Chapter 2 2 four days

As it turned out, Jimmy was wrong. davidBoyle returned in a police van four days after he disappeared.He sat in the front seat of the police car, and the two officers who escorted him back let him turn the siren on and off and let him feel the stock of the shotgun locked under the glove box.They gave him a badge of honor, and on the day they were going to take him home, Wrest Street was packed with reporters from newspapers and TV stations, all waiting to capture the reunion of Boyle and his son.When getting out of the car, one of the police officers, Eugene.Kubiaki went around to the other side, took David out of the car, lifted him high, and then let him land in front of his crying and laughing, trembling mother.

In addition to the reporters, there were also a bunch of onlookers on Ruist Street, including adults, children, postmen, and two chubby brothers nicknamed pork chops who opened a submarine fast food restaurant at the corner of Ruster Street and Sydney Street. , and even David and Jimmy's fifth-grade tutor at Louis Dewey, Miss Power, came.Jimmy stood beside his mother.His mother held him close, with the back of his head pressed against her chest, and a sweaty palm was pressed to his forehead, as if to make sure Jimmy didn't have any of the things that David had. .When police officer Kubiaki lifted David up high, the two looked at each other and smiled like old friends who had known each other for many years, while the beautiful Miss Power applauded for them. A strong jealousy.

I almost got in that car too, and Jimmy wanted to tell the people next to him.He especially wanted to tell Miss Ball.Miss Ball was a beautiful woman, fair and fair.One of her upper teeth was crooked and showed when she smiled; but in Jimmy's eyes, this small defect only made her look more beautiful and attractive.Jimmy wanted to tell her how he almost got into a stolen car, to see if he could get her to look at him the way she was looking at David now.He also wanted to tell her that he thought of her all the time.He imagined an older version of himself, old enough to drive a car, drive her around and make her smile at him; To make her laugh, show those lovely teeth, and reach out and touch his face.

Miss Ball, however, seemed a little uncomfortable in the midst of the group.Jimmy could see it.She said a few words to David, and kissed him on the cheek. After she had kissed him twice, the others crowded around, and Miss Ball stepped aside to stand on the crumbling sidewalk. , looking up at the pile of crooked three-story apartment buildings around, and the mottled and curled asphalt paper above and the exposed wooden boards below.Now, to Jimmy, she seemed younger and more unapproachable; as if she had suddenly become a nun or something, touching her hair, checking her grooming, wrinkling her little nose, and immediately It's about to be picky.

Jimmy tried to get closer to her, but his mother ignored his struggle and held him tightly to her chest.He watched Miss Ball walk towards the corner of Wrest Street and Sydney Street, waving desperately at someone.A young hippie-looking young man was driving around the corner in a hippie-like yellow convertible, the sun-faded doors were painted with little purple petals; Miss Power got into the car. The car sped away.Oh no, Jimmy thought. He finally broke free from his mother's arms.He stood in the middle of the road and looked at the group of people around David. He wished that he had also gotten into that car, and now he could experience the caring gaze, the kind of feeling that David was feeling at this moment. It feels different.

It's like some sort of festive party going on on Wrest Street, people running around trying to be seen on TV or in tomorrow's paper Yeah, I know David, he's my best As for my friend, I grew up here together, hey, what a nice boy, thank God for his safe return. Someone turned on the fire hydrant, and the jet of water, like a sigh finally released, sprayed violently on Wrest Street.The children kicked off their shoes, rolled up their trouser legs, and jumped and ran in the splashing water.The ice cream vendor also arrived, and if David wanted to eat, he could take whatever he wanted, and the boss treated him.Even that fiery old guy, the strange old man Bacchino who died of his wife, he just opened the window and yelled all day to ask people to be quiet, and he also shot squirrels with a BB gun (if no adults were present, he would even kill children All illuminated correctly) opened the windows, moved the speakers to the window, and then, Dean.Martin's vigorous singing voice spread throughout the entire Ruist Street, "Leaving Memories", "Flying Wings", and a bunch of nostalgic old songs that Jimmy usually feels like vomiting after listening to them.But today is not the case, today is a good time to listen to these songs.Today, these songs are like colorful ribbons, fluttering in the wind on Ruist Street, echoing the sound of rushing water.The folks who opened the casino in the little room behind Pork Chop Brothers brought out folding tables and small barbecue grills, and soon some small ice buckets full of Schlitz and Narragansett beer were hauled in. After a long time, the smell of fat grilled hot dogs and grilled Italian sausage will waft out.The lingering smoke, the pungent smell of burning charcoal in the air, and the constant sound of popping beer cans reminded Jimmy of Fenway Park, summer weekends, and relaxing with the grown-ups around him. , the joy that fills your heart when you become like a child, that wonderful moment when everyone is laughing, everyone looks younger, and everyone is putting their shoulders on each other and talking and laughing.

