Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Daytime

When Tom awoke next morning, he was in a particularly cheerful mood, not knowing why, until he remembered that he had discovered the garden.What he had seen in the hall seemed quite impossible, but the view of the garden from the back door was vivid in his mind, and he was beginning to feel that getting to that garden was not as easy as he had imagined it to be the night before. .Uncle and aunt will try their best to prevent him from playing in the garden, or why have they been hiding it from him?Thinking of this, Tom was very dissatisfied with his uncle and aunt, and decided to expose them on the spot.But be very careful, pretend to ask some innocent questions, and use tactful methods to let them know that they want to go to the garden to play.

At breakfast, Tom went to work on his plan. "You say it's a lie, don't you?" Tom said to his uncle and aunt. "Of course not, Tom," answered my aunt loudly, "it's always wrong to lie!" "I mean, do you guys think it's okay to lie sometimes?" "Is there still a right to lie? Uncle Allen likes to ask rhetorical questions when discussing issues. He folded the newspaper in his hand, cleared his throat and said: "I guess you mean what are usually called innocent lies, don't you?" ? " "Not exactly," said Tom. "I mean, there's a guy who doesn't know where his favorite thing is, because he's not told. He's told there's no such thing in order not to let him use it." stuff, so you don't have to worry about it."

Aunt Gwen couldn't figure it out, and asked, "Then what is it that some people don't want others to know about and don't want them to use?" "It's someone else, not someone else," Tom corrected her. "That thing, that's..." "Thermos?" Aunt Gwen guessed. "No." Tom wanted to find something between a thermos and a garden, "More like a big outdoor couch." "I don't think I've ever heard of such a thing!" said Aunt Gwen. "A big outdoor couch? " "It doesn't matter what it is, Gwen," said Uncle Allen, a little impatiently. "If I get Tom's point, his problem is that somebody or people is lying for their own convenience at the expense of another person or people. Is that what you mean, Tom?"

"Yes," said Tom, "I was wondering if you thought such lies might be true. I was just thinking." "Among all kinds of lies," said Uncle Allen. "The kind of lie you refer to is certainly the most inaccurate, obviously quite false." He looked gravely at Tom. "Tom, I'm amazed that you doubt that," he said, packing up the papers and mail and heading off to work. "Never mind, Tom," said Aunt Gwen. "Uncle Alan has a good sense of right and wrong, and he says so himself. I'm sure you'll be like that when you grow up."

"I know right from wrong now," said Tom angrily. "It's because some people don't know." Except for Uncle Allen, Tom didn't want to contradict Aunt Gwen, it would be too petty to do so.But magnanimous thoughts are often thrown out of the blue by a little wronged.Tom is very wronged in his heart now: he is obviously right, but he is said to be wrong, and those who criticize him happen to be the ones who have done wrong things. After Tom helped his aunt clear the table, he walked with her to the kitchen sink, his eyes sullen, and he slowly wiped the dishes. "Aunt Gwen!"

"Tom, what's the matter?" "Thank you for putting flowers in my bedroom before I came." "Tom, dear, I didn't expect you to notice." "Did you buy the flowers?" "Yes, but not much." "It would be much more convenient if you could pick them from your own garden." "Yes, but this apartment building has no garden." "Really not?" "Tom, what do you mean by that?" "I mean, what a pity! It would be nice if there were a garden behind the house, with a lawn, and trees, and flowers, and a greenhouse! Wouldn't it, Aunt?"

"Tom, wouldn't it be better if we had a pair of wings and could fly freely?" "Aunt Gwen, what would you think if you went downstairs and out the back door of the building right now and picked some hyacinths by the flower beds? What do you think, Aunt Gwen?" Tom told Aunt Gwen almost all he knew about the garden, and contradicted her. But Aunt Gwen was neither alarmed nor ashamed.Instead, he laughed.She said, "If nothing else, Tom, I'd be astonished if you could come back with a hyacinth flower anywhere out of doors now." "real?" "Now this season the hyacinths don't bloom outdoors. It's summer, and the season for hyacinths to bloom is over. See how wild your imagination is!"

