Chapter 19 eighteen gilbert

A group of boys jumped into the sea lively from the pier, their long dark hands and legs against the clear blue sky stretched out like starfish in an instant, and dived into the water to catch the coins thrown to them by the first-class passengers from the side of the boat.The 1st Jamaica Military Band in uniform played, and a group of us homecoming RWRIs descended the landing and onto the pier.Who knows what tune the orchestra played, for the breeze smuggled the farewell to the ears of the lesser.Some wept, finally feeling home beneath their feet.The blue mountains folded on the horizon, and Kingston was dappled in sun and shade.Everyone turned their heads and drank with curiosity. This well-known long and narrow view has now become unfamiliar to them.This was the last time we stood at attention; the governor, dressed in splendid attire, wished us a bright future, promised us two months' salary and a certificate of retirement, and then thanked us for our valuable service.We are discharged.

I came home with rough and yellowed newspaper clippings.Headlines suggest Londoners killed in US military mutiny.Newspaper headlines asking the American military: How many more fights like this will the British people endure before they are able to control their soldiers?It was a horrific accident, but it was big news.There was a heart-wrenching picture of Queenie, mistaken for the victim's daughter; another picture of Arthur, poised, pipe in hand, and an old picture of a young English gentleman.At fifty-four years old, I thought he was an old man.According to reports, Arthur.Unfortunately, Bligh missed the bullet while trying to quell the fight.According to several newspapers, gendarmes who were about to be stationed overseas became angry when they were interrupted while watching a movie, leading to fights when they were evacuated from the cinema.The military policeman of Kuqin fired a warning shot into the air, and the second shot was also aimed at the air, but the military police accidentally tripped and deviated.The bullet hit Arthur in the head (left jaw to be precise), killing him instantly.The funeral was attended by family members and a representative of the U.S. military.The obituary stated that the deceased had a son, Bernard, who was serving overseas under the jurisdiction of Southeast Asian Command.There was also no explanation of what happened to the gendarme, and no reports of a trial.One of the reports implied that the black American soldiers were segregated and treated improperly by the Chinese. The article continued to congratulate us on the more civilized British side.

I was handed out the day after the incident and moved to Cornwall the next morning.Then Scotland, Ferry, and then back to Cornwall.I wrote to Queenie, several, each painstakingly written.How is her recovery?Is she okay?Can you let me visit her again?No reply.In my wildest imaginations, if I believed that the military had contemplated what to do with me as a volunteer RAFWI, I would have concluded that my appointment to various points was intended to allow me to do my best. Probably stay away from Queenie.Bligh. After the war, I waited two years for the ship that would take me back to the island of Jamaica to return triumphantly.Standing the whole time in the British Victory Parade, I was patted on the back by countless people, happy to say I could go home.I no longer shiver in winter, and my teeth chatter for no reason.Let me forget the bad sausages and boiled potatoes, the barracks and the health and welfare institutions of the armed forces.Also, thanks, no, I don't want another cup of tea.Take me back to the sun and the lazy hot air, there is curry lamb, spicy chicken, salt and pepper pot soup.Let me meet beautiful dark-skinned women who are perfectly round and ready to take my arms proudly.Show me the faces that still see me like a child.Come, let me breathe again through my teeth among my fellow men.

But instead of feeling elated about this discharge, I looked around with doubts like a jilted lover.So, that's it.What now?I realized with apprehension that the island of Jamaica wasn't the whole universe at all: it was only a few miles long, and if you went any farther it would fall into the ocean.At that moment, standing high in Kingston Harbor, I was struck by a terrible awakening: boy, we Jamaicans are small islanders too! As if Mommy had undone the straps of her apron, I found that the seven sisters had divided their belongings.The four got married and left for America before the wedding flowers faded.The three without their wedding rings were lost in Canada: one cared, one taught, and the other hopelessly didn't know what to do.And Lester was a big shot in Chicago's architectural world.Before Christmas, Mummy was as excited as a child, and hurriedly explained that there was no reason for Lester not to come back to the island.Although many teenagers are hurrying from all over the district, eager to see what I look like, to see real soldiers come home from the battlefield, to order me strictly, to obey them eagerly, and to carry a substitute The gun was ostentatious, but Mommy and Aunt May still watched with pity as I returned to their backyard unfortunately.

