第98章 The Ferry's Last Port

The Ferry's sitting in the driver's seat of the old bus at the seam through the whole of the fourth winter was the last thing the old lamplighter ever did, and the last thing was the simplest, which was to sit in a warm place with the door open and be visited by the children, and the visiting was the whole of the Ferry's last season, and the last season was the sitting, and the sitting was the visiting, and the two were the whole of the welcome station's fourth winter, and the fourth winter was the Ferry's, and the Ferry's was the whole of the door, and the door was open, and the open was the keeping, and the keeping went on, forever, and the Ferry sat in the driver's seat, and the children came, and the coming was the whole of it, and the whole of it was enough. And the Ferry, sitting in the old bus's driver's seat through the fourth winter, became the welcome station's oldest fixture, and the children came to sit with it the way they came to sit with the map and the bread and the count, and the sitting was the whole of the Ferry's last port, and the last port was the sitting, and the two were one, the way the two roads were one, and the one was the keeping, and the keeping was the Ferry, and the Ferry was the welcome station, and the welcome station was the door, and the door was open, and the open was the whole of the Ferry's long life, arrived at last at the one port it had never been able to reach by ferrying, forever. The welcome station grew around the old bus in the fourth winter, the drowned country's carpenters adding a room to the east where the Ferry sat, and the lit world's masons adding a hearth to the west where the winter bread was baked, and the east room and the west room and the old bus between them were the whole of the welcome station, and the welcome station was the seam, and the seam was the center, and the center was the two worlds, and the two worlds' children came to the welcome station in the fourth winter the way they had come to the old bus on its last Saturday, in twos and in tens and in the whole school's tide, and they sat with the Ferry in the east room and ate the bread from the west hearth and rode the old bus's driver's seat by turns, and the sitting was the whole of the welcome station's keeping, and the keeping was the children, and the children were the Ferry's last port, and the last port was the whole of the welcome station, and the welcome station was the old bus, and the old bus was the door, and the door was open, and the open was the whole of the fourth winter, and the fourth winter was the welcome station, and the welcome station was the children's, and the children's was the keeping, forever. The Ferry, sitting in the driver's seat of the old bus at the seam, had the whole of its long life pass before it the way the whole of a long route passes before a driver, and the life was the carrying of the note and the coal and the dark's own account, and the carrying had been the whole of the Ferry's being, and the being had been the ferry between doors, and the ferry between doors had been the whole of the drowned country's history, and the history had been the note, and the note had been the welcome, and the welcome had been the count, and the count had been the keeping, and the keeping had been the two roads, and the two roads were one, and the one was the seam, and the seam was the driver's seat of the old bus, and the driver's seat was the Ferry's last port, and the last port was the whole of the Ferry's long life arrived at last at the one door it had never had to carry anything through, the door of being carried itself, and the being carried was the sitting, and the sitting was the keeping, and the keeping was the Ferry, and the Ferry was the whole of the welcome station, and the welcome station was the door, and the door was open, forever. The Ferry's last port was the welcome station, the old bus parked at the seam, and the Ferry, whose long life had been the carrying of things between doors, came to the welcome station in the fourth winter and sat in the old bus's driver's seat, which Kevin had left empty when he moved to the new bus, and the sitting in the driver's seat was the Ferry's last port, because a lamplighter who has spent its whole life carrying other things comes, at the end, to the one thing it has never carried, which is itself, and the carrying of itself was the sitting, and the sitting was the last port, and the last port was the driver's seat of the old bus at the seam, and the seam was the center, and the center was the two worlds, and the two worlds were one, and the one was the Ferry, and the Ferry was the keeping, and the keeping was the sitting, and the sitting was the whole of the Ferry's long life arrived at last at the one port it had never been able to reach by ferrying, the port of being kept, and the being kept was the whole of the welcome station, and the welcome station was the old bus, and the old bus was the door, and the door was open, and the Ferry sat in it, and the sitting was the whole of the Ferry's last port, forever.