Chapter 3 Chapter 2

"It's outrageous! It's shameful!" The stranger had obviously made up his mind, since he couldn't read the newspaper, the next thing he had to concentrate on was to start complaining.Dylan glanced at him suspiciously. She really didn't want to have a chat with a middle-aged man in dungarees and end up being forced to participate in this embarrassing affair on the long drive to Aberdeen. conversation.She shrugged, barely noticeable under the heavy fur coat. The man continued, and the people around him lacked interest in talking, but he was not affected at all, "I mean, they charge such expensive fares, you think they should arrive on time, but they don't. It's disgusting, I Been waiting here for twenty minutes. You know there must be no seats when the bus finally gets here. Terrible service!"

Dylan looked around.Although there were people of all kinds waiting to walk around in several places in the station, there were not many people on the platform, so she couldn't slip away quietly and disappeared into the vast crowd. The man in the duffel coat turned around and looked at her, "What do you think?" This time I was forced to give a straightforward answer.Dylan tried to be vague, so he just said "hmm." The man probably took this sound as a signal to invite him to continue his long speech, "It's better to be in the era of state-owned railways. At that time, you knew when to get on the train, and the staff on the train were all honest and good people. Now It's getting worse, and now the railroads are run by a bunch of braggarts. It's a shame."

Where is the car now?Dylan thought to herself, desperate to get out of the social game in front of her.At this moment, the car came, roaring like a knight in rusty armor. She reached for the rucksack at her feet, which, like most of the things she owned, was faded and scuffed.She grabbed the two handles, lifted the heavy backpack and carried it on her shoulders, a slight ripping sound made her face pale.If the backpack was opened and a gust of wind blows through, blowing her underwear all over the station, then today's unlucky events will really be a pair.Fortunately among the misfortunes, the backpack held up.

Dylan waited for the sliding train to come to a stop, then shuffled forward with the other weary passengers.There was a hiss of hydraulics as the car came to a complete stop, and Dylan was standing halfway between the doors.She took a quick glance at which door the man in the duffel coat was running to, and then sprinted towards the other door with all her strength. Once in the car, Dylan glanced left and right to see if there was anyone out of the ordinary—drunk maniacs, weirdos, people who wanted to tell you the story of their lives ( It often involves bizarre encounters like being abducted by aliens) and people who insist on discussing big things with you about the meaning of life.For some reason, Dylan always caught the attention of these people when he took public transportation.She has too many things on her mind today, so she avoids them in fear.After some careful observation, she screened out several empty seats.It didn't take long for her to understand why these seats remained empty on the crowded train.A mother sat to one side with a loudly crying baby, the child's red face wrinkled and scowling.Surrounding the mother and child are a pram and bags cluttered with baby essentials.A few seats down the aisle, a pair of drunken teenagers in blue Rangers tops sit across from an empty double seat.Somewhat amateurishly, they hid what appeared to be a bottle of Buckfast in a paper bag and sang outrageous tunes loudly.

The only option now is in the middle of the car, with a large woman sitting next to a pile of shopping bags on the seat.The woman had already taken up the seat opposite her, as if blatantly refusing anyone for company. However, whether she will stare or not, choosing to sit with her is the most attractive. "Excuse me." Dylan muttered in a low voice, and slowly moved towards the woman. The woman sighed loudly, her displeasure palpable, but moved her bag away anyway.Dylan took off his coat, put it with his backpack on the overhead rack, and sat down.While waiting to get into the car just now, she quickly flipped through her bag and took out her MP3 and earphones.Now she slips her headphones over her ears, eyes closed and turns the volume up to the max, letting the high-pitched drumbeats of her favorite indie rock band drown out the world around her.She could picture the bag lady glaring at her and her horrible music, and she smiled at the thought.It was so quiet that no sound could be heard.The train creaked with difficulty, picking up speed and heading towards Aberdeen at full speed.

She closed her eyes tightly, thinking about the upcoming weekend.She pictured herself getting off the train, searching for her father, who was almost a stranger to her.She was nervous for a while, and her blood boiled for a while, and her stomach twitched slightly. After months of reasoning, touching, and kind words to Joan Xiao, she finally got the phone number of James Miller, her father, from her. She dialed, hung up, dialed, hung up, and Dylan remembered how much her hands were shaking.What if he didn't want to talk to himself?What if he had a family of his own now?Worst of all, what if he ends up being a huge disappointment?What if he was a drunkard or a criminal?Mother gave no further details about him, and they never discussed him.When his mother asked him to leave, he left, and as she asked, he never bothered them again.Dylan was only five years old at the time, and ten years later, her father's appearance was already blurred in her memory.

After two days of internal struggle, Dylan finally called him around noon.The location for the call was a secluded part of the school playground that hadn't been taken over by smokers, lovers, and rogue gangs.She hoped he was at work or unanswered, and she got it.The phone rang six times, each of which nearly stopped her heart, until the answering machine beeped.She suddenly realized that she hadn't thought of what to say at all.Distraught, she stammered a few ramblings—"Hi, I'm looking for James Miller. I'm Dylan, your daughter." What to say next, "I, uh... I got your number. I mean, Joan. I think maybe, maybe we could meet and talk. If you want." Take a deep breath, "Here's my number..."

