Chapter 85 Eighty-four

Joe decides to run away (8) "Actually, I have no place to stand..." Joe muttered these words and put the Tibet travel book into his bag, remembering that he had to go home to get his clothes.What's wrong with him, like possessed, insisting on following the advice of a stranger?Just because the surrounding atmosphere is encouraging such crazy thoughts?Who is that skinny man? How can he say that he can only go to a distant place like country C, which is not even described in the book?Yes, he has read so many books, but none of them have described that distant country.He had seen red palace walls and amber glazed tiles in the book, but he never thought that it would be country C.Joe often travels because of his business relationship, mostly to various parts of the country, and sometimes to some countries in Europe and the Mediterranean, but ancient oriental countries like country C are still only in the depths of his vague memory.He had an intuition for no reason: Maybe it was that place that Maria weaved?Perhaps he himself was drawing that invisible pattern with her? "Maria, Maria, how cruel you are, how hard you are to let me go," he said in his heart.The sun shone on him through the glass window, and a wasp wobbled over, landed on the back of his hand, and began to sting him.Joe's mind went blank.

He came home as if he was sleepwalking.Maria wasn't home, and Daniel wasn't home either.As soon as Joe entered the room, people's voices sounded from the walls. The voices were anxious and impatient, as if they were quarreling.He pressed his ear to the wall of the living room, but he couldn't hear what was being made.He went upstairs to clear his suitcases in the bedroom.When he opened the curtains of the bedroom, two wet crows stood on the window sill.The crows did not look at him, but remained motionless like statues.These two are much larger than normal and seem to be special breeds.What else should he bring with him besides clothes?He really couldn't make up his mind, because he didn't know anything about that country.He had overheard a now-disguised acquaintance say that poppies grew everywhere, that men and women smoked opium, and that sleepwalkers floated in the blue smoke.In that place, time is reversed, and one can return to one's childhood and retrieve from that time some evidence of a former life.Because I didn't care when I was listening, I didn't remember who the speaker was.On the table he found a note from Maria saying that she had delivered the tapestry and that the driver had ordered it.He felt that there was no need for him to leave a few words for Maria, because she had been looking forward to his departure.Of course, Joe was still slightly jealous—he wasn't sure about the nature of Maria's relationship with the handsome driver.But now is not the time to think about such things.

He cleared the box and went out.At the gate of his own house stood the tall woman in the black dress whom Jo had seen before, with the face of an Oriental woman and her expression impassive.Joe greeted her, and she merely nodded.Maybe she stood there by chance.At this time, the two crows suddenly yelled, and the sound resounded through the sky. At the intersection he met the black beauty again, she kept smiling at him, showing her shining teeth.Jo smiled back at her, and tried to get away from her in a panic, but she stepped aside of her own accord. He recalled his despicable behavior just now and was disturbed, because he had taken away most of the family's savings, and if he did not come back, Maria would have to sell jewelry to support her life.But it doesn't matter, she always has a way to tide over the difficulties.