No Country for Old Men (4 page)

When he came out of the cane on the far side he stopped to look back but the cane was
thirty feet high and he couldnt see anything. Downriver was a broad bench of land and a
stand of cottonwoods. By the time he got there his feet were already beginning to blister
from walking barefoot in the wet boots. His arm was swollen and throbbing but the bleeding
seemed to have stopped and he walked out into the sun on a gravel bar and sat there and
pulled off the boots and looked at the raw red sores on his heels. As soon as he sat down
his leg began to hurt again.

He unsnapped the small leather holster at his belt and got out his knife and then stood up
and took off his shirt again. He cut off the sleeves at the elbow and sat and wrapped his
feet in them and pulled on the boots. He put the knife back in the holster and fastened it
and picked up the pistol and stood and listened. A redwing blackbird. Nothing.

As he turned to go he heard the truck very faintly on the far side of the river. He looked
for it but he couldnt see it. He thought that by now probably the two men had crossed the
river and were somewhere behind him.

He went on through the trees. The trunks silted up from the high water and the roots
tangled among the rocks. He took off his boots again to try to cross the gravel without
leaving any tracks and he climbed a long and rocky rincon toward the south rim of the
river canyon carrying the boots and the wrappings and the pistol and keeping an eye on the
terrain below. The sun was in the canyon and the rocks he'd crossed would dry in minutes.
At a bench near the rim he stopped and lay on his belly with his boots in the grass beside
him. It was only another ten minutes to the top but he didnt think he had ten minutes. On
the far side of the river a hawk set forth from the cliffs whistling thinly. He waited.
After a while a man came out of the cane upriver and paused and stood. He was carrying a
machinegun. A second man emerged below him. They glanced at one another and then came on.

They passed below him and he watched them out of sight down the river. He wasnt really
even thinking about them. He was thinking about his truck. When the courthouse opened at
nine oclock Monday morning someone was going to be calling in the vehicle number and
getting his name and address. This was some twenty-four hours away. By then they would
know who he was and they would never stop looking for him. Never, as in never.

He had a brother in California he was supposed to tell what? Arthur there's some old boys
on their way down there to see you who propose to lower your balls between the jaws of a
six-inch machinist's vise and commence crankin on the handle a quarter turn at a time
whether you know where I'm at or not. You might want to think about movin to China.

He sat up and wrapped his feet and pulled the boots on and stood and started up the last
stretch of canyon to the rim. Where he crested out the country lay dead flat, stretching
away to the south and to the east. Red dirt and creosote. Mountains in the far and middle
distance. Nothing out there. Heatshimmer. He stuck the pistol in his belt and looked down
at the river one more time and then set out east. Langtry Texas was thirty miles as the
crow flies. Maybe less. Ten hours. Twelve. His feet were already hurting. His leg hurt.
His chest. His arm. The river dropped away behind him. He hadnt even taken a drink.

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

I dont know if law enforcement work is more dangerous now than what it used to be or not.
I know when I first took office you'd have a fistfight somewheres and you'd go to break it
up and they'd offer to fight you. And sometimes you had to accommodate em. They wouldnt
have it no other way. And you'd better not lose, neither. You dont see that so much no
more, but maybe you see worse. I had a man pull a gun on me one time and it happened that
I grabbed it just as he went to fire and the plunger on the hammer went right through the
fleshy part of my thumb. You can see the mark of it there. But that man had ever intention
of killin me. A few years ago and it wasnt that many neither I was goin out one of these
little two lane blacktop roads of a night and I come up on a pickup truck that they was
two old boys settin in the bed of it. They kindly blinked in the lights and I backed off
some but the truck had Coahuila plates on it and I thought, well, I need to stop these old
boys and take a look. So I hit the lights and whenever I done that I seen the slider
window in the back of the cab open and here come somebody passin a shotgun out the window
to the old boy settin in the bed of the truck. I'll tell you right now I hit them brakes
with both feet. It skidded the unit sideways to where the lights was goin out into the
brush but the last thing I seen in the bed of the truck was the old boy puttin that
shotgun to his shoulder. I hit the seat and I just had hit it when here come the
windshield all over me in them little bitty pieces they break up into. I still had one
foot on the brake and I could feel the cruiser slidin down into the bar ditch and I
thought it was goin to roll but it didnt. It filled the car just full of dirt. The old boy
he opened up on me twice more and shot all the glass out of one side of the cruiser and by
then I'd come to a stop and I laid there in the seat, had my pistol out, and I heard that
pickup leave out and I raised up and fired several shots at the taillights but they was
long gone.

