WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160 align:middle line:84% The morning of the first snow, Kelly 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.410 align:middle line:84% drove an unexplored length of the zone, 00:00:04.410 --> 00:00:07.740 align:middle line:84% coasting the truck slowly from driveway to driveway, assessing 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:09.930 align:middle line:84% doors left open, windows missing, 00:00:09.930 --> 00:00:12.960 align:middle line:84% porches collapsed by the removal of their metal supports. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.150 align:middle line:84% Some of the houses had been scrapped already 00:00:15.150 --> 00:00:17.640 align:middle line:84% but he knew he would find one more recently closed 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:20.730 align:middle line:84% with boards in the windows and an intact door. 00:00:20.730 --> 00:00:23.130 align:middle line:84% A space empty but not yet shredded. 00:00:23.130 --> 00:00:25.620 align:middle line:84% The zone sprawled beneath the falling snow, 00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:28.110 align:middle line:84% cast its imperfection wider than he could accept, 00:00:28.110 --> 00:00:29.970 align:middle line:90% but eventually he chose a house. 00:00:29.970 --> 00:00:32.490 align:middle line:84% Two floors, blue paint on the siding, 00:00:32.490 --> 00:00:35.370 align:middle line:84% gray boards over the windows, a yellow door, 00:00:35.370 --> 00:00:37.650 align:middle line:84% surrounded on both sides by vacant lots, 00:00:37.650 --> 00:00:40.710 align:middle line:84% with only a burnt shell standing watch across the street. 00:00:40.710 --> 00:00:42.690 align:middle line:84% He went to the door and knocked, yelled 00:00:42.690 --> 00:00:45.690 align:middle line:84% greetings loaded with question marks. 00:00:45.690 --> 00:00:47.670 align:middle line:90% He waited, yelled again. 00:00:47.670 --> 00:00:50.878 align:middle line:84% He raised his hood, returned to the truck for a pry bar. 00:00:50.878 --> 00:00:52.920 align:middle line:84% He moved out of the front yard and along the side 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:56.190 align:middle line:84% of the house, the brown grass crunching beneath the snow. 00:00:56.190 --> 00:00:58.020 align:middle line:84% Beside the blue house was a metal gate 00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:00.780 align:middle line:84% and a chain-link fence, but the gate wasn't latched. 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:03.990 align:middle line:84% At the first window he pried back the covering board, 00:01:03.990 --> 00:01:05.459 align:middle line:90% found the glass gone. 00:01:05.459 --> 00:01:08.940 align:middle line:84% He peeked inside, searched for furniture, a television, 00:01:08.940 --> 00:01:10.140 align:middle line:90% or a radio. 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:13.170 align:middle line:84% Instead stained carpet, signs of water damage, 00:01:13.170 --> 00:01:16.350 align:middle line:84% a kitchen with no dirty dishes but an intact gas range, 00:01:16.350 --> 00:01:19.950 align:middle line:84% a sink and faucet he could wrench from the countertops. 00:01:19.950 --> 00:01:22.290 align:middle line:84% He lifted himself through the window. 00:01:22.290 --> 00:01:24.570 align:middle line:84% Leading away from the kitchen was the staircase 00:01:24.570 --> 00:01:27.270 align:middle line:84% to the second floor and also a basement door 00:01:27.270 --> 00:01:30.060 align:middle line:84% closed and latched with a padlock. 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:33.600 align:middle line:84% He'd cut the lock later after the other work was done. 00:01:33.600 --> 00:01:35.550 align:middle line:84% Upstairs the bedrooms were small, 00:01:35.550 --> 00:01:37.740 align:middle line:84% sloped to fit beneath the peaked roof. 00:01:37.740 --> 00:01:40.260 align:middle line:84% But there was enough room to swing a sledge. 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:42.570 align:middle line:84% Back downstairs he opened the front door. 00:01:42.570 --> 00:01:44.460 align:middle line:84% The door not even locked, but he hadn't 00:01:44.460 --> 00:01:46.770 align:middle line:84% thought to check before climbing in the window. 00:01:46.770 --> 00:01:48.870 align:middle line:84% Then crossed the snowy yard to the truck 00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:50.405 align:middle line:90% for the rest of his tools. 