library wasan elegant and commodious dwelling, centrally located. New York wouldhave to be his headquarters, for all the possessions he had carefullyamassed and collected and begged and--since money would do him no goodany more--bought, were here. And there were by far too many of them tobe transported to any really distant location. He loved to own things.
He was by no means an advocate of Rousseau's complete return to nature;whatever civilization had left that he could use without compromise, hewould--and thankfully. There would be no electricity, of course, but hehad provided himself with flashlights and bulbs and batteries--not toomany of the last, of course, because they'd grow stale. However, he'dalso laid in plenty of candles and a vast supply of matches.... Tins offood and concentrates and synthetics, packages of seed should he growtired of all these and want to try growing his own--fruit, he knew,would be growing wild soon enough.... Vitamins and medicines--of course,were he to get really ill or get hurt in some way, it might be the end... but that was something he wouldn't think of--something that couldn'tpossibly happen to him....
For his relaxation he had an antique hand-wound phonograph, togetherwith thousands of old-fashioned records. And then, of course, he had thewhole planet, the whole world to amuse him.
He even had provided himself with a heat-ray gun and a substantialsupply of ammunition, although he couldn't imagine himself ever killingan animal for food. It was squeamishness that stood in his way ratherthan any ethical considerations, although he did indeed believe thatevery creature had the right to live. Nonetheless, there was thepossibility that the craving for fresh meat might change his mind forhim. Besides, although hostile animals had long been gone from this partof the world--the only animals would be birds and squirrels and, fartherup the Hudson, rabbits and chipmunks and deer ... perhaps an occasionalbear in the mountains--who knew what harmless life form might become athreat now that its development would be left unchecked?
A cat sitting atop one of the stately stone lions outside the librarymet his eye with such a steady gaze of understanding, though not ofsympathy, that he found himself needing to repeat the by-now almostmagic phrase to himself: "Not in my lifetime anyway." Would someintelligent life form develop to supplant man? Or would the planetrevert to a primeval state of mindless innocence? He would never knowand he didn't really care ... no point in speculating over unanswerablequestions.
He settled back luxuriously on the worn cushions of his car. Even solittle as twenty years before, it would have been impossible forhim--for anyone--to stop his vehicle in the middle of Forty-secondStreet and Fifth Avenue purely to meditate. But it was his domain now.He could go in the wrong direction on one-way streets, stop wherever hepleased, drive as fast or as slowly as he would (and could, of course).If he wanted to do anything as vulgar as spit in the street, he could(but they were his streets now, not to be sullied) ... cross the roadswithout waiting for the lights to change (it would be a long, long waitif he did) ... go to sleep when he wanted, eat as many meals as hewanted whenever he chose.... He could go naked in hot weather andthere'd be no one to raise an eyebrow, deface public buildings (exceptthat they were private buildings now, his buildings), idle without theguilty feeling that there was always something better he could andshould be doing ... even if there were not. There would be no moreguilty feelings; without people and their knowledge there was no moreguilt.
A flash of movement in the bushes behind the library caught his eye.Surely that couldn't be a fawn in Bryant Park? So soon?... He'd thoughtit would be another ten years at least before the wild animals camesniffing timidly along the Hudson, venturing a little further each timethey saw no sign of their age-old enemy.
But probably the deer was only his imagination. He would investigatefurther after he had moved into the library.
Perhaps a higher building than the library.... But then he would have toclimb too many flights of stairs. The elevators wouldn't be working ...silly of him to forget that. There were a lot of steps outside thelibrary too--it would be a chore to get his bicycles up those steps.
Then he smiled to himself. Robinson Crusoe would have been glad to havehad bicycles and steps and such relatively harmless animals as bears toworry about. No, Robinson Crusoe never had it so good as he, Johnson,would have, and what more could he want?
For, whoever before in history had had his dreams--and what was wrongwith dreams, after all?--so completely gratified? What child,envisioning a desert island all his own could imagine that his islandwould be the whole world? Together Johnson and the Earth would growyoung again.
No, the stars were for others. Johnson was not the first man in historywho had wanted the Earth, but he had been the first man--and probablythe last--who had actually been given it. And he was well content withhis bargain.
There was plenty of room for the bears too.
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ August 1957. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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