"It's the season when I'm out in the open and see... the hyacinths... blooming," Tom stammered, panicked. "No, Tom. The hyacinth season is long gone." Tom put down the dirty plates and cutlery and said, "Aunt Gwen, may I go downstairs?" "What are you going to do, Tom?" "Go down for a walk, you won't do anything bad." "Don't go down now. Mrs. Bartholomew always comes down to wind the great clock at this time every morning." His aunt did not let him go downstairs, but made him more anxious to go downstairs.Tom thought to himself: She's making excuses to stop me from going to the garden again.Tom was still worried, not so much that he would run into Mrs. Bartholomew, but that the garden he had seen the night before would disappear.

Tom ran down the stairs in three steps at a time, and said that he had seen hyacinth flowers last night, with their receding petals and refreshing fragrance.I saw these with my own eyes last night, and I will definitely see them now.As long as the back door is closed, you can see the whole garden again. He went to the back door, turned the handle, and found it locked.He found the latch as he had done yesterday.But the plug didn't fit.The hairy roads around the bolt are covered with iron embroidery, which doesn't seem to grow overnight.Tom tried to turn the latch, but the rocker pin didn't budge, it had been rusted for years.What is installed on the door now is a common cylinder lock.Tom turned the lock handle, and hesitated as he was about to open the door.He was very nervous, as if there was a lump in his throat.Maybe he should go upstairs and lie in bed, feeling dizzy and cold.

Suddenly Tom was angry with himself, and reproached himself aloud: "Don't be a fool! I tell you the garden is there! It's in the same place!" He flung the door open, his eyes squinting in the morning sun. The backyard is not big, the ground is paved with stone bricks, surrounded by a wooden fence, and there is an exit.There are five garbage cans in the yard leading to the road, and an old car is parked next to it.Two thighs in trousers protruded from under the car.A bundle of newspapers was blown around in the yard by the wind.The yard smelled of sun-baked stone and metal, mixed with fresh paint on the wooden fence.

