Endless Debt

Melodious tunes flowed in the restaurant car, passengers murmured in low voices, knives and forks collided with the plates, making a crisp sound. Children ran happily in the narrow aisle, causing passengers to exclaim from time to time.

Irwin was sitting in the corner, with a cup of hot coffee and a simple sandwich in front of him. He leaned on the corner between the chair and the compartment wall. He could observe the entire carriage by raising his head.

The boring man was quickly forgotten by Irwin. He spread out his notes and observed the passengers, writing down his fantasies about them.

As a poet, Irwin has always wanted to write a work in which fantasy and reality coexist. It may not satisfy everyone, but Irwin himself will absolutely love it.

Along the way, he regarded many people as his writing materials and collected them into his notes. Some people were not outstanding, and Irwin would only write a few simple strokes. Some people were much more interesting, and Irwin would tell them. A lot of pen and ink.

For example, the guy who was eating a lot of food.

Due to the fatigue of the journey, most of the passengers had little appetite, and this was just to relieve their hunger. But that passenger was different. He seemed to have been hungry for several days. Sandwiches for two, grilled sausages for two, and Burgers, orange juice for two...

Within a few minutes, the other party swept away the food on the table like a wind and a cloud, rubbed his bulging belly, and burped several times.

"A fellow with a good appetite."

Irwin described the passenger in his notes and wrote his label at the end.

Suddenly, for a moment, the two of them looked at each other. Irwin often encountered this situation. Spying on others would inevitably attract the other person's attention. Irwin smiled and nodded to the other person.

A friendly greeting can often resolve such embarrassing situations.

The other party also smiled and nodded. Just when Irwin thought his narration could be finished, the other party stood up, then picked up the uneaten half of a burger and half a glass of orange juice on the table, and walked over in a swaggering manner.

"Hey! Friend, what are you writing?"

The man sat down unceremoniously and occupied half of the seat.

Irwin felt his facial muscles freeze.

"Hmm...some writing material."

When answering, Irwin did not stop writing and added a few more labels at the end, such as "Jilai cooked" and so on.

The man looked happy, "That means...you are a writer?"

"That's right, but I prefer to call myself a poet. The poet has a sense of romance, like a bird flying as he pleases, while the writer is a bit serious, and sounds like an old man wearing glasses with a vicissitudes of life on his face. .”

Irwin explained, "Yes, I'm a poet."

"Huh, poet? There aren't many poets these days," the man exclaimed. "Nowadays, everyone is more eager to become rock singers and movie stars."

Irwin shrugged, then asked, "What about you? What do you do?"

The man was silent for a moment, thinking about how to explain his profession to Irwin, and soon he came up with an idea.

"Salesman."

"ah?"

An unexpected answer.

"Our company operates a wide range of businesses. When some places cannot handle it, we will send salesmen like me on business trips to solve the problem locally."

While the man was narrating, Irwin added a few more words. He had met many people along the way, and this was the first time he had met such a talkative guy like a man.

"So you're recording me?"

The man pointed at the note and said, "Treat me as writing material?"

Irwin confesses, "Yeah, I like to draw everyone I meet and then add them to my story so I feel like it has a little more authenticity to it."

"This... this is like an actor in a movie. The story is fake, but the actor is real."

Irwin measured the man's reaction. Some people didn't like this. Irwin would sometimes be scolded or punched.

Seeing that the man remained silent, Irwin continued, "If you think this offends you, I can tear out this page."

The man waved his hand and said excitedly, "No, no, no, this is the first time I have encountered such a thing."

Irwin couldn't understand.

The man looked troubled as he rambled on, "I actually love reading. I even had the idea of ​​writing a book for a while... You should understand this, right?"

Irwin followed, "I can understand that, especially when you see the worse stories."

"Yes! That's what it feels like!" the man shouted excitedly, "Damn it, guy, whatever you wrote, let me do it!"

Irwin's eyes sparkled. He didn't expect to meet such an interesting person on this boring journey, and then he extended his hand.

"Irvin Fleischer"

The man held hands with Irwin decisively, but when he mentioned his name, the man hesitated.

"Pa...you can call me Shaw Albert."

Palmer lied that this was a false identity for his trip.

Irwin then asked, "Can I put your name in my story?"

Palmer responded, "Of course."

In the subsequent chat, both Irwin and Palmer felt that the other party was just a passer-by who had a good conversation. After tonight's conversation, there was no possibility that the two of them would interact with each other. It’s about discovering the harmony with the other person.

In the end, the two looked at each other passionately, as if they were good friends who had met each other so late.

Palmer relied on his sense of comedy from personal experience to successfully impress Irwin, who wrote a large page of his notes eloquently.

As the heir to the Clerks family, Palmer has received an aristocratic education. He has a vague sense of nobility about him, but once he opens his mouth, this sense of nobility will disappear in an instant, and he will tell random jokes. , like a hungover young man wandering the streets.

Irwin hasn't met such an interesting person in a long time.

The same is true for Palmer. His hobbies are wide-ranging and peculiar, and it is rare for him to talk to them. Even with Boluogo, he spent a lot of effort to recommend his hobbies to him.

But Irvin was different. Irwin could talk a few words about everything Palmer mentioned, and even understood it more deeply than Palmer did.

The happy time ended soon. Palmer had a mission. If he didn't go back for too long, it would inevitably cause worries to others.

"this is my address."

Palmer quickly wrote a line of text. This was not Palmer's real address, but a unified fake point for the Bureau of Order to facilitate field staff to contact others.

Palmer came and went like the wind, leaving Irwin no time to react. Looking at the address from Opos on the note, Irwin sighed softly.

I thought that after traveling such a long way and meeting such people, the world would no longer surprise me.

Irvin still walks too little.

After clearing the tableware on the table, Irwin returned to his carriage. Dewar, who was sitting opposite him, disappeared. Irwin guessed that the other person might hate him and changed his position.

The train began to slow down, and many spots of light appeared in the dark night. It arrived at the next platform. It was already late at night, and there were only a few passengers on the platform. However, the train still stayed here briefly in accordance with regulations.

Irwin walked out of the carriage and came to the empty platform. He dug into his pocket, took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit the lighter. He inhaled and exhaled awkwardly. The cigarette poured into his throat, and he coughed. non-stop.

Fireworks smeared Irwin's eyes, and he blinked hard, leaving tears.

There was a silver bell-like laughter from the side, and Irwin turned his head and saw a girl standing next to him. She had long hair as light as white, and a red shawl covered her whole body, leaving only two pieces of clothing on her body. The legs of the boots were exposed.

She said, "You don't look like you can smoke."

"To be precise, I'm learning to smoke."

Irwin bit the cigarette butt hard and thought to himself, today is really amazing. I met so many strange people, even though he was not much better.

"Learning to smoke?" The girl smiled even more happily, "You are already this age and you are starting to learn this kind of thing?"

Irvin's deceptive appearance and temperament failed to fool the girl. She could tell at a glance that Irvin was an elderly man.

"People always have to try something they haven't tried before."

Irwin defended himself, so during this trip, Irwin kept accepting some new things. The day before leaving Opos, he had just performed his first rock music performance in a speakeasy.

It ended badly and the boss hoped he would never come back again, which was so sad.

The girl asked, "What do you think after trying it?"

"not so good."

Irwin felt a little bored, so he blew out half of the cigarette, and the sparks danced in the dark night and disappeared.

His eyes fell on the girl, and the moment the two looked at each other, Irwin's mind went blank.