Chapter 27 J of Clubs...If this world is an illusion, then there must be a great magician behind it...

We decided not to have breakfast on board until we arrived at our destination, Puerto Patras.Dad set the alarm for seven, an hour before we arrived, but I woke up at six. When I opened my eyes, I saw a magnifying glass and a bun book on the bedside table.When that sly little face appeared at the window last night, I forgot to put away the magnifying glass and the book.Fortunately, Dad didn't find out. Dad is still sleeping.When I awoke, it was always on my mind that Freud had promised to tell the story of the dwarfs on Hans Island.So, before my father turned over and woke up (he is used to rolling on the bed for a while), I quietly opened the bun book and continued to read.

"When the ship was at sea, we sailors gathered all day long to play cards. I always carried a deck of cards in my pocket. After the shipwreck, I drifted to this island with nothing on me except a deck of cards from France. Playing cards. When I first arrived on the island, for the first few years, whenever I felt lonely, I would pull out my playing cards and play a game of solitaire. The images printed on the playing cards were the only ones I could see on the island Drawings. I did not play only the solitaire game I learned back home in Germany and on the ship. Using the fifty-two cards I had at hand—plus the time I could kill—I was soon devising innumerable new tricks, inventing Various new techniques for playing solitaire. After a while, I started to give each card a different personality trait. I began to see them as members of four different families. The 'Clubs' group. Skin deep Brown, short and stocky, with thick curly hair. The 'square' group is slender and slender, and their manners are more elegant. Their skin is crystal clear and white, and their silver hair hangs straight from the top of their heads. As for the 'red heart' group, they are simple Seriously, they were more enthusiastic and cheerful than any other group. Speaking of the 'Spades' group - my God! They were very tall and strong, with pale skin, thin dark hair, and black eyes like sharp knives Sharp, with a cold and serious expression on his face.

"After a while, every time I played a solitaire game, the 'characters' on the playing cards would appear before my eyes. It felt like a genie would come in and out of a magic bottle every time a card was played. The genie That's right - the four major families on the card not only have different appearances, but also have very different personalities. The 'Plum Blossom' family, compared with the reserved and sensitive 'Quan Fang' family, behaves more sluggish and stiff. It is related to temper Compared with the fierce and irritable 'Spades', 'Red Hearts' are much more friendly and cheerful. The members of each family have different personalities. 'Diamonds' are all sensitive and easy to be hurt, but only 'Diamonds' Three' burst into tears at every turn.

'Spades' are all a little irritable in temper, and 'Ten of Spades' is the most violent.In this way, I created fifty-two invisible beings, who lived with me on the island.Later, the number became fifty-three, because the originally useless buffoon card in the playing cards also began to play an important role later. " "What's the role?" I asked after hearing this. "I don't know if you can imagine the solitude of being alone on an island. The island is eerily silent. I've encountered animals of all kinds, sometimes waking owls and hexapods in the middle of the night, but none of them Who to talk to. After a few days on the island, I started talking to myself. A few months later, I started talking to playing cards. I laid out fifty-two cards on the ground and formed a big Circles. I pretend they are real people of flesh and blood, like me. Sometimes, I'll pick up a card and talk to him endlessly.

"After I played with it every day, the whole deck became dilapidated. The sun exposure gradually faded the color on the cards, and then I couldn't even see the pattern clearly. I put the whole broken deck into a small wooden box. , still preserved to this day. The 'characters' on the cards live in my mind. I can play solitaire in my head. I don't need the actual cards anymore. That feeling, like a person with an abacus After using it for a lifetime, one day I suddenly discovered that you can calculate numbers without an abacus. You can also calculate 'six plus seven equals thirteen' without any calculator. In this way, I continue to talk to my invisible friend every day. Gradually, They started responding to me—in my head. Their responses were clearest and most vivid when I was sleeping, and we were like a little society. In my dreams, these characters said what they liked and did what they liked. I can do whatever I want, free and unrestrained. Therefore, every night, I will not be as lonely as during the day. These fifty-two cards gradually develop their own temperament and personality. They live in my subconscious, playing the roles of king, The roles of the queen and the people are as flesh and blood as real human beings.

