NOVEL
This Country Prefers Fiction to Facts
The Last Human in the Milky Way — Excerpt from Chapter 19
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The story
Eric, the main character in the novel The Last Human in The Milky Way, has left his home in an attempt to find out what is happening in the country and in the world. He drives over a high mountain plateau and wants to try to reach a town where he can find answers to his questions.
He saw a sign informing of a rest area and lifted his foot from the gas. He decided to stop there. When he arrived, he saw that there was a caravan in the picnic area, but there were no people there.
He turned in and almost stopped. Then he saw a shadow in the back of the camper, and he hesitated. Best not to stop there anyway, he thought. You never know who you will meet. Scary to stop, and then maybe there’s a guy standing there with a rifle.
People often think in very simplistic terms. Black and white. Enemy or friend. The basic, underlying insecurity. All or nothing. A contact that leads to something perfect or irreparable. You are either with us or against us.
In such a place it can be dangerous to come too fast. They cannot quite cope with someone just showing up, stepping over the border to the private area, even if they just want to talk. As they approach you it is far from the forefront of their consciousness that you can be harmless, or even a friend. You are initially perceived as a dubious person, a possible or potential enemy.
He turned the wheel. Made a quick decision, based on this feeble feeling inside him. He could not be sure it was safe. There could be someone who wanted to try something that was not good.
He turned back onto the road and set off. The road stretched for miles forward, still no traffic, and soon he felt sleepy again. To try to resist, he forced himself to think. He wanted to think aloud and intensely about something important.
Suddenly came to mind something he had read recently. — Was it in an article, or was it a book? It was about people from a young age being taught to believe the myths that say that this country is the best in the world, this country, and the people are predetermined by God as his “chosen one” in the fight that good leads against evil. From childhood, they are taught to believe this, through the worship of the flag, and the imprinting of the vow of allegiance every morning in schools and at all sporting events. Through internal fairy tales about the country’s history, people are taught to believe that their country stands for the best. “No one is as good as us.”
The sad truth is that this country prefers fiction to fact; the truth is too scary to confront. Denial is a very typical condition in this country.
He shook his head and pursed his lips.
He thought back to the years in the Milky Way. They had come there, most of them full of hope, people like Sara and him. Most of them had been in their forties and fifties then and came without their children because they had grown adults and lived in other places in the country.
He and Sara had finally placed the two boys at their respective universities and were confident that the boys were on a path that would bring them both forward to something good in life.
But it had cost them dearly! They had sold the house, and one of the cars. And they had been forced to look for a town like this, the Milky Way, far out in the desert, where the land and houses that stood there could be bought at an affordable price.
(…)
I started writing The Last Human in the Milky Way early in 2021, and I took a pause from writing the novel last winter. The last months I have resumed the work on the novel.
The author is currently reviewing, rewriting, and editing the manuscript for the novel The Last Human in the Milky Way. Excerpts from selected chapters will be published as previews on Medium.
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