Chapter 19 19. Oysters

I can recall all the details of a past event without having to strain my memory.It was a rainy autumn evening, and I was standing with my father on a bustling Moscow street, and I felt a strange illness take hold of me.There was no pain at all, but my legs bent down involuntarily, the words I wanted to say were stuck in my throat, and my head was tilted to one side weakly... Obviously, I would soon fall down and lose consciousness. If I were sent to the hospital at this time, the doctors would definitely write "hunger" on my medical record card-this kind of disease cannot be found in any medical textbooks.

My own dad was standing next to me on the sidewalk.He was wearing a very old summer overcoat with a wad of cotton peeping out of a fedora hat.On his feet were a pair of large and heavy rubber rain boots.The worldly man was afraid that others would see that he was wearing rain boots on his bare feet, so he put a pair of old leather boots on his calves. This poor, slightly befuddled eccentric, my love for him grew stronger and stronger as his well-made summer coat grew more and more worn and grimy.He came to the capital five months ago and wanted to seek a clerical position.For the past five months, he has been running around in the city, looking for things to do, until today he made up his mind to go begging on the street...

Opposite us is a tall three-story building with a blue sign: "Hotel".My head was thrown back limply, sideways, and I couldn't help looking up, at the brightly lit windows of the hotel.A figure flickered in the window.The right half of a port organ could be seen, two crude tempera paintings and hanging electric lamps... I stared at a window and saw a whitish mass.It was motionless, square in outline, and stood out against the dark brown surroundings.I squinted my eyes and recognized it was a white sign hanging on the wall.There are words on it, but I can't make out what Ning is exactly...

For half an hour, I couldn't take my eyes off the sign.The whiteness caught my eye and seemed to hypnotize my brain.I tried to read the words on the sign, but my efforts were in vain. Finally, the strange sickness began to show its power. The whining of the carriages sounded to me like the rumble of thunder, and I could distinguish a thousand odors among the stench of the street, and the hotel lights and street lamps were blinding lightning bolts to me. .All five of my senses are on high alert, hypersensitive.I started seeing things I never saw. "Oysters..." I finally read the words on the sign.

What a weird word!I have lived in this world for a full eight years and three months, how come I have never heard this word once?What does it mean?It can't be the surname of the innkeeper, but the surname sign is usually hung at the gate, not on the wall! "Dad, what is an oyster?" I struggled to turn my face to my father and asked hoarsely. Father did not hear.He is watching the flow of the crowd intently, watching everyone who passes by him... I can see from his eyes that he wants to say something to passers-by, but the fatal words that are as heavy as a weight always hang on his shoulders. On his trembling lips, he couldn't spit it out.He even took a big step towards a pedestrian and touched his sleeve, but when the person turned his head, he quickly said "I'm sorry" and backed away with embarrassment.

"Dad, what are oysters?" I asked again. "An animal... that lives in the ocean..." I immediately imagined what this sea animal, never before seen, looked like.It should be something between a fish and a shrimp.Since it lives in the ocean, it can definitely make a very delicious hot soup with pepper and bay leaves, or a pot of hot and sour soup with crispy bones, or a shrimp paste-like soup. juice, or frozen with Jerusalem artichokes... I vividly imagine how people bring this animal back from the market, clean it up quickly, cook it quickly... hurry, hurry, because everyone is hungry ……Very hungry!The smell of fried fish and shrimp soup wafted from the kitchen.

I feel the scent tickle my palate and nostrils, and gradually the sensation spreads all over my body... The hotel, my father, the white sign, my sleeves, all smell of it.The aroma was so strong that it made me start chewing.I chewed and swallowed as if I had a real oyster in my mouth. I felt great satisfaction, but my legs couldn't help but bend. I was afraid of falling, so I grabbed my father's sleeve and pressed my body tightly against his wet summer coat.Father tightened his body and shivered.he has a cold... "Dad, are the oysters vegetarian or meat?" I asked. "This thing is to be eaten raw..." said the father. "It has a shell, like a tortoise, but... it has two shells."

All of a sudden, the umami scent stopped tickling me and disillusioned me...now I get it all! "It's disgusting," I whispered, "It's disgusting!" Oysters turned out to be just that!I'd always imagined it to be something like a frog, and now this frog was hiding in its shell, looking out with bright eyes and wagging its hideous jaws.I imagined how people brought this shelled, stinging, shiny-eyed, slimy animal from the market... All the children hid when they saw it, except the cook, who frowned in disgust and scratched Take a big sting, put it on a plate, and bring it to the dinner table.Adults pick it up and eat it... eat it raw, including its eyes, teeth, and claws!But it squeaked and bit people's lips hard...

I frowned, but...but why did my teeth start to chew?The oyster was hideous, repulsive, and repulsive, but I ate it anyway, gobbling it up for fear of tasting it and smelling it.After eating one, I have seen the shiny eyes of the second and third... I ate them all... Finally I ate the napkin, the plate, my father's rubber rain boots, and the white sign . . . I eat everything my eyes see, because I feel that only by eating can I get better.Those oysters, with their eyes open horribly, are so ugly that I shudder to think of them, but I will eat them anyway!eat! "Give me the oysters! Give me the oysters!" The cry burst from my chest, and I stretched out my hands forward.

"Please, gentlemen!" I heard my father's low, suppressed voice, "I'm ashamed to ask, but, my God, the boy can't stand it!" "Give me the oysters!" I yelled, grabbing at the back of my father's coat. "You are so young, don't you know how to eat oysters?" I heard someone laughing beside me. Before us stood two gentlemen in bowler hats, laughing and looking into my face. "You little one wants oysters? Seriously? Interesting! Do you know how to eat them?" I remember that at this time a strong hand dragged me into the brightly lit hotel.Soon a group of people surrounded me, laughing and looking at me curiously.I sat down at a table and began to eat something slippery, salty, damp and musty.I gobbled it up without chewing, looking, or trying to figure out what I was eating.I felt that if I opened my eyes, I would see a pair of shining eyes, pincers and sharp teeth.

I suddenly chewed something hard.Gaba bit it into pieces. "Hahaha! He even ate the shell!" People laughed, "Little fool, can this be eaten too?" I remember being very thirsty afterward.I was lying on my own bed, but I couldn't sleep because of the pain all over my body and the smell from my hot mouth.My father walked from corner to corner, waving and gesticulating. "I think I've caught a cold," he muttered, "and I feel like there's someone in my head... probably because I haven't... that... haven't eaten today... I'm, really, a little Strange, stupid... I see that those gentlemen paid ten rubles for the peys, why don't I go over and ask them for a few... lend me some money? They will probably give it to me." I didn't fall asleep until the next morning. I dreamed of a frog with a sting, a shell, and eyeballs that kept rolling.At noon I woke up thirsty, opened my eyes and looked for my father: he was still walking around, waving his hands and gesticulating...

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