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Time Stops; a novel
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Aug. 12, newly added & edited
A young man tries to get out from the situations he has been thrown into. The time, it seems, to be stopping, but he struugles to get out of the time that seems to be stopping.
To tell the truth, the original, or Japanese edition, is lost and there is no hope to recover it. So I'll write only the English version. Japanese version? I'm sorry, but there's no plan for it.
TIME STOPS
09/11, an airplane crashes into the WTC building in New York.
I go to a convenience store to buy food. Dark. It is in the evening, I believe, but not sure. A ball that seems to be the sun is on the edge of a mountain. I'm a new resident here and don't know if it situates in the East or in the West. Maybe it's in the early morning. Oh, the ball isn't the sun but the moon, as the case may be. Don't care, what I am sure of is I'm hungry.
7&11. Enter the store pushing the door. What I found recently is that I can enter the store even if I pull the door, which says 'PUSH & ENTER'. No meaning of the sign on the door.
Go straight into the store and can reach the lunch corner. That's the way to best sell lunches, a TV said. Look for the cheapest one. Look for? No, I only skim on the price tags. Not really looking for, according to the definition of COD.
The cheaper is a lunch, the smaller is the volume. I don't like a cup noodle or the like, for they aren't good to eat. An old friend was once eating a cup noodle, saying "Delicious!" Just could not believe. He can well eat dog food if I tell him it's a new cereal.
Though I have to take nutrition and additives into consideration, I don't like the kind of living because it is too trendy. Don't care if ignoring is rather tiresome. I really am nervous about them. Have no allergy, but am costive and so I try to choose one containing much fiber, which I know is only vegetable. Oh, there is the yogurt.
Search a pocket. Some coins. Only 300 yen and a little more. I am now poor 'cause it's the 3rd week I am off the last part-time job. I collected only coins putting them into the pocket. They aren't enough to buy both a hamburger and a sandwhich with.
Nearly hit on a working girl, who looked to be tired, which suggested it was in the evening.
I have never got retirement bonus. Sure, for I have never kept working for the same office no longer than one year. No, the hospital. I have to enter hospital here and there through my life so long. No hospital would make my life a little better one. Now and past and in the future. I keep paying pension due, but no security after retirement.
Bought only one big burger which cost 260 yen. This is the supper. No. If the bright ball on the edge of the mountain is the sun and the direction is the East, this should be the breakfast.
Put on the TV coming back to my apartment room. An airplane crashes into the WTC building. "Kamikaze, isn't it?" No, they seem to call it "suicide attack." The passengers had no smaller calamities than ever. If I were on the plane, I would have attacked the terrorists. 1st, I start boxing. 2nd, I look forward to such a situation. 3rd,I use the airplane as often as possible, that's only once a year? oh no, impossible, I could work as a street watcher for only less than half a month. I got as smll as \100,000.
Vital force. Vital force, that's it. Start jogging. But too hungry even to lightly jog. So I'll look for a new job. From tomorrow. No, from today. I should have got a job news magazine at the store.
Look for a job for bread. For a job, build up vital force. For better vital force, have more bread. For more bread, look for a job. What this endless chain? Where can I get on to start my own life?
09/11, an airplane crashes into the WTC building in New York.
One big burger couldn't satisfy me, of course. Went to 7&11 once again. Took with me one \500 coin. Before leaving my room, I checked my purse and found out there was only one \10,000 bill left.
How am I going to keep eating until I find a new job? Neither worrying nor perfecting makes me less hungry. 'Man shall not live by bread alone.' But even the bread cannot I afford to buy. 'Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God' can feed my heart and, even heal my ill mind. What's that, though? Ill? Healthy? I just want to live, ill or healthy.
Looked for a job in the magazine. A lot of. Every one of them can be classified into two groups; 1 is what I can do but don't want to do, 2 is what I cannot do but can be paid high. To decide which to choose is no question; I don't choose either of them. GOTO the ash can.
I really slept? Dunno. After I washed my face, went out to the veranda. The bright ball is still on the edge of the mountain. The brightness is the same. The location is the same.
09/11, an airplane crashes into the WTC building in New York.
"After you leave the hospital, the real fighting (with the illnes) starts. Remember?" said the chief nurse. Good. Excellent! My fight is not with the illness, but with my life.
How about working through the night at some convenience store? Must I take medicine on such a night? What if I become sleepy? When I fall asleep? Don't worry, I can keep awake all through the night. See, even though I wanted to sleep, I could never goto sleep a few months ago; and so I entered the hospital. What should I tell the doctor? "I sleep the whole day." If he asks me, "I mean 'the night'." I'll say, "Oh it's my working time!" Something's crooked.
Last time I went to the hospital, I found the famous girl crying and shrieking in the hospital. She was famous because she was something like a yellow cab. When she entered, she instantly became famous. For only a week or two. All the men patients are inevitably fell ED, so there was no demand. I gave her a package of tabaco and she was willing to accept me, but I found out that I got ED.
(to be continued)
BEING TRANSLATED from the original Japanese by the author.
PEACE
Kouzui's Journal
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