Chapter 13 space gardening

That winter was the winter of the rocket launch pad. New rocket launchers have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, not only in Cape Canaveral, but also in the deserted southwest, as well as in southeastern France, equatorial Africa, Jiuquan and Xinjiang in China, and Baikonu in Russia. Al and Stewart Bo.Those launch pads are set up for launching Mars terraforming seeds.There are also larger launch pads, so-called funnels, that can launch larger rocket-powered spacecraft.If the natural environment of Mars is successfully transformed, these spaceships can be used to carry human volunteers to pioneer the wasteland on Mars, which is barely habitable.That winter, the launchers continued to multiply, took root on the concrete platform, and irrigated with the financial resources of the federal government treasury. They were full of vigor and prosperity, and became a forest of steel.

Those launch pads were tailor-made for the first wave of seed rockets, but the rockets were not as spectacular as the launch pads.These rockets are based on the old-fashioned Apollo and Delta rockets. They are mass-produced through assembly line operations. The performance structure is just in line with the needs of the mission, and there is no unnecessary complicated design.In that year, during the transition period between winter and spring, an astonishing number of rockets were entrenched on the launch pad, and spaceships were like cottonwood pods, ready to carry the hibernating life to that remote barren land .

It can be said that it is the spring of the entire solar system, if not spring, at least it is a long-drawn autumn tiger.The sun's helium core is depleted, and the habitable region of the solar system is gradually expanding outwards, beginning to include Mars, and eventually extending to Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon.Ganymede, commonly known as Ganymede, appears to have a subsurface ocean, another potential target for later terraforming projects.On Mars, after millions of years of warm summers, enormous amounts of frozen carbon dioxide and water ice have begun sublimating into the atmosphere.When the time gyration first appeared, the atmospheric pressure on the surface of Mars was only about eight millibars, almost as thin as the four and a half kilometers above Mount Everest.Today, even without human intervention, the climate of Mars has made great progress. It is already similar to the climate of Earth's polar mountains, filled with gaseous carbon dioxide.By Martian standards, it was mild.

We intend to take the development of the Martian climate a step further.We intend to mix oxygen into the Martian air, green the Martian lowlands, and create ponds.At present, the subterranean ice in those places has begun to melt regularly, spewing steam springs, or poisonous mud. During that launch pad winter, despite the dangers, we remained optimistic. ☆ On March 3rd, the first planned seed rocket launch was imminent.That day, Carol.Lawton called from home to tell me that my mom had had a stroke that was serious and probably hopeless. I contacted a local doctor and asked him to replace me at the clinic in the park.Once everything was settled, I immediately drove to Orlando and booked the first flight to Washington the next morning.

Carol picked me up at Ronald Reagan International Airport.She was clearly not drinking and was sober.During the years of living in the small house in the Lawton family yard, the woman always showed a bewildering indifference, never showing the slightest warmth.At this moment, she spread her arms to hug me, and I hugged her back.Then, she took half a step back, put her trembling hand on my shoulder, and said to me: Taylor, I'm so sorry. Is she okay? I'm afraid there is only one breath left.The car is waiting for us, let's talk in the car. I followed her out of the airport and got into the car.The black luxury limousine with the logo of the federal government must have been sent by Edward himself.The driver didn't speak much, and silently put my luggage into the rear compartment.I thanked him, and he raised the brim of his hat lightly as a salute, and then carefully sat on the driver's seat, separated from the luxurious passenger compartment behind.Without waiting for us to explain, he went to George.Drive in the direction of University of Washington Hospital.

Carol looked thinner than I remembered, sitting on the leather chair of the limousine, looking as cute and pitiful as a bird.She took out a cotton handkerchief from her purse and wiped her eyes lightly.She said: I just want to cry for some reason. Yesterday my contact lens disappeared, probably because I accidentally dropped it while crying.You probably wouldn't expect me to be like this.People are always in the blessing and don't know the blessing.Just like me, as long as your mother is in our house, there will be no mess in the house, and as long as I know she is next to me, across the lawn, I feel at ease.That's my luck.I've never been a good sleeper, as you probably know.There have been times when I woke up in the middle of the night and felt that the whole world was suddenly fragile and that I was about to fall, just sinking through the shattered floor, falling endlessly.At that time, I would think of her sleeping peacefully in the little house.As if presenting evidence in court.Testimony A, Belinda.Dupre, demonstrating the possibility of peace of mind.Tyler, I don't know if you know, she's like the backbone of the whole Rawdon family.