"I developed a deep friendship with some of these cards. In the beginning, I often chatted with 'Jack of Clubs' for hours. I also liked to joke with 'Ten of Spades', but this guy has a bit of a temper Irritable, not easy to mess with. For a while, I secretly fell in love with 'Red Heart Yao'. Life on the island is so lonely, I can't help but fall in love with the woman I created. Her image is always in my mind.She always wears yellow clothes, with blond hair draped over her shoulders, and her eyes are emerald green like jewels.On the island I miss a girl day and night.Her name is Stine), and she is my fiancée back home in Germany.

Poor, her lover was lost in the sea. " Having said that, the old man Frod stroked his beard.For a while, he just sat quietly and said nothing. "Young man, it's late at night," the old man finally said. "You haven't had a good rest after the shipwreck. You must be very tired, right? Let's continue my story tomorrow, okay?" "Not tired, not tired," I begged him, "I want to finish listening now." "Okay! Anyway, I have to tell you everything before I go to the Harlequin's Feast." "The Harlequin's Banquet?"

"Yes, the Harlequin's Feast!" The old man stood up and walked across the hall to the back of the house. "You must be hungry, right?" he asked. I nod.The old man went into a small kitchen and brought out several plates of food.The plate is made of glass, very beautiful and bright.He put the food on the table between us. I originally thought that the food on the island must be very simple and rough. Unexpectedly, what Floyd brought out was a plate of toast and buns, followed by a plate of various cheeses and French-style flatbreads. .Then, he took out another jug, which contained a crystal clear white liquid—I guess it must be the milk of a six-legged monster.Dessert was a large bowl of more than a dozen fruits, some of which I recognized, such as apples, oranges and bananas.Others are specialties of the island.

We ate before Frod went on with his story.The bread and cheese here taste different from what I used to eat.The hexapod's milk is also much sweeter than cow's milk.What shocked my palate the most was the plate of fruit.The taste of some fruits is so different from the fruits I have tasted before, I can only be amazed. "I live on this island, and there is never any shortage of food," said the old man. He took a round fruit about the size of a pumpkin and cut off a slice.The pulp is yellow and very soft, somewhat like a banana. "One morning, it happened," Floyd continued of his experience on Magic Island. "The dream I had that night was very clear. I got up early in the morning and walked out of the cabin. The dew on the grass had not dissipated, and the sun was rising from behind the mountain. Suddenly, two figures appeared on the eastern hill, step by step toward I walked over. I thought that visitors had finally come to the island. I was so excited that I went forward without thinking. When I approached them, I was shocked and froze. It turned out that these two people were 'J of Clubs' and 'K of Hearts' in playing cards!" I couldn't believe my eyes for a moment.I think I'm probably still asleep, but I've clearly woken up.This sort of thing often happens in dreams.Whether it's a dream or not, I can't be sure in a hurry.

"When these two people saw me, they greeted each other familiarly, as if meeting old friends. In fact, from a certain point of view, we can also be regarded as old friends. "King of Hearts said to me: 'Morning, Floyd, the weather is fine this morning.' It was the first sentence I heard on the island other than my own. "J of Clubs followed up and said: 'Today, we intend to do something meaningful.' King of Hearts K said: 'I ordered the construction of a new wooden house.' "We really started construction right away.For the first two nights, the two of them stayed with me in my cabin.When the new house at the foot of the mountain was completed, they moved in there.

