October: Sugar for Books

It's the end of October, and I'm in a daze looking at all kinds of Halloween merchandise. What I can recall from Halloween is the memory of my school days. Our school will hold Halloween activities, and some areas of the school will change a few days before and on the day of Halloween. It was very halloween, and the auditorium was even more brilliant, thanks to the efforts of all grades in one of the departments, but looking back at the school homepage, that department was missing. I was in a daze in front of this Halloween merchandise display for a long time, and the performance at that time was really wonderful... Maybe I will laugh now, but in my memory, each class has to perform a performance related to Halloween. There are The class sent out a few people wearing masks or exaggerated headgear to sing and dance, someone put on a good show and made the whole school laugh, not to mention that my class used all-purpose black garbage bags to make costumes. I was really happy, and it made up for the broken pieces of my heart that I had just entered the school and hadn’t failed the high school exam yet.

After I finally recovered from my dazed memories, I left the store and picked up my phone to read a mysterious urban legend my colleague told me, which read: "Since someone brought Halloween to us from the West to promote it, it has successfully developed into adults. Everyone knows the event of Halloween, when a ghost came to settle in our city, every time it was Halloween, it would appear, begging for candy on the road, and after giving it candy, you would be haunted by him that day. On, the vitality of the body will be sucked away, and it will take a few days to recover. Those who do not give sugar, although they can not be entangled, the ghost will curse all those who ignore it, and will think about it before the end of the year. Desire for candy. The ghost is still in the city to this day, waiting for Halloween.”

But after reading it, this urban legend really doesn't have much content. It's okay to only come out on a specific holiday, but its rumored content is nothing special. It's just ignoring its curse. Some people drink Coke every day and eat it every day. What is sugar? Only the one who responded to the question of giving him sugar, although I heard from my friend that the spirit body can connect to the human body as long as there is a connection, so as to achieve the purpose of moving and possessing the body.

"I think it's better to be suspicious of that kind of thing, forget it, just take a look anyway."

The next day, after work, I was walking on the road at night, and I could clearly feel the coolness of autumn. I knew that the cold weather was coming again, and I felt the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the room was gradually approaching when the air conditioner was turned on. After 25 degrees, the air-conditioning can be turned off and turned into a door.

"Global warming is the problem of the future? Then why don't we ask us how much money the black-hearted factories made in the past to pay attention to the health of the earth? It's really making people angry, should it be said that it is a victim of technology? We won't survive that time." Damn, when I'm old and think I can't see the end of the warming, I'm so arrogant."

I casually complained about this bird problem to the air, and suddenly I saw a small child on the side of the road. It wasn't me who was doubling the words. It was a really small child. Begging for candy, some people gave him some candy, others ignored it, no matter what the passerby responded, the little child still said thank you to the person, and then continued to ask for candy to the next passerby.

"Can you give me candy? Even one is fine!"

And a thug walked over, I saw that he wanted to give the little boy a stone, but I didn't stop it, but watched the thug gave him the stone and ran away with a smile, and then I turned into the small boy next to me. In the alley, I bought a small bag of sarsaparilla candy from the grandma at the grocery store, walked over to the little kid, and made a deal with him.

"Child, exchange this bag of candy with me for what the wicked-looking adult gave you just now?"

"No need! Uncle, I know it's a stone. You don't need to exchange the bag with me. The stone can be given to you for free."

Woah...I've been treated as an uncle again, obviously I'm still young? Did you not shave your beard? (touches his chin) Sure enough, I deserve to be an uncle.

"Where are your parents? Why are you begging for candy here?"

"My parents were gone a long time ago, so I can live on my own."

"Well... Although you look very confident, how old are you? How do you know that you can live alone? It's not that easy to get away with in this society."

"I can live by myself, but I have to be full of candy in exchange for things."

"What is it? And if you want candy, just buy it!"

The child took out a picture book and showed it to me. I didn't care about the content of the story. I only noticed that each page was torn back with tape, and there are still three torn pages, so no ending.

"Candy has to be given by someone else, or I won't be able to exchange the remaining pages."

"Then you can show me the publishing company of this picture book, or whether there is an ISBN code..."

No, it seems to be an independently produced picture book.

"If I don't get it together this time, I'll give up collecting, because I should leave too."

The little child hugged the picture book tightly, but it didn't look like he was being abused or abandoned. It's strange that he was just collecting candy on the eve of Halloween... Wait, shouldn't it?

"Uh... boy, how long have you been exchanging candy accumulated pages?"

"I don't know, but I switch to two pages every time."

I picked up the picture book again, counted it, and added the number of pages that had not been glued back... 39 pages, minus 3 pages and became 36 pages.

"It's great. I thought I met the urban legend that my colleague said. It turned out to be a child who collected the leftover pages of 18 years of picture books. It's really great."

