Chapter 4 Part Four: The Man Who Lives by the Railroad Tracks

David's room has a strange structure.The roof was low and sprawling, sloping where it shouldn't, giving the spiders plenty of room to spin their webs.More than once, when David was in a hurry to turn to a darker corner of the bookshelf, he found that his face was covered with cobwebs, which also caused the little guy weaving the web to retreat to the corner in a hurry, lurking maliciously, only thinking about it. Seeking revenge for the spider web.In one corner of the room there was a toy chest, in another a coat chest, and between them stood a chest of drawers with a mirror on top.The room was painted a bright blue so that on a nice day it looked like a part of the outside world, especially with the ivy hanging around through the walls and the occasional bug that became food for the spiders.

The little single window overlooked the lawn and woods.Standing on the box stool, David could see the steeple of the church and the roofs of the nearby village.The City of London lies quietly in the south, but it could also be said to be in Antarctica, for the trees and woods completely hide the house from the world.The box bench by the window is David's favorite place to read.The books still whispered to each other, but now David would tell them to be quiet if he was in the mood.Still, they were willing to keep quiet while he was reading, as if they were happy as long as he was "consuming" the story.

It's summer again, so David has plenty of time to read.Dave had tried to encourage him to make friends with the kids who lived nearby, some of them evacuated from the city, but David didn't want to mingle with them, and neither did they, and they saw sadness and The indifference that refuses their approach.So the book took the place of the other children.The old fairy tale books, in particular, were eerie and sinister with handwritten additions and newly drawn illustrations, which made David even more fascinated by them.They also reminded him of his mother--it was good to think of his mother because of books--and whatever reminded him of his mother would also keep Rose and her son George out of his reach.When he wasn't reading, the position gave him a perfect vantage point to see another rarity in the garden: a sunken garden nestled in the middle of the grass near the edge of the woods.

This sunken garden looks like an empty swimming pool, led by four stone steps into a green rectangle with a stone path on the side.The lawn is regularly cleared by Mr. Briggs, the gardener, who comes every Thursday to tend the trees and lends a helping hand to nature when necessary.But the stone part of the garden has been in disrepair for a long time, the walls are full of cracks, and the stone carvings in one corner have all been broken away, revealing a big hole. If David wanted to go through there, he would have no problem, but he always Just stick your head in it, never go any further.It was dark and musty above the garden, full of all sorts of invisible worms running around.David's father once suggested that the sunken garden would be a good place to make an air-raid shelter if necessary.So far, though, he'd only managed to pile up some sandbags and some corrugated tin in the garden shed, which annoyed Mr. Briggs, and now he had to go around them every time he got his tools.The Shen Garden became David's private outdoor space, especially when he didn't want to listen to books and Rose's well-intentioned but unwelcome intervention in his life.

David doesn't get on well with Ross.Although he always tried to be as polite as Dad told him to be, he just didn't like her and resented that she was now a part of his world.It was annoying enough that she had taken, or was trying to take, Mom's place, but it was more than that.David was annoyed that she tried to cook his favorite dishes for each meal in the crucible of rationing.She wanted David to like her, and David hated her even more. David also believed that Rose's presence distracted his father and he no longer remembered his mother.He had forgotten her, was bound to Rose and their newborn child.Little George was a headstrong boy who cried so much that he always seemed ill, so the local doctor became a regular visitor to the house.Dad and Rose spoiled him so much that he kept him awake almost every night, both grumpy and exhausted.As a result, David was left to himself more and more, both grateful for the freedom George had provided him and frustrated that his needs were being ignored.But in any case, he has more time to read, which is not a bad thing.