"They were my equals in every respect, with one exception—a very important exception. They never noticed that I had lived on the island longer than they had. Somehow they always didn't." Be willing to face the fact that they are nothing more than things I create in my head. Of course, our human minds are like that. Our minds do not test themselves. However, my brain creates These characters are different from ordinary thinking products. They follow a mysterious and unexplainable path from the creative space in my mind to the external concrete world, living under the sky just like us human beings.” "Then... how is that possible!" I was dumbfounded. Frode ignored my doubts and continued in one breath: "Other card characters appear one after another. What surprised me the most is that when the newcomer comes, the old one never rejects him, just like two people meeting in the garden, No big deal. These dwarves knew each other as soon as they met, and chatted endlessly, as if they had known each other for many years. In some ways, they were indeed old friends. They lived together on the island for many years, because I When dreaming at night and fantasizing during the day, they often get together to chat. "One afternoon, I was chopping wood in the woods at the foot of the mountain, and I met Hearts for the first time. I guess, she was in the middle of the deck. I mean, she wasn't the first A batch of cards dealt, and not the last batch. "At first she didn't see me, she just wandered around in the woods alone, humming a beautiful and moving song. I stopped what I was doing, listened to her song, and couldn't hold back my tears while listening. Eyes popping. I think of my fiancée Stine. "After hesitating for a while, I finally mustered up the courage and called her in a low voice: 'Red Heart!' She raised her head to look at me, then walked towards me, put her arms around my neck, and said softly : 'Frod, thank you for coming to see me. How would I live without you?'" This question is very pertinent.Without me, there would be no her in this world.But she doesn't know this fact, and I must never tell her. "Hong Xinyao's lips are so rosy and soft, I can't wait to give her a good kiss, but somehow I hold back. "The number of newcomers increased day by day, and the island became more densely populated. We built new houses one after another to accommodate them. Before long, a brand new village formed around my house. I no longer felt alone. We created A society has been formed, each member has a special position. As early as thirty or forty years ago, this card society was completed, with a total of fifty-two members. There is only one exception. The clown joined last. Sixteen Seven years ago, he appeared on the island for the first time. He specializes in making trouble. The appearance of the clown has ruined the peaceful and idyllic atmosphere of our new village. I will tell you about this later. Hans, tomorrow is another A new day. Life on the island has taught me one thing: We always have a tomorrow and a new day.” It's incredible what Freud told me.I still remember clearly every word he said that night. How could the characters in the fifty-three dreams suddenly jump into the real world and become flesh and blood, living "people"? Floyd nodded and said: "In just a few years, those fifty-three cards have all crawled out of my mind and jumped to this island where I live. But, did they enter the real world, or did they enter the real world? Sinking into fantasy? This is a question I have been thinking about. Although I have lived with these friends for many years - we have built houses, plowed fields, prepared food together, I have always doubted that these 'people' around me are real Have I entered the eternal world of fantasy? Am I lost—not only on an island, but in my own imagination? If so, will I ever find my way back to the real world? ? These questions have been lingering in my mind. "I didn't know for sure that my life here was real until I saw the 'f of squares' take you to the village well. You're not a new buffoon in that deck, are you, Hans? You're not from my dream, are you?" Old man Floyd raised his head and stared at me pitifully. "No!" I replied immediately. "I am not what you dreamed about. Let us turn the matter around; if it is not you, it must be me. Then I am the one who is dreaming those strange things you told me." Dad turned over suddenly on the bed.I quickly jumped out of bed, put on my jeans, and stuffed the bun book in my pocket. Fortunately, Dad didn't wake up right away.I went to the window and stood behind the curtain.The land appeared before my eyes, but I was not in the mood to watch it.My heart is in a completely different time and space. If what Freud told Hans was true, what I read must be the greatest poker trick in the world.It's already staggering enough to conjure a whole deck of cards out of nothing, but Floyd, an old man, can actually turn fifty-two cards into living people - this is not magic, it's so bizarre and unbelievable up. Since then, I've been skeptical of everything told in Bun's book.But, I also started to see the world with new eyes.In my mind, the whole world, with all the people living in it, is just one massive magic show. However, if this world is really a magic show, there must be a great magician behind it.I hope, one day, I can catch him or her; but how can you catch a magician if he never shows up on stage? Papa pokes his head out from under the curtain.He danced with excitement at the sight of the coast of Greece. "We are almost at the home of the philosophers!" he declared.