I can probably imagine.In fact, we are like a whole big family, although I have already seen the difference between the two houses when I was a child: my house is simple and peaceful, while in the big house, toys are more expensive and quarrels are more earth-shattering. I asked her if Edward had been to the hospital. Edward?No, he is too busy.In order to send the spacecraft to Mars, he seems to be too busy to go home for dinner, so he can only eat in the city.I know Xiaojie stayed in Florida for this matter, but I think if the whole plan has a so-called pragmatic side, he should be dealing with more practical issues, while Edward is more like a magician on stage , conjure money from several different hats.In any case, Edward will be there for the funeral.I twitched my face and she looked at me sheepishly.I mean just in case.However, the doctor said

She will not recover. Yes, she has only one breath left.Tyler, if you remember, I'm a doctor myself.I also helped people see patients.There was a time, long ago, when I was able to see a doctor.Unexpectedly, now you are also a doctor, and you are also helping others.Alas, the world is unpredictable. I appreciate her candor.Maybe that's because she's rarely sober.At this moment, she seemed to return to this bright world, a world she had avoided for twenty years, but it was as uncomfortable as she remembered. We finally arrived at George.Washington University Hospital.Carol had already greeted the nurse on the floor, identified herself, and we went straight to my mother's ward.Carol hesitated at the door.I asked her: do you want to come in?

I can't, I'd better not go in.I've said goodbye to her several times.I don't want to be in a place that smells like disinfectant everywhere.I go to the parking lot and smoke a cigarette with the gurney guys.Let's meet over there later, shall we? I say yes. My mom was still unconscious, lined with life support and a machine regulating her breathing.The machine hummed, and her chest rose and fell regularly.Her hair was a little paler than I remembered.I touched her cheek, but she didn't respond. Out of a doctor's instinct, I opened her eyelids unconsciously, probably to see if her pupils were dilated.However, after the stroke, her eyes were bleeding, red like a tomato, and the whole eyeball was full of blood.

☆ Carol and I left the hospital in the car.She invited me to her house for dinner, which I declined.I said I'd get myself something to eat.She said: "I know there should be something to eat in your mother's kitchen.However, if you want, I really want you to come and live in our big house.Although your mother is gone and the house is a bit messy, I can still clear a guest room for you to make do with. I told her thank you, but I would have preferred to live in my own home. You think about it, if you want to come and live, just tell me.She looked down the gravel driveway and across the lawn to the small house, as if she could finally see clearly for the first time in years.Do you still have the key?