It's moments like this, for Jimmy, that make it all worth it, even after getting a beating from his dad, or just finding out that something he loves has been stolen Moments like these, in the darkest pits of resentment, would bring Jimmy back to loving his days in the Flat Top.No matter how long he is depressed, resentful and dissatisfied, no matter how hard he works, no matter whether he is close to his neighbors or not, the people here seem to be able to throw everything away in an instant, drink, laugh, as if they Nothing bad has ever happened in my life.On St. Patrick's Day or Buckingham's Day, or sometimes on National Day, or when the Red Sox play their ball games in September, or when the Red Sox play their game well and hard, or in rare moments like today's lost and found, the people here It's always about throwing everything away and throwing the whole street into some kind of crazy festive mood.

Not so in the Spire District.Of course they also have a neighborhood banquet, but the people there will always plan carefully in advance to make sure that all the required permits have been applied for, but they are still nervous when the time comes, telling the children to be careful of passing vehicles, and be careful not to step on the neighbor's lawn. Be careful, I just painted that fence. As for the flattops, most of the houses have no lawns at all anyway, and the fences are probably in disrepair for years, so let it be, damn it.If you want to be happy, just be happy, because, fuck him, treat it as God owes you.In such a day, there are no bosses, no social welfare investigators, and no debt collectors sent by loan sharks.As for the cops there were two cops out there having a great time, Officer Kubiaki with a pepperoni fresh off the grill while his partner stuffed a can of beer in his trouser pocket and waited Use it later to quench your thirst.The reporters had long since left, the sun was gradually setting to the west, and the entire Ruist Street was immersed in the warm radiance unique to dinner time.But today the women on this street don't cook, and everyone doesn't have to go home.

Except David.David went back into the house.Jimmy rushed out from under the fire hose, wrung his trousers and put them back on the T-shirt he had just taken off, and ran to the grill to wait in line for a hot dog. That's when he suddenly realized that David was gone.The carnival celebrating David's return was still in full swing, but David quietly entered the house.So did his mother, apparently.Jimmy looked up at David's house on the second floor: the curtains on the small windows were drawn. Somehow the closed shutters reminded Jimmy of Miss Ball.He thought of the way she climbed into that hippie car, and he remembered how he had watched her right calf and ankle, watching them bend and retract into the car before the door closed.He suddenly felt a little ashamed, a little lonely and sad.Where is she going?Is she on the highway now, with the wind in her hair like music over Wrest Street?Is night just about to cover the two in the hippie car and let them go wherever they want?Jimmy wanted to know and didn't want to know.He would still see her at school tomorrow unless the school also planned to take a day off to celebrate David's return. He wanted to take the opportunity to ask her, but he would not ask after all.