The shortages caused by the war and the money spent on celebrations took a hard bite out of their business.Instead of baking cakes, Mummy and Aunt May have turned their talents to decorating hats.These hats are ready to hit the road, visiting the children of those who have migrated to the United States and Canada along the way.Flowers, fruit, bows, feathers, nets, expertly pinned to plain old hats, so that these two blessed women could wear them with full dignity for baptisms, church services, graduations Ceremonies, family reunions and weddings.They were jubilant, declaring that this carefully planned trip around North America was a task that would take them long, long time to complete.And Daddy, old and frail, rocked and rocked on the front porch, sipping a cup of sorrel stew high enough to kill a bull.Daddy dozed off drunk, unaware that he was about to be abandoned.

So what, you quit law, boy?I thought you were the judge when you came back.Despite those words, Elwood is clearly happy that his childhood friend is home.Won't you tell me that the motherland doesn't keep its promise?Tsk, boy, do you want me to believe that the British are liars?He laughed heartily at his own jokes, and I noticed that he had lost a few extra teeth since the last time I despised his destructive mouth. If I told him what happened to me when I was trying to study law in England, what would my cousin find to taunt me?The Colonial Office has a Post-War Reconstruction Course to see us RAF Volunteers ready for civilian life.Good guy, when the opportunity comes to me, I know it, and there is ripe fruit in front of me to pick.Well, the law is on the list.I didn't put it, they put it between accounting and medicine.I submitted the application form.But, let me tell you, so many people shook their heads that I thought the Colonial Office had a nervous fit.They murmured that this ordinary pilot was so ignorant.If I told my cousin what industry they offered me later, he would embarrass himself with a smirk.Toast!This is a great career with lots of job opportunities.Tsk!Toast!How do I tell Elwood so that I, the RAF, don't look like a total ass?

Good boy, you come back just in time.Elwood told me, you don't have to run to those stupid Englishmen anymore.We have to make them look good.Nothing can stop us. Growing up, I always thought Elwood was my brother.Catching crickets in the soil, climbing up and down the trees, and fishing in the river always have him in my childhood memories.We were ten years old when his mother, Aunt Corinne, arrived.Swirling on her sweet perfume and dangling the title deeds for a small piece of land near Kingston, she told everyone she now had the money to bring her son back.For a long time, Elwood and Lester and I wondered which one of us she was going to get.Later, Elwood cried and found out that Mommy wasn't Mommy, that brothers became cousins, and that there were no seven sisters who were actually not a single sister.Only Daddy could find words to comfort the crying child, and Daddy told him that he could feel at ease now because he must not be a Jew.

They thought this little black constitution would make us happy, Elwood told me, we were grown-ups.No more dropping crumbs on the table.We are now sitting and feeding ourselves. While I was busy fighting, Elwood lost most of his coconuts, bananas, guavas, acai nuts, and red bell peppers in a hurricane.The fierce wind blows his livelihood to the earth, and who knows where those harvests are now?Cuba?The trunk of the banana tree left on the ground was preserved, but got banana yellow leaf disease.Coconut leaves still stretched out in the sun are infected with a deadly yellow-like virus.For a while, his mother watered the feeble plants with potions from the Obi Witch, and Elwood sat and watched all night, lest the voles infested them.But the plants still died.

Manley voted for us.But he knew it wasn't on paper, Elwood said.To survive, we need our own people to govern our own people.Gilbert, listen to me, stop talking about white people, stop talking about landowners.Don't bother with Basta either.He's too good at flattering the British.There must be jobs in Jamaica.People must work. Elwood had to find errands and work.Any errands are good, so that he and Mommy can stay away from the devil's devouring.Bury cattle, dig ditches, repair damaged houses, and load ships.And, hear this: even English tea and fancy sandwiches served at the cricket club.Putting on a white uniform, he had to obediently and politely tilt his head slightly when the guests raised their hands and snapped their fingers to ask for service.But nothing can shake his tenacious belief in Jamaica, and nothing can sway him to take pleasure in this beloved island.

