Chapter 16 15

------------------ 15 The world is so strange.You're right, Leo, old man, I was thinking as I circled around his house.Time to leave.I've rummaged through every stone in this stupid city for gold, and every time a stone hits me in the foot.fool!idiot!Opportunity is clearly lost, but I'm still wondering how much I can get from Leo at best.Look at the small group of them, all of them look very proud, but why am I such a fool?No, I was right!Dignity is priceless!What dignity?You pompous ass.You've sold and mortgaged everything.Tell me, is there dignity in being penniless?Is there dignity in stealing on the subway?Here's a rich-vein gold mine, this Thomas Mann and Bernie Kaufman union, throwing money at you, how do you... ?hell.Forget it, I muttered as I wandered the same muddy street.Well, let the past be the past.Water under the bridge.Spilled milk.

The temperature dropped sharply.The cold penetrated the skin and pierced the bones.Every bone creaked like sand.A thin layer of clear ice forms on the murky water of the roadside gutter - when it's time to eat, my grunting center boiler reminds me that it smells of cooking stew and chips fragrance.Hmm - at this time, people are pushing their stomachs to the dining table to eat their mouths full of oil... I was thinking, when Vivica found out, not only did I not get the advance payment we urgently needed, but I spent a lot of money to hire Mrs. Ni and I had a small lunch by myself, how would she react?Oh, how I wish the earth would open its mouth and swallow me whole, without leaving a single wreck of this crippled body... How are we going to get on with it until the incapacity pension is in hand?I bet there will still be a gap between now and the moment I'm declared incapacitated, what do you expect from those bureaucrats?

Shops lined the ice-covered streets began to close.A light snapped out.Another one went out.A meshed metal door outside a store slammed shut and locked with a bang.Behind the counter in a bakery, old men in white aprons are busy counting the day's receipts on their wet fingers.He shuffled the two-inch bills like a deck of cards.I leaned against the glass and watched him, and I could easily bulge my pockets and go in and ask him to borrow some money—not all of it; just a little.I can get the old man's address down, and when the government starts to file motions on my application, I can send him the money back in an anonymous letter.He suddenly stopped counting money.He looked up and saw me, paled suddenly, put the money in the cash machine, and locked the front door.

Yeah, that's what he must have thought, there were thieves, I laughed at myself, and decided to get out of the area and go up to the Bronx, where it would be easier to get a ride... God, I'm hungry again.It seems that you are a big food bag, the more you feed it, the more greedy it will be.If I hadn't had that lunch with Bernie, I thought as I trudged up the steps to the elevated railway, my stomach would probably have passed into paralyzed bliss.Well now, I have to contend with this snarling little brute. Ah, Goobsville, we're back, I thought as I turned the turnstiles, and the ticket gate attendant called me back, and I ignored him.

I muttered to myself while pacing up and down the waiting platform to keep from freezing.Soon a car whizzed into the station and stopped with a screech.Quick, I'll jump in the car.Rush hour is over.Although there are still many people in the car, I can still choose a seat in this well-ventilated compartment.I was alone in the chair, and across the aisle a gray-haired man in a striped suit and a bright tie was snoring. In the first few stops of the train, I looked up at the advertisements and studied the pig's face of this fat gentleman.He snored loudly and frowned from time to time in his dreams.Then I closed my eyes and wanted to take a nap.But my heart was in a mess, and I couldn't fall asleep. It was like a swarm of bees buzzing in my head.I don't know if I can get a ride tonight.Even if it does, what if he drops me off 50 miles from home, with nowhere to go.Such weather is not suitable for camping in the wild without a tent...

I opened my eyes, hummed and whistled, my body kept twisting, and my frozen toes were trying to move.The train traveled through lower Manhattan, then slowly climbed into the center of downtown.When I looked back down the aisle, I saw the well-dressed man still dozing off.Could it have been a stop, I wondered vacantly, as the train pulled into the Bronx without announcing the station... Bronx, I let my thoughts run amok; I was born here... no So far away...here I spent the first brief but developmentally crucial months of my life...it was here I sucked the sour milk of my young mother while my dad Trying to figure out what it takes to be a famous doctor, one moment how to be a high official, another moment how to be a penniless refugee, an insignificant person, a little man... still here , he received distressing news from which he has never been able to escape: in Poland, his mother and two sisters, my grandmother and aunt, tried to catch up to him but failed, and ended up in A square was machine-gunned, and the local farmers who offered to sell them were stunned to see what happened to them.Polish farmers.Soski family.Father, I was thinking, when I looked up, I saw a thin young man full of pustules suddenly sitting next to the sleeping man.The young man had a long pale face and bony hands.Normally I wouldn't notice him, but the car was pretty empty now.However, what makes me feel inexplicable is how one person can leave the long empty seats on both sides and squeeze on another person to sit.

I was about to clear this doubt, when I suddenly saw this thin and ugly guy stretching his thin fingers into the old man's back pocket.I was taken aback and stared at the unkempt guy, who had the audacity to pull out the wallet bit by bit, glanced into it nonchalantly, and then put it in his own pocket with such composure that you couldn't help it. imagine. For a long time, I sat in the chair and hardly moved, my heart was about to jump out, and I couldn't believe what I saw.The compartment was well lit, and there were more than twenty passengers, and this guy managed to get that guy's wallet.I still don't believe this is true.I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me?Maybe he's picking up something he's dropped from behind a chair?Maybe that's his wallet?No one seemed to have noticed the strangeness of the matter.Maybe he just—?No!He did steal that hapless purse!And in front of my face, I was furious thinking about it, my sense of justice was outraged.There was something going on here, not just stealing money, but something that shocked me and disgusted me.Something--I wish I could fucking know what it was--it pissed me off and forced me into action.But what should I do?Yelling loudly? ...that won't help...but I can't just sit there and pretend I don't see anything, I struggle with it.At this time, the guy stood up slowly and walked slowly to where I was sitting, lowered his head and grinned at me.