I said: I still have. Well then, you can go back first.If there is any condition on your mother's side, we have phone numbers on both sides of the hospital.Carol gave me another hug, then walked up the stairs resolutely.Although she didn't look urgent, I could still tell that her alcohol addiction had been suffocating long enough. I went into my mother's house.It's more like her home than mine, I thought, even though the traces of my presence here haven't faded.When I left home for college, I cleaned out my room and took everything important.Still, my mom left the beds as they were, and filled in the empty spots with some potted plants (eg pine frames, window sills).She is gone, those flowers and plants withered soon.I poured some water.The rest of the house was just as tidy.Diane once described my mother's housekeeping style as linear, which I assume she meant, orderly but not paranoid.I wandered around the house, looked at the living room, looked at the kitchen, and peeked into my mother's room.Although the scenes and objects in front of us are not exactly what they used to be, but everything in the world has its destination. When it was dark, I drew the curtains and turned on the lights in every room.Before, my mother never thought it necessary to light up the house so brightly.I light the lamp to declare war on death.I don’t know if Carol has noticed that the little house is brightly lit across the withered and yellow grass in winter.I don't know if this will make her feel reassured, or nervous. Edward got home around nine o'clock in the evening.It was very kind of him to knock on my door and offer his condolences.He looked a little out of place in the porch light, his hand-stitched suit a bit disheveled.It was cold at night, and when he breathed he exhaled mist.His hands fumbled involuntarily in his pockets, chest, and hips, as if he had forgotten something, or simply didn't know where to put his hands.He said: "Tyler, I'm so sorry. His mourning seemed a little too soon, and it felt like my mom was dead, not dying.He has already decided that my mother is dead.I thought to myself, my mother still has a breath, at least she is still breathing oxygen.She is still far away in George.In Washington Hospital, a man was lying alone in a ward.Thank you, Mr. Lawton. God, Tyler, just call me Edward, that's what everyone calls me.Jason told me you are doing a great job with your foundation in Florida. None of my patients seem to complain. Very good.No matter how big or small a contribution is, a contribution is a contribution.By the way, was Carol the one who asked you to come back and live here?We have prepared a guest room, would you like to come to my house? I'm fine here. Well, I understand.But if you need anything, come and talk to us anytime, you know? He walked slowly across the yellow lawn.Whether in the media or in the Lawton family, Jason has long been known as a genius.However, I knew in my heart that Edward himself was worthy of the title of genius.He put his engineering degree and business acumen to good use and turned it into a sprawling corporate empire.Back then, GE and AT&T were helpless against time gyrations, blinking their innocent eyes like frightened fawns.At that time, Edward had already started selling the telecommunications broadband carried by the aerostat.What he lacked was not Jason's ingenuity, but Jason's wisdom, and Jason's deep curiosity about the real universe.Perhaps, he lost a little of Jason's humanity. Now that Edward is gone, I am alone here again.It feels like this is my home, and it doesn't feel like it.I sat on the sofa and found that the living room had hardly changed.I was surprised in my heart and stayed for a while.Sooner or later, I will have to get rid of the contents of the house.I never thought this day would come.Cleaning up a house seems more difficult and more confusing than trying to grow life on another planet.However, I think so, maybe because I'm thinking about how to clean it up, or maybe because I realize that something is missing.Next to the TV there was a shelf for ornaments, and a space on the top level was empty. After living in the house for so many years, in my impression, the things displayed on that high shelf have hardly changed, at most it is just a little more dusty.On the top floor, there are souvenirs of my mother's life.Even with my eyes closed, I can tell the order of the things on it and imagine the picture: the yearbook of her middle school (Myrtle Middle School, Bingham County, Maine, 1975, 1976, 1977 7. 1978), the 1982 graduation album of the University of California, Berkeley, a jade Buddha statue bookend, a graduation certificate framed in a vertical plastic frame, and a retractable file case, which contains With her birth certificate, passport, tax bills.Beyond that was another green Buddha bookend holding three tattered New Balance sneaker boxes.On the box are written Souvenir (School), Souvenir (Marcus), Miscellaneous. But this evening, the second Buddha bookend was tilted to one side, and the box that said memorabilia (school) was missing.I figured she took it down herself, but it was odd that the box wasn't seen anywhere else in the house.Among the three boxes, only the sundry box she would often open in front of me.Inside were concert schedules, old yellowing and brittle newspaper clippings (with her parents' obituaries in them), a souvenir lapel pin.The pattern on the pin was in the shape of the fishing brig, the Bluenose, which she had bought on her honeymoon in Nova