Jimmy took the hot dog and sat on the street opposite David's house to eat.In the middle of eating, he suddenly saw one of the shutters on the second floor opposite was drawn up, and David was standing by the window, staring at him.Jimmy held up the half-eaten hot dog and waved at David, but David didn't respond; Jimmy tried again, and David still just watched him silently.Jimmy couldn't see the expression on David's face clearly, but he could still feel the emptiness and blame in his eyes. Jimmy's mother came to him and sat down beside him.In a flash, David disappeared behind the window.Jimmy's mother was a small woman with extremely pale fair hair.Although she is thin, she always seems to be carrying a heavy brick on her shoulders, and she always walks with her body arched and shuffling.She sighed a lot, too, often in ways that Jimmy couldn't be sure if she knew it was coming from inside her.Jimmy had seen pictures of her before her mother was pregnant with him, in which she was plump and much younger, like a girl under twenty (Jimmy calculated later that she was indeed about that age at the time).At that time, she had a round face, and there were no fine lines at the corners of her eyes and forehead; facing the camera lens, she smiled brightly and movingly, but there was a hint of fear or curiosity hidden in her eyes, but Jimmy Can't tell either.His father had told him thousands of times that his mother had almost lost her life giving birth to him, that she was bleeding profusely, and that even the doctors were not sure how to stop the menacing blood.From then on, his mother seemed to lose half her life, and her health never got better, his father said.Of course, that's the end of the story of having a baby.It's enough to experience that once.

She puts one hand on Jimmy's lap: Is everything all right, my GI?His mother would often call him by different nicknames, usually on the spot, and Jimmy usually couldn't figure out where that name came from. He shrugged.It's not like that. You haven't spoken to David today. You hug me so tightly, I don't have a chance. His mother withdrew her hands from his lap and hugged herself against the chill that deepened as night fell.I mean later, before he even came into the house. I'll run into him at school tomorrow. His mother fumbled in her jeans pocket, pulled out her Jian brand cigarettes, lit one, and exhaled hastily.I don't think he will go to school tomorrow. Jimmy eats the last bite of the hot dog.Well, in a few days. His mother nodded and exhaled a few more puffs.She rested her elbow on one hand, smoking a cigarette and staring at the opposite second-floor window.How are you at school today?She said she didn't seem to really expect Jimmy to answer. Jimmy shrugged.fine. I just saw your teacher.very beautiful. Jimmy didn't respond. It's really beautiful.His mother whispered into a cloud of smoke rising into the sky. Jimmy still didn't speak.He often doesn't know what to say to his parents.His mother looked so tired at all times.Her eyes drifted faintly to some unknown place, and she just kept smoking her cigarette. Jimmy often had to repeat a sentence several times before she heard it.His father usually looks angry, and even if he is not, Jimmy knows that this guy who is almost a good father in front of him may turn his face at any time, and turn back into the bitter drunk in a blink of an eye, and Jimmy becomes The object of his anger could make him laugh half an hour ago, but half an hour later it became a reason for him to beat Jimmy hard.Jimmy also knew that no matter how much he evaded, how much he pretended, he had both in his veins: he had his mother's silence and his father's sudden rage. In addition to imagining himself as Miss Power's boyfriend, Jimmy sometimes imagined what it would be like if he were Miss Power's son. His mother was staring at him suddenly.The cigarette between his fingers was held high by his ear, his eyes were squinted, and his eyes searched back and forth on his face. What's wrong?he said, smiling at his mother with some embarrassment. You look really good when you smile, young boxer Ali.She smiled back. Right. Well, that's right.I don't know how many girls I will be fascinated by in the future. Ah, that's fine too.Jimmy said.The mother and son looked at each other and smiled. You can talk a little more.his mother said. You too, Jimmy wanted to tell her. But it doesn't matter.It's better to be cool, women will eat this set. Jimmy looked over his mother's shoulder.His father came shambling out of the house, his clothes wrinkled and his face puffy from sleep or alcohol, or both.His father opened his sleepy eyes, watching the lively scene in front of him, with an incomprehensible expression on his face. His mother followed his gaze, and when she finally turned her head, her usual tired face appeared again, and the smile just now disappeared without