Aluminum
"I'm so excited I could crap."
His words cut the autumn air, reeking with an equal amount of bemusement and futility. Trudging along with his hands in the dull, dusty remains of a once lustrous leather coat, he did all he could not to roll his eyes and remove his hands from their warm pocket caves only to rip out his once jet black hair, now peppered with gray at the temples. Thankfully he kept his cool, letting the strands remain pulled back in a short pony tail at the base of his neck.
"Yeah you are!" Her voice sang with a slice of contempt. "I have the last soda in existence!" She cried in delight, holding the sun bleached aluminum can up in the air as she bounced along next to him.
"Princess, exactly how many times are you gonna have to-"
"SHUSHHHHH!"
"-barter away your admittedly useful treasure for-"
"I SAID SHUSSSSHHHH!"
"Garbage!" He emphasized, snaking a glare at the silver can.
"Lalalalala-" She sang, planting her palms over her ears.
"Treasure I coulda traded for something good, like booze or time with one of those working girls!"
"Aluminum is recyclable. You drink too much anyway...and you really shouldn't roll around in garbage." She mumbled, taking her hands down to stare wistfully at the can. Shoulders slumping, she sighed. "It gets harder every day, you know, to remember. Three years now."
"No way, it hasn't already been..." He trailed off, eyebrows hiking in surprise.
She slowed to a stop and examined the can closer. Brushing her thumb over the resilient aluminum alloy, she brought it close, barely able to make the remains of red paint. "I keep track, just so I don't lose grip on how things used to be. Green Friday..."
He stopped walking, remaining facing forward. "Why the hell would you want to remember?"
Silence followed, punctuated by the soft crackling of a breeze drifting through the gold, red, and orange leaves, breaking free of the branches and floating to the ground through streams of golden sunlight.
"Not green Friday... everything before it."
He stiffened then continued walking, doubling down by trying to bury his hands even deeper in the coat. "I don't."
Startled, she scurried after him, gripping his arm when she caught up.
"You don't?! Why the hell would you not want to remember back when everything was good?"
Shrugging her off, he snorted. "Wasn't nothing 'bout it good for me."
She laughed in disbelief. "How could it have been worse than everything that happened after green Friday!?"
"It wasn't. I was."
"Oooh, look who's getting deep! You're hilarious."
"Shut it. Hurry up, we're gonna be late."
"Whatever, I have all the time in the world."
"Yeah... you do."
They continued on in silence, hiking up an overgrown path once tread flat by the feet of summer going crowds. Old wood signs were barely discernable, but he'd seen them many times before, having memorized the once blocky letters of Alleghany National Forest. The sun continued its journey across the sky, shifting orange as the hours past.
Just as the sky began dusting the bottoms of the clouds with oranges, golds, pinks, and purples he came out into a clearing, overlooking a greatly damaged riverfront house, not far from a decaying boat dock. Off in the distance across the bay, were the skeletal remains of civilization, looking like the hulking corpses of metal titans dotting the skyline.
"It's been a damn long time since we've been here." She said lowly from his side, still clutching the can of soda.
"Not as long as I'd hoped."
Looking off to the left several hundred yards he spotted the small cabin. On any other day it would have been his target, as was part of his routine as he settled down for the night.
Tonight was not just any evening.
"You're a real sad Sally today, you know? What's that all about? You're sighing, and lumbering about even more than usual." She joked, running ahead. "Race ya!"
"Don't drop your precious can!" He quipped and watched her go, the glimmer of a smile tracing over his lips as he followed, but he couldn't afford to run the treacherous ground, especially over the creaking and rotting remains of the dock. She seemed to float over the terrain with effortless ease, like always, light on her feet as a ballerina.
"I won! I got there first!"
"That's nothin to be proud about, sweetheart." He said with a snap, but as the last word left his lips, he began to feel a very heavy weight gather on his shoulders. He climbed up the boulder and sat beside her as she contemplated her can some more.
"What did you mean earlier?" She asked softly.
"Bout what?" He replied, barely audible. His throat tightened up, and he stared at the ground just below him, focusing on three piles of medium sized rocks. The setting sunlight highlighted them on the bank, outlining them with hot orange.
"You said you were worse... before."
"I was a dumb, obnoxious, terrible man, and I didn't understand the value of life... until it was far too late."
"That's oddly eloquent, coming from you."
"Whatever, Chuckles." He half heartedly shot back, then found himself pulling something out of his pocket. It was cool to the touch and smooth in his hands. The minutes were winding down on the day. Her voice took on an echo as she continued to speak, her words drifting through the air like a distant radio in a neighbor's open window.
"We're a lot like this stupid can, you know. We're not rusting, but the paint's sure fading away. Wait long enough and you won't be able to tell what used to be on the surface. Time does funny things."
On the horizon the sun ducked below the skyline, ushering an evening breeze across the water. Fog began to climb inches into the air over the tiny lapping waves on the shore. Warmth quickly escaped the surface of the boulder. He closed his eyes, desperately trying to hold onto the light in his mind.
"Now who's being elephant? You're the one talking your head off all day, when... when..." He reached to the space beside him. The cool texture of stone was the only sensation to greet his hands. Moisture lined the lids of eyes, and he drew a sleeve up to wipe it away.
"You ain't even really there."
Another echo rattled around in his mind. A memory.
"Francis... you're not a terrible man, a dumbass man, but not terrible...elephant. Good God, a true dumbass."
Drawing in a hard breath, he looked to the empty space beside him, and brought his hand back to his lap. "Zo, I wish you were really still there. All of you. All of them. All of us."
Rolling the can in his hands, he popped the tab. Looking down once more, he sighed and slid off the boulder to sit cross legged on the ground. The three piles of boulders surrounded him, haphazard crosses at the head of each one, the etching of names at the top, the freshest off to the left.
Bill, Louie, Zoey.
Swallowing hard, he lifted the can to his lips and downed the soda without taking a breath. When he finished the flat, disgusting beverage, he coughed and choked for a few minutes. "Jesus. You're right, I am a dumbass. Every damn year I drink this sludge and it tastes even worse."
A wistful smile spread across his face as he stared into the fog. Shapes dancing before his eyes, he let his mind put faces and good memories into the swirls. Leaning over he scooped dirt into the empty can and placed it lovingly next to two more at the base of Zoey's grave. So it wouldn't blow away. No one would ever disturb it. He hadn't seen another living human face in two years.
"Three years since I last saw your face, Zo. Five, for Louie... six for Bill. One day I'll get to stop counting."
Leaning back against the boulder he let out a sigh and for that one night he allowed himself every year, he let the painful and joyful memories overcome him. It was the one time in his life he had everything he ever wanted and it was the first time he'd deserved it. The ugly paint of his past life had faded, but he would be damned before he'd ever let the fresh coat of his very short second chance fade away. He would reapply the layers every single year and remember how he'd become someone to three other people, that had been worth saving.