winter in greenland

Dan's memory became blurry after they saw Ian and Newman who came to support him. He only vaguely remembered someone calling his name in his ears. The cold seemed to be mixed with other air currents, engulfing him He pulls down.In a dizziness mixed with different lights and shadows, he felt as if he had returned to that church, that cemetery.

……

The sky was a lifeless iron-gray, with leaden clouds overhead, and the air was tinged with a fine, cold rain, and the church steeples pointed skyward, as always.

A muffled bell rang from the bell tower not far away, startling a group of crows. Their black wings swept across the cold pine tree spire, tearing an ugly black wound in the sky, and finally landed on the spire of the church.

Four people carried a pitch-black coffin and walked in from the entrance of the cemetery, followed by a long funeral procession, including men, women, and children. Sad molecules seemed to condense into entities in the air, and fell heavily with the rain.

A lady with a black veil on her hat was walking in the front with the portrait in her arms, her steps were slow and stiff.Next to her was a grizzled gentleman who staggered as if to rest his weight on a cane.

He stood under a pine tree by the side of the road, watching the crowd from a distance, even though his shoulders were wet by the rain, he didn't dare to take a step forward.

The team stopped in front of a snow-white marble cross, and the four leaders steadily put the coffin into the grave. The priest held the Bible and read a few words in a low voice, and then a young lady in a black dress came out of the crowd walked out.She was pale, with red hair pulled back in a tight bun, and she held a white rose in her hand.

"—Stopall the clocks, cutoffthetelephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let them mourners come.

Letaeroplanescirclemoaningoverhead

Scribbling on the sky theme message He Is Dead.

Putcrepebows round the whitenecks of public doves,

Let the traffic police men wear black cotton loves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West.

My working week and my Sunday rest,

Mynoon, mymidnight, mytalk, mysong;

I thought that love would last forever; I was swrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out everyone;

Packupthemoonanddismantlethesun;

Pouraway the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.”

There was a low sob from the crowd.

Her body swayed, and just a few words seemed to have exhausted all her strength.The lady who was holding the portrait came to her side, held her by the shoulders, and half forcedly took her down.

He suddenly felt sore eyes, as if a stone was blocked in his throat.When I looked up, I saw fine snow falling from the sky at some point, and the fine crystal snowflakes swirled and fell from the sky, soon covering the new grave with a thin layer of white.

He turned abruptly and left the cemetery.

……

When he opened his eyes again, his eyes were snow-white. He blinked vigorously, and as his vision became clearer, a smell of hospital disinfectant drifted into his nose.

"You're awake." A voice came from beside him.

Dan turned his head slightly, and saw Heath sitting on the chair next to him, with a layer of blue stubble on his chin, and a relieved expression on his face: "God, you've been in a coma for three whole days , the doctor said that if the wound is bigger or if the road is delayed for a while, the infection will expand, and you will really have to go to the ICU.”

Dan looked around and smiled with difficulty: "It's not that serious, I'm lucky."

Heath got up and handed him a glass of water with a straw in it. Dan took a sip and cleared his throat before speaking: "Where are the others? August, Datta, and the rest of the scientific expedition team."

Heath sighed: "Everyone is fine except you, including the one named Gail, he was lucky, Ian found him before the second avalanche, and sent him and the one named Annie along by the way Yes. The guide Peter and his daughter are also here as witnesses. As for the rest of the scientific expedition team, their lives are not in danger, and they are all in the headquarters now."

Dan keenly sniffed out some other meaning from his words: "The people from the embassy are here?"

Heath smiled wryly and nodded: "C has long since left the nationality of country a, but he should still have some sensitive information in his hands. Now the embassy is spending time with the headquarters. I guess people from the country a secret service Already on the way."

Dan frowned, as if thinking about something.

"This time he caused such a big incident in Greenland, it may not be that there is no one behind him, but if you want to deal with him seriously, I guess...August has been guarding you here since he reported from the headquarters, I was called away early yesterday morning, the situation is not optimistic."

"Who is this C...?"

Heath shrugged: "I don't know either. He was involved in a mission before, but I didn't even see his face. The person who really knows him should be August, and they can't beat 4 , 5 times. To be honest, to be able to slip away under August's hands so many times, this C is a bit capable."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a "click" from the door lock, and as the door handle was slowly turned, the door opened a crack.

"Who?" Heath stood up vigilantly.

A pair of black eyes protruded from the crack of the door, followed by half a timid face.

Dan struggled to get up from the hospital bed: "Data?"

Heath turned his head and glanced at him: "This is the little girl you saved?"

Dan nodded: "It's her, it's okay." Then he waved to Datta: "Come in."

Datta pushed open the door cautiously, walked to Dan's hospital bed step by step, stared at his hand that was infusing the drip, rubbed the corner of the quilt unconsciously with his fingers, raised his eyes and glanced at Heath quickly, Just don't talk.

Heath stood up from the chair, still looking as if he was facing an enemy, Dan couldn't help laughing: "It's okay, Captain Heath, she might have something to say to me."