a trace, making it almost doubtful that she had never Know how to smile.hey jim. He liked it best when she called him that.Jim It made him feel closer to his mother. What's up? I'm really glad you didn't get in that car, baby.She kissed him lightly on the forehead.Jimmy saw the twinkle in her eye.Then she stood up and walked over to the other mothers who were talking, keeping her back to her husband. Jimmy looked up.Again he saw David standing quietly by the window, staring at him.The light in his room was turned on, and the dim light shone faintly from behind him.This time, Jimmy didn't even want to try waving at him.The police and reporters were all gone, and without their reminders, the group of people on the street who were drinking and having a good time probably had forgotten why the banquet was held in the first place.Jimmy could feel that David was alone in that small apartment, except for his half-crazed mother, with only an old brown wallpaper and a dim yellow light for company. Again he was thankful that he hadn't gotten into that car. defective goods.Jimmy's father said this to his mother last night: Even if the child is found alive, it is probably already a defective product and is no longer what it used to be. David suddenly raised a hand.He raised his palms up to his shoulders, but didn't move for a long time.As Jimmy waved at him, he suddenly felt a piercing sadness rushing into him, slowly spreading deep in his body.He didn't know where this deep sadness came from, whether it was his father, his mother, Miss Ball, or the whole place, or if it was the man standing by the window who didn't move, just raised his hand stupidly. David; but either one of them or all together he was sure that once the grief had entered him it would never come out again.Eleven-year-old Jimmy sat on the street, but he could no longer feel that he was only eleven years old.He feels old.As old as his parents, as old as the street. Flaws, Jimmy thought, slowly lowering his waving hand.He saw David give him a slight nod, and then he drew down the blinds and turned back into the small apartment with the brown wallpaper, into the dead silence broken only by the ticking of the clock.Jimmy felt that sadness take root in his heart as if it had found a warm home inside him.But he didn't even expect it to leave his heart, because he vaguely understood that any efforts would be in vain. He stood up, but for a moment he didn't know where he was going.He felt a familiar impulse tickling his restless heart like a needle prick.How much he wanted to punch something, or do something really exciting.But his stomach growled again, and he remembered that he wasn't full, and hoped there were still hot dogs left.Jimmy strode toward the crowd. davidBoyle has been in the limelight for several days, not only in the flattop area, but almost everyone in the state knows him.On the front page of the next day's "American Chronicle", there was a big headline: The little boy went and returned, and a photo was attached at the bottom: David sitting on the steps in front of his house, his mother's arms Hugging him from behind and crossing his chest, a bunch of scene-stealing brats crowded around the two of them, all grinning happily.Except David's mother.The expression on her face looked like she had just missed a bus in the cold. Within a week of David going back to school, the same kids who were laughing with him on the front page started calling him a freak.David saw malice in their faces, but he wasn't sure they really understood what it was all about.In fact, he himself did not understand.David's mother said that they probably heard some nasty words from their parents; you don't have to pay attention to them at all, David, when they get tired of screaming, they will forget all of them, and next year we will be friends again La. David nodded, but he still didn't understand whether it was because of his special characteristics or some marks on his face that he couldn't see that made people always want to bully him.Like those two guys in that car.Why did they pick him alone?How did they know he would get in the car with them and Jimmy and Sean wouldn't?In retrospect, David seems to have done so.Those two guys (David actually knew their names, at least the names they used to call each other, but he didn't want to let those words enter his head again) knew beforehand that Sean and Jimmy were not going to make it easy their car?Sean is bound to turn around and run home, maybe yelling, and Jimmy, they're probably going to have to knock Jimmy out before they can get him in the car.After driving for several hours, Big Fat Wolf once said: Did you see that kid in the white T-shirt?Did you see how he stared at me?Vicious, with a look of death that is not afraid of anything.Whoever meets him in the future will be unlucky, a ruthless character who kills without blinking an