As soon as she put down the phone, she flinched immediately.What an idiot! She couldn't believe she hadn't even thought of what to say beforehand, sounding like a clumsy fool just now.Well, now there is nothing to do but wait.She felt sick to her stomach all afternoon, and passed biology and English classes in a daze.Back home, she stared blankly at BBC Two's Big Chef and the news, not even changing the channel when the stupid soap operas started.What if he doesn't call back?Did he hear the phone message?What if he never got the message?Dylan seemed to see a woman's hand picking up the phone receiver. After hearing the message, she slowly pressed the delete button with her bright red nails.She crossed her fingers for good luck and kept her phone within reach at all times.

After waiting two days, he did call back.At four o'clock, I came home again in the heavy rain, my socks were soaked, and my shoulders were wet.At this moment, the palm in the pocket suddenly vibrated, and the piano chords of the theme song of "A Long Time Ago" sounded.He's calling!Dylan hurriedly took out his phone, his heart seemed to have stopped beating.She glanced at the caller ID quickly, and she was sure it was him.Although it was an unfamiliar number, the area code was Aberdeen.She slid her finger across the glass screen of the phone and pressed the answer button to her ear.

"Hello!" Her voice sounded hoarse, as if something was stuck in her throat.She cleared her throat, trying not to make a sound. "Dylan, Dylan, I'm James Miller. I'm your dad." There was silence.She thought, Dylan, talk.Dad, talk to me. Neither of them spoke again, but in this extremely tense moment, the silence sounded like a cry. "Listen," he broke the silence, melting the ice, "I'm glad you could call me. I've been wanting to get in touch with you for so long. Now we have a lot to do Let's chat." Dylan closed his eyes and smiled.She took a deep breath and began to speak.

Everything went smoothly after that.She felt comfortable talking to him, as if the two of them had known each other all along.They kept talking until Dylan's phone died.He wants to know everything about her, her school, her hobbies, who she hangs out with, what movie she likes to watch, what book she likes to read, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, there's really not much to say.He also told her about his life in Aberdeen.He lives with Anna, his dog, without a wife or children.Simple and unencumbered.He wanted Dylan to visit him. It's been a week since that call.During the past few days, Dylan has been alternately nervous and excited about meeting him.During this period, she tried not to provoke Joan, who had clearly expressed her opposition to her contact with her biological father.She had no one to talk to, and the only time she could catch up with Katie on MSN was when Katie's crazy mom gave her five minutes to herself every now and then.Last night Katie's mum was out for the big Christmas Eve shopping, and Katie hated going out when there were so many people, so they had another sneaky chat online.Katie tried to convince her that she had classes tomorrow and should go to bed early.They were still online two minutes after Dylan received the message. oh god!I don't think she will ever leave the store.Thankfully, there are supermarkets that are open 24 hours a day. Got it, how are you doing?Is the new school annoying too? New school, still a bunch of idiots.This time it was a group of country idiots.So glad we'll be off to college by this time next year.I can't wait to get out of here!How is the prestigious Guisshal Secondary School doing recently? Tired, but something happened. Oh, tell me quickly. I called my dad. Dylan hit send and waited.Her heart was beating strangely, and she was hoping for something nice to say from Katie, hoping someone would tell her she was doing the right thing.After what seemed like a long, long pause, Katie's message finally appeared in the dialog box. So...how is the situation? Reply cautiously.Friends don't want to meddle in her affairs. Really great!He wants to meet me!His voice on the phone sounded genial.Don't understand why Joan hates him so much. Who knows?Parents are always weird.Look at me, those two are sick!Is he coming to see you then? No, I'm going to his place, tomorrow. What?This is too fast!Are you afraid? Don't be afraid, I'm thrilled to death.What is there to be afraid of? Katie's reply was also straightforward—— Liar, you are bragging! Dylan couldn't help laughing, and quickly covered his mouth with his hands.Joan would be crazy if she knew she was chatting online so late.As expected of Katie, she can always see through her disguise at a glance. Well, maybe a little bit.I don't want to think too much... I'm a little worried that if I really think about what I'm doing now, I might run away. Cool, you need to meet him anyway.If your mom really hates him, it might be a good idea for them to just stay in two cities and not see each other.how do you get theretake the train? Yes, he bought me a ticket.He said he wanted to make up for the lost decade. Dylan was holding the ticket in his hand at the moment.She should have texted her dad and told him she was on her way.He also texts, which impresses her.Joan can't even make a phone call on a cell phone. Now surrounded by the staring lady's bags, Dylan reached into his pocket with difficulty, pulled out his phone, and started texting—Dad, I'm in the car.Not too late.Can't wait to meet you.Dylan. When she hit the send button, it was dark outside the window.What a long tunnel, she thought.The cell phone was an expensive Christmas gift that Joan bought her with overtime pay.Now the words "sending" are scrolling on the screen of the mobile phone.After scrolling through this line of text three times, the phone beeped twice: sending failed. "Bastard!" Dylan can't help but mutter, trying absurdly to lift the phone above her head, even though she knows it won't help.They are still in the tunnel now.There's no way cell phone signals can penetrate rock that thick.Her arms are raised in the air like a miniature Statue of Liberty.She was still in that position when that happened.The lights went out, the sound exploded, and the world ended.