Heath struggled for two seconds before compromising: "Okay, I'll go out first, and I'll be right outside the door. You guys talk."

Datta's eyes followed Heath until he walked out the door.

"Datta, have you checked in the hospital, are you not injured?" Dan Wen said.

The little girl nodded first, then shook her head, and added after thinking about it: "I'm not hurt, thank you for saving me."

Dan raised his hand and stroked her hair: "This is what it should be. You came to me, what's the matter?"

Datta looked at him for a while, and two puddles of water gradually gathered in his two big black grape-like eyes: "Can you...help me save my father?"

As soon as the words fell, a tear ran down her cheek and landed on the back of Dan's hand.

Startled, Dan wiped her tears away and asked, "Your dad? What's wrong with him?"

"They took my dad away. I was with him, but they let me out. I asked a lot of people, and they all said my dad was locked up and I couldn't see him. I wanted to find Anne Sister, but they all say that Sister Anne is a bad person, and it is because of her that my father was arrested, is it true?"

Dan looked her in the eyes and for a moment didn't know how to answer.

Datta looked at him straight, seeing that he didn't answer for a long time, the light in his eyes slowly dimmed: "Is sister Anne really a bad person? My father... did my father do something bad?" matter?"

Dan sighed, and pulled the little girl to sit on his bedside: "Data, in your eyes, who do you think is a bad person?"

Datta blinked, thought for a while and said: "People in the town say that Uncle Pat is a bad guy, because he drinks all day long and gets drunk, and he doesn't go fishing or hunting."

"Then you think Uncle Pat is a bad guy?"

Datta shook his head: "Uncle Pat is very nice, he always gives me sweets, and once my dad even gave him a buckskin blanket."

"That's it. The rest of your town thinks Uncle Pat is a bad guy because he doesn't work, doesn't do his job, and drinks all day, but he treats you so well that you don't think he's a bad guy. Likewise, a lot of people these days I think Sister Anne is a bad person because she has done some bad things; but in the eyes of other people, such as Sister Anne’s family, her parents and friends, in the eyes of those people, she is not a bad person.”

Datta half understood: "Then what bad thing did she do?"

Dan fell silent.

Datta understood something from his silence, and his voice hesitated: "Could it be...she tied me up on the mountain? But I don't remember seeing her on the mountain, I fell asleep, and when I opened my eyes, I only looked at her. Seeing a figure from behind, that person is not Sister Anne."

Dan touched her head: "It's not important to say these now, maybe...but I don't think she ever thought of hurting you, let alone trapping you on the snow mountain and blowing you up."

This time the silent person was replaced by Datta.

Dan couldn't bear to look at her eyes, and scratched the bridge of her nose: "Didn't you come to me for help, how do you want me to help you?"

Datta raised his head again: "I don't know why they locked up my dad, but they let me out, I don't want to come out, I want to go in and be with my dad, can you help me?"

Dan rubbed the center of his brows with a headache: "Datta, this... I'm afraid I can't help you, I've been here for the past few days, and I don't even know what happened. If you want, I can ask That uncle, see if you can arrange a place for you, you can live here temporarily and wait for your father to come out."

Datta shook his head: "I don't want to live outside. Can I stay here with you?"

Dan hesitated for a few seconds: "But there's no other bed here for you to sleep and rest in."

"I don't want a bed, I can sit on a chair." Datta's voice was eager.

Dan looked into her shining eyes, and couldn't say a word of rejection: "Then... well, but you have to promise me not to run around, and be obedient."

Datta nodded vigorously.After a pause, she looked at Dan again as if remembering something: "Can I ask you another question?"

Dan nodded: "Go ahead."

"Are you and the uncle who came to save me that day lovers?"

Dan almost choked on his own saliva: "What? What lover?"

Datta raised his hand and gestured for a height: "It was the uncle who rescued me with you during the avalanche that day."

Dan couldn't laugh or cry: "You are only 8 years old, do you know what a lover is?"

Datta frowned unconvinced: "Of course I know, my father and mother are lovers."

Dan felt a touch of heat on his face: "Why do you think we are lovers?"

"Because of your eyes," the little girl said confidently, "You were hurt, but you didn't want him to worry, so you kept pretending that nothing happened. When he asked you, your eyes were still smiling. Then he walked out behind your back, You passed out, and a big helicopter flew up from the sky, he has been protecting you and sending you up, insisting on sending you to the hospital here, his eyes are telling you that you are very important."

Dan leaned back on the pillow, long lashes covering his eyes.After a while, he smiled softly, without any emotion in his tone: "You misunderstood, I'm just his team member, he probably... treats every team member like this."

Outside the door of the ward, August held his hand on the doorknob, his expression on his face was always calm, but there was a little embarrassment on the face of Heath on the side.

Until the room became quiet, August still didn't say anything, and turned the doorknob.

The author says:

The English is from WH Auden's "Funeral Blues". Because the background is European style, I directly quoted the original text. There are many translated versions on the Internet. You can search it yourself~