Point bein you dont know what all you're stoppin when you do stop somebody. You take out
on the highway. You walk up to a car and you dont know what you're liable to find. I set
there in that cruiser for a long time. The motor had died but the lights was still on. Cab
full of glass and dirt. I got out and kindly shook myself off and got back in and just set
there. Just kindly collectin my thoughts. Windshield wipers hangin in on the dashboard. I
turned off the lights and I just set there. You take somebody that will actually throw
down on a law enforcement officer and open fire, you have got some very serious people. I
never saw that truck again. Nobody else did neither. Or not them plates noways. Maybe I
should of took out after it. Or tried to. I dont know. I drove back to Sanderson and
pulled in at the cafe and I'll tell you they come from all over to see that cruiser. It
was shot just full of holes. Looked like the Bonnie and Clyde car. I didnt have a mark on
me. Not even from all that glass. I was criticized for that too. Parkin there like I done.
They said I was showin out. Well, maybe I was. But I needed that cup of coffee too, I'll
tell you.

I read the papers ever mornin. Mostly I suppose just to try and figure out what might be
headed this way. Not that I've done all that good a job at headin it off. It keeps gettin
harder. Here a while back they was two boys run into one another and one of em was from
California and one from Florida. And they met somewheres or other in between. And then
they set out together travelin around the country killin people. I forget how many they
did kill. Now what are the chances of a thing like that!' Them two had never laid eyes on
one another. There cant be that many of em. I dont think. Well, we dont know. Here the
other day they was a woman put her baby in a trash compactor. Who would think of such a
thing? My wife wont read the papers no more. She's probably right. She generally is.

Bell climbed the rear steps of the courthouse and went down the hall to his office. He
swiveled his chair around and sat and looked at the telephone. Go ahead, he said. I'm here.

The phone rang. He reached and picked it up. Sheriff Bell, he said.

He listened. He nodded.

Mrs Downie I believe he'll come down directly. Why dont you call me back here in a little
bit. Yes mam.

He took off his hat and put it on the desk and sat with his eyes closed, pinching the
bridge of his nose. Yes mam, he said. Yes mam.

Mrs Downie I havent seen that many dead cats in trees. I think he'll come down directly if
you'll just leave him be. You call me back in a little bit, you hear?

He hung the phone up and sat looking at it. It's money, he said. You have enough money you
dont have to talk to people about cats in trees.

Well. Maybe you do.

The radio squawked. He picked up the receiver and pushed the button and put his feet up on
the desk. Bell, he said.

He sat listening. He lowered his feet to the floor and sat up.

Get the keys and look in the turtle. That's all right. I'm right here.

He drummed his fingers on the desk.

All right. Keep your lights on. I'll be there in fifty minutes. And Torbert? Shut the
trunk.

He and Wendell pulled onto the paved shoulder in front of the unit and parked and got out.
Torbert got out and was standing by the door of his car. The sheriff nodded. He walked
along the edge of the roadway studying the tire tracks. You seen this, I reckon, he said.

Yessir.

Well let's take a look.

Torbert opened the trunk and they stood looking at the body. The front of the man's shirt
was covered with blood, partly dried. His whole face was bloody. Bell leaned and reached
into the trunk and took something from the man's shirtpocket and unfolded it. It was a
bloodstained receipt for gas from a service station in Junction Texas. Well, he said. This
was the end of the road for Bill Wyrick.

I didnt look to see if he had a billfold on him.

That's all right. He dont. This here was just dumb luck.

He studied the hole in the man's forehead. Looks like a .45. Clean. Almost like a
wadcutter.

What's a wadcutter?

It's a target round. You got the keys?

Yessir.

Bell shut the trunklid. He looked around. Passing trucks on the interstate were
downshifting as they approached. I've already talked to Lamar. Told him he can have his
unit back in about three days. I called Austin and they're lookin for you first thing in
the mornin. I aint loadin him into one of our units and he damn sure dont need a
helicopter. You take Lamar's unit back to Sonora when you get done and call and me or
Wendell one will come and get you. You got any money?

Yessir.

Fill out the report same as any report.

Yessir.

White male, late thirties, medium build.

How do you spell Wyrick?

You dont spell it. We dont know what his name is.

Yessir.

He might have a family someplace.

Yessir. Sheriff?

Yes.

What do we have on the perpetrator?

We dont. Give Wendell your keys fore you forget it.

They're in the unit.

Well let's not be leavin keys in the units.

Yessir.

I'll see you in two days' time.

Yessir.

I hope that son of a bitch is in California.

Yessir. I know what you mean.

I got a feelin he aint.

Yessir. I do too.

Wendell, you ready?

Wendell leaned and spat. Yessir, he said. I'm ready. He looked at Torbert. You get stopped
with that old boy in the turtle just tell em you dont know nothin about it. Tell em
somebody must of put him in there while you was havin coffee.

Torbert nodded. You and the sheriff goin to come down and get me off of death row?

If we cant get you out we'll get in there with you.

You all dont be makin light of the dead thataway, Bell said.

Wendell nodded. Yessir, he said. You're right. I might be one myself some day.

