Chapter 6 Chapter Six

It was a four-mile walk from here to his family's village: one more mile from the junction where he turned, but annoying Russell was determined not to take him, and from the junction he had three more miles of crooked paths. . The Saab disappeared into the night.Arthur stood watching it go, dazed, like a man who thinks he's been blind for five years and then suddenly discovers that he's just wearing a hat that's too big. Arthur shook his head vigorously, hoping that some obvious truth would then line up, but the obvious truth, if any, did not emerge.So Arthur was on the road again, hoping for a satisfying refreshing walk, and maybe some satisfying blisters, so that if he wasn't sure he was sane, he could at least be sure that he existed. real.

10:30 He arrives, as he sees through the greasy, steamed window of the Horse and Groom tavern, where for many years there hangs an old broken clock with a picture on its face , a wine glass ridiculously stuck in the throat of an emu. It was in this tavern that he spent that momentous lunch hour, and first his house, and then the whole earth, was destroyed, or so it seemed.No, fuck it, just destroyed.If it hadn't been destroyed then, where had he been for the past eight years?In addition, Russell told him just now that those yellow Vogon spaceships were just hallucinations caused by drugs, but if there were no spaceships, how would he have been running around in the past eight years?But if the earth is indeed destroyed, what is he standing on now?

He stopped thinking about it. He had thought about this problem more than twenty times, but there was never any result. Then he started thinking again. It was in this tavern that he had had that significant lunch hour, and during that time, something had happened, whatever it was, and he was trying to figure it out now, and... It still doesn't make any sense to think about it this way. Then he started thinking again. It's in this tavern... This is a tavern. The tavern served booze, which he never missed. His confused thinking finally continued and he came to a conclusion, even if it was not the purpose of his thinking, he was still very happy with the conclusion.So he strode towards the door of the tavern.

Then stopped. A small black wire-haired dog ran out from under a low wall, saw Arthur, and began to bark at him. Arthur knew the dog, he knew it well.This is the dog of a friend who works in the advertising industry. It is called "the guy who doesn't know anything" because the hair on its head is all upright, reminiscent of the president of the United States.The dog knew Arthur, too, or at least he should.It's a stupid dog that can't even keep up with a teleprompter, which is why people call him that.But at least it should have recognized Arthur, instead of standing there bristling with fur, as if Arthur was the most terrifying ghost that had ever appeared in its stupid life.

So Arthur took a few steps towards the window, and instead of looking at the suffocating emu, he looked at himself through the glass. It was the first time he suddenly saw himself in a familiar environment, and he had to admit that the dog did make sense. He now looks like something farmers use to frighten birds that steal their crops. If he walks into the tavern like this, it will undoubtedly cause all kinds of discussions.To make matters worse, there must be people he knew in the tavern at this time, and they would be overwhelming him with questions that he now felt he couldn't handle.

Take Will Smithas, for example, the owner of the dog named "Know Nothing."That dog is so stupid, once shot a commercial for Will, he completely ignored the other bowls of meat that were poured with motor oil, still couldn't recognize the bowl he was supposed to eat, and it didn't make it in the end. Will was definitely in there.His dog is here.His car is here.It was a gray Porsche 928S with a sign in the back window that said: "My other car is also a Porsche." The damn guy. He stared at the car, and suddenly realized something that he hadn't noticed just now.

Will Smithas, like most of the crazy bastards Arthur knew in advertising who made too much money, changed cars every August and told people his accountant made him do it.In fact, his accountant is desperately trying to prevent him from doing this, trying to spend less money on it. —Besides, it was the old car that Arthur remembered.The license plate is marked with the year. Assuming it was winter, and the event that caused Arthur so much trouble happened in September, then although eight years had passed by Arthur's own time, here it might have been only six or seven months. Arthur stood there dumbfounded, letting the "guy who didn't know anything" jump up and down and bark in front of him.He was aware of an inescapable fact: he had become a stranger to his own world.The thought nearly made him faint.No matter how hard he tried, no one would believe his story.Because that not only sounds absurd, but also clearly contradicts the truth.

Is this really Earth?Was there even the slightest chance that he was mistaken? The tavern was right in front of him, and every detail was unbearably familiar to him—every brick, every peeling painting; and he could feel the familiar dullness, noise, and warmth inside, the exposed room. Beam, the worrisome cast-iron lampstand, the sticky beer-stained bar counter on which many people he knew put their elbows on, peeping through holes cut in the cardboard at the Girls holding packets of peanuts.This is his hometown, his world. He even knew the damn dog. "Hey, 'know nothing'!"

The voice of Will Smithas came, and he must immediately decide the next move.If he continued to stand here he would be seen and all the tricks would begin.Hiding would only delay all that.And it's a little cold now. It was Will, so it was easier.It wasn't that Arthur didn't like him - Will was a funny guy.It's just that he's in advertising and always wants you to know how funny he is and where his money comes from, which is annoying. Thinking of this, Arthur hid behind a van. "Hey, 'know nothing', what's up?" The door opened and Will stepped out, wearing a leather bomber jacket.He once had a colleague of his at Road Discovery Studios drive a car over the jacket to create the tattered look. "I don't know anything," cried happily, and happily forgot about Arthur because he got the master's attention as he wished.

Will is with a few friends who play with the dog. "Nazis!" they shouted at the dogs in unison, "Nazis, Nazis, Nazis!!!" The dog barked furiously, jumped up and down, and almost barked his little heart out to vent his anger.They all laughed, got into their car one by one, started it up, and disappeared into the night. Well, that at least says one thing, Arthur thought from the back of the van, this is indeed the planet I remember.