Good boy, you come back just in time.Are you ready to work?Gilbert, I tell you, forget the law.Come on, let me tell you a little business idea that will make us both rich. He handed me a tattered book, Lawson's How to Make Money with Honey.The faded gilt titles are almost illegible.I said excitedly: Good boy, good idea!Jamaica will need this to print our own book!When Elwood heard this, he still didn't lose his interest. No, boy, it's beekeeping. bee? Honey has a lot of money in it.he told me. Oh, how did those words come out of Elwood's passionate mouth?The words twirled around each other, playing tricks to trick me into saying it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.Showing his hive sitting alone at the back of the house, the wooden wall vibrating with a black swarm of bees flapping their wings.He explained: This is more like expanding a business.I know where to put my hand there will be a lot of money.He urged me to dip my finger in a small jar of golden yellow honey, and said: "Try it, I'm sure you've never tasted anything sweeter than this."He put his arms around my shoulders, put his mouth close to my ear and told me: I know a man not far away who sells everything.He's going to live in Scotland or something.There were twenty-five beehives, honeycombs, each of which had many cells.Bottling machine, smoker, shade, everything is complete.Each will produce bees.There are young queens and everything.There are also a lot of jars that look like factories.The money he made was enough for him to fly away.Gilbert, I can see God smiling at us, pointing his finger at those hives.He gripped me tighter with one hand, pointing with the other to the air.Come on, money is flying around us, we just have to catch it.I didn't see anything, and at the same time, he told me he needed my retirement money to buy it.Boy, just to buy some small things.Elwood takes care of the bees and Aunt Colleen cleans and cans.what about me?Boy, you are in charge of business.It will take a lot of your time at first, and then everything will be divided equally between us.I teach you everything I know.We can build that up in no time.You see, this is just the beginning, and before long we'll be selling in every store along the coast.Then he nodded solemnly and added: An independent Jamaica will need people like us.

