Chapter 3 third quarter

Nagayama Yukichi, who came back from the sea, pushed open the wooden door of the small earthen house on the coast. This is a small and dark hut with a total of only five pings (one level is about 3.3 square meters).This room used to store fishing gear, and Yongshan built a bed in it to live in.The house is dilapidated, and whenever the winter wind blows in through the cracks in the boards, there is a desolate whistling sound in the house. Yongshan opened the door and got used to the darkness in the room.There was a dark mass in the corner, streaked by the dim light that came in through the cracks of the boards.

"Hey, Gro, are you feeling better?" Yongshan asked. The black group moved.It stood up to meet Yong-san, its tail wagging.Yongshan opened the window. The dog looked up at Yongshan, it was a pair of slender eyes.Generally speaking, the eyes of dogs are tea-brown, commonly known as kite color.But the dog's eyes were a little green.Its pupils are tea-brown, and the surroundings are light water-colored. Just by this alone, it can be said that they are a pair of powerful eyes. Yong Shan patted Ge Luo's head, and started cooking the fish brought back from the boat. Gro wears a collar with the word "Gero" engraved on it.Yongshan thought that this was probably the dog's name, and tried to bark, and the dog really wagged its tail slightly.

Ge Luo and Yong Shan met on October 12, four days ago.In the evening, a dog came to the beach.At that time, Yongshan went to the sea to pick up seaweed for soup.The coast in this area is very desolate, and the village where they live is called Go Lai Niu.The village sits on the outer peninsula of Akkeshi Bay and looks as if it will be swallowed by the Pacific Ocean.There is not even a decent road in the village. The dog looked rather thin, wobbling slowly step by step on the beach to the water's edge.It didn't seem to notice Yongshan standing nearby, and began to drink the sea water.It drank for a while, then turned around and walked back.But it seemed that its physical strength had been exhausted, and it fell down on the hard sand of the beach.It tried to stand up several times, but every time it fell again feebly.The dog seemed to have given up his mind, lying on the ground with his eyes closed, his belly with slightly protruding ribs rose and fell slightly.

Yongshan approached it, and the dog opened its turquoise eyes to look at him.Those were not a pair of eyes asking for help, but those eyes were calm and clear, as if they had realized the end of their fate. Yongshan looked at it for a while, and suddenly his heart moved.He thought, maybe this dog is already old?But if you look closely, it's not.The dog looked like three or four years old at most.He wasn't down and out, he just left Tokyo for some reason.It was three months ago that he avoided people's eyes and ears and wandered all over the world. There is a sign on the dog's collar with the words Meguro-ku, Tokyo.Why would a Tokyo dog run to this desolate and remote seaside to die?It may have its own reasons, but Yongshan can't help but feel a sense of desolation and melancholy, as if a fallen person meets a fallen person.

Yong Shan picked up the dog, and the dog bared its teeth slightly without struggling.The dog was very light, and his body was so hot that he seemed to have a fever. He carried it back to the cabin and gave it some porridge, which the dog licked and ate. Gro quickly began to recover. Yongshan was employed by a crab fishing boat, saying that he was employed but not paid.The price in exchange for labor is to borrow this hut and receive a ration.The crab flood season is from July to October, and hanging nets are used.Every day at one or two o'clock in the middle of the night, I go to sea and return to Hong Kong around nine o'clock in the morning.

The next day Yongshan went home and saw that Ge Luo was able to walk.The fish porridge left for it was also eaten clean. That day Yongshan saw off the lower part of the door of the hut and installed a cloth curtain so that Gro could come in and out freely.He thought that although he had treated Gero well, he might leave when he recovered.It doesn't matter if it wants to go, everyone has their own destination, whether it's a human or an animal, everyone is walking towards the final destination. But Gero didn't go, and by the third day he had recovered enough to run for a while.

Yongshan came back from the sea and fed it, and took it for a walk on the beach.Although Gro didn't look like he was having fun, he couldn't say he wasn't happy at all.It followed Yongshan back and forth, sometimes Yongshan deliberately ran for a while, and it also ran unambiguously.A lamp appeared in Yongshan's heart, and this warm lamp lit up in his dark and closed heart, bringing him a little warmth. There are only a few days left in the crab season. After the crabs are over, it is time to catch plaice.I heard that there will be a pollack fish season starting in November. No matter which fishing season, you have to work in the sea three to twelve nautical miles from the coast.Although he can still make do with it now, he doesn't believe that after entering November, he can still eat up the work boats on the North Sea with continuous weather.He got seasick when it was shaken, and the five-ton small fishing boat couldn't even stand up when it was shaking.Whenever this happened, he had to curl up and lie in the corner.The employer didn't say anything about it, and even showed some sympathy.

