Chapter 16 16.mom and two coats

One day in that winter, it was very cold in the morning and icy in the evening.In those days, the sky was dark in the morning, and it was also dark in the evening.Anthony buttoned his little overcoat up to his chin, and the night didn't really seem to be over when he set off on the long walk to school.And when he stood at the school gate to see if his mother was driving up the road, it seemed as if the day had not really begun. Yes, she was coming, he didn't need to use his feet to walk this long distance, he didn't need to take a single step.He has to walk such a long way, and he is different from other children.Most of the students who flock out of the school's gates now live in the town.Just cross a few blocks and you'll be home before your feet warm up.Anthony was glad that as fast as the piebald could run on such a cold and windy evening, he could get home as quickly as possible.His mother climbed out of the hansom.

"Where's your coat, Anthony? Oh, it's in your hand. Put it on, honey, or you'll catch a cold." "It's okay, Mom!" Anthony said casually in front of his classmates.They often call others "little girls who are worthless".He started to put on his coat, and his mother helped him put it on, and helped him pull the sleeves of the jacket from the sleeves of the coat.He didn't want her to do that in front of her buddies.It was as if he were a little child who let his mother do everything for him. "Well," she said, "put on this now, my dear!" And she took another coat from the cart.This is the first time this has happened.One or two of the boys were already laughing, and Anthony was flushing.

"I don't want it, mother!" he muttered. "No, dear, you have to. You have no idea how cold it is to ride in the car today! I want you to. I'm sure it's going to snow tomorrow." He was still hesitating, but that was of no use.In front of everyone, she put on the second overcoat over the first.It made him feel thick and uncomfortable, but that wasn't the cause of his annoyance, what he couldn't bear was the sneer from the boys, who looked at him like a worthless little girl who depended on his mother to keep out the cold.She didn't seem to notice the children's mocking eyes at all. She pulled his sleeves up and wrapped a scarf around his neck, making him feel like a small package.He climbed into the buggy, and his mother wrapped another blanket around his thin calves, when he heard them say: "A girly boy! A girly boy in two coats! One wears two coats." Coat girl!"

His mother paused for a moment, and looked at the boys before they fell silent.Then she flicked her tongue, and the piebald trotted off.There was no way the piebald could go too fast because Anthony was sitting pitifully huddled beside his mother in the car.Anthony was ashamed, and he couldn't forgive her for doing this.He would rather freeze to death than drive home, yes, he would rather freeze to death.He knows exactly what tomorrow will be like at school.Oh, how could she do that?She should have known this already. When they got home, he didn't want to talk to her at all.She helped him out of the car, and in the warm hall, she tried to help him take off two coats, but he broke free from her hand and took off the two hateful coats by himself.He was sullen at mealtimes and remained so until he went to bed.His dad was reading and didn't seem to notice anything.His mother didn't say anything, and she didn't do anything to attract his special attention.She just said a few words in a friendly manner now and then, sometimes suggested a game with him, and sometimes sent him to fetch something for her.He reluctantly went to get her what she asked for, but he wouldn't play the game.He forgave her for refusing to do so.He will never forgive her.He went to bed without kissing her or saying goodnight.

He fell into bed when he heard his mother walk into his room.He pretended to be asleep.She came forward, stood by the bed, and said, "My dear Anthony. He didn't answer." Good night, Anthony. "No, he just didn't want to answer. "Poor Anthony!" she said softly, kissed his cheek, and left the room. He hadn't slept for a long time, and he was sick, angry, and ashamed.Tomorrow always comes. The next day came, it was dark and cold, and the snow that my mother predicted had not yet fallen.Anthony finished his breakfast in a hurry, and left home with his schoolbag in a hurry while his mother left the room to talk to Lala.He quickened his pace and rushed down the alley, holding his schoolbag on his head as he ran.He was afraid his mother would suggest driving him to school that morning and make him wear two coats on the way.He quit!This will never happen again!Even if he was asked to walk in a coat, he would not do it.He purposely left his coat, scarf, and fingerless gloves at home.He wants to show up at school with his chest open and his hands bare.He wants them to see it!

But God, didn't they notice that his neck was unbuttoned, and that his fingers were red and stiff with the cold?As soon as he got to school, they started booing: "A girly boy wears two coats! A girly boy wears two coats!" Everyone at school knew that his mother had brought him home with two coats the previous evening.Anthony knew he had acquired such a bad reputation that it would live on in the school forever.This bad reputation stuck with him forever.It will ruin his childhood. The day passed, and Anthony left school as early as possible.It could never happen again, but he couldn't stop his mother from coming to pick him up.It was even darker than the day before, and she was sure to find him in the hall without his overcoat, scarf, and fingerless gloves.

Anthony deliberately slipped around the back of the school, and he took a different route than the one she might have come by.He was going to leave the town on the back street of the town, and go directly into the open farmland, where the country roads were impassable for two-wheeled carriages.It would be twice as long to walk that way, and it would be very difficult to walk at this time of year, not to mention the pastry shop.But he didn't care at all.This kind of thing must never happen a second time. If she went to school and couldn't find him, she would be frightened.That should make his mother suffer like this.

Anthony, triumphant and panting with vengeance, ran down the back streets and across the main roads.He still had to cross a short stretch of road before he risked crashing into a cross-road fence in the field.But he passed the danger safely, without seeing his mother there at all, or meeting anyone who could tell him where he was going.By this time it was very, very dark.It was snowing as he climbed over the first cross fence and across the fields. At first the snow fell very slowly, with large flakes flying, melting quietly on his cheeks.But soon the snow fell fast, and before long it became a blizzard.The heavy snow in the air kept falling, forcing him to bow his head.Snow covered all the trails, and he couldn't even see the ground.He raised his head and couldn't see the sky.He could see nothing but darkness; he could feel nothing but thick, stinging snowflakes.After a while, Anthony got lost.