Scotia.There are also some matchbooks, clothing accessories, and a christening certificate that she collected in restaurants and restaurants she visited.There was even a bundle of my lanugo wrapped in a small piece of wax paper with a pin clipped to it. I took the other box down, the one that said Souvenir (Marcus) on it.I was never particularly curious about my dad, and my mom rarely talked about him. (His image in my mind is simple: a handsome man, engineer, jazz collector, Edward's best friend from college, but also an alcoholic, a victim of fast driving. Once He went to Milpitas, California, to visit an electronics supplier, and was in a car accident on the way home at night.) Inside the box was a stack of letters, brown paper envelopes, and the address and name on the envelopes were neatly written by my father. .The letters were addressed to Belinda Sutton, my mother's maiden name.The address on the envelope was Berkeley, California, but I didn't recognize the street number. I took out an envelope, opened it, pulled out the yellowed letter paper inside, and spread it out. There is no ruled line on the letter paper, but the writing on it is neatly arranged from beginning to end, with small intervals.The content read: Dear Bei, I thought I had already said everything I needed to say on the phone last night, but I still couldn't stop thinking about you.Writing this letter seems to bring you closer to me, but I still can't see you, and I can't have you by my side like last August.Every night when I can't lie beside you, I play the old memories over and over in my mind. There are more later, but I didn't read any more.I folded the letter, stuffed it back into the yellow envelope, closed the box, and put it back where it came from. ☆ The next morning, someone knocked on the door.I think it must be Carol or a clerical assistant sent over from the big house.I ran to open the door. Unexpectedly, it was not Carol, but Diane.Diane wore a dark blue floor-length dress and a turtleneck top.She clasped her hands across her chest and looked up at me with a twinkle in her eyes.She said: I am so sad, I rushed over as soon as I heard the news. Unfortunately it was too late.The hospital called ten minutes ago.Belinda.Dupre never regained consciousness and eventually died. ☆ At the farewell ceremony, Edward's speech was short, a little restless, and the content was lacklustre.I went up to talk, and Diane went up to talk.Carol also wanted to say a few words, but in the end she couldn't go on stage because she cried too sadly or was still drunk. Diane's speech was the most touching.Her voice was cadenced and sincere, and she described my mother's kindness like a gift from a richer and more peaceful country across the lawn.I'm grateful she said those words.Everything else about the farewell ceremony seemed rigid by comparison.Some half-familiar faces appeared in the crowd and came on stage to say some tedious words, half-truths and half-false.I thanked them one by one with a smile, and repeated the same actions. Finally, when the time was up, everyone started to walk towards the cemetery. ☆ That night there was a party in the big house, a post-funeral reception.At the meeting, Edward's business associates took turns to pay my respects.I didn't know any of them, but a few of them knew my dad.The few servants in the big house also came to express their condolences, and their condolences seemed more sincere, unable to conceal their grief. Banquet attendants weave through the crowd, carrying silver trays with wine glasses on them.I drank a lot and got a little over the top.There was another group of people coming to pay my respects. At this time, Diane pushed her way through the crowd and dragged me away.She said: You need to breathe. But it's cold outside. If you drink any more, you will start to feel yin and yang.I see you are almost there.Come on, Xiaotai, just a few minutes. We went out onto the lawn.The meadows are yellow in mid-winter.Nearly eighteen years ago, we were on the same meadow to witness the moment when the time gyration appeared.We walked around the big house.Although the March wind was bitingly cold, and there were still tiny snowflakes on the trees, roofs, and trellises, we really took a slow walk on the lawn. We've talked a lot about things that come easily to mind.We exchanged updates: my job, my move to Florida, my work on the foundation campus.She told me about her and Simon's situation in the past few years. They quit the New Kingdom Movement and moved towards a more moderate traditional belief. Fibrous clothes.) I was a little drunk and top-heavy.I walked beside her, wondering if I had become, in her eyes, a vulgar or obnoxious person.I don't know if she smelled my aperitifs, or noticed that the jacket I was wearing was a man-made fiber blend.She hasn't changed much, except that she's a little thinner than before, maybe too thin.The collar of her dress was high and tight, which accentuated the line of her jaw. I'm still sober, and I know I want to thank her for taking the trouble to drag me out to get sober. She said: I also need to come out and get some air.I can't stand Edward's guests, no one really knows your mother.Not half.They're still talking about appropriation bills and payload weights over there.They were actually talking about business over there. Maybe that was Edward's way of paying homage to her.Invite some political and business celebrities to add luster to her wake. How generous of you to think so. You still seem unhappy to see him.I