"Uncle, didn't you say I'm a ghost?"

"I said, isn't it strange to say that you are a ghost? You are standing here and taking candy from people. You are alive now. Even if you are dead, you are alive in the eyes of passers-by."

"I never thought of this idea, because death is death, I finally hope to get this picture book back, so I really have no regrets."

"But didn't you just say you want to give up if you haven't finished your search this year?"

"Well, but this picture book will be forgotten, no one will remember it, no one will read it, and my brother's efforts will be worthless."

"Brother? Do you want to talk about what kind of person you are?"

Listening to the little child, when he met the younger brother, he was 10 years old. The younger brother said that he wanted to be a picture book writer, and the little child also told him to work hard, and then the little child kept chatting with him, discussing the content of the picture book, chatting His daily life, as well as various topics, is a good memory in the mind of a child. After all, few people will notice him because he is a ghost.

So the younger brother grew up, worked hard for 10 years, and finally painted a work that he can truly identify with himself. Even his friends said it was very good, and he showed it off to the little children.

"I want to show my brother's first work to my sister. Because of your support, I will show you this work first, and then I will show my sister."

Then he left, and he was involved in a mafia fight on the way home, and his back was cut with a knife. The little child wanted to help him, but what can the ghost do? So my brother asked him.

"I hope you can help me show my sister the picture book, because she is looking forward to..."

He lost too much blood and died, and little children couldn't even pick up picture books, let alone save him.

After the fight, the picture book was stolen by a feng shui master who pretended to be crazy and foolish before the police came, and then took it out to tell people about feng shui and lied that it was a cursed picture book. Burning a page can be changed. Feng Shui, as a result, all 39 pages were burned, and the little child watched the picture book being thrown into the trash can. Even if he could pick it up, he couldn't even restore it, so he couldn't give it to his sister.

"Then the number of pages on it is... in exchange?"

"That's right, someone suddenly appeared in front of me, he was wearing a pumpkin mask, and he said that as long as he brought the number of candies he designated for other people every Halloween, he would be able to exchange for the number of lost pages, I also confirmed the content, They're exactly the same, so they keep swapping."

"Then you can be seen and met now by that person?"

"Well, I don't know how he did it, but as long as I can achieve the goal, I will do it."

"Then...why did you give up before finishing this year?"

"The younger brother and his younger sister have a special rare disease, which seems to be related to some blood vessel. In short, she was judged by the doctor to have only one more year to live, and this year is the last year."

Then he was silent, and I scratched my head.

"...How much candy are you missing?"

"You don't have to buy it for me! Then I have to repay you."

"Well, the amount of candy next to you is quite exaggerated. It's not easy to store two bags of candy from others."

"And with only one bag left, it's no longer possible."

My phone showed 0 o'clock, Halloween had come, and suddenly a person stood next to me. I didn't hear any footsteps at all. I looked at the person wearing a pumpkin mask, and he greeted the little child first.

"Hey, I didn't expect to have only two bags this year! But it's a pity, only the last page is left. You can only talk about it next year. Don't worry, I will keep my promise next year."

When the two pages of the picture book appeared out of thin air, I caught it and grabbed the pumpkin mask man by the way. You ask me, why do I think it is a man? Hearing it is a man's deep voice, isn't it just nonsense? And he didn't panic when he was caught, but easily pushed my hand away and turned back to look at me.

"Are you going to trade with me too? Humans."

"Say as if you're not human, yes, I'm going to make a deal, I want the last page of that kid's picture book."

The little kid next to me didn't have time to stop me, so he had to help me get the two pages of picture books first, while the man in the pumpkin mask turned out a candy cane, stuck it on the ground and started reading my deal.

"Then, since you are a normal adult, I can let you choose a price to exchange this page, how about it? And until you reach it, I will appear every year? Even after you die, you will become a living person and continue. Go down, do you accept such a contract?"

"It turned out to be the boss who forced people to work overtime! Why don't you quickly announce the price of my new employee?"

The pumpkin mask man pondered for a while, and he could only see his eyes through the mask, but he looked really serious.

"The first one, make world peace or 'nuclear peace'."

"You think I won't think of 'nuclear peace' if I talk about two peaces! Rejection!"

"Of course, if you accept it, I'll think there's something wrong with your brain? Second, belly dancing on the street and talking about belly dancing is the next world trend and keep promoting it for five minutes. Isn't this much simpler?"

"...Pumpkin man, you were thinking about how to punish me just now, right?"

"Okay, I know, I won't mess with you, I have already decided what I want you to do."

The pumpkin mask man patted me on the shoulder, then stepped back and made progress, stating the conditions.

"Please give me the most inconspicuous thing about you."

"...Huh? Wait, say it again."

"The most inconspicuous thing, as long as you take it out, I will give you the last page."

