97

Even though his father had just died, he was trying to act as if everything was normal.

He had breakfast, picked up his backpack and went out. There were things to be done.

The weather and the distance made him wish he had a car.

Living in such a large city had some advantages, but walking wasn’t one of them.

And he had to walk a lot.

It would take him over an hour to get there.

On the way, he pondered on the strangeness that there had once been a day when he used to live on the edge of the city and had to travel to the center on a daily basis.

Nowadays, he found it odd that he lived in the center and had to travel to the edge of the city.

He questioned his choices on the way, but the important thing was that he was maintaining normality.

Even though his father had just died.

But it was his father who insisted that people should maintain normality, so he kept walking and wishing he had a car.

He also wondered whether anyone would notice if he simply turned back and headed home.

He questioned himself who would do for him what he was doing for his father.

The questions only stopped when he reached his destination.

He put his backpack down, opened it and took out everything he needed.

He stood up and took a deep breath.

Several numbers were already crossed.

He took the brush and crossed another one.

He wrote another one next to it.

The sign now read “Population: 97”

As he headed back he thought about how much he missed cars.