MAUD CASEY The Man Who WalkedAway B fl earslater, whenhe discovershimself, once again,on theroad, ■■ a birdswoopsdownand singsinAlberts ear:Doesthis ring a bell > Thereis thesharp, quicksoundoflove:Listen. Thereishisfather about toblowoutthegaslamp,thestory stillshimmering intheairallaround them.Then allgoesquietanditisdarkagain. Foryears,as a boy,Albertwas heldbyhisfather s storiesofthe princewho wantedto see theworld.Foryears, he didn'twander.For years, itseemedpossibletoliveina homelikeanyotherboy, tohelphis father atthegascompany-fetching coke,holding toolsas hisfather fittedpipes ,watching carefully as hisfather fixed street lamps, withan eye toward onedayfixing themhimself, withaneyetowardthefuture when he wouldsomedayhavea family ofhisownwhosestreet lampswould needfixing, whosepipeswouldneedfitting. Fora while,likeanyother mengrieving, he and hisfather atethefoodtheneighborhood women brought. Nomother. Nowife. Pity wasstronger thanthedesiretoshun;the flipsideoftheir charity, itturned out,wasrighteousness. Myduck cassoulet is famous. Itcured my brother of cholera, don't you know >And beside ,itisdelicious. Itis how I amknown-for that and formy generosity. And whenthewheelwrights wife wasrunoverbya carriage andtheneighborhood womenhadsomeone elsewho neededtheirattention thatwas finetoo becauseAlbert's father had alwaysbeen a good cookand itmeanthe and Albertdidn't haveto be endlessly grateful. Theycouldjustlivetheirlivesofgasfitting , meals,thestories oftheprince whowantedtoseetheworld,sleep, gasfitting, meals,thestories oftheprincewhowantedtoseetheworld, sleep.Each night: Here ,Albert, astory just foryou. Suddenly, thedarkstreet illuminated; suddenly, hisfather's beautiful face, illuminated. Eachnight, 25 Albertgrateful thathewasstillhere. Listen. The princewhowantedto see theworldwoke,yetagain,on his backclutching a piece ofbark,but thismorning he woke to discover himself inthemidstofa family ofgeese. "Wearefewer thanwewere," saidthefather goose."Eachnight, a foxcomesaroundandtakesanother ofusoff forhisdinner. Somenights hetakestwo:one fordinner, one fordessert." The restofthegeesegathered around.In onevoice,theytoldthe prince:Each night, fora week,thefoxcomes;eachnight, thereis one, or two,fewergeese.The goose family was dwindling. "We used to be many/' thefather goosesaidandhebegantoweep. "I havean idea!"theprincesaid.He whispered hisidea to thefathergoosewhowhispered ittotherestofthegoosefamily As night fell, theprincebeganto disappearlimbbylimbintothedarkand he found histreeand clungtoitagain,hopingthat, finally, he might stayup long enoughtowatchnight turnintoday;meanwhile, thegeeseprepared for thefoxsarrival. Whennight coveredtheland,thefoxarrived, hisredfacefloating likea demon. "Wait!"thefather gooseshoutedas thefloating redfoxfacepreparedtopounceon themother goose."Ifwe poorgeesearetoyieldup ourlives," he said,according to theprincesinstructions, "grant us one favor. Letuspray so thatwe maynotdieinoursins." The foxsatback,eyeing theprince clinging tothetreeashedidhis besttoremain stillandinvisible. "Oh,whynot>"thefoxsaid."Go ahead. Haveyourprayer." Andso thegeesebegan. "Ga!Ga!"saidthefather goose.Thenthemother goosechimedin, "Ga! Ga! Ga!"Andthena third goose."Ga! Ga! Ga!"Andthena fourth. "Ga! Ga! Ga! Ga!"And thena fifth. And thenthesixthandfinal goose. "Ga! Ga! Ga! Ga! Ga! Ga!" This was theirprayer and theyprayedand prayed andprayed untiltheir prayer wasa song. "Whenthey aredonepraying," Albertsfather wouldsay, "thestory willend." 