00:01:50.405 --> 00:01:51.780 align:middle line:84% Already his first footprints were 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:54.720 align:middle line:84% buried beneath the accumulation and afterward he 00:01:54.720 --> 00:01:56.220 align:middle line:84% wouldn't be able to convince himself 00:01:56.220 --> 00:01:59.970 align:middle line:84% there had been others, no matter how insistently he was asked. 00:01:59.970 --> 00:02:02.100 align:middle line:84% In the master bedroom he flicked the light switch 00:02:02.100 --> 00:02:05.430 align:middle line:84% to check the power, then aimed above the outlets and swung. 00:02:05.430 --> 00:02:08.100 align:middle line:84% He took what other scrappers might have left behind. 00:02:08.100 --> 00:02:11.039 align:middle line:84% With a screwdriver he removed each metal junction box 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:12.000 align:middle line:90% from the bedroom. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.000 align:middle line:84% Then in the bathroom he cut free the old copper plumbing 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:18.270 align:middle line:84% from under the sinks and inside the walls. 00:02:18.270 --> 00:02:20.550 align:middle line:84% He smoked and watched the snowfall 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:22.350 align:middle line:84% through a bedroom window, the world 00:02:22.350 --> 00:02:24.120 align:middle line:90% hushed wet under its weight. 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:28.230 align:middle line:84% In the South he'd forgotten the feeling of a house in winter, 00:02:28.230 --> 00:02:31.080 align:middle line:84% the unexpected nostalgia of watching the world 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:33.390 align:middle line:90% disappear under snowfall. 00:02:33.390 --> 00:02:35.910 align:middle line:84% He put his forehead to the cool glass, watched 00:02:35.910 --> 00:02:38.490 align:middle line:90% the stillness fill the pane. 00:02:38.490 --> 00:02:41.760 align:middle line:84% Downstairs he dismantled the kitchen, disconnected the stove 00:02:41.760 --> 00:02:44.490 align:middle line:84% from the wall, cut the steel sink from the counter. 00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:46.260 align:middle line:84% He worked quietly, in what he thought 00:02:46.260 --> 00:02:48.090 align:middle line:84% was the wintry hush of the house, 00:02:48.090 --> 00:02:51.420 align:middle line:84% but later he would be told about the amateur soundproofing 00:02:51.420 --> 00:02:54.510 align:middle line:84% in the basement, about the mattresses nailed to the walls, 00:02:54.510 --> 00:02:58.740 align:middle line:84% about the eggshell foam pressed between the basement rafters. 00:02:58.740 --> 00:03:02.940 align:middle line:84% The soundproofing meant the boy screaming in the basement 00:03:02.940 --> 00:03:05.700 align:middle line:84% wasn't screaming for Kelly, but for anyone. 00:03:05.700 --> 00:03:07.500 align:middle line:84% There would be talk of Providence, 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:10.560 align:middle line:84% but what was Providence but a fancy word for luck? 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:12.540 align:middle line:84% If the upstairs of the blue house 00:03:12.540 --> 00:03:15.210 align:middle line:84% had been plumbed with PVC, Kelly might not 00:03:15.210 --> 00:03:16.830 align:middle line:90% have gone down in the basement. 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:21.330 align:middle line:84% But then copper in the bathroom, then the copper price. 00:03:21.330 --> 00:03:23.670 align:middle line:84% It wasn't until he cut the padlocks loop 00:03:23.670 --> 00:03:26.850 align:middle line:84% and opened the basement door that he heard the boy's voice. 00:03:26.850 --> 00:03:30.180 align:middle line:84% The boy's hoarse cry for help rising out of the dark. 00:03:30.180 --> 00:03:32.310 align:middle line:84% As soon as Kelly heard the boy's voice, 00:03:32.310 --> 00:03:35.850 align:middle line:84% the moment split, and in the aftermath of that cry 00:03:35.850 --> 00:03:38.250 align:middle line:84% Kelly thought he lived both possibilities 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:40.200 align:middle line:90% in simultaneous sequence. 