moving so fas 1 place to a nother and back agen. All the way to Fork Stoan to meet a boat with a dead sailer in it. Funny thing to do in the middl of the nite and such a stormy nite and all. Dead sailer from the other side which he brung you some thing for our frend Phist dint he. O yes he brung some kynd of treats what myt they be myt they be honey sweets or what?’

  I dint say nothing.

  He says, ‘You know Riddley Iwd cernly like to have a littl scan of them sweets.’

  I dint say nothing I dint know what to say. The hevvy what brung me in begun to smyl.

  Goodparley says, ‘Wei you know Riddley weare going to tern your up side down weare going to emty your pockits so what ever youve got whynt you jus han it over.’

  Funny thing. I dint want him going thru my pockits I dint want him getting his hans on that blackent figger whatd put me on the road to where ever I wer going. There wernt no way I cud hide that bag of stoans so I took it out of my pockit and I helt it out to him.

  He jus lookit at that bag for a littl like he dint want that minim to go a way from him. He says, ‘Riddley what dyou think is in there dyou think that myt be a littl salt now dyou think it myt be a littl saver what dyou think it myt be?’

  Phist says to Goodparley, ‘Abel he dont know nothing Ive tol you that all ready he aint clevver.’