As David's enthusiasm for old books grew, his desire to know their former owners grew stronger, to know that they must have belonged to someone like himself.At last he found a name, Jonathan Talvey, on the inside covers of two books, and he was curious to know something about him. So one day, David, enduring his boredom with Ross, came to the kitchen.Rose was working there, and Mrs Briggs' wife, Mrs Briggs, the housekeeper, was in Eastbourne to see her daughter that day, so she had to do the housework herself.From outside I could hear the clucking of the hens in the farm, which David had helped Mr Briggs feed earlier.He also helped check the vegetable garden that had been damaged by rabbits and any holes that might have let the fox in.Mr Briggs also trapped a fox at the house last week.The fox was almost decapitated by the trap, and David felt sorry, but said nothing.Mr. Briggs had scolded him, and said that if the foxes came into the chicken farm, they would kill all the hens, but it still made Davy sad to see the dead animal with its small, sharp tongue. There was a torn fur protruding from the middle of its teeth, where it would have bitten off to escape the trap.

Before sitting down at the end of the table and greeting Rose, David set himself a pair of Borric Lemon glasses.Ross put down the dishes he was washing and turned to talk to David, his face glowing with pleasure and surprise.Davy had planned to try to be nice and ask her a little more, but Rose, probably not used to this kind of conversation that had nothing to do with what to eat and when to go to bed and not just monosyllabic words with a straight face, Immediately seized the opportunity to build a bridge of communication between the two of them, so David's expressive ability did not unfold.She dried her hands on a rag and sat down beside him.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said, "just a bit tired, George, and everything, but it's going to pass. It's kind of weird it took so long. I bet you feel the same way, the four of us all of a sudden Tossed together. But I'm glad you're here. The house is too big for one person, but my parents want to keep it. It's... important to them." "Why?" David asked.He tried not to look interested.He didn't want Rose to find out that the only reason he had come to talk to her was to know the house, especially his room and the books in it. "Well," she said, "this house has been owned by our family for a long time. My grandparents built it and lived here with their children. They wanted it to stay in this family and have always had children They live here."

"Are those books in my room theirs?" David asked. "Some are," said Rose, "others are their children: my dad, dad's sister, and-" She paused. "Jonathan?" David reminded.Rose nodded, looking sad. "Yes, Jonathan. Where did you know his name?" "It's written in some books. I was wondering who he was." "He's my uncle, my dad's brother, but I've never met him. Your room used to be his bedroom, and a lot of the books belonged to him. I'm sorry if you didn't like the books, I thought the room Pretty good for you. I know it's kind of dark in there, but there are so many shelves and books, of course. I should have been more thoughtful."

David didn't understand. "But why? I like that room very much, and I like those books." Ross turned around. "Oh, nothing," she said, "it's okay." "No," said David, "please tell me." Rose softened. "Jonathan disappeared. He was only fourteen years old. It was a long time ago and his grandparents still made his room exactly as they wanted him to come back to them. But he never came back A child disappeared with him, a little girl. Her name was Anna, and she was the daughter of a friend of my grandfather's. That friend and his wife died in the fire, so my grandfather brought Anna back to live with them Together. Anna was seven. My grandpa thought it would be good to have Jonathan have a little sister and Anna a big brother to take care of her. They must have gotten lost, I don't know, anyway, something happened and they disappeared Yes. It's very, very sad. They searched for a long time, scoured the woods and the river, followed all the towns around where they could go, and even went to London to put up their portraits, but no one claimed to have seen them.

