Pilgrimage Read Online Free PDF Page A

No, that's not it.”
    “Okay then.” Roland turned around and faced Griffith. The younger man stared wide eyed at him as if a giant, hairy spider had just dropped onto his head. It made Roland hesitate a moment before talking. “You can't even order a drink without getting into a fight. What hope do you have on your own in the wild? You'll probably be mugged and murdered before the end of the week. At least this way, I'm the one who gets your money and you'll live to see Salem. Probably. But you have to cover expenses on top of the pay.”
    “Well, all right. I'll start looking at the map and meet you downstairs when you've got your things!” Bursting with enthusiasm, Griffith took off down the heavy, lime-green stairs.
    Roland's things equated to nothing more than a couple of changes of clothes, a nice pair of black shoes, the hotel toiletries, a bottle of water and a chocolate bar from the room's mini-bar and a bottle of scotch Roland had been saving for a special occasion. All of this he stuffed quickly and carelessly into an old backpack stained by grease and saw dust. With everything he had in the world worth keeping slung over his shoulders, Roland found Griffith by the road outside the hotel, looking at a road map. When he saw Roland he started to say something but Roland kept walking. Griffith shrugged, folded the map and followed after him. The sun was still low in the clear blue sky, peeking over the buildings on the eastern side of town. The sun, though burning bright above them, couldn't warm the cold June air,. Anyone with sense was still in bed, comfortable beneath their blankets. Roland was too hung over to have any sense .

Chapter 3

Leaving Armidale was the easy part. Roland had been there long enough to learn his way around. They followed the roads until they hit the New England Highway which ran through the centre of Armidale and then followed it north out of town. By the early afternoon, Roland and Griffith had passed a sign directing them to a flight school, a handful of dirt roads branching off the highway and endless, empty grass fields. It didn't take long for the landscape and the far off houses to form a kind of infinite and indistinguishable mesh of open country. Everything started to look the same, as if the earth had been painted the same uniform green in every direction and the one house had been built and rebuilt at regular intervals along the horizon. All cows became one cow and all sheep became one sheep, cloned and scattered across the fields. The sun crossed the sky above them but time quickly lost meaning in the unbroken monotony. Cars zipped by continuously. Roland suggested hitch hiking once and Griffith explained the need to walk the length of his pilgrimage to prove himself. Roland didn't push the matter, for fear that Griffith would keep talking. For Roland and Griffith, there was only the road, the walk and the never ending country. Pockets of trees along the highway came and went and when the trees were behind them, they could hardly remember having seen them. A sign they passed some time after midday directing them to the town of Black Mountain served as the only indication of their progress. Not far from the sign stood a service station and attached fast food restaurant. Roland had already eaten his chocolate by then and he could feel hunger taking a hold of his stomach.
    “Hey kid, we're stopping for some food”
    ”We are?”
    “I'm hungry.”
    “Oh. Okay. Well if we grab some food, we can probably still reach the next town, Guyra, and find a place to stay by the time it gets dark.”
    “Sounds good.” Roland agreed, already turning towards the service station.
    “Let's get a few supplies here as well, then we won't need to stop as often.”
    Roland stopped mid-step. “You mean you don't have any supplies? Did you prepare for this at all?”
    “I have some supplies but I didn't really think I'd have to bring lunches with me.”
    “What the hell did you think would