The person lying under the car got out when he heard the sound of the door opening.The man had a short turmeric beard. "Hello!" he called to Tom, "who are you?" Tom didn't answer.The man went on to say: "Oh, I know you are the child of the Kitson family who lives on the second floor facing the street. How do you feel bored here?" "Yes," said Tom. "Are you the one on the ground floor by the yard?" "Yeah!" replied Turmeric Beard.He looked at Tom curiously, and felt that the boy had a peculiar voice. "Do you have a maid in your house to light the fire for you?" "what?" "You don't have—and don't you have a garden?" Tom stood in the doorway, talking, tears streaming down his face, and his ginger beard confused. "Hey, what's going on?" "Leave me alone!" Tom turned, and hurried up the building. "Wait a minute! Don't go!" Ginger Beard's voice was somewhat commanding. "Listen," Tom stopped, fighting back lonely tears. "Yes, I don't have a garden." The man said softly. In the silence, they heard the ticking of the big clock in the building and the sound of someone walking downstairs slowly. "Mrs. Bartholomew is down to wind up her precious clock," whispered Ginger Beard. "Don't you run into her. There's never been a child in this building, and perhaps she doesn't like children." Tom hid behind the door, covering his face with one arm so that no one could see his tears.But he opened his eyes slowly again, peeping over his arm. The sound of shambling footsteps was getting closer and closer, and the figure of Mrs. Bartholomew appeared.She was old, short, stooped, and dressed in black. Mrs. Bartholomew went to the grand clock, took a key from her handbag, and with it opened the door of the grand clock's pendulum case.From the box she took out a small, polished object that looked a little like the crank handle of a toy car.She put her hand into the upper part of the box, and probably pushed the latch of the glass door of the clock, and the door swung open.She inserted the small rocker handle into a small hole on the right side of the clock face and turned it, and the clock made a soft whizzing sound.She winds up the right side and then the left.After winding up, she closed the bell door, put the winding key back into the pendulum box, locked the box again, and went upstairs slowly, gradually her footsteps died away. As Tom watched Mrs. Bartholomew wind up the clock, his mind gradually calmed down, and he began to think about the garden.It is true that the garden was gone this morning, but it was true to see it last night, with hyacinths and all kinds of flowers in it.He went back to the backyard and carefully observed the outside environment, trying to find the connection between the garden last night and today's backyard. Outside the backyard fence, there are small patches of garden, which belong to the small red brick houses next door. .There was an old yew tree in the garden of one family.The tree must have been pruned back then. Tom looked at the yew tree for a long time with some hope. "What's the matter with you?" Yellow Beard said. "Nothing," replied Tom, "thank you for telling me about Mrs. Bartholomew's going downstairs. Good-bye!" Tom walked slowly and thoughtfully back down the hall.That tree may have something to do with last night's garden, but it was in someone else's garden.The inability to enter this building is of course also related to the garden last night, but the building cannot speak and will not tell him anything.He had just turned to go upstairs, when he heard the ticking of the big clock, he suddenly remembered: the big clock has something to do with the garden. He turned around and walked to the big clock, and began to study it carefully.The case of the clock is very ordinary, and there are twelve numbers on the clock face.But the picture above caught Tom's attention, and he thought it was very special and interesting.On the semi-circular wooden frame above the clock face, a monster like a man was drawn, with huge wings, wrapped in white silk, with a round face painted with gold, and two feet of gold.One left and one right to fork.One foot is on a piece of grass, the other is in the sea, and fish and seaweed are painted beside the feet.In one hand was an open book. What exactly does the picture on the clock mean.Tom couldn't figure it out.So his thoughts turned again to the yew tree outside the fence in the back yard.He said to himself: "It seems that the fence is easy to climb over." Tom had been hatching his own plans all day.He wrote a letter to Peter - the first in a series of important reports he wrote.He described what happened last night to Peter in as much detail as possible, and also told Peter his plans for tonight.He wanted to ask Palisade to go to the neighbor's garden to see the yew tree. He thought it must be one of the many trees he saw in the garden last night. He wanted to take a good look at the tree and climb it. To find clues. After Tom finished writing the letter, he wrote the words "destroy after reading" on the top of the letter paper.From now on, Tom wrote these four words on all the letters to Peter, except the postcard of the steeple of Ely Cathedral, so it was not destroyed. this evening.Tom went to bed on time as usual.He pays close attention to what's going on around him. Uncle and aunt don't go to bed tonight. Tom fell asleep twice.Then he woke up suddenly. He got up and went to the door to look out. There was still a light coming from under the door of the next bedroom. When he got up for the third time, he found that the lights had gone out.To be on the safe side, he waited for a while, and then, like last time, he tiptoed out of the door and came to the hall downstairs.He heard the big clock start to strike, it was probably twelve o'clock in the middle of the night. "I wish the moon was up high already," Tom prayed inwardly. "I need moonlight to walk through the backyard. It'd be bad if I tripped over in the dark with a dumpster car or something making a noise." The big clock struck the thirteenth when he reached the back door and was feeling the handle of the lock.He fumbled and couldn't find the handle, and the cylinder lock he had seen during the day was gone. He didn't understand what was the matter, so he felt for the latch and found that the latch was locked.He thought to himself: I understand now, I understand!With hands trembling with excitement, he pulled the latch, which was oiled and smooth. The big clock kept ringing, and Alan Kitson upstairs was woken up. He turned over, arched his back, and said angrily: "What a mess, it's twelve o'clock, and the ghost clock strikes!" What is it!" His wife didn't answer. "Damn it, knock on and on, and wake up Mrs. Bartholomew!" Alan Kitson would be disappointed to see Mrs. Bartholomew at this moment.She was lying peacefully on the bed, and in a glass of water beside the bed was soaking her false teeth, which looked like a mouth smiling strangely under the moonlight.But her shriveled mouth is slightly upturned, and she is smiling in a sweet dream.She was dreaming of her childhood. The big clock was still ringing, as if it had forgotten what time it was.Tom happily unlatched the door, turned the handle, opened the back door, and walked into his garden, which he knew was waiting for him!