Well, tell me, how long did it take him to convince me?Gilbert, you will be a businessman from now on.Not a lawyer, no sir, not a judge but listen, not a farmer either.It's a businessman who does things in a crisp suit.You'd think that when I gave Elwood the money, I gave him the keys to my life.Are there tears in his eyes or just the blinding firewood smoke in the night sky?I won't fuck with you, Gilbert, you're my brother.I want to watch you become a Jamaican who thrives.Come on, come on, soon we snap our fingers, and the white man will come running. As I sat high on the mule cart, it suddenly occurred to me: Maybe I accidentally woke up and found myself back in the dark ages.All suggested by Elwood.We can harvest hives with mules.save money.A little more profit for both of us, right?Some old women saw us from afar, leaning on crutches and bending over, waving.And the pesky mule, having found something palatable under a swarm of dazzling flies, will eat on the road ahead, or be leisurely and misled to enjoy the scenery, or simply stop and contemplate the meaning of life.The year before I came home, Elwood traded the old truck for the tail-dragging animal.He was proud of the deal, a mule for a wrecked truck that would have been hauled off the farm in hundreds of rusted pieces.However, everyone soon discovered that this mule was actually two animals.In the front half, next to its slowly blinking eyes and black and fat nostrils, you can pat its gentle and docile head, and feed it from your hands.But you might get kicked if you find yourself standing behind it, there's a ferocious beast living there.Aunt Colleen was sure a cruel embodiment had made its leg home.But another side of his personality may be because the mule is named Aine (I think it is a male mule).I had to coax Aine's front half so that Elwood could unknowingly set the car in place with the back half.But we walked for two hours and could still see the roof of the farm we started from before Elwood gave in and said: Well, I have an idea, let's go find Glenway and put his truck to work. In the RAF, I used to shovel coal with chilblained, itchy hands until my palms turned to rotting flesh; I pushed and pulled entire planes out of the mud; I lifted Mechanical parts bigger than a person, but I still have the strength to hum a tune while doing these things.But here I'm panting like an old woman and petulant like an arrogant city kid because, boy, I've never known such drudgery.Elwood lied to me.I thought that if the burden to be carried was too heavy, the thin bamboo pole cousin would break in half.But no matter how hard he exerted his ribs, his body was still in good condition, and his strong muscles were bursting out like a stallion.I didn't get a chance to catch up to him because every bone in me was yelling: Gilbert, well, man, let's lie down now. It hurts. We tied the hives tightly together with ropes and handled them carefully like bombs, carefully loading these fragile and heavy wooden boxes onto a borrowed truck.Elwood whispered to the curious bees in the box, "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."When he was moving the bees out of the car, he yelled at me: Be careful, boy, take care, take it easy, yes, take it easy.At any time, he warned me that a bee swarm could occur at any time.We lined up the buzzing boxes.Elwood was careful to make sure the boxes were firmly on the gravel.He bent down, like an artist testing the angle of each box with his thumb.Bring the wood, where did Gilbert bring the stone? Lift it up and hold it well, back up and stop.It took us several hours to set up the twenty-two hives with the same care.Elwood looked out at the rows of weather-beaten, gray, battered hives that he proudly called the Bee Kingdom (forget it, I think that's just a humble slug).Hive Like a veiled bride, Elwood took a sash from a hive, swarming with bewildered black bees.And I, defenseless and tense, stood like a dead man, desperate to believe what he had promised me: move your body and you won't get stung.He wafted light smoke over disturbed bees to calm them down, checking to make sure none were too crowded or too hot, while the queen still ruled a box. In the light of night, I ate mangoes by myself under the shade of the rain tree.I was exhausted, my muscles still throbbing from the unaccustomed activity, and I was too tired to sleep.The bright white smoke of the fire drifted eeriely through the dense greenery.Ai Ni munched on her beloved crab grass.I heard Aubrey from the next farm whistling for the cattle to take them to the nocturnal meadows.A flock of black crows sprinted home from the sky.A lizard sprints up the bark and licks a larva with its lightning-shaped tongue.The cicadas hiss like the regular rhythm of cymbals.The sparks of the fireflies buzz around my head like fleeing thoughts, and the bees return to the hive, unaware that they are now working under my hands.This is a beautiful island.Promises are as sweet as honey that is about to flow from the hive.I inserted my fingers into the soft soil, and the soil opened up along the way.If I stick my fingers in the soil long enough, surely this fertile country will grow me. Who can blame Ai Ni?My stomach has been rumbling impatiently for a while, and the smell of Aunt Colleen's cornbread and fried chicken is tormenting.The mule smelled the fragrance, and the high-decibel cry of a baby wanted to be fed, and Elwood, who was reading the newspaper, glanced up.It was useless to shout, he said slowly: Ai Ni, I'm coming soon, good boy.How many times had Elwood and I looked at each other with the flimsy fence that held the mules in and promised to fix that fence?Tomorrow, the next day, maybe the day after tomorrow?Let me tell you, it was the second half of Annie's anger that decided to curb this blindness.How long did it take to break the fence?We didn't hear it because Aunt Colleen was bringing us a plate of succulent fried chicken.She slapped our stealing hands away, then gave the grumbling order to wait before we went back to the kitchen.Elwood and I were very busy, each