Chapter 26 24 albert

This happened on the Argentina-Chile border. In this area at an altitude of 3,400 meters, a blizzard had already fallen. I fled to a small village on the roadside to take refuge, and stood under the eaves of a residential house to watch for a while.The snow kept falling and getting bigger and bigger, and it was getting late. I gave up the idea of ​​moving on and started looking for a place to camp. It is really a lonely small village, and abandoned houses can be seen everywhere.A tall and thin young man was chopping firewood in front of the house, and I met his eyes.The other party was wearing a peaked cap, and there seemed to be a haze in the eyes looking at me from under the brim of the hat.

"Hello!" I greeted with a smile, he replied blankly, and I continued to talk. "It's really cold." He replied in a low voice, yes. "It's snowing so hard." "Yes." "..." There was no response from the other party, and the conversation could not continue.He showed a faint smile and asked: "What are u doing?" "Find a place to camp." "Are you a traveler?" "Yes indeed." "Isn't it cold? Come and live at my house." I'm a little surprised.I've disturbed quite a few people so far, but no one has said "come to live with me" as readily as he did.Moreover, the person who entertained me was more or less interested in my journey, but he seemed completely uninterested, his eyes were cold, and he seemed indifferent to everything.

I followed him into the room, my face burning hot.There was a large brick fireplace in the living room, and the wood fire in it was chirping and burning quietly.Although the house is old, it is neatly organized.No, it's not so much order, alas, it's better to say it's a barren house. It seems that not long ago, this place was an empty house. "Do you live alone?" "Yes." He made two cups of piping hot black tea.We sat on the chairs in front of the fireplace, staring blankly at the flames, drinking black tea quietly.After a while, I asked him what his name was. Otherwise, he would have been sitting in front of the fire in a daze for the next few hours.

"Albert." "Year old?" "Twenty years old." What is the job? "raise cattle"; What is this house? "I just moved in half a year ago"; Where are the parents? "Live in a town ten kilometers away". I didn't mean to pry him at all, but the other party only answered the shortest sentence possible, and unknowingly turned into me asking non-stop, and he didn't seem to be particularly troubled. "Do your parents come here often?" "Never once." "...Why leave the town and live in such a remote place?"

"Because I like living alone." At this time, a smile appeared on his thin face, and then he stood up from the chair and poked the firewood in the fireplace with an iron rod. After the conversation was interrupted, silence returned.Once upon a time, silence no longer felt uncomfortable.Rather than talking about the silence, it was more like feeling a kind of leisurely atmosphere in the forest, and I didn't force myself to continue talking. The sound of burning firewood in the fireplace echoed in the room, and it was completely dark outside the window, only the pale image of heavy snow falling.

Albert made me supper, scrambled eggs with beef and vegetable soup.Although the dishes are simple, they are beautiful and humane. We drank the soup quietly. "This is dessert after dinner." I said and took out a snack from my backpack to invite Albert.He said he couldn't eat it and declined. "Do you not like it?" "It's because of illness." I looked at him, and he was still watching the fire in the fireplace. "...What's wrong with you?" "liver." With a puff, the firewood in the fireplace burst into sparks. "……When did it start?"

"When I was six years old." Compared with me who was astonished, he seemed very indifferent.At this moment, I seem to have vaguely glimpsed the unknown part of this taciturn young man frozen in his heart. For some reason, I am very excited, but I don't want to ask any more.Change the subject and continue the conversation. I took out the photos I took during my travels, and he finally showed a little curiosity on his face, asking where is this a few times?Sometimes smile.As soon as the photos were seen, the conversation ended, and there was only the chirping of the firewood in the room, but there was no need to talk.Before I knew it, I had a sense of security with my old friends.

But feeling kind to him made me start to care about certain things that had worried me a little while ago.Why did he move to this sparsely populated small mountain village by himself?Why didn't the parents come here once? "Is there something I can ask?" "Ok……" "Did you move here because you were sick?" I was expecting to hear reasons such as "the sick body is best to relax in nature", but from Albert's mouth, there was still only an unbelievable answer. "No, just because I like to live alone." The conversation stopped again, and we stared at the firelight for a long time.Finally, I gave up my wild thoughts and just spent the night quietly like this.

The next morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw a ray of white light shining through the gap in the window, shining into the dark room. I was attracted by the light and walked out of the house. The scenery in front of me seemed like a world away from last night.Overnight, heavy snow painted the whole world into pure white.The Andes mountains overlook the village, and under the blue sky, it is even more charmingly decorated. I went back to the house after a walk in the village. Albert had prepared bread and black tea, and we spent breakfast quietly. I was about to set off when he asked himself curiously:

"When will you be back next time?" "what?" I didn't understand his words for a moment, I just looked into his eyes.When I met those deep green eyes looking at me, I finally understood what he hadn't said. "I haven't decided how to go next, but I will be back." Knowing that I probably won't have a chance to come back, I still answered like this.Albert said a little shyly: "You can come back anytime." This sentence makes people feel an indescribable warmth. It turns out that I am not the only one who feels this spiritual communication from the silence, and the other party also regards me as a friend.

After we were on the road, I turned my head and waved to Albert several times, and he waved back to me gently.When his figure was no longer visible, the magnificent snow-capped mountains around me caught my sight, and I rode my bike while admiring the scenery along the way.For some reason, this incredible night spent with Albert seemed more and more like a hazy dream.