26 "Why?"Albertasked,thoughhe had heardthestory beforeand knewwhathisfather s answer wouldbe. "Becausewhenthey aredonepraying, thefoxwilleatthem." "Butinstead..." "Instead,they prayunceasingly andthestory continues." It didn'tmatter how unceasingly Albertprayed, hisfather could notliveforever. And so,through Lyon,pastthefunicular railroad, Albertwalked; through Grenoble;alongthepromenadesoftheIsèreRiver;through a townwhose namehe neverlearned,filledwiththedelicatefragrance oftherosewatermanufactured there.He walkedandwalkeduntilthe earthstremor rumbled through hisfeetanduphisshins, untilhisbones expanded,untilhisblood circulated astonishment, and,finally, thereit was,theurgency, cometolift himintooblivion. Butwhenhe stopped. The first timehe stopped,he woke to findhimself in a public square:What day?Whatgift? Therewereno stars, onlythemoondisappearing intothemorning as thetownspeople wokefrom murmuring dreamsintothesmellofbreadand a daythatwouldbe whittled into hoursbuiltoutofminutes. Therewasan acheinhisthighs, inhisback, and he was stillhere,stillAlbert, and hisfather was stillgone.He felt himself disappearing likethemoonintotheearlymorning lightbuthe wasnotbeautiful, hewasonlydisappearing. "Have you lost something?" A woman withskinlike an aging peach- a soft, pinksagand fuzzalongherjaw- leaneddownto puta bowlofmilkatthebaseofthemonument tosuch-and-such greatgeneral .Shesmelledofa lifelivedoutsidewithout soap.Shesmelledofhay and richsoil,and he inhaleddeeply, untilhe becamethesmellofhay andrichsoil,untilhealmostdisappeared, untilthequestion- have you lost somethingalmostdisappeared . "They're starved," thewomansaid,whenAlbertsaidnothing. She wipedherhandson herskirts, noddingtowardthecatsslipping outof thecracksin thecobblestone.One aftertheother, hundredsof them slithered up fromtheearth, flicking theirtailsas theycanteredtoward themilk.SomeofthemslippedbetweenAlbert's legs. 27 "Itseems...it appears," hesaid. This woman,too,her sagging, softskin,her comforting smell, wouldsoonbe gone,gonewiththeswarmofmewling cats.Everything disappeared. "Magnificent," hemuttered. "Whereareyoucomingfrom?" thewomanasked. Wherehadhecomefrom> He hadnoanswer. Thewordswerefadingaway - fascination, vanished;magnificence, vanished;escapades,no more- fading withthemoon,disintegrating to becomea merecloudy outlineinthemorning sky. "Its notfar, whereI'mfrom," Albertmanagedfinally. "Careful," thewomansaid as a cathissed,batting atAlbertsleg. "Theycanbeviciouswhenitcomestogetting whatstheirs." To be a cat filledwithpurpose!Everymorning to canteracross thecobblestone on paddedfeettowardthiswomanwhosmelledofhay and richsoil.Albertwiggled histoesagain -you arehere ; you arehere. Anotherblister wasforming, a hotpinchofskinrubbing against thepapery leaves,andthough itwaspainful, hewasgrateful forit. "Here comes justice,"the woman said,lookingbeyondAlbert, overhisshoulder. Shehurried awayandthecatsgallopedafter her,tails whipping backandforth as theydartedbetweenthelegsofthetownspeople -men, women,andchildren-whohadappearedon theedgesof thepublicsquare.The milkfromtheoverturned bowlseepedintothe cobblestone. At first thegendarme standing in front ofAlbertwas simply the sumofhis partstakingshapein thebrightening morning light:crisp uniform, large, loose cheeksquivering overa stiff collar...