Chapter 4 Chapter 4 The Goldfish in the Glass Tank

Chapter 4 The Goldfish in the Glass Tank J I wondered what they would do without me. 33 It must be interesting to see the place where you usually live for the first time.But you'll never be able to do that unless you're dead.You may be unconvinced and say, "When I was a baby, it was the first time I saw the world. What I saw was full of new and strange things." But you are wrong.You should think of those babies who actually don't understand anything, don't understand anything.All they can see are the eyes and mouth of an adult, and all they can hear are: "Oh, what a cute little baby!" "It doesn't make any sense at all.

At that time, you were only half a minute old, and you had no concept of what was good and what was bad, what was interesting and what was boring.At that time, it was impossible for you to really see the world.This is not at all the same as when you came to the earth in a flying saucer and saw the planet for the first time! But Arthur and I felt this way. We looked down from a high altitude, and we flew lower and lower, like a big bird diving from a plateau to a basin. Although we're flying, I generally feel like I'm coming home - I think you know what I mean. For example, I feel that I am a bit like a distant relative, such as a cousin or something, and it is the kind that returns to my hometown from a far, far away place. ——It feels a bit like a wanderer returning from afar.Everything around you is familiar to you, and you are a part of it, but you cannot blend in with it, and you will never be able to affect the things around you.You look out at the world like a goldfish in a glass tank.

34 We flew below the clouds. "Great! Arthur." I exclaimed excitedly.Arthur did somersaults in the air without waiting for an answer.I also learned how he flipped one. "Hey, where are we going?" I asked Arthur. "You follow me," he answered, "come down with me." As we swooped down, I saw many familiar sights.Church spires, high-rise buildings, open squares, and neon billboards.The neon lights are on 24 hours a day, but only in the dark are they really "excited". How should I put it, Arthur and I are the kind of elves who "get excited" in the dark.You should often read in books that all kinds of ghosts come out in the middle of the night, and I think we should be counted as one of them by now.It's really exciting to think about it, I'm already a ghost.I've become a guy who haunts the night.When I think of this, I want to laugh, and 80% of you will laugh too. I can pretend to be a ghost in the middle of the night to scare people. I really don’t know how many of the living people’s ideas are correct!Am I going to hurt someone?I can hardly scare ducks, geese, and turkeys.

We fly over the city, and the traffic below is heavy.There are noisy sounds everywhere on the ground, that is a real world.We are separated from it by an invisible shield. We can only see, but cannot enter this world, and we cannot have any influence on this world.At least that's what I thought at the time.Of course, my thinking is not entirely correct in hindsight. 35 "This way," Arthur said to me, "we'll go see the slot machines." "Slot machine?" I didn't understand, "What's that?" "You'll understand in a moment, come with me."

He flies ahead and I follow him behind.We are now flying at about the same height as ordinary buildings, flying over the top floors of office buildings, and flying over the guest rooms on the highest floor of big hotels. "Harry!" Arthur called to me as we flew through a window.There was a man sitting in the room. The space in front of him was so large that he could even play table tennis, and it was a doubles for four people.With such a large room and such a large table, it seemed that he was a big man.But to be honest, his behavior is very childish, because he is picking his nose with his fingers.

"Let's go in and see!" Arthur flew into the room through the window. To be honest, there is nothing good about that man. I have never seen such an ugly face.It's so bad that if I were writing in school I'd describe it as "the ugliest face ever." Arthur yelled at the man, "Hey, Elmhead! Where's your manners?" But he kept poking his nostrils like we didn't even exist - to him , we do not exist.At this time, someone knocked on the door, and he immediately pretended to be reading the documents, "Come in!" Another man walked in and handed him some documents to sign.After signing, he looked at the important part of the document and let the person leave.He picked up his notebook again and started doodling.Draw villains, play with matches, and that's what you do when you're impatient to wait.Maybe this guy is a big shot, because there are a lot of documents that have to be signed by him to be valid, but he also kills time by drawing little people and playing with matches, waiting for 5 o'clock when he can get home from get off work.

"Can't he see us?" I asked Arthur. "Of course not!" he replied. "We're ghosts, you know? We're ghosts. Well, let's go, to the slot machines, this way." As soon as we flew out of the house, there was a voice behind us. "Hello, boys!" When I looked back, it was a young lady, very good-looking, flying behind us.She looked younger and dressed more modernly, but not as modern as me, but far less dated than Arthur. "How do you do, Miss Trow!" returned Arthur. "How are you doing?" "It's not bad, Arthur," she said. "Don't be so full of complaints. There are plenty of people who are not as good as me."

I didn't understand what she was saying, but without asking her, I watched her fly down and into the cathedral through a window. "Who is she?" I asked Arthur. "Miss Trow." "Who is Miss Trow?" "Then I don't know. All I know is that Miss Trow is Miss Trow." "Is there anything she hasn't done?" I asked Arthur. "Not sure," he answered me, "but it's about love. I think it is, about real love, and that's what she hasn't done. Let's go, too." He swooped down the next street again, and I followed him.He turned a corner into a casino called the Golden Corridor—a place my mother would never have let me waste time and money on.

We went in and Arthur looked around to see if anyone was playing the "slot machines". Not far away, an old man put a coin into the slot, and suddenly all the lights on the machine flickered—that thing might be called a slot machine, I guess.Looking at it like that, the old man lost very badly today, and I'm afraid he even lost his money.But he didn't stop, and had to try his luck again.Only when he gets four strawberries in a row can the old man have a chance to make a fortune.We watched as he took the last coin out of his pocket. Then Arthur said to me, "Look!"