Although I don't know what troublesome conditions he will put forward after playing with me, does he actually ask me for a completely useless thing? Although I don't understand what it means, I looked through the backpack and found a screw that I never noticed existed. What's going on?

"I think the most inconspicuous thing I have is this screw that I didn't even notice."

"Let me see... Indeed, this is your most inconspicuous thing. You didn't break the contract with me, so take it."

He snapped his fingers, the last page floated down, I caught it, and when I wanted to ask something, only a pumpkin mask was left, and the person had disappeared.

"Okay, this will complete the picture book, hurry up! Don't you want to hurry up and give it to your brother's sister?"

The last three pages were quickly glued to the seams, and the picture book was finally complete. The little child and I hurried to the place where the sister was hospitalized, but it turned out that she was hospitalized, because she herself did not want to spend the last time in the hospital, and then followed the little girl. The child took a ride to his brother's original house.

"Are you sure your sister will be there?"

"I don't know, but that's all I know."

"But who pays for the car?"

"……stare……."

"I'll go and borrow my salary from the boss again..."

The car was parked in front of an ordinary house with a view to the sky, with a small courtyard in front of it, and a woman sitting in the middle was blowing the wind...

"I didn't expect there to be visitors so late? Please take a seat."

I sat with the little child on the polished stone chair, and across the stone table was the little child's younger sister. She didn't look very well because of her illness, her cheeks were dull, and her whole body looked weak, but if she recovers her health As you can imagine, she is also a beautiful woman.

"I don't know you guys, what are you doing here?"

"I... came to give this to you."

The little child took out the picture book and handed it to her, and she slowly read the picture book page by page. She didn't turn the pages at random, but read the story carefully, and then I took out my phone and checked the time, it was close. midnight 2 O clock.

Later, she closed the picture book and thanked the little child.

"Thank you, kid, is this my brother's picture book?"

"Do you know it just by looking at it once?"

"Yes! This story was made up by my brother for me when I was a child, how can I not know it? I also wrote down the details. Really, if my brother is still there, as a picture book, I will definitely give 0 points. Add to me the knowledge that other children don’t understand yet, although I didn’t understand it at the time, it’s true that others would not understand if they read it, let alone the children!”

It's really strict, I think so, I think looking at the face of a little child is probably the same thing, right?

But her expression was not as severe as her tone, but she was crying as she spoke.

"Sister, are you okay?"

"Well, thank you, although you handed over the picture book to me, but as you can see, my time is running out. I can see my brother's picture book in the last year, and I won't say that I have any regrets."

Then she gave me the picture book, and then gave the little child a basket of candy.

"I'll give you the picture book, and although this basket of candies is not enough to express my gratitude, please accept it, I should rest."

Then the woman went back to the house to rest with the help of her parents, and I and the little child left, but not long after leaving, the sound of the basket falling to the ground came from behind. From my point of view, the little child's hand started Disappeared, and other places are also slowly dissipating, the dissipated part takes on the color of candy paper, and then becomes transparent with the air.

Maybe he became a Buddha, or disappeared, or continued to remain alone in the world, I don't know, but I still said goodbye to him with a casual feeling.

"Okay! The task is completed, you have to leave, goodbye! If you are reincarnated, I wish you happiness in the next life, and if you become a Buddha, help me tell the Buddha that eating some meat is not sinful, it is for health, and ask him to also Eat some, and if you're going to stay, I hope you find the next friend who can see you."

"I think the Buddha will come to beat you after waiting, but I will tell you if you really become a Buddha. I will give you the candy and picture books. After all, you have helped me a lot. Thank you, uncle."

"No, I just graduated from college not long ago!"

"Then... Big brother, thank you for being with this lonely me. Although there is no guarantee that something good will happen to big brother, but those who have been helped by you must be lucky, so bye bye, thank you..."

In the end, he was gone. I put away all the scattered candies, and there was nothing to prove his existence. I originally wanted to put a candy in place, but I gave up.

"It's better not to bother the cleaning staff."

When I got home, I didn't expect that the window was not closed, and there was an extra letter on the desk with money, which happened to be the fare of the taxi just now. The content of the letter was very brief, only my personal opinion.

"Although everyone said that Fatty would have negative comments, but in the end, you're a pretty good guy, and I'll pay for it."

The only little fortunate is that I don't have to borrow salary from my boss, so I started reading the picture book.