holding a hot chicken wing in our hands, tearing the meat apart with our teeth, fanning the side of our mouths to cool it down, and paying attention to Aunt Colleen telling us not to quarrel.We heard Ani's voice only when Aunt Corinne screamed for us to come over.The mule has broken into the bee zone. The mule seemed to throw off the imaginary knight, and kicked uncontrollably into the air with its hind legs.The first hive shattered like a biscuit under the pounding hooves.Black bees gathered into fuzzy balls of dust and flew from the debris. Windows, hurry up, close the windows!Elwood came alive with panic and command.Gilbert, still stunned, why, boy, close the door, and the window.One, two, three more hives crumbled under the pounding of the mules, leaving hovering, homeless bees to hunt down the killer on their own.The enraged bee attacks the mule, which, in its haste to defend itself, rolls its eyes frantically from the sting.In its madness, it trampled on the whole field unconsciously, flattening the hive like playing skittles.Angry bees gathered in a puff of black smoke that trailed the leaping mule, enveloping it.I stood still because as long as I stood still I couldn't get stung.Gilbert, do you want to see us eaten alive, boy?Elwood shook my shoulders, pulled the visor up, and tucked the clothes in with his gloved hands.Missiles That's where I've heard missiles fly by: bees booming like flying bombs. The window slammed shut, and the sickening hum died away a little.But the bees, not sure who to blame for throwing them into the sun so rudely, were black blotches thumping on the window panes.Aunt Colleen knelt down and prayed loudly: Lord lead us through this plague Lord lead my son through this hero Hearing this painful voice will also break your heart and become a mortal, but the same pleading tone makes the mule utter a fierce cry With the sound of howling, everyone knows that it is being tortured for miles around.In the meantime, his unwitting hooves still annoy the bees. Elwood is outside.Dodging the mule, he lit a fire in desperation at a fast turn.The hives were all crushed, and the things that had escaped from the hives flew high like soot and stuck to every part of the mule as a matter of course.Aunt Ke Lin woke up from her lament and was ready to kill.With her broom she hunted down the buzzing bees that got lost in the house, knocked pictures off the walls, knocked ornaments off the shelves, and chased the bees like a burglar.From every wall came the mule's long screech in its torment.I was stupid enough to hit myself with the rolled newspaper, and Elwood fanned his arms frantically, the torches sending up clouds of white smoke that he hoped would quell the chaos.Aine was no longer a mule, and the swarm of wriggling bees covered it, making it rage like a ferocious bear, and its long screams enveloped the whole field.It kicked and shook its head, trying to shake the stinging bee from its ears, eyes, and mouth.Did I stare at it for an hour or a whole day while it was tortured and stumbled?A million bees pierce its flesh and inject poisonous needles.How long had I listened to those heartrending, choking calls before the mule finally kicked down with almost grace?The other foot stayed for a moment as if praying before falling down, and the whole body fell heavily to the ground.Now it whines, intermittent violent convulsions shake its body, and it kicks its hooves as if it were still walking on gravel, covered with savage bees.Had it not been for the still heaving of the chest, one might have mistaken it for a lice-infested, unwanted fur coat. I dared not go outside, useless and weak as a straw, watching Elwood's fear surround the dying mule.And our bees are gone.Mostly dead, scattered on the ground, little bodies torn by the murderous thorns.The rest of the bees flew away.Flocks of black fury flew toward the breeze. I laughed.What else can I do?I laughed when Elwood called the incident a minor setback.We lost the bee, we lost the hive, we lost the mule.I also lost all my property.All that's left is a jar full of sunshine.Is Elwood dumb or just crazy?At the time, I couldn't see it.He waved his hand, dismissed the matter, and said: Well, boy, you must have a little confidence. I told him: We lost all our stuff.What do you want me to have confidence in? Tsk, we didn't lose everything.There are also two hives that can produce honey. I had nothing to say, and all I could think of were expletives. Tsk, boy, don't pout for me.Don't look at me so downcast You have too much English cloud in your blood.Listen to me, I have a little plan.We'll find some boys, we'll find Aubrey, Glenway, and others, and we'll find Bee.They won't go far.There were holes in the trees, and they all flew in, or stayed in some bush.We can find them and bring them back.Let me tell you first, I know we won't find them all, but enough to start over, I just want to tell you this. You want us to find bees?I asked. You and I have a few boys. Elwood, do you think I'm going to be running around this island looking for missing bees? Yes, boy.Then we can put some hives back and fix them.Take a nail here and there, and it's like new. Take a nail here and nail it there!Elwood, are you crazy?Are you crazy?I shouted in such fury that he was dumbfounded, and I startled myself.He looked at me inexplicably, like a child curiously wondering whether it was genuine anger or playing tricks on him.Elwood, I'm not running around chasing bees on this island. So do you have a better way to tell me?Mr. Chief Soldier?Mister Warrior? Only then did I say: We cannot rest for a moment in this place. Tsk, boy, you didn't hear what I said, did you?We can take back the bees, it's just a small setback.Tomorrow is the day we start over. Elwood, well, tell me, do you know this is an island? What are you talking about, boy? Listen up, man.I've been to England.I also lived in America. So what? The time is ripe there. If you read it right, there is opportunity here too. So why are so many men and women queuing up to get their passports?Why are there so many people