Chapter 11 third chapter

Mother returned the beetle to me.I put it in the window of my room and enjoy it before going to bed.Under the moonlight, it emits a hazy light in the dark.I think of Chie sister's cold finger touch.My gold is a nugget no bigger than a finger.Gold larger than this is so heavy that it is impossible to get it out of the forest. Observing with a magnifying glass, there is a very fine seam under the uppermost wing, which cannot be inserted even with a knife.There is also a thin wing inside, which is also gold.I watched and accidentally broke a foot.I've been more careful with it since then.

After returning from the forest, my mother smashed the golden earthworms she had picked up with a hammer.Earthworms even have metal inside their bodies.After knocking it into small discs, it doesn't look like an earthworm, but a leaf of gold.Mother knocked flies, maggots, and centipedes in the same way, and threw them one by one into the agricultural sacks in the warehouse, making a crisp, clanging sound. Our dogs just stay in the forest like that.The dog that fell on the ground turned into a huge golden statue, and it was impossible to move it with the strength of my mother and me. Mother goes to the forest every night.She doesn't go during the day, because she doesn't want to be seen by the neighbors.When she came back from the forest, she would bring the gold bug back in her purse.Mother brought back only a little at a time, because she would not be able to carry the whole purse if it was full.

Mother took the gold collected from the forest to the town and exchanged it for money.When exchanging money, the store seemed to have checked the ingredients to make sure it was really valuable metal.Metal sheets hammered by insects, whether analyzed by X-ray or checked for specific gravity, are pure gold without impurities.I don't know what kind of chemical transformation the insect's light body undergoes to become a metal with a very high specific gravity.It may be that the metal components contained in the wastewater penetrated into the insects' bodies, combined with organic tissues and became heavier.

In the middle of the night, my mother and I went to collect gold together.With flashlights on our feet, we walked into the forest hand in hand and walked along the barbed wire fence.We brought flowers and cakes to pay homage to the dog that just fell on the ground, and then picked up golden insects like we picked up pine cones and chestnuts.Even when the waste water is not discharged, there is a sweet smell around the depression. The bugs may be attracted by this smell and then turned into gold.The factory is really like a giant flower that preys on insects. "Who built this factory?"

"This factory doesn't belong to anyone." Mother means that the factory belongs to the company, so the rights do not belong to any individual.But I have a deeper imagination.For a moment, I wondered if the factory, like mountains and rivers, existed from the beginning?Rusty chimneys stretch out inside the barbed wire, and factories with old concrete walls stand under the moonlight like a huge creature. My father didn't find out what my mother and I were doing.I want to tell my father about the waste water.I think my father should explain why this happened to me in a simple and clear way.But my mother said that I must never tell my father.

"You can't tell Dad about it. He's busy enough with work, don't let him worry about other things." One night I went to my father's study.The light in the room came through the crack in the paper door, but my father was not there.Stationery and papers were strewn across the table, the window was open and the curtains flapped in the wind.I thought to myself that my father might have gone for a walk. The scarabs I put in the window the next morning were gone.My windows were locked, so it couldn't have been stolen.I thought it might have fallen to the ground, so I looked under the desk, but found nothing.I go to school sadly.

I met Chie-san after school.She was coming back from the factory, and the bento box in the bicycle basket was rattling.She stopped her bicycle with a "chirp" and stared at me. "Here, sit up." Chie sister said, patting the back seat of the bicycle.I stepped up, and Chie-san stepped on the pedal slowly.I felt shy and was careful not to touch Chie-san's body as much as possible.The ears of rice in the field swayed from side to side in the wind. "Does Chie-san like money?" "Like it." "Then I'll give you some next time." "That's great."

Chie sister murmured half-sighed. "I've got to find my next job." "Huh? Chie-san doesn't work in the factory, does she?" "The factory is closing." "The factory is closing?" "The equipment is very old, and many places seem to have reached the end of life. This is very good. I can't like that factory. Staying in the building, those complicated tangled pipes and channels, It makes people feel like they are inside a giant insect. I think everyone in the factory is working to keep the giant insect alive. The factory must also feel that its death is approaching. Because recently there are many places It's starting to break down, like an insect convulsing before it dies. I'm feeling terrified and don't want to go to the factory anymore. It's not a topic, but it seems like a few people have been hurt by a broken line or a gate valve falling off. Like The factory is angry, as if taking revenge on human beings."

"Revenge on humans? Why?" "Because humans made it into the world. Or maybe it's what it is, a malicious behemoth." If the factory is closed, there will be no more wastewater discharged. In this way, there should be no way to pick up gold again. After thinking for a while, the mother said: "As long as you have gold the size of a cow, you can live without worrying about food and clothing for the rest of your life. You have to find a creature that size, and it must be alive. But cows... cows are not so easy to get." .what should I do?" The morning the factory was about to close, I woke up like I usually do, getting ready for school.

Mother didn't look like she was going to buy a cow, but she didn't seem in a hurry either.She brought miso soup and rice in front of me and said, "Eat quickly." I could tell from my mother's confident attitude.Mother had already turned the cow-replacing creature—a life larger than an insect—into gold last night. White steam rose from the boiling kettle.Dad's suit jacket hangs over the back of the chair.My father always left for the bus stop earlier than I did, so I wondered why his suit jacket couldn't be home.