00:03:40.200 --> 00:03:42.240 align:middle line:84% There was an empty basement, or else there 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:44.820 align:middle line:84% was a basement with a boy in a bed, 00:03:44.820 --> 00:03:47.730 align:middle line:84% and it seemed to Kelly he had gone into both rooms. 00:03:47.730 --> 00:03:50.250 align:middle line:84% Kelly thought if he had fled and left the boy there 00:03:50.250 --> 00:03:52.590 align:middle line:84% and disappeared into the night, he might never 00:03:52.590 --> 00:03:54.090 align:middle line:84% have had to think about it again, 00:03:54.090 --> 00:03:57.510 align:middle line:84% couldn't be held responsible for everything that followed. 00:03:57.510 --> 00:04:00.180 align:middle line:84% Instead he had acted, and now there 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:03.420 align:middle line:84% would be no knowing where this action would stop. 00:04:03.420 --> 00:04:05.460 align:middle line:84% Kelly climbed downward descending 00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:07.860 align:middle line:84% the shaft of light falling through the basement door. 00:04:07.860 --> 00:04:10.688 align:middle line:84% His clothes clung to the nervous damp of his skin 00:04:10.688 --> 00:04:12.480 align:middle line:84% as he stepped off the stairs toward the bed 00:04:12.480 --> 00:04:14.970 align:middle line:84% at the back of the low room, toward the boy 00:04:14.970 --> 00:04:19.140 align:middle line:84% restrained there, all skin and skinny bones, 00:04:19.140 --> 00:04:21.180 align:middle line:84% naked beneath a pile of blankets, 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:23.370 align:middle line:84% and howling in the black basement air. 00:04:23.370 --> 00:04:26.610 align:middle line:84% One by one each element of the scene came into focus, 00:04:26.610 --> 00:04:29.850 align:middle line:84% the room's angles resolving out of the darkness, each shape 00:04:29.850 --> 00:04:31.110 align:middle line:90% alien in the moment. 00:04:31.110 --> 00:04:34.380 align:middle line:84% The experience too unexpected for sense. 00:04:34.380 --> 00:04:37.350 align:middle line:84% The humidity under the earth, the musky heat 00:04:37.350 --> 00:04:42.090 align:middle line:84% of trapped breath in sweat, the smell of burrow or warren, 00:04:42.090 --> 00:04:45.090 align:middle line:84% then the filth of the mattress as Kelly slid to his knees 00:04:45.090 --> 00:04:47.700 align:middle line:84% beside the bed, his headlamp unable to light 00:04:47.700 --> 00:04:48.930 align:middle line:90% the whole scene. 00:04:48.930 --> 00:04:51.840 align:middle line:84% The boy, atop the stained and stinking sheets, 00:04:51.840 --> 00:04:55.920 align:middle line:84% confusing in his nudity, half hidden by the pile of covers, 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:59.250 align:middle line:84% a nest of slick sleeping bags and rougher fabrics 00:04:59.250 --> 00:05:00.990 align:middle line:90% partially kicked off the bed. 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:06.280 align:middle line:84% And beside the pile of blankets a folding metal chair. 00:05:06.280 --> 00:05:09.490 align:middle line:84% The boy's screaming stopped as soon as Kelly lit his features, 00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:12.160 align:middle line:84% but Kelly knew the boy couldn't see him through the glare. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:15.130 align:middle line:84% He shut off the headlamp, removed the glow between them, 00:05:15.130 --> 00:05:17.440 align:middle line:84% let their eyes readjust to the dimmer light. 00:05:17.440 --> 00:05:21.370 align:middle line:84% He leaned closer, close enough to hear the boy's rasping 00:05:21.370 --> 00:05:25.600 align:middle line:84% breath, to smell his captivity, to touch the boy's hand, 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:28.390 align:middle line:84% to try to bring the boy out of abstraction 00:05:28.390 --> 00:05:30.130 align:middle line:90% into the sensible world. 00:05:30.130 --> 00:05:33.190 align:middle line:84% Kelly's body was moving as if disconnected from thought, 00:05:33.190 --> 00:05:35.290 align:middle line:84% but if he could retouch the connections he 00:05:35.290 --> 00:05:36.520 align:middle line:90% would begin to speak. 00:05:36.520 --> 00:05:39.340 align:middle line:84% He tried to say his name, pointed to himself, 00:05:39.340 --> 00:05:41.140 align:middle line:90% failed to speak the word. 00:05:41.140 --> 00:05:43.720 align:middle line:84% He shook his head, reached down for the boy. 