looking for work, crowded everywhere?Elwood, I saw it with my own eyes.The world out there is bigger than all your dreams.This is a small island.Dude, we just held on tight so we wouldn't fall. You're talking bullshit, boy. Everyone is on the move, and the timing is right now. Shocked, Elwood opened his eyes wide and said: Well, now I know, you're gonna lick the Brit's cold ass. I need opportunities, Elwood, I need progress. You want to go back to England. I can't rest here, man. Why don't you come to the meeting with me?I will show you what it will be like to breastfeed and raise there in the future.An independent Jamaica will take care of us. I've been to several of his conferences.Some angry young men.Not enough money to buy decent clothes to wear and keep the teeth in their mouths from rotting away.They bickered with each other over a small piece of land and argued over who should run the Fifth District.Boy, they're fighting over who the next manager will be. Elwood spoke when we got rid of the whites. shut up!Elwood.Can't you see it?When you get rid of white people, you have to replace them with people of color. I don't need to find anyone.Blacks will rule everything. you dream! You are Jamaican.You were born a Jamaican and died a Jamaican ghost.Jamaica means nothing to you, boy?why are you leaving Why don't you leave? Oh, and said I was dreaming.Then how do you get to England?you need money.Are you going to swim, or are you going to slip into some rich lady's bag and let her take you? I don't know, but I must try. Why?Why do you have a little hope here, and you want the whole world?Stay, stay and fight, boy.Fight until you see the results you want to see.Boy, this time you fight for your country. Elwood, I'm tired of fighting. He looked at me like I was a stranger who had just appeared in their yard.He didn't say anything, just shook his head leisurely, sucked his teeth, looked away from my eyes, and said quietly: Ah, Gilbert, I knew you would be like this.I know you're going to live in Babylon.I know you're not here.Do you want to ask me how I know?Well, Gilbert, let me tell you.You may look like us, but that doesn't change the fact that your dad is white. I am a giant, living on an island no bigger than the soles of my own feet, staring at the sea every time I turn around.On the coast, the palm trees that tourists think stand leisurely are my obstacles.The horizon is a tormenting frontier.I envy the pelicans, I envy the crows, they have wings and can easily fly from one place to another and settle down.I became garrulous and didn't care if the jingling little change in my tattered trouser pocket accused me of being an idiot.Oh, there are a lot of people like me who wander around this island with their minds full of what they have seen.If you will listen, we will tell and keep your eyes open to the stories of the war and the country.Tell you about bombs, planes, bullets and guns.Fog and snow and misty autumn fog.Go ahead and ask a question you've always wanted to know.King of England?Oh, he was a gentleman, and so was Shakespeare.Gold on the floor?No, but also yes, the ground in the rain is paved with diamonds. The mirror can only show me disgust, Celia.A lovely person like Lan Li would be amazed and excited by the stories of my travels, and praise me like a prince.I have no intention of wooing, my only need is her admiration.Dazzle her, dazzle her.Well, let me tell her those truths, those lies, those half-baked dreams. But when I met Hortens, my foot was on solid ground, and it landed so hard that my ankle almost snapped in half.How could this woman, who was a few inches shorter than me, be so condescending and look down on me, making me feel like a dwarf?Oh, she is beautiful.The golden complexion left a touch of pink on the round cheeks; the eyes blinked energetically, and the long brown eyelashes flapped like butterfly wings.Her lips could be soft and seductive, too, as long as she didn't keep pursing them in disapproval, or lift the corners of her mouth in haughty disdain.Good boy, when she was in doubt, her eyebrows were raised so high on her forehead that it looked as if they were about to be blown off by the wind.How did this woman learn to be so contemptuous?Is it because of the stink, or has she always only smelled her upper lip?Even her ears can curse.Come on, let's face it, my babbling is helpless in her contemptuous face. She doesn't like me.My face made her sad, my jokes puzzled her, my war stories bored her, my English talk made her yawn.So when she offered to give me the twenty-eight pounds and ten shillings I needed to get to England, I thought she was trying to mess with me.She only said one sentence: I can lend you money.There is no further explanation after that.Boy, I can't even remember if she smiled or not.I laughed like a giggle at a bad joke.But she just stared at me with such a serious look that I immediately thought about how to repay her.In a moment of excitement, I decided to send her money on a weekly basis.Send a little at first until I get a foothold, then I can increase the number.Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, but pay back regularly until it's paid off.I will write it in a pamphlet so there will be no disputes.My sense of honor will see me pay off this debt.You hear this: I'm even going to cut my finger open and use blood to secure the deal.But she and I are not over yet.No persuasion, no grandiose words, no declarations of love, she let me know that I had to marry her to get the money.This woman was looking for escape, and my back was the vehicle she was riding to escape. After I left her that day, I went to sit in the shade under the rain tree.Lizards still scurry up the bark, cicadas still hiss like the rhythm of cymbals.But at this time the ground was charred and dry, so hard that I couldn't insert my fingers into the soil.I wept there.I don't shy away from telling you that I cried like a lost child.I am devastated.I have no choice but this one.If Holtens had the money to buy me, well, let's face it, my price wasn't that out of reach.