The End of the Beginning by Avi

Author:Avi [Avi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

"I promise you," said Avon with a shake of his head, "that the next time I do nothing, I'll do it better. But I guess we can't quit."

"I'm afraid not, Avon. Not now, anyway."

So they started off again.

CHAPTER TEN

In Which the Adventurers Come to an End

The two adventurers were going along. Avon was singing:

"March, march

Golly, golly, golly.

March, march

Golly, golly—"

"Stop!" cried Edward.

"Are you referring to my speed or my song?" Avon asked.

"Lookwhat's there," said Edward, pointing straight ahead.

"I don't see a thing."

"Exactly. We've reached the end of the branch."

"Good heavens," said Avon. "I hadn't noticed. I might have fallen off."

With great care the two creatures edged to the very tip. From there they looked out at the cloudless sky.

"The end of the branch," said Avon, mostly to himself.

"The beginning of the sky," said Edward, mostly to himself.

"Which is it?" asked Avon. "The beginning or the end?"

"I should think," said Edward, "it depends on what there's more of, the tree or the sky. How long did it take us to get here?"

"All my life," said Avon.

Edward nodded. "It's a very long branch, then. How long would it take to climb the sky?"

"I can't tell," confessed Avon. "I've never done it."

"Use your brain, Avon. Think of all the things that get in your way along the branch—leaves, bark, other creatures, a million things to slow you down. Now look at the sky."

Avon looked. "There's nothing there."

"Exactly. So it's bound to take less time."

"I see your point."

"Which means," continued Edward, "that it will take longer to climb the branch. And if it takes longer, the branch must be bigger. And if the branch is bigger than the sky, that means we're at sky's end, but only at the beginning of the branch."

"You mean," asked Avon, quite amazed, "that after all this time, we're just beginning?"

"Worse," Edward pointed out. "Since this is the beginning, if we hadn't gotten to this point, we would not have begun."

"Oh goodness," said Avon. "All that traveling, and we haven't even started. I had no idea how far you have to go before you can start. Almost makes me want to stop."

"You can't do that, either," said Edward severely.

"Why?"

"Can't very well stop if you haven't started, can you?"

"Edward," cried Avon, "I never knew how important it was to start before you begin."

And turning around, they began.

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