Epic joke. Or "Too Long - You Should Still Read"

[blueerica]

On one of the visits Nate seemed quieter than usual. Not that Nate had been
a fountain of joy lately. Jack’s best guess was that Nate was still missing
Samuel, and though Jack had tried, he still hadn’t been able to replace
Samuel in Nate’s eyes. Nate had been getting quieter each visit. But on this
visit Nate didn’t even speak when Jack walked up to the lever. He nodded at
Jack, and then went back to staring into the desert. Jack, respecting Nate’s
silence, sat down and waited.

After a few minutes, Nate spoke. “Jack, I have someone to introduce you to.”

Jack looked surprised. “Someone to introduce me to?” Jack looked around, and
then looked carefully back at Nate. “This something to do with the Big Guy?

“No, no,” replied Nate. “This is more personal. I want you to meet my son.”
Nate looked over at the nearest sand dune. “Sammy!”

Jack watched as a four foot long desert rattlesnake crawled from behind the
dune and up to the stone base of the lever.

“Yo, Jack,” said the new, much smaller snake.

“Yo, Sammy” replied Jack. Jack looked at Nate. “Named after Samuel, I
assume?”

Nate nodded. “Jack, I’ve got a favor to ask you. Could you show Sammy around
for me?” Nate unwrapped himself from the lever and slithered over to the
edge of the stone and looked across the sands. “When Samuel first told me
about the world, and brought me books and pictures, I wished that I could go
see it. I wanted to see the great forests, the canyons, the cities, even the
other deserts, to see if they felt and smelled the same. I want my son to
have that chance - to see the world. Before he becomes bound here like I
have been.

“He’s seen it in pictures, over the computer that you brought me. But I hear
that it’s not the same. That being there is different. I want him to have
that. Think you can do that for me, Jack?”

Jack nodded. This was obviously very important to Nate, so Jack didn’t even
joke about taking a talking rattlesnake out to see the world. “Yeah, I can
do that for you, Nate. Is that all you need?” Jack could sense that was
something more.

Nate looked at Sammy. Sammy looked back at Nate for a second and then said,
“Oh, yeah. Ummm, I’ve gotta go pack. Back in a little bit Jack. Nice to meet
ya!” Sammy slithered back over the dune and out of sight.

Nate watched Sammy disappear and then looked back at Jack. “Jack, this is my
first son. My first offspring through all the years. You don’t even want to
know what it took for me to find a mate.” Nate grinned to himself. “But
anyway, I had a son for a reason. I’m tired. I’m ready for it to be over. I
needed a replacement.”

Jack considered this for a minute. “So, you’re ready to come see the world,
and you wanted him to watch the lever while you were gone?”

Nate shook his head. “No, Jack - you’re a better guesser than that. You’ve
already figured out - I’m bound here - there’s only one way for me to leave
here. And I’m ready. It’s my time to die.”

Jack looked more closely at Nate. He could tell Nate had thought about
this - probably for quite a while. Jack had trouble imagining what it would
be like to be as old as Nate, but Jack could already tell that in another
hundred or two hundred years, he might be getting tired of life himself.
Jack could understand Samuel’s decision, and now Nate’s. So, all Jack said
was, “What do you want me to do?”

Nate nodded. “Thanks, Jack. I only want two things. One - show Sammy around
the world - let him get his fill of it, until he’s ready to come back here
and take over. Two - give me the fourth request.