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:45.250 align:middle line:84% The boy flinched from Kelly's touch 00:05:45.250 --> 00:05:47.650 align:middle line:84% but Kelly took him in his arms anyway, gathered him 00:05:47.650 --> 00:05:50.060 align:middle line:84% against his chest and lifted quick. 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:52.000 align:middle line:84% And then the boy, crying out in pain 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:55.030 align:middle line:84% as Kelly jerked him against the metal cuff shackling the boy's 00:05:55.030 --> 00:05:57.550 align:middle line:84% feet to the bed, hidden underneath the bunched 00:05:57.550 --> 00:05:58.810 align:middle line:90% blankets. 00:05:58.810 --> 00:06:01.990 align:middle line:84% The sound of the boy's voice naming this 00:06:01.990 --> 00:06:03.610 align:middle line:90% hurt into the black air. 00:06:03.610 --> 00:06:05.800 align:middle line:84% This was not the incomprehensible idea 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:08.740 align:middle line:84% of a boy abducted, but the presence of such a boy, 00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:09.940 align:middle line:90% real enough. 00:06:09.940 --> 00:06:12.010 align:middle line:84% And how had Kelly come to hold him? 00:06:12.010 --> 00:06:15.280 align:middle line:84% To smell the boy's sweat, then the sudden stink of his own, 00:06:15.280 --> 00:06:17.410 align:middle line:90% the thickening musk of fear? 00:06:17.410 --> 00:06:20.380 align:middle line:84% Because what if he had not left the South? 00:06:20.380 --> 00:06:22.060 align:middle line:84% If he had been able to find work instead 00:06:22.060 --> 00:06:23.860 align:middle line:90% of resorting to scrapping? 00:06:23.860 --> 00:06:25.750 align:middle line:84% If there had not been the fire in the plant 00:06:25.750 --> 00:06:27.670 align:middle line:84% so that afterward he worked alone? 00:06:27.670 --> 00:06:29.680 align:middle line:84% If he had not met the girl with a limp? 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:31.330 align:middle line:84% If she had not been working today? 00:06:31.330 --> 00:06:33.730 align:middle line:84% If she hadn't had another attack the night before, 00:06:33.730 --> 00:06:36.340 align:middle line:84% keeping him from drinking so much he couldn't scrap? 00:06:36.340 --> 00:06:38.960 align:middle line:84% Providence or luck, it didn't matter. 00:06:38.960 --> 00:06:41.980 align:middle line:84% He told himself he believed only in the grimness 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:45.010 align:middle line:84% of the world, the great loneliness of the vacuum. 00:06:45.010 --> 00:06:47.320 align:middle line:84% You could be good, but what did it buy you? 00:06:47.320 --> 00:06:50.050 align:middle line:84% You could be good and it meant more precisely 00:06:50.050 --> 00:06:53.380 align:middle line:90% because it bought you nothing. 00:06:53.380 --> 00:06:55.930 align:middle line:84% Kelly cursed, lowered the boy back in the bed, 00:06:55.930 --> 00:06:58.930 align:middle line:84% felt the boy's heat linger on his chest like a stain. 00:06:58.930 --> 00:07:00.880 align:middle line:84% He touched the place where the boy had been, 00:07:00.880 --> 00:07:03.880 align:middle line:84% felt the thump of his heart pounding beneath the same skin, 00:07:03.880 --> 00:07:05.980 align:middle line:84% listened to their bodies huffing in the dark 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:08.470 align:middle line:84% as he relit the narrow beam of the headlamp, 00:07:08.470 --> 00:07:12.960 align:middle line:84% its light scattering the boy's features into nonsense. 00:07:12.960 --> 00:07:15.390 align:middle line:84% "I have to go back upstairs," Kelly said. 00:07:15.390 --> 00:07:17.190 align:middle line:90% "I'll be right back." 00:07:17.190 --> 00:07:19.560 align:middle line:84% "No," the boy whispered, his voice 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:21.360 align:middle line:90% swallowed by the muted room. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:22.710 align:middle line:90% "Please." 