He bumped around in the farmland, turned around with one foot high and one foot low, and encountered objects of strange shapes and sizes. At this time, he couldn't even remember the uphill and downhill.Sometimes he came across unfamiliar hedges, covered with snow, which he was sure he had never seen before.He fell into a strange ditch and crashed into a strange tree.He was cold and scared and tired, so he began to cry.Oh, he's so cold, if only he'd put on that coat!Oh, he was so frightened, if only his mother came!Oh, he is so tired, if only he dared to stop and lie down! In the end he had to, because his legs were giving way.He didn't know where he was lying, he just lay there crying, crying, while the snow was still falling.Sometimes he whimpered and cried: "I'm cold, I'm cold!" Sometimes he called: "Mom, mother, mother!"

"Poor Anthony!" whispered a voice.How much like his mother's voice, he raised his head.A woman in a large cloak was bending over him.Even though it looked and sounded like her, he couldn't tell if it was his mother.He held out his arms to her and murmured, "I'm freezing, mother, I'm freezing!" "Poor Anthony," she went on, "we must get you a coat. But which one is the best?" She thought a moment, and then cried, "ba-baa!" A fluffy lamb came trotting across the snow. "Oh, mom, what's the matter?" "Anthony is cold, I need a coat."

"Then let him wear mine!" said the lamb, taking off the whole fluffy sheepskin.The woman wrapped it around Anthony's body and said, "This is the way to go!" "I'm still cold, I'm still cold, one coat is not enough!" Anthony cried. "Quack-quack!" said the woman, and a wild duck flew down from the sky. "Oh, mom, what's the matter?" "Anthony is cold, he needs two coats." "Then let him add mine!" said the duck, taking off its feathered coat.The woman put duck feathers over the sheepskin and said, "It's better now" Not enough! ’ Anthony wailed. "Coo-coo!" said the woman.A pigeon flew down from the tree. "Oh, mom, what's the matter?" "Anshone's cold. He's going to wear three coats." "Then let him wear mine too!" said the pigeon.It also shed its downy feathers, and the dove's feathers covered the duck's. "How are you feeling?" the woman asked. "It's not enough!" Anthony said. "Moo-moo!" said the woman.From the hedge came plodding a calf. "Oh, mom, what's the matter?" "Anthony is cold. He needs four coats." "Then let him put mine on!" Maverick said.It took off its skin.The woman covered the dove's feathers with cowhide. "Are you warm enough now?" she asked. "It's almost there now," Anthony said softly. "What?" said the woman. "You want a fifth coat, don't you? Whose coat will keep you warm enough, poor Anthony?" Her voice sounded sad, but her face kept Smiling, and at the same moment she stretched out her arms to him, and Anthony crawled into her arms, her cloak wrapping him tightly. He finally felt warm enough, and fell asleep. He was still in his mother's arms when he awoke, and the hansom was nearly home.John Bowden was driving the carriage. Anthony blinked and looked at his mother in a daze, and his mother hugged him tightly and said, "It's all right, honey, it's all right." It turned out that she ran into John on the way home from school. Bowton, the two of them went looking for Anthony, and they found his textbooks strewn about beside the cross-road fence, and later found Anthony lying in the field beyond the fence.It was the bull's-eye lamp they had used to find him, the lamp that Anthony had long envied in the shop window.His mother told him quietly that she bought it for him when she was driving to school in the afternoon, and now the lamp belonged to him.Anthony whispered, "Oh, Mom!" He had never felt so warm inside. When they got home, John Bolton carried him into the house, and they had to take all kinds of things off him to show him what he really was: his mother's cloak, a big scarf , John Bowden's leather vest and his own two overcoats.Anthony counted the items one by one as they took them off. "Five in total!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "I have five in total!" His mother laughed, and his father gave John Bowden some money for a drink, when Baba came hurrying to take him to a hot bath. "You're lucky if you don't have a bad cold!" she scolded. But Anthony felt he didn't care if he had a bad cold. "Can I take the light away so I can see it in bed?" Just when Baba was about to say "How about that!" Mom said, "Of course, dear." "Bull's-eye lamp!" Baba rephrased and snorted, "you are not worthy of this lamp, you naughty little boy!" "Come on, Baba!" said Anthony's mother. He took a shower, drank a cup of hot tea, and then looked at the lamp inside and out.Mother came, sat by his bed, and told him many strange things about Russia, and especially told him what they did in winter. The next day, whether it's any wonder, Anthony didn't have a cold at all.Baba said that he was lucky to have escaped, but no matter what he said, he should be kept at home.But Anthony begged him to go to school, and his mother decided it was okay to let him go. As soon as he got to the playground, someone yelled at him, "Mother's darling wears two coats!" Anthony went up to the boy and said, "Two coats, bah! I was wearing five coats yesterday." Well! That's nothing. In Russia people still wear nine and ten overcoats. When it's cold, their houses have two layers of windows, two layers of doors, one outside the other. Their ears and noses If they freeze, they just knock them off like glass. Besides, I have a cow and a lamp now." "What, isn't it the one in the shop around the corner?" the boy asked. "You don't need to ask, it's the one. Just look!" Anthony said, "With it, you can really look for things in the dark with it." "My God!" said the boy, taking the bull's-eye lamp in his hand, and fiddled with the light barrier, while the other boys crowded around to watch.