Driving out 90 toward the turnoff at Dryden he came across a hawk dead in the road. He saw
the feathers move in the wind. He pulled over and got out and walked back and squatted on
his bootheels and looked at it. He raised one wing and let it fall again. Cold yellow eye
dead to the blue vault above them.

It was a big redtail. He picked it up by one wingtip and carried it to the bar ditch and
laid it in the grass. They would hunt the blacktop, sitting on the high powerpoles and
watching the highway in both directions for miles. Any small thing that might venture to
cross. Closing on their prey against the sun. Shadowless. Lost in the concentration of the
hunter. He wouldnt have the trucks running over it.

He stood there looking out across the desert. So quiet. Low hum of wind in the wires. High
bloodweeds along the road. Wiregrass and sacahuista. Beyond in the stone arroyos the
tracks of dragons. The raw rock mountains shadowed in the late sun and to the east the
shimmering abscissa of the desert plains under a sky where raincurtains hung dark as soot
all along the quadrant. That god lives in silence who has scoured the following land with
salt and ash. He walked back to the cruiser and got in and pulled away.

When he pulled up in front of the sheriff's office in Sonora the first thing he saw was
the yellow tape stretched across the parking lot. A small courthouse crowd. He got out and
crossed the street.

What's happened, Sheriff?

I dont know, said Bell. I just got here.

He ducked under the tape and went up the steps. Lamar looked up when he tapped at the
door. Come in, Ed Tom, he said. Come in. We got hell to pay here.

They walked out on the courthouse lawn. Some of the men followed them.

You all go on, said Lamar. Me and the sheriff here need to talk.

He looked haggard. He looked at Bell and he looked at the ground. He shook his head and
looked away. I used to play mumbledypeg here when I was a boy. Right here. These
youngsters today I dont think would even know what that was. Ed Tom this is a damned
lunatic.

I hear you.

You got anything to go on?

Not really.

Lamar looked away. He wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. I'll tell you right now.
This son of a bitch will never see a day in court. Not if I catch him he wont.

Well, we need to catch him first.

That boy was married.

I didnt know that.

Twenty-three year old. Clean cut boy. Straight as a die. Now I got to go out to his house
fore his wife hears it on the damn radio.

I dont envy you that. I surely dont.

I think I'm goin to quit, Ed Tom.

You want me to go out there with you?

No. I appreciate it. I need to go.

All right.

I just have this feelin we're looking at somethin we really aint never even seen before.

I got the same feelin. Let me call you this evenin.

I appreciate it.

He watched Lamar cross the lawn and climb the steps to his office. I hope you dont quit,
he said. I think we're goin to need all of you we can get.

When they pulled up in front of the cafe it was one-twenty in the morning. There were only
three people on the bus.

Sanderson, the driver said.

Moss made his way forward. He'd seen the driver eyeing him in the mirror. Listen, he said.
Do you think you could let me out down at the Desert Aire? I got a bad leg and I live down
there but I got nobody to pick me up.

The driver shut the door. Yeah, he said. I can do that.

When he walked in she got up off the couch and ran and put her arms around his neck. I
thought you was dead, she said.

Well I aint so dont go to slobberin.

I aint.

Why dont you fix me some bacon and eggs while I take a shower.

Let me see that cut on your head. What happened to you? Where's your truck at?

I need to take a shower. Fix me somethin to eat. My stomach thinks my throat's been cut.

When he came out of the shower he was wearing a pair of shorts and when he sat at the
little formica table in the kitchen the first thing she said was What's that on the back
of your arm?

How many eggs is this?

Four.

You got any more toast?

They's two more pieces comin. What is that, Llewelyn?

What would you like to hear?

The truth.

He sipped his coffee and set about salting his eggs.

You aint goin to tell me, are you?

No.

What happened to your leg?

It's broke out in a rash.

She buttered the fresh toast and put it on the plate and sat in the chair opposite. I like
to eat breakfast of a night, he said. Takes me back to my bachelor days.

What is goin on, Llewelyn?

Here's what's goin on, Carla Jean. You need to get your stuff packed and be ready to roll
out of here come daylight. Whatever you leave you aint goin to see it again so if you want
it dont leave it. There's a bus leaves out of here at seven-fifteen in the mornin. I want
you to go to Odessa and wait there till I can call you.

She sat back in the chair and watched him. You want me to go to Odessa, she said.

That's correct.

You aint kiddin, are you?

Me? No. I aint kiddin a bit. Are we out of preserves?

She got up and got the preserves out of the refrigerator and set them on the table and sat
back down. He unscrewed the jar and ladled some onto his toast and spread it with his
knife.

What's in that satchel you brought in?

I told you what was in that satchel.

You said it was full of money.

Well then I reckon that's what's in it.

Where's it at?

Under the bed in the back room.

Under the bed.

Yes mam.

Can I go back there and look?

You're free white and twenty-one so I reckon you can do whatever you want.

I aint twenty-one.