Yongshan always makes up for the work that he did less on the sea after returning to Hong Kong.He cleaned the cabin and did other chores.He himself asked the owner to let him work on the ship without pay.And he didn't think he deserved to be paid for the little work he did.Sometimes he even felt that he was making trouble for the fishermen.It felt that it was not easy to live in the hut and have a bite of food. He thought it was time to leave this border village. It was at this time that Gero appeared. While cooking, Yongshan thought about Ge Luo's situation.It is impossible for a Hokkaido dog to have a Tokyo collar.Gero must have been brought to Hokkaido by his master for some reason, and then he was abandoned by his master or separated from him.It is likely to be lost, because if its owner wanted to abandon it, he would definitely take off the collar with the registration number on it.

He couldn't imagine where it got lost from its owner, but it definitely couldn't be in the current Akkeshi Bay, but in a farther place.For example, the Shiretoko area or the Abashiri and Monbetsu areas.Animals have homing instincts, and it is said that dogs are particularly good at this.Even if it is blindfolded and walked around for a while and then taken to a far away place, it only needs to walk around for 20 to 30 minutes to an hour to identify the position of its own home, and then return to its nest by virtue of its location. Instinct embarks on a journey home. From Gro's emaciated appearance, it can be known that it wandered here from a distant place, and it probably came down south with every meal.Gro is returning to Tokyo.

It's really a strong instinct. He compared himself to Gero. He is not homeless.His home is near Setagaya, Tokyo, where he has a wife and children.Two months before leaving Tokyo, Yongshan was an official of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and the official is really not a small one-the section chief of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (an important position in charge of the import and export of weapons throughout Japan). But Yongshan must abandon all this, because the shadow of death is already full of surroundings.Speaking of it, this is a kind of escape from life.He came to this cold village on Akkeshi Bay just to find a remote hiding place.

He is the exact opposite of Gro.Gero has a hometown to go back to, but it can hardly go back to Tokyo with its own strength, because it can't cross the sea.Even if you can cross the sea, does Gro run all the way to Hakodate?Gro may know that its hometown is far away, and also knows that there are many difficulties and obstacles waiting for it.However, it still embarked on its own journey. But what about myself?Because of fear, I have been hesitating. ——I should go back to Tokyo. Yongshan saw the distance between himself and Gero in terms of courage.If he returns to Tokyo, it is very likely that he will be assassinated by a disguised accident, but is this life of continuing to wander, and possibly even dying on the way, what a real person should live? Gero got up and went out through the curtain of the door opening. After a while, the meal was ready, and Yongshan went to call for Gero.Gro was squatting on the beach of white strays splashing and looking out to sea.Yongshan stood beside it.Gero stared at the sea with his mouth tightly shut, and there were a few albatrosses flying in the distance. Yongshan sat down next to Gero. The sea was gloomy.The closer to winter, the darker the sea, the lower the sky, and the heavier the iron gray. You can hear the sound of the rolling waves, a slight roar of the sea.Yongshan folded his arms and listened to the sound of the tide. Suddenly, he smelled the smell of the tide, which came from his clothes.The clothes were saturated and heavy, and gave off a complex smell of fish, motor oil, and sea water.The skin next to the clothes was cold and cold as if it was extremely lonely. "Ge Luo," Yong Shan said, "Let's go back to Tokyo together..." Gro didn't understand people's words. When it found that Yongshan was talking to him, it only shook its tail slightly, and its eyes were still cast on the sea.Yongshan thought, Gero must know instinctively that he would not be able to return to Tokyo without crossing this sea. Yongshan was almost penniless. When he came to this poor village, the money he brought out was almost spent.Even if you leave here with Gero, you don't want to use a bus or other means of transportation. , They can only make money together to make a living, camping and camping to Hakodate.They had to trek 600 kilometers along the Pacific Ocean via Kushiro, Cape Erimo, Hidaka, Tomakomai, and Muroran. Looks like the trip was going to be tough. Yongshan is ready to challenge the difficulties.Although he didn't know where Gero started from, he came all the way south towards his hometown to this poor village.If he stayed here, Gero and others would still be driven by nostalgia after recovering their physical strength.Although he and Gero only had a friendship for four days, Yongshan felt as if he had learned from it how he should treat life during these short four days.It seems that if I can make up my mind to take Gro on the arduous and long journey, the future is still bright.