eye! The other guy, Greasy Wolf, replied with a smile: I just like this kind of energetic stuff. The big fat wolf shook his head.Want to get him in the car?See if he doesn't bite off one of your thumbs.This little bastard is much easier. The Big Fat Wolf and the Greasy Wolf: That's what David called them in his mind.David would rather not see them as human beings.They are just two wolves in human skin, and David himself is another character in the story: the boy who was taken away by the wolf, the boy who escaped from the wolf's mouth and arrived safely at the Esso gas station through the dark woods, always Keep calm alert boy waiting for a chance to escape. But in the eyes of his schoolmates, he was just the boy who was fucked away.They were also free to imagine what happened during those four days.One morning in the school bathroom, a seventh-grade boy named McAfee caught David standing in front of the urinal to relieve himself, leaned over and asked, Did they tell you to suck?His group of friends who were also in the seventh grade laughed awkwardly and frequently made kissing squeaks. Dave blushed, managed to zip it up with trembling fingers, and turned to look at McAfee.He tried to put on a fierce look, but McAfee just frowned and slapped him across the face. The slap was crisp and loud, and one of the seventh graders gasped like a girl. McAfee said: Damn freak, you have something to say, don't you?Um?You want me to punch you again, don't you?You bloody gay! He cried.someone said. Ouch, really.McAfee said sharply.Big teardrops rolled down David's cheeks, and he felt the numbness on his face turn into tingling, but that wasn't what he was crying for.He has never been so afraid of pain, and he has never cried out because of pain.Even when he fell off the bicycle last time, the pedal cut his ankle badly, and he had seven stitches in the hospital afterwards, he didn't cry.It was the naked malice that the boys in the toilet uttered towards him that made him unable to resist for a while.That kind of hatred, disgust, anger and contempt all rushed towards him.He didn't understand that he had never deliberately provoked anyone in his life, but they just hated him.This hatred made him feel alone, made him feel like he had done something wrong, that he felt dirty and small.He cries because he doesn't want to feel like that's who he is. The whole gang laughed, laughing at his tears.McAfee jumped up and down in the toilet, frowning, imitating David who was crying uncontrollably.When David finally calmed down a bit, holding back his tears but still sniffling, McAfee slapped him again.This palm was drawn in the original position impartially, and the force was equally strong. look at me!McAfee said.Tears welled up in David's eyes again.look at me! David looked up at McCaffee with teary eyes, wishing he could see a trace of sympathy, even pity, in his face.But there was only a sneer and ferocious resentment on his face. Sure enough, said McAfee, you did suck a dick. He waved his hand to shake it again, David turned his head and shrunk his neck.McAfee led his group of henchmen, laughing and walking away. David thought of Mr. Peters, a friend of his mother's who occasionally stayed over at the house, who had once told him that there were two kinds of insults a man would never bear: someone spat on you and slapped you in the face .It's fine to punch you directly. If someone treats you like that, you must kill him if you get the chance. David sat on the toilet floor, wishing he had the courage, the courage to kill.He'll kill McCuffy first, he thought, and then Big Fat and Greasy, if they ever let him meet again.But the truth was, he found that he simply couldn't do it.He simply doesn't understand why some people just want to be so bad to others.He doesn't understand, he really doesn't understand. This story spread like a tide in the campus, and the whole school, from the third grade and above, heard what McAfee did to David in the toilet.In the end, it was David's reaction that attracted criticism.David soon discovered that even those classmates who had been friendly to him when he first returned to school began to avoid him. Not all of them whispered something gay when they passed him in the hallway, or moved their tongues under their cheeks on purpose.In fact, most of the classmates just turned a blind eye to David.But in a way, this silence is worse than anything else.He felt like a criminal exiled to an island who had no one to turn to for help. If the two of them happen to walk out of the house at the same time, Jimmy.Marcus would sometimes walk quietly beside him, walking with him to school without saying a word, because he would look weird otherwise.In addition, if the two met in the hallway of the school, or just lined up to enter the classroom together, Jimmy would gently say hi to him.A few times when the eyes of the two met by