I looked up at the long, thin face and thought he might be carrying a knife.Is he in desperate need of food or drugs?Maybe his family is starving?Maybe.Maybe.Maybe.But I can't just sit there and let this little rascal steal the money and walk away. The idiot was standing shaking against the door.I stood up quietly and walked towards him. "That's it," I said, pointing to where he hid his wallet, keeping my eyes on him so I could dodge if he made a move. "What's the matter, buddy?" "I saw it." "See what?" He smiled and showed a row of rotten teeth. At this moment, I thought again, maybe he is as poor as me.

"I saw you take that wallet." "Go away, man, do you hear me?" he yelled, and the grin on his face became embarrassing and sinister. "Give it back," I said righteously.At this time the train was slowing down and was about to stop. "You heard what I said. Come with me!" I said, pointing at him with a finger. He looked around nervously, stepped back and pushed hard against the door, when the car stopped. The car door opened. "Bring it!" I threatened. "You want? Here you are!" He said, jumped out of the door, quickly took out the money from the wallet, then threw the empty wallet to me, turned around and ran towards the exit.

The door closed again, and I stood there transfixed, with the man's wallet in my hand. The train wobbled forward, then rumbled along the tracks.I was at a loss and looked towards the old man over there.He realized the weight of my gaze, so he smacked his lips sleepily, stretched again, yawned and opened his eyes.Then, he caught sight of the precious leather thing in my hand, and immediately fumbled in his back pocket indiscriminately. "My wallet!" he screams, pointing at our hero, louder than the roar of the train.Our hero does not even have time to ask him for an explanation. "He stole my wallet!"

"No, no," I raised my hands and squeezed out a smile on my face, which was probably uglier than the squinting eyes of the pointed long face. "Come on! Help me." He stumbled on both feet, waving his arms frantically but didn't dare to approach me, probably thinking that I had a knife on me. "Wait a minute—" I tried to explain the little misunderstanding, but he jumped away from me. "Wait a minute, please!" I said, holding out my wallet. "Look," exclaimed an old woman with gray-blue hair, "that man just stole his purse!" "I only slept for a little while," said the old fool to the turned heads of the whole car. "Call the police!" Another citizen suggested with concern. "Please listen to me, please!" I said loudly, and tried to stand still in this swaying car. I complained to the increasingly chaotic crowd and hoped for justice. "I didn't steal his wallet. I found it! Please—" "The wallet is empty," the man called out, pointing to the open wallet in my hand. "Take his money." I heard a murmur from the crowd. "Stolen!" "Stole it from his pocket!" "I saw him steal it!" an old colored woman in the back of the crowd charged me. "She saw it," someone echoed. "We have a witness," yelled someone in the illegal courtroom. "How did he steal it?" A person who had just gotten into the car joined the crowd. "I was falling asleep and he quietly took it out, and that's when I woke up." The train stopped. "Catch him!" shouted the gray-haired old woman, and her hysterical voice was transmitted throughout the car like an electric shock. "He's running away!" people scrambled to express their opinions. "Caution! The door is about to open. Catch him!" a voice warned loudly just as I saw the door of freedom open in front of me.So the moment I rushed to the platform, several hands stretched out and grabbed my clothes tightly. "I didn't do it!" I said loudly, only to feel that countless hands stretched out from the crowd were entangled with each other.I twisted my body and struggled vigorously, and at the same time threw my arms back and forth in an attempt to break free from the mob, who followed me out the door and onto the platform. "This is a big misunderstanding—" I struggled and rushed forward, finally broke through the encirclement and ran to the escalator, running up two steps at a time. "Catch the thief! Catch the thief! Catch him!" At this moment, my baggy trouser legs tripped me, and I fell on the ground, with a broken nose and loose teeth. "Come on! Police!" "Catch the thief!" After I climbed up, I had already reached the top part of the escalator, which was retracted inwards. At this time, the emergency siren of the train calling for help sounded behind me.Suddenly the whole hall was chaotic and noisy. beep.beep.beep. After arriving at the station, I was about to sprint towards the exit, when I suddenly saw two patrolling police officers running towards me outside the turnstile.Oh my God!It was me they were chasing! I immediately turned around and ran towards the escalator. "There, he's here again!" I looked down and saw dozens of fingers pointing at me. beep.beep.beep. Surrounded by me, I was flustered and hurried up the escalator that was going down.I looked back at the crowd below, and then back at the policemen waiting above, and quickly figured out what to do.A result that I didn't have a choice in appeared—it was my baggy trouser leg, which happened to get stuck in the escalator, and suddenly tripped me on the escalator that continued to run downward.I struggled to get up, but unfortunately the long escalator swallowed my trousers like a starving person, and swallowed more and more.This huge machine finally dragged me mercilessly down this long conveyor belt...down.Down.Down to the middle of the crowd waiting for me, I was still clutching the empty wallet, but the machine was still biting me. "Hey, he's back!" "Where?" "Where!" "Call the flight attendant!" beep.beep.beep.