All the Information in the World

“So this is it?” said Sam once he got into the heart of the city, after his 15-hour trek, with a full rucksack on his back. It was the first time he had been out of the mountains, and the biggest worry on his mind was if his lungs could take the air.

His father had always told him that the city was so polluted that the city dwellers never lived pasted 50, which Sam found ironic since his father got sick and died at 49. Sam avidly read his father’s books throughout his life, and in one of them he read that different altitudes have different air, which compounded his anxiety, so he held his chest off and on during his journey to make sure his lungs didn’t explode.

As Sam stood on the street corner in the middle of the city, watching the people and the cars go by in their busy lives, he realized it was time for him to go through his “Must Do” list. This would not be difficult for him since there were only two tasks on the list: enjoy a fast food hamburger and go to the library.

Sam stepped in front of the next man he saw walking down the sidewalk and said, “Sir, do you know where I can find a hamburger restaurant?”

The man was old enough to be Sam’s father and was on his way to lunch. He leaned back, put his hands up, ready for an attack, and said, “What do you want?”

“A hamburger from a city fast food restaurant. Can you help me find one?”

The man looked Sam up and down and figured he was a down-on-his-luck homeless fellow looking for a meal. “I’ll help you out, son,” said the man. “Follow me.”

It was a 20-minute walk to Bernie’s Burgers on Fairview Avenue, longer than the man expected, and he kept thinking about how long it would take him to get back to his car. He thought Sam looked like a nice enough fellow, but he also thought Sam smelled bad and was possibly mentally ill, so the long walk won over a car ride.

During the walk, Sam thought of enough questions to ask the man to go to the moon and back, but every time he thought to open his mouth he could hear his father’s voice saying, “Never question your elders,” before giving Sam a swift smack on the back of the head.

Once the guys arrived at Bernie’s Burgers, the man bought them both a burger and fries meal and they sat down to eat it. “This was awful kind of you, sir,” said Sam after taking his first bite of his burger, which tasted much better in his fantasies.

“Think nothing of it,” replied the man. “And cut it out with that ‘sir’ stuff, it makes me feel old. My name’s Mike. What’s yours?”

“Sorry about that. My father used to say, ‘Your elders are always sir,’ and it’s a hard habit to break. My name is Sam.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, son, how long have you been on the streets?”

Mike could see that some gears were turning in Sam's mind, and without saying a word Sam stood up from the table and walked outside of the restaurant. Looking through the large windows, Mike could see Sam walk into the parking lot and stare up at the sky.

Not long after, Sam sat back down at the table and said to Mike, “About six hours.” He took a drink from his soda for the first time and choked trying to get it down.

“About six hours what?” replied Mike, confused by the situation.

“That’s how long I’ve been on the streets,” gasped Sam.

“You’ve been without a home for only six hours?”

“No, I’m sure my home is still there, but I left it about 16 hours ago.”

Beyond confusion at this point, Mike furrowed his brow and asked, “What are you trying to do here, son?”

Finishing the last of his hamburger and starting on the fries, Sam said, “Well (pause for chewing) my father died three days ago, I buried him two days ago, and yesterday I left home for here. I have two things on my list to do, and you just helped me with one of them.”

“What’s the other?” said Mike, without fully processing what he just heard.

“I want to go to the library. From what I hear, all the information in the world is in the library, and I want it all. I’ll get a job there scrubbing the floor, taking out the trash, whatever. Whatever it takes to get my hands on those books. It doesn’t matter how many there are, I’ll read every last one if it takes the rest of my life.”

“Why don’t you go to college if you want to learn?”

“Oh, no. Not for me, sir. That’s how they brainwash you.”

Mike, a graduate of Boise State University and not feeling particularly brainwashed, replied, “Well… At least it’s good to see a young guy like you wanting to get a job and go to a library to read, instead of just spending all day on the internet.”

Through a mouthful of fries, Sam asked, “What’s the internet?”

Not sure about anything with Sam, Mike said, “You’re joking, right?”

“My father didn’t exactly want us keeping up with society, so I’ve missed a lot. That’s why I want to go to the library. So, what’s the internet?”

“It’s basically just a place where people share their uneducated opinions. If you want real knowledge, you should go to college,” said Mike.

“I’ll stick to the library,” said Sam, finishing the fries and feeling a pain in his gut.