chance, David could see a mixture of embarrassment and pity on Jimmy's face, as if he really wanted to say something to him, but he couldn't say that Jimmy was meant to be. There are not many people, at most, he will only say a few more words when he has some crazy ideas such as jumping off the subway tracks or stealing a car in his mind.In any case, David felt that the friendship between the two men (to be honest, David was not so sure that they were actually friends; he felt a little ashamed, but he had to admit to himself that he was probably just a reluctant Jimmy. The moment David climbed into the car and Jimmy stood still on the side of the street was forever a thing of the past. As a result, Jimmy didn't stay long in Louis Dewey, and the silent journey disappeared.Jimmy had an inseparable buddy at school, Will.Savage.Will.Savage is not tall, but he is the most feared figure in the school, including students and teachers; his brain capacity is about the same as that of orangutans, and he has been repeated for two years, but his temper is very violent, and he will go crazy at every turn.There was a running joke on campus (though no one dared to bring it up in front of Will) that other people's parents were too busy saving for their kids' college tuition, while Will's parents were too busy saving his bail money.Before David got in that car, Jimmy was hanging out with Will a lot at school.Jimmy would sometimes acquiesce to David following them, hunting for snacks in the school cafeteria or climbing on the roof of the school building, but since the incident in the car, even David has been stripped of that privilege.David sometimes resented Jimmy for being so unkind to him, and at other times he couldn't help noticing that the dark cloud that sometimes hung over Jimmy before was now following him all the time, like some kind of ring of doom.Jimmy looked several years older, and there was always lingering sadness in his eyes. Jimmy later did steal the car.That's almost a year since they last planned to steal a car on Sean's street.This incident caused him to be expelled from Louis Dewey, and he had to take a school bus and travel halfway across the city to Carver School to experience what it was like for a white kid from East Buckingham to be in a school where almost all black students were. .And, of course, he had Will for company.And David soon heard that the two had become the most feared plague gods in Carver's school, two white brats who were so crazy that they didn't know what fear was. What they stole was a roadster.David had heard that the owner of the car was a teacher's friend, though the rumors didn't make it clear which teacher it was.Jimmy and Will steal the car from the school parking lot while the teachers and their friends and relatives are attending the end-of-year party in the faculty lounge after school.Jimmy drove Will around the Buckingham area for a long time, honking his horn arrogantly all the way, waving at the girls on the side of the road, and stepping on the accelerator to speed up until he attracted the attention of a passing police car , before finally crashing straight into a garbage truck parked at the back of the Charles Fairfare Plaza near the Roman Basin.Will sprained his ankle when he got out of the car, and Jimmy, who could have escaped to an empty space by climbing over another iron fence wall, turned around and tried to rescue Will together. It became a scene in a war movie: in a hail of bullets (of course David doesn't believe that the police will shoot for such a trivial matter, but it is really cool to imagine), the heroic soldier turns back to rescue the injured partner.The police arrested the two car thieves on the spot, and Jimmy and Will spent the night in the juvenile detention center.Because there were only a few days left before the end of the school year, the school asked the two to come back to finish the sixth grade, but notified their parents to help their son transfer schools as soon as possible. After that, David rarely saw Jimmy, at most once or twice a year.David's mother didn't let him go out at all except to and from school.She firmly believed that the two villains were still outside, driving the big brown car that smelled like apples, waiting eagerly, aiming at David like a heat-seeking missile. David knew that wasn't the case.After all, they are just two wretched hungry wolves, only looking for the closest and weakest prey in the darkest night.But they did come to his mind more often lately, what Big Fat Wolf and Greasy Wolf looked like, and what they had done to him in those four days.These images seldom intrude on David's dreams, but often, while he's in his mother's dead apartment, try to pass the time by reading comics, watching TV, or gazing out the window at Wrest Street. During the long silence, it slipped into his consciousness quietly.As soon as they came