thought to myself, she was really easily irritated by him. You mean Edward?Of course not happy.Although I also know that I should be more magnanimous and forgive him.You seem to be much more magnanimous than I am. I said: He didn't do anything to me, and I need to forgive him, after all, he is not my father. I didn't really mean anything else when I said that, but I'm still stuck with what Jason told me a few weeks ago.As soon as the words came out, I was startled.Even though I had considered it over and over before I said that, my face turned red as soon as I said it.Diane looked at me suspiciously for a long time, then suddenly her eyes widened with an angry and embarrassing expression on her face.Even in the dim light of the porch, I could see it easily. She said coldly: Jason must have told you. sorry How did he tell you?Are you two just sitting there laughing at me? of course not.He told me that because he took the medicine. This time he showed his feet again.She clenched on it: what medicine? I'm his GP, and sometimes I prescribe some things for him.Is there anything strange? Taylor, what kind of drug makes a man forget his promises and say things he shouldn't?He promised I would never tell you. At this point, she deduced another possibility.Is Jason sick?Is that why he didn't come to the funeral? He is too busy.We're only a few days away from our first rocket launch. However, you seem to be helping him with some treatment. I cannot violate professional ethics by discussing Jason's medical records with you.I said.But I know that if I say this, she will only be more suspicious, because although I didn't tell her on the surface, I have actually leaked the secret. It was indeed his style, not telling us when he was sick.That's how he completely sealed himself off Maybe you should take the initiative to ask him, and you can call him when you have time. Do you think I never hit?Did he also tell you that I didn't even call?For a while I called him every week, but all he would do was laugh at me and tell me something that didn't hurt.For example, how are you, I am fine, how have you been lately, nothing.Tyler, he didn't want me to call him at all.He was imprisoned in Edward's barracks.He thought I would embarrass him.I won't be calling him unless his attitude changes. I don't know if he has changed, but maybe you can visit him and talk to him face to face. How can I meet him? I shrugged.Take another week off and fly back with me. Didn't you say he was busy? As soon as the rocket is in the air, all that's left to do is sit back and wait.You can come to Cape Canaveral and we can see how history is made. Launching rockets is useless.she says.It sounded like someone else had taught her to say it, though.She added: I really want to go, but I can't afford the ticket.Simon and I get on, but we don't have much money.We are not the Rawdons. I can pay for your air ticket. You are a very generous alcoholic. I mean it. She said: Thank you, but still no.I can not accept. You think about it. Ask me again when you're sober.As we walked up the steps to the porch, the dim light from overhead cast shadows over her eyes.She suddenly said: Maybe I used to think wildly, thinking maybe I told Jason Diane, don't say that, I understand. I know Edward is not your father. She overturned her old thinking, and that's okay.What's interesting is that her expression is firm and decisive, as if she knows more now, as if she has discovered another truth, another key to unlocking the secrets of the Lawton family. ☆ Diane went back to the big house, and I didn't want to face unnecessary blessings from unnecessary people.I walked back to my mother's house.At this moment, I suddenly felt that the house was too stuffy and too hot. The next day, Carol told me that I could slowly organize my mother's things.What she said was to arrange it.She said that the little house is here and will not run away, it does not matter for a month or a year.As long as I have time, as long as I am calm, I can arrange it at any time. It's too early to tell if you want to calm yourself down.Still, I thank her for being so patient.All day long, I was packing my bags for my flight back to Orlando.I've been wondering if I should take some of my mom's stuff home, maybe she'll want me to have a box of my own and keep some mementos.But what should I bring?Take away a famous German porcelain doll?She likes those porcelain statues, but I always think they are expensive and tacky.Take away that cross-stitched butterfly on the living room wall?Or the self-framed copy of the famous painting, Impressionist master Claude Monet's masterpiece Water Lilies? While I was hesitating over there, Diane suddenly appeared at my door.Does what you said yesterday still count?Buy me a plane ticket to Florida?Are you serious? Seriously, of course. I talked to Simon.He wasn't too happy about letting me go to Florida, but he said he shouldn't have a problem being home alone for a few days. I thought to myself, he is quite considerate. She said: So, unless you I mean, I know you drank a lot yesterday Don't be silly, I'm calling the airline right now. I booked a seat in Diane's name on the first flight the next day, a travel ticket from Washington to Orlando. Then, I went on to pack my bags.Of all my mother's belongings, I chose one at least.I chose the set of jade-carved Buddha statue bookends. I searched all over the house and even checked under the bed, but couldn't find the box that said memorabilia (school).That box seems to be gone forever.