Arthur began to stare at the slot machine with all his strength, his face was deformed, and he seemed to be concentrating all his attention on one point. Click!The first is strawberries. Arthur smiled happily, and he focused again. Crash! Or strawberries. The old man's eyes widened, and his breathing almost stopped.He also got two strawberries in a row before, but in the end he didn't even win a dice. Click!Crash! Now it's the third strawberry. Click! the last one.four!Four strawberries in a row!The slot machine was quiet for a moment, then suddenly poured out all the coins.

"I won!" cried the old man, "I won!" The casino owner couldn't believe his eyes, because he had tampered with every machine, and it was impossible for the old man to win. The winning coins filled the old man's pocket.He plans to go out and find a bar to celebrate today's victory!When he was almost at the door, he took out another coin and dropped it into another machine. "It's just a matter of chance," he said. I saw Arthur frown again, staring at the machine, concentrating on one point. Unlike the previous machine, this one has to get a row of silver stars to win.The old man pressed the start button. Silver star, silver star, silver star, still silver star! ! With four silver stars in a row, another pile of coins fell down.The old man danced happily.But this time the boss of the casino was in a hurry, and hurried the old man out of the casino, and never let him insert coins again. "Sorry, we closed early today." The boss announced. But the old man didn't want to leave: "I'm very lucky today, I haven't won enough, I can't stop now." "Then please take your luck elsewhere," said the boss, "we can't afford your luck here." The casino owner shut the gates and locked the windows. I saw Arthur was very happy, and I'm sure he must have done it. I asked him, "Arthur, did you do it?" "Of course," he said, "it's easy, as long as you concentrate." The casino owner dismantled both the Strawberry and the Silver Star. "How the hell did it happen?" he muttered. "Impossible?" "Arthur," I said, "don't you think we have to hurry up, bud?" "He won't find out I did it," said Arthur, "he'll just think it was a mechanical malfunction." Arthur was sure of it all. It's hard to feel sorry for the casino owner, even though it was Arthur's fault. Anyway, I only feel sorry for the "lucky" old man. 36 Arthur walked through the closed casino doors, which is normal for a ghost, and I followed, out into the street. "Where would you like to go, Harry," Arthur asked me. "Is there anything in particular you would like to go?" I've thought about it a long time ago, I can't wait to get there right away, I can't wait for a moment.That is-- "I'm going to go home and see how my dad and mom are doing, and Yadan, and Art—my cat, and—" But Arthur didn't seem at all interested in where I wanted to be. "Harry, I don't want to go to your house," said Arthur. "I took you out to wander about, to see the same old faces and old places!" "We can still go to my old school, Arthur!" I kept saying, "I'll show you my classmates and my seat in the classroom. I bet they put my The seats are filled with flowers, memorabilia, or whatever, and they're beautifully decorated. That's for sure." "Harry—" He tried to cut me off, but I wouldn't listen, too much to hold back. "Listen to me," I continued, "come and see my house, my school. I'm going to show you the park where I often play football, and I go there every weekend. And I'll show you where I used to ride my bike, and show you where I got hit by a truck. There's a swimming pool, Arthur, I used to go there, and—" "Come on, Harry?" said Arthur, "I'm not—" "Listen, Arthur," I continued at length, "let's go, now. I'll introduce you to Yadan, she's my sister. But that's not her real name, she should be called Yadanting, I Guess it might be the name of some kind of flower, but I don't know for sure. You'll like her, she's a nice person. Although we used to fight a lot, it wasn't a real fight, I mean, siblings in a normal family do of? Choose Arthur—” "Listen, Harry!" Arthur began again, but my voice overcame him.I have made up my mind, I must go to the old place where I stayed before.I really want to see my mom, my dad, and my sister.Many friends also want to see it.I wondered what they would do without me. "Come on, Arthur!" I said. "Come on, let's go to school first." Because it's broad daylight, and there must be no one in the house.Yadan was still in school (she went to a girls' school, which was different from mine), and my parents had both gone to work, so we had to wait several hours before anyone would be home. "Harry, wait!" I slowed down when I heard Arthur calling me, but I still walked north of the city to find a green space, which was my school's playground. "Wait a minute, Harry!" he was still calling me. "It's not that simple. You have to know something, Harry. You have to know something. Wait a minute!" But I can't wait any longer.I am a stubborn person. Once I make up my mind, the nine cows will not be able to pull me back. "Wait, Harry, wait for me!" Arthur kept calling me.But now I'm flying fast in the air, passing through buildings of all kinds, and flying freely in the bustling streets.Skimming over the air, it's like "floating", jumping over ripples and bubbles one after another. "Wait, Harry! Wait, wait!" Arthur's cry was getting farther and farther away from me. I'm not in the mood to wait for anyone now, even if the devil calls me, I won't wait.Speaking of the devil, I often wonder who is the devil?Where does the devil live?How come I haven't seen him once?You know what I think about this?I don't think there is any devil at all.Devils are made up to swear at people or scare children, but in reality there are no devils at all.Unless you have a ghost in your heart, make up a devil to scare yourself.Devils, fears, anxieties, and monsters in the wardrobe are all made up by ourselves.