"At that time, they had two other children, my father and a younger sister, Catherine, but the grandparents couldn't forget Jonathan, and never stopped looking forward to Jonathan and Anna coming home. Especially my grandfather, never from them When I recovered from the disappearance, I seemed to blame myself for what happened. I think this is why he died young. When my grandma passed away, she told my dad not to touch that room and leave the books where they were. at, say, in case Jonathan came back. She never gave up hope. She cared about Anna too, but Jonathan was her eldest son, and I think she stood by her bedroom window every day she passed. Look outside, hoping to see him coming down the garden path--he's grown up, but still her son--and telling her funny stories that happened in his absence. "My dad did what she said and kept the books as they were. Then, when my parents died, it was me who did it. I always wanted to have a family of my own, I guess I thought, Jonathan loved him so much Books, he would love to have another boy or girl in his room one day and appreciate those books instead of letting them rot and no one reads. Now, that's your room but if you want to move to another room , yes. There are many places." "What did Jonathan look like? Did your grandparents tell you about him?" Ross thought about it. "Oh, I used to be as curious as you and I asked my grandparents about him. I think I did a lot of research on him. My grandparents said he was quiet and liked to read, you can guess, Just like you. One thing is funny: he loves fairy tales the most, but he's also scared by them, and what scares him the most is his favorite stories. He's afraid of wolves, I remember Grandpa saying that once I said. Jonathan would have nightmares of wolves chasing him, and not ordinary wolves - because they came from his stories, so they could talk. They were smart - wolves in his dreams, and dangerous. I Grandpa tried to take those books away from him because his nightmares were so scary, but Jonathan wouldn't leave his books, so Grandpa would always give in and give them back to him in the end. Some of the books were very old and they belonged to Jonathan I guess some of them would be worth a lot if someone hadn't written on them a long time ago - some of the words and pictures weren't originally in the book. My grandpa thought it must have been selling the book A masterpiece for the man who gave it to him, he was a bookseller in London, an eccentric guy. He sold a lot of children's books, but I don't think he liked children very much. I think he just liked to scare them." Rose is staring out the window at the moment, wallowing in memories of her grandpa and missing uncle. "My grandpa went back to that bookstore after Jonathan and Anna went missing. I guess he thought people with kids would buy books there, maybe they or their kids might know something about the two missing kids. But when he brought When he walked down the street with the problem, he found that the bookstore was gone. It was completely wrapped up, no one lived in it, no one worked there, and no one could even tell him the owner of the bookstore, the little man Something happened. Probably he died. My grandpa said he was very, very, very old." The rapport between David and Ross is interrupted by the doorbell ringing.It's the postman, and Rose goes to fetch him.When she came back, she asked David if he wanted something to eat, and David said no.He was already angry with himself, even if he knew something about it, how could he reduce his aversion to Rose?He didn't want Ross to feel that everything was grand between them, because there wasn't.So he left Rose alone in the kitchen and went back to the room by himself. On his way back to his room, he stopped by to check on George.The child fell asleep quickly in the crib, the large inflatable cap and pump on one side.It's not his fault he's here, David tried to tell himself, he didn't ask to be in this world.David still couldn't bring himself to treat him badly, and something ripped apart every time he saw Dad hugging the new guy.He is like a symbol, a symbol of all mistakes, all changes.After Mom died, it was just David and Dad, and they grew closer because they only had each other to rely on.And now, Dad has Rose, and a newborn son.And David, well, he has no other relatives.He was alone. David left George, went back to his penthouse, and spent the afternoon flipping through Jonathan Talvey's books.He sat by the window, thinking about how long ago Jonathan sat there.He had walked the same hallways, ate in the same kitchen, played in the same living room, even slept in David's current bed.Perhaps, somewhere at the same time, Jonathan was doing all the things, and David and Jonathan were at different stages of history, occupying the same place in space, so Jonathan walked through David's life like a shadowless ghost. The world, without knowing that I am sharing the same bed with a stranger every night.The thought made David shudder, but the thought of two boys who were so alike could share and connect in this way made him happy. He wondered what happened to Jonathan and the little girl Anna.Maybe they ran away—although David was old enough to understand that there was a big difference between absconding in a story and a fourteen-year-old boy dragging a seven-year-old girl to escape in reality.If they ran away for any reason, it didn't take long before they were tired and hungry and regretted their escape.Dad told David, if he got lost, to call the police, or ask some grown-up to help him find the