00:07:22.710 --> 00:07:24.750 align:middle line:84% Kelly removed his coat and wrapped it 00:07:24.750 --> 00:07:26.760 align:middle line:84% around the boy to cover the boy's nakedness, 00:07:26.760 --> 00:07:28.320 align:middle line:84% then moved toward the stairs as fast 00:07:28.320 --> 00:07:30.930 align:middle line:84% as he could trying to out-distance the increasing 00:07:30.930 --> 00:07:32.820 align:middle line:84% volume of the boy's cries, but there 00:07:32.820 --> 00:07:35.280 align:middle line:84% was no way of freeing the boy without his saw, 00:07:35.280 --> 00:07:37.740 align:middle line:84% no way of getting the saw without leaving the boy. 00:07:37.740 --> 00:07:39.750 align:middle line:84% The basement door opened into the kitchen. 00:07:39.750 --> 00:07:42.570 align:middle line:84% In every direction Kelly saw the destruction he'd brought, 00:07:42.570 --> 00:07:45.990 align:middle line:84% the walls gutted, the counters open, the stove dragged free 00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:48.390 align:middle line:84% from the wall waiting for the hand car. 00:07:48.390 --> 00:07:49.980 align:middle line:90% The day was ending fast. 00:07:49.980 --> 00:07:53.100 align:middle line:84% The light fading as Kelly moved across the dirty tile, 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:56.550 align:middle line:84% looking for his backpack, the hacksaw inside. 00:07:56.550 --> 00:08:00.960 align:middle line:84% Outside the open window the wet whisper of snow 00:08:00.960 --> 00:08:04.200 align:middle line:84% fell, quieting the world beyond the house's walls. 00:08:04.200 --> 00:08:07.440 align:middle line:84% Inside the air was charged and waiting. 00:08:07.440 --> 00:08:09.060 align:middle line:84% When Kelly turned back to the basement 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:11.940 align:middle line:84% he saw the door was closed, the boy and the boy's sound 00:08:11.940 --> 00:08:13.020 align:middle line:90% trapped again. 00:08:13.020 --> 00:08:15.690 align:middle line:84% It was habit to close the door when he left a room, 00:08:15.690 --> 00:08:18.300 align:middle line:84% but this time it was a cruelty too. 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:21.540 align:middle line:84% Back downstairs Kelly found the boy sitting with his bare knees 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:24.240 align:middle line:84% curled into his chest, all of his body cloaked 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:25.650 align:middle line:90% under Kelly's coat. 00:08:25.650 --> 00:08:27.960 align:middle line:84% Kelly raised the saw so the boy could see what 00:08:27.960 --> 00:08:30.180 align:middle line:90% it was, what Kelly intended. 00:08:30.180 --> 00:08:33.630 align:middle line:84% "I'm here to help you," Kelly said, or thought he did. 00:08:33.630 --> 00:08:36.630 align:middle line:84% The boy was nodding, or Kelly thought the boy was. 00:08:36.630 --> 00:08:38.760 align:middle line:84% But after he switched the headlamp on he 00:08:38.760 --> 00:08:42.150 align:middle line:84% couldn't see the whole boy anymore, only the boy in parts. 00:08:42.150 --> 00:08:46.080 align:middle line:84% The boy's terrified face, the boy's clammy chest, the boy's 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:48.240 align:middle line:90% clenched hands and curled toes. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:51.690 align:middle line:84% He ran the beam along the boy's dirty, bony legs, 00:08:51.690 --> 00:08:54.870 align:middle line:84% inspected the cuffs, the bruised skin below. 00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:57.030 align:middle line:84% Kelly put a hand on the boy's ankle 00:08:57.030 --> 00:08:58.815 align:middle line:84% and they both recoiled at the surprise. 00:08:58.815 --> 00:09:01.500 align:middle line:90% "Hold still," Kelly said. 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:03.840 align:middle line:84% He lifted the chain in one hand and the saw 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.900 align:middle line:84% in another, as he cut he had to turn his face away 00:09:06.900 --> 00:09:09.750 align:middle line:84% from the boy's rising voice speaking again 00:09:09.750 --> 00:09:12.650 align:middle line:90% it's awesome need. 00:09:12.650 --> 00:09:15.140 align:middle line:84% The boy was heavier than Kelly expected, 00:09:15.140 --> 00:09:17.030 align:middle line:90% a deadweight of dangling limbs. 00:09:17.030 --> 00:09:20.480 align:middle line:84% He asked the boy to hold on, and the boy said nothing, did less. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:21.860 align:middle line:84% When Kelly looked down on the boy 00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:23.930 align:middle line:84% he saw the boy wasn't looking at anything. 00:09:23.930 --> 00:09:27.680 align:middle line:84% Out of the low room, up the stairs, into the dirty kitchen, 00:09:27.680 --> 00:09:29.720 align:middle line:84% all the noise the boy had made in the basement 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:32.300 align:middle line:84% was gone, replaced by something more ragged. 00:09:32.300 --> 00:09:33.620 align:middle line:90% A threatened hissing. 00:09:33.620 --> 00:09:35.540 align:middle line:84% The front door was close to the truck, 00:09:35.540 --> 00:09:37.760 align:middle line:84% but the back door was closer to where they stood, 00:09:37.760 --> 00:09:40.010 align:middle line:84% and more than anything else Kelly wanted out 00:09:40.010 --> 00:09:42.380 align:middle line:84% of the blue house, out into the fresh snow 00:09:42.380 --> 00:09:45.800 align:middle line:84% and the safety of the truck, it's almost escape. 00:09:45.800 --> 00:09:47.690 align:middle line:84% At the truck Kelly lowered the boy 00:09:47.690 --> 00:09:49.370 align:middle line:84% into the passenger seat then stripped 00:09:49.370 --> 00:09:50.810 align:middle line:90% off his own flannel shirt. 00:09:50.810 --> 00:09:52.970 align:middle line:84% Kelly's arms were bare to the falling snow, 00:09:52.970 --> 00:09:54.980 align:middle line:84% but he wasn't cold as he helped the boy stick 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:56.900 align:middle line:84% his arms into the shirt, its fabric 00:09:56.900 --> 00:09:59.540 align:middle line:84% long enough to cover most of the boy's body. 00:09:59.540 --> 00:10:01.820 align:middle line:84% He bundled the boy back into the coat, too, 00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:04.850 align:middle line:84% but the truck was freezing, and the boy's legs were bare, 00:10:04.850 --> 00:10:07.760 align:middle line:84% and Kelly wasn't sure the boy's shivering would stop no matter 00:10:07.760 --> 00:10:09.800 align:middle line:90% how warm he made the cab. 00:10:09.800 --> 00:10:13.100 align:middle line:84% Kelly walked around to the driver's side, opened the door. 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:15.350 align:middle line:84% Without climbing inside he reached under the steering 00:10:15.350 --> 00:10:18.890 align:middle line:84% wheel, put the keys in the ignition, started the engine. 00:10:18.890 --> 00:10:22.920 align:middle line:84% He punched the rear defrost, cranked the heat, hesitated. 00:10:22.920 --> 00:10:24.980 align:middle line:90% "I have to go," he said. 00:10:24.980 --> 00:10:26.630 align:middle line:84% "I have to go back into the house, 00:10:26.630 --> 00:10:30.460 align:middle line:90% but I will be back for you." 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:33.700 align:middle line:84% The boy didn't speak, didn't look in his direction. 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:34.960 align:middle line:90% It wasn't permission. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:36.940 align:middle line:84% He didn't know if the boy understood. 00:10:36.940 --> 00:10:38.920 align:middle line:90% This was shock, trauma. 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:40.910 align:middle line:84% The boy needed to go to a hospital. 00:10:40.910 --> 00:10:43.420 align:middle line:84% He needed Kelly to call the police, an ambulance. 00:10:43.420 --> 00:10:47.000 align:middle line:84% He needed Kelly to act, to keep rescuing him a little longer. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.990 align:middle line:84% However many minutes it took moving back into the kitchen 00:10:49.990 --> 00:10:51.910 align:middle line:84% to gather his tools into his backpack, 00:10:51.910 --> 00:10:54.340 align:middle line:84% then down in the basement for the hacksaw he'd left. 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:56.890 align:middle line:90% Each minute was its own crime. 