Chapter 33 Thirty-two

maria's hobbies (1) On the day Joe went on a business trip to the north, Maria was like a brook swollen in spring, cheerfully surging with hope.Joe left early in the morning by taxi.They had said goodbye the night before, so Maria didn't see him off.She stood at the window of her bedroom on the second floor, listening carefully to the sound of the taxi engine, and watched Joe get into the car with the leather bag with the words "Gulie Clothing Company" on it.For a long time after the car drove away, Maria was still standing there smoking a cigarette and thinking about Guli Clothing Company.She thought, what kind of people are there to support this company whose business has spread all over the country and even expanded to several African countries?It is said that her husband Joe is the pillar and hero of the company, but this matter is really puzzling to her

.She knew that Joe had some talent for business, but she also knew that he was not thinking about it.Jo's thoughts were all about his books, and because of this, the spiritual life of their husband and wife had gradually drifted apart many years ago.It wasn't until the last two years, when Maria became nervous in the process of weaving those eccentric tapestries, that there was some kind of subtle communication between them again.Maria wanted Joe to travel, and was comfortable with him being away from home for a few days now and then.This is not because she wants to engage in any romantic affairs, but a desire for change.Every time Joe briefly leaves, the family grows boisterous, on the verge of something happening.For example, at this moment, she could already hear the two cats screaming frantically in the backyard, a large flock of sparrows then fell on the steps, and there was a "slapping" sound of cloth in the south wind.Even the loom on which she was weaving the tapestry rang rhythmically downstairs.

Someone was coming down the path that led into the garden. It was her son Daniel.Daniel had actually long since stopped going to school, but they both kept that from Joe.Maria let her son stay at a friend's house two blocks away.Daniel did nothing all day now, and when Joe was away, he sneaked back to help Maria tend the garden.He had recently brought a huge Dane to his house, and he had made a kennel and delivered it with his own hands, which he did with great dexterity.The Dane is very gloomy, which may be related to the climate of its hometown.But the dog seemed very at ease after arriving at their house. Although it ignored people and the two cats, it could be seen that it was very alert and had feelings for this new environment.It spends most of the day dozing among the roses.Daniel named it "Pirate".

"Mom! The 'pirates' have taken our place, are we still drinking tea here?" Daniel yelled into the house. "No, child," answered Maria, coming out with floured hands, "it won't be happy. Don't you see it trembling? The nightmare of the past still haunts it. Come to think of it, it came from a There is no daytime place to come here in half a year." Maria put the apple pie in the oven, sat in a chair, and recalled the times when she was a girl.It was a small town at the time, with only a few shops on the street and only one bar open until two o'clock in the morning.Maria's parents teach in the field.She and her grandfather spent a very lonely youth in the town.She also went to college and worked as a bank clerk, but finally returned to her hometown tired.At this time, her hometown had developed into a medium-sized city. She met Joe here, and Joe's eccentricity attracted her. She felt that this man was a bit like a cat, and he was more in line with her favorite type.They hired people to build the current house on the site where her family used to be. She quit her job and became a housewife.In Maria's eyes, Joe was constantly changing.In the first few years when they were together, although Jo also liked silence and "wandered" when talking, she did not expect him to develop into what he would become.In recent years, with the massive expansion of the city, Maria felt that her husband was "out of his mind".She doesn't like to go out, and now she feels strange to her hometown. There are some streets and some buildings that she has never been to, and she doesn't want to go.But one day, she saw her husband standing in front of the bookshelf opposite in a newly opened bookstore she went to for the first time.Maria herself didn't know why she blushed, and quickly slipped out of the bookstore.She didn't mention it to Joe when she got home.It's just that in the dead of night, she imagined that Joe was hiding somewhere she didn't know, maybe it was the basement of a bookstore, maybe next to the water tank on top of a high-rise hotel, or even right on the sidewalk of a newly built road, Read books by the light of street lamps.Maria watched as Joe's love of books consumed everything and ruined their married life.In the past few years, her husband has been "mind wandering" all the time. Even when he is talking about the company's business with great interest, Maria's discerning eyes can know exactly "what" her husband is so excited about.Joe's change brought more than frustration to Maria. After all, isn't she herself a woman who likes "changing with each passing day" in essence?What Joe's change brought to Maria was also her own mutation.Her change is not outward expansion, but limited to this home, with their house as the boundary.Maria is not very clear about what she has done specifically, she just feels that now she, like Joe, often enters an extremely strong state that is close to hallucinations.At first this state only happened when she was weaving a tapestry, but gradually things became complicated.In the past two years, she suspected that she, like her husband, had fallen into the trap of "fugue wandering". The family and her son Daniel accompanied her into this trap.Sometimes she would cry out with annoyance at the unreal feeling, and other times she would be perfectly happy.Several times, as she sat in the house and in the garden, she heard distinctly the voices of her ancestors talking, parents and grandparents, who seemed to disapprove of her present luxurious life, to her Spending money resentfully.