police.But he doesn't seek out a man alone, and generally turns to a woman, or a man and woman together, and possibly a man and woman with children.Dad would say, you can never be too careful.Had that happened to Jonathan and Anna?Did they talk to someone they shouldn't have spoken to?Did someone not want to help them, but kidnapped them and hid them somewhere no one could find them?Why did that person do that? Lying in bed, David felt that there must be answers to these questions.Before Mom left home for the last time to check into the non-hospital hospital, he heard her tell Dad about the death of a local boy named Billy Golding who disappeared on his way home from school one day up.Billy Golding didn't go to the same school as Davy, and he wasn't his friend, but Davy knew what he looked like, because Billy was a great football player and played in the park on Sunday mornings .People say that someone from Arsenal came to talk to Mr Golding and wanted Billy to join their club when he grew up, but other people said that Billy made it up and there was no such thing.After Billy disappeared, the police came to the park on two consecutive Sunday mornings to talk to anyone who might know what happened to Billy.They also talked to David and Dad, but David couldn't help, and the police never came to the park after the second time. Then, a few days later, David heard at school that Billy Golding's body had been found by the railroad. That night, as he was getting ready for bed, he heard his parents talking in their bedroom, and that's when he realized that Billy had been found naked. The police had arrested a man who lived with his mother not far from where the body was found. In a clean hut far away.From the way his parents spoke, David knew that something terrible happened to Billy before his death, which was related to the man in the clean cabin. That night, David's mother made the extra effort to walk from her room to kiss David.She hugged him gently and reminded him again not to talk to strangers.She told David that he had to go home directly after school, and if a stranger approached him, gave him candy, or promised him a pigeon as a pet, as long as he followed him, then David would try to move forward as fast as possible Go; and if the man still wants to follow him, David goes at once to the first family in sight and tells them what happened.In any case, he could not, must not, go with a stranger, no matter what the stranger said.David told his mother he wouldn't.He thought of a question when he promised his mother, but he didn't ask.She looked worried enough that David didn't want to worry her so much that she wouldn't let him go out to the party.But until his mother turned off the light and left him alone in the dark room, the question still remained in his mind: But what if he asks me to go with him? Now, in the other room, he thought of Jonathan and Anna, and wondered if there was a guy who lived in a clean cabin, who lived with his mother and always had sweets in his pocket, and told them to come with him By the side of the tracks? There, in the dark, in his own way, he played with them. At dinner that evening, Baba talked about the war again.David still didn't seem to think the war had anything to do with him, all the fighting was happening far away, even though they'd seen some of it on newsreels when they went to the cinema.War sounds so exciting, but in reality it is very different, much more boring than David had expected.Yes, there were teams of Spitfires and Hurricanes flying over the roofs, and there was always a dogfight over the Channel.German bombers had made repeated raids on airfields in the South End and even dropped bombs on Cripplegate St Giles parish in the East End ("typical Nazi behaviour", in Mr Briggs's words, but According to Dad's more reasonable explanation, this was a compensatory move, to destroy the Thames Port refinery).Still, David felt himself distracted from all these things.It's nothing like what's going on in his back garden.In London, where no one would go near the wreckage, fragments of bombed German planes were picked up as souvenirs, while parachuting Nazi pilots often provided citizens with thrills.Here, though only fifty miles from London, it was very quiet. Dad folded the Daily Express next to the plate.The newspaper is much thinner than before, with only six pages left.Because they've rationed paper, Dad said. The Magnet had ceased publication in July, which cost David Billy Bunter, but there was a monthly paper, BoysOwn, which he always kept in order, along with the Fighter books. Lean together. "Are you going to war?" David asked his father as soon as dinner was over. "No, I shouldn't think that way," Dad said. "I'm more used to doing something for the war in my current position." "Top Secret," David said. Dad smiled at him. "Yes, top secret," he said. But David shuddered at the thought: Dad could be a spy, or at least know a lot about spies.If so, it is the only interesting thing in war. That night, David lay in bed, watching the moonlight streaming in through the window.The sky is clear and the moon is bright.After a while he closed his eyes, and he dreamed of the wolf and the little girl, and the king of a dilapidated castle, fast asleep on his throne.The railway ran along the castle, and all the shadows moved in the tall grass beside it.There was a boy and a girl, and the twisted man.They disappear from the face of the earth.David smelled gummies and peppermint balls, and heard the little girl's cry, which was drowned out by the roar of the oncoming train.