00:10:56.890 --> 00:10:59.860 align:middle line:84% In the basement Kelly knew the bed was unoccupied, 00:10:59.860 --> 00:11:01.680 align:middle line:84% but when he entered the low room there 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:03.430 align:middle line:84% appeared a vision of the boy still chained 00:11:03.430 --> 00:11:06.573 align:middle line:84% to the bed, an after image burning inside him. 00:11:06.573 --> 00:11:08.740 align:middle line:84% He knew he'd saved the boy, but when he made it back 00:11:08.740 --> 00:11:12.220 align:middle line:84% to the truck the doors were locked, the boy gone. 00:11:12.220 --> 00:11:14.560 align:middle line:84% A new panic fluttered in Kelly's chest, 00:11:14.560 --> 00:11:16.900 align:middle line:84% but then he looked again, saw the boy hidden 00:11:16.900 --> 00:11:18.880 align:middle line:84% in the dark of the snow covered cab, 00:11:18.880 --> 00:11:21.220 align:middle line:84% crouched down in the space near the floorboards 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:22.510 align:middle line:90% beneath the passenger seat. 00:11:22.510 --> 00:11:27.070 align:middle line:84% A space, which Kelly remembered, as a kid he had called the pit. 00:11:27.070 --> 00:11:30.760 align:middle line:84% The boy wouldn't come out of the pit, wouldn't unlock the doors, 00:11:30.760 --> 00:11:33.010 align:middle line:84% or turn his terrified face toward Kelly. 00:11:33.010 --> 00:11:36.520 align:middle line:84% Kelly waited until he was sure the boy was looking away then 00:11:36.520 --> 00:11:39.010 align:middle line:84% pulled his undershirt sleeve over his bare elbow 00:11:39.010 --> 00:11:41.560 align:middle line:84% and shattered the truck's driver's side window. 00:11:41.560 --> 00:11:44.180 align:middle line:84% And before he drove the boy to the hospital 00:11:44.180 --> 00:11:46.840 align:middle line:84% he had to clear the safety glass from the boy's seat, 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:51.080 align:middle line:84% from the thick scrub of the boy's hair. 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:53.510 align:middle line:84% As Kelly pulled into the hospital parking lot, 00:11:53.510 --> 00:11:54.680 align:middle line:90% his cell phone rang. 00:11:54.680 --> 00:11:57.110 align:middle line:84% Without looking he knew it was her. 00:11:57.110 --> 00:11:59.515 align:middle line:84% He wanted to answer, but there wasn't time. 00:11:59.515 --> 00:12:00.890 align:middle line:84% There weren't the right words yet 00:12:00.890 --> 00:12:03.590 align:middle line:84% for what he needed to tell her, what he wanted to ask. 00:12:03.590 --> 00:12:06.590 align:middle line:84% He parked the truck under the emergency sign, stepped out 00:12:06.590 --> 00:12:08.570 align:middle line:90% into the unplowed parking lot. 00:12:08.570 --> 00:12:11.120 align:middle line:84% The snow turned heavier than at the blue house. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:14.150 align:middle line:84% He walked around the truck, opened the passenger door, 00:12:14.150 --> 00:12:16.640 align:middle line:84% lifted the boy's limpness into his arms, 00:12:16.640 --> 00:12:20.150 align:middle line:84% said his own name to the boy for the first time. 00:12:20.150 --> 00:12:24.140 align:middle line:84% The snow fell on Kelly's face and on the boy's face, 00:12:24.140 --> 00:12:26.690 align:middle line:84% and neither said anything else as Kelly carried 00:12:26.690 --> 00:12:28.430 align:middle line:90% the boy across the parking lot. 00:12:28.430 --> 00:12:30.890 align:middle line:84% The boy didn't look at Kelly, and Kelly 00:12:30.890 --> 00:12:33.500 align:middle line:84% thought he had to stop looking at the boy. 00:12:33.500 --> 00:12:35.540 align:middle line:84% Had to watch where he was going, instead 00:12:35.540 --> 00:12:39.140 align:middle line:84% of taking in every feature, every eyelash and pimple 00:12:39.140 --> 00:12:41.720 align:middle line:84% and steaming exhale, had to concentrate 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:43.760 align:middle line:90% on making his body move. 00:12:43.760 --> 00:12:46.460 align:middle line:84% "A few more steps," he said to the boy. 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:50.270 align:middle line:84% A few more steps and they would be inside passing 00:12:50.270 --> 00:12:53.810 align:middle line:84% through the bright and sterile and inextinguishable light 00:12:53.810 --> 00:12:55.760 align:middle line:84% of the hospital, toward the company 00:12:55.760 --> 00:12:59.060 align:middle line:84% of others, where they would be safer than they were now, 00:12:59.060 --> 00:13:00.350 align:middle line:90% alone. 00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:01.880 align:middle line:90% Thank you very much. 00:13:01.880 --> 00:13:03.730 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]