------------------Because I thought I should be separated, I appeared! -------------------------------------------------- ---------------

"Once upon a time, there was a little ghost who was willing to help others and settled in a place. He came to this land after fighting many evil ghosts. This time he wanted to help some people in this land. But at this time, the sky fell. The two people who came down were Jesus and Buddha. The two of them poached the little ghost to talk about one of them, because he was a kind soul, but the little ghost simply refused, because the reason he helped people was that he was not like this. When I was a ghost of the world, it was when I was still a person in the future world.” (1p~8p)

"He saw that there was no communication between people, and only confirmed the itinerary with the lifeless robot, and then performed the work that should be done every day. He rarely encountered people in the workplace, and there was no sense of achievement in operating the AI work. Then he was called by the system to the old man named "The Last Human" . The old man said that he was his younger self and asked him to help build the time machine. During the building process, the old man said that the world was full of Under the system of replicators, the future of living things no longer exists. If the rulers at that time did not order that the replicator technology should be brought to the table, or the way of application was changed, would it not have reached this point? What about the future? Then he was sent into the time machine, which was the last time machine, and none of the people on board came back. When he finally left, the old man apologized to him and gave him the responsibility of changing the past, and the machine flashed out. The light shines, there is a big explosion, and the last of the old humans is gone. ” (9p~14p)

"Coming to the world of the past, his body was gone, and he became a little ghost. Then he was caught by the bully ghost and wanted to throw the little ghost like a ball. But the little ghost is from the future, and the knowledge about fighting is ingrained. Existing in the body, although he has no body, the second quickly turns his disadvantage into an advantage to crush the bully ghost. After taking care of the bully, he continues to take care of a bunch of evil spirits, urban legends, etc., and completely cleans up the Western spiritual world. But he is not sure about this. Is it correct? In the end, changing the past really only requires removing all the factors that will harm people? And what is the reason for the appearance of replicants? Isn't life a good one...? I can't imagine that he is in the West One of the countries stayed for a while, and because of this, they lived in a house, which caused them to move out and become an empty house. It was also at this time that the little ghost encountered the man with the oriental ghost spell and a priest's uniform who was about to drive him away. man.” (15p~22p)

"He asked the pastor what would be the cause of the extinction of human beings if people ceased to have children in the future? The pastor answered without a doubt that there was no hope, although he did not understand the reasons why people were sterile. Then the pastor suddenly said that he would do a In October, everyone can be happy, and that event is Halloween. Although the format is different, he encourages everyone to visit the neighbors at night, and give blessings to the candy, while the little ghost is also watching. There is a bad-tempered The adults don't give candy. When a child said "trick or treat" , the little ghost happened to pass by the adult's house, the lights flickered wildly, and the terrified adult gave the child a whole jar of candy, the little ghost thought. Could this be the reason for "trick or treat"?" (23p~28p)

"After that day, the little ghost also talked every day because of the pastor's relationship, and they stayed together every Halloween, and they have become adult ghosts. Before I knew it, it was also when the pastor was old and sick, when the pastor was about to die. At that time, he wanted to correct the answer to that question of the ghost at that time." (29p~30p)

"In the future, helping others has become a rare thing, right? It's a matter of course in our time, but in the future you call helping others, it's even a crime. It's really a complicated future. We also discuss a lot, for self-protection Right. But that's one of the reasons for your irreversible future, isn't it?" (31p)

"So at least you are good, you try to help others as much as you can. When that tiny grain of sand, one day, it will not be just you, but the scale of the sandstorm will follow you. Come on, man, I believe there will be rewards in the future. It's... time to say... goodbye." (32p)

"That night, the pastor's family saw a man appear out of nowhere, and he was the partner the pastor had always said. He said his final goodbyes to the pastor's tomb, and decided to bring Western culture to the East. And he was in the long history of , constantly changing the identities of ghosts and living people, and he also watched those original Western and Eastern cultures continue to change and gradually become familiar to him. During this time, he has been helping others to discover a land that has never appeared in history. The people in this land have experienced many foreign occupations, perhaps because of their DNA, and their descendants are very friendly to foreigners. After many twists and turns, even though their country was coveted by another country, the ghost decided to temporarily stay in this country, Observe this change that never occurred." (33p~38p)

"Today, he is still helping people and watching us." (39p, end.)

------------------what! It's definitely not a picture book, is it? Can do short stories. ------------------------------------

Are you thinking that the pumpkin man put the screws? Have you decided to send it? Or was the screw really lying in the backpack until I found it and fulfilled its responsibility? I still don't discuss this, it feels weirder the more I think about it. Don't talk about Pumpkin Man, I don't care who he is at all, as long as he has the heart, he can definitely help more people, just like the ghost in the picture book.

In October, you don't have to panic when you see a ghost. If it really wants to harm people, it probably hangs up without even realizing it, right? If you really see it, don't rush to talk to it, just decide according to your personal courage and courage, maybe it really needs help.

oh! Of course, we must also maintain vigilance and guard against anything. After all, we only have one life. But we must also maintain curiosity about anything, and we only have one life, so that we can continue to explore the unknown and continue to open up future possibilities.

So, happy Halloween to you and myself.