at him, David closed his eyes and tried to drive the images out, trying to forget that the Big Fat Wolf's name was Henry and the Greasy Wolf's name was George. A certain voice of Henry and George would always scream these two names in his mind along with those overwhelming images.Henry and George, Henry and George, Henry and George; you little bastard! Then David would tell that voice in his head that he wasn't a little bastard.He was the boy who escaped from the wolf.Sometimes, to get rid of the images, David would replay his escape in his head, over and over again with every detail. He noticed a crack in the cellar door near the hinge; The wolf and the oily wolf go out to the sound of drunken car engines starting; he uses a screwdriver with a missing corner to drill the crack like crazy, and the crack grows bigger and bigger, until the rusty hinge is finally pried whole by him Open, the door also cracked a knife-shaped hole.The boy who outwitted the wolf got out of the cellar from the big hole, and then ran into the woods without looking back. Guided by the remaining sunlight in the evening, he finally found an Esso gas station a mile away.When the blue and white circular signboard that lit up early before dark came into David's eyes, he could hardly believe his eyes.The white neon light pierced directly into David's eyes, touching something.It was this feeling that made David's legs go limp, and he knelt and sat on the edge of the junction between the sand in the forest and the old asphalt ground.The owner of the gas station, Lang En.This is what Piaro found, a motionless David on his knees, eyes fixed on the neon sign.Long.Piallo was a lean, muscular man with huge hands that looked like he could snap a lead water pipe in half with his bare hands; David often couldn't help but imagine later if the boy who escaped from the wolf was really a character in the movie , so how should things develop?Of course, he and Lang would develop a friendship, and Lang would teach him everything a father should teach a son, and then they would set off on horseback with two rifles on their backs. An endless adventure.The two will share a memory that will never be forgotten, Ron and the boy.They will become a pair of legendary heroes who have hunted countless wolves that roam the wilderness. In Sean's dream, the whole street moves.The big car with the smell of apples opened its door before his eyes, but the street under his feet held his feet tightly and pushed him into the car.David was in the car, curled up in the corner of the back seat farthest from the door.The street desperately pushed Sean into the car, and David in the car just opened his mouth and wailed silently.In the dream, he couldn't see anything, only the open car door and the scene of the back seat of the car.He couldn't see the man with the sliver.He couldn't see his accomplice in the front passenger seat.He couldn't see Jimmy either, although he knew Jimmy was there the whole time.All he could see was the door, David, and the litter on the floor in the backseat.And this, he finally understood, just as he hadn't even been aware of the sirens he'd heard the backseat of the car was full of trash.Fast food wrappers, empty bags of crumpled potato chips, empty beer and Coke cans, insulated coffee cups, and a dirty green T-shirt.It was only when Sean recalled the dream carefully after waking up that he realized that the scene on the floor of the back seat in the dream was indeed what he saw with his own eyes at that time, and he never thought of it, and it is still the same until now.Even when the police came to his house and asked him to reflect on whether he had missed any details that he hadn't told the police, he didn't think about the mess on the backseat floor because he really didn't remember it at the time.But after all, this scene came back to his mind through the dream, and what a crucial scene it was. This scene made him aware in a way that he didn't even notice. This car, this so-called note Something was really wrong with his so-called partner.In reality, Sean has never seen the back seat of a police car, but he knows anyway that the back seat of a police car should not be like this.Maybe there was a leftover apple core hidden under the pile of garbage that was responsible for the smell of apples in the car. One day, a year after the kidnapping, Sean's father walked into Sean's room and announced two things to him. 第一件事情，就是拉丁學校接受西恩的入學申請了，他九月升上七年級時便將轉學到那裡去。西恩的父親說他和西恩的母親都以他為榮。這輩子還想有點出息的孩子都應該往那裡去。 至於第二件事情，則是西恩的父親在正要往房門口走去時，才突然止步，以隨意的口氣告訴他的。 他們逮到其中一個傢伙了。 What? 就是那兩個綁架大衛的嫌犯中一個。他們逮到他了。那傢伙死了。在獄中自殺的。 Right? 他父親這才回頭看著他。That's right.你總算可以不用再做噩夢了。 但西恩問道：那他的同夥呢？ 被逮到的那個傢伙，他父親說，他跟警方說另外那傢伙早在一年前就出車禍死了。這樣你安心了吧？西恩從父親的眼神中清楚地得知，這將是他們父子間最後一次提到這件事了。好啦，洗洗手準備吃飯了。 父親離開後，西恩又在床上坐了一會兒。床墊上還擱著一隻讓厚實的紅色橡皮圈緊緊纏繞住的全新棒球手套，手套裡頭則躺著一顆全新的棒球。 另一個傢伙也死了。車禍死的。西恩希望那傢伙當時開的就是那輛飄散著蘋果味的大車，希望他開著那輛車衝下懸崖，帶著那輛車直奔地獄而去。