This place was cooler than long before. The decoration turned so different. It looked much pleasure in my sight.
I met Pearson in his mart. It had been three months since I hadn't seen him.
"Hello, Richard!" he greeted me with joy. "Long time no see!"
"Yeah, it's been a long day!" I exclaimed. "How do you do?"
"Good. You?"
"Nothing is better. Any story to tell?"
In fact, I normally didn't like to ask about that. Since it had been a long moment, listening to his boring story once in while wasn't a bad idea.
However, it couldn't be done when he said, "No."
It was really unfortunate. Indeed, this was a moment I really missed.
A young man stood at the corner. He was so busy replenishing several fruits on a rack.
"Hi, Peter!" I greeted him from afar.
He stopped for a while and turned towards me to say hello. Then, he returned to continue his tasks. He'd been working here since I resigned around four months ago.
"How's he?" I asked Pearson.
"He's not as hard-working as you," said Pearson. "But, at least he shows me he's suitable to work here."
"I think he just needs more time."
"Perhaps."
We chuckled. Nothing was funny, but I felt so happy being here.
"Well, are you looking for some snacks?" he offered.
"Yeah. Some chips," I replied.
"Okay. Wait a second."
"No. I can do it myself. Please."
"Okay then."
I moved to the snack part, took two packs of chips with seaweed flavor, and walked back to Pearson.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"Well, I have something important," I said.
I looked down, lifted a small cardboard box, placed it on the table, and unsealed it. Pearson was surprised to see it. Some packages of meat, eggs, fresh fruits, and vegetables filled this box.
"Why did you bring this?" he questioned.
"I hafta," I explained. "Look, I can't stop thinking about my fault to you, even though it had been five months."
"But, you've apologized. And, I've already forgiven you. Nothing to worry about."
"Yeah. But, still, I can't forgive myself. You know, you trust me, but I betrayed you. I'm so sorry for that, for everything."
Pearson closed his eyes and took a deep breath for a moment. He approached me and held my right shoulder.
"If I take this, will you forgive yourself?" he inquired.
"Yes. That's why I brought this," I said.
"Alright then. Thank you."
"No. But, thank to you, Pearson."
I hugged him. I felt so relieved. Every burden flew away from my body now.
Pearson might be thinking why I did this now, not at the previous time. It wasn't a complicated question. This was just because it wasn't easy to raise money to buy those items.
I took the chips after payment. "See you again!" I said.
"See you!"
"Anyway, uh, you can visit me anytime."
"Sure."
It was great to meet Pearson. I seldom could come here since the problem of my time. I left this place and went home.
Nothing changed much along the street, except a lot of scattered red beautiful leaves. The weather was so pleased with its stable temperature. The sun gave a great warmness in the afternoon. This was the best fall ever in this year.
I spent thirty minutes arriving at a nice building. It had a dark glass door. Its front wall had a green light lamp in the shape of words that said "Casteve Bar". The name of this building wasn't my desire. However, it didn't bother me at all.
I entered this building. It was quite crowded here. Its big clock showed 2.10 pm.
Ryu stood behind the door. He looked good in his security uniform.
"You return early," he said.
"Yeah," I smiled.
I continued moving and walked straightaway to a long desk. Amanda stood behind this desk with a cash register next to her left arm. Jimmy was here also. He was repairing a beer machine located behind Amanda.
"You came back early," Amanda spoke with curiosity.
"Yes," I said. "Pearson didn't talk much. I thought he would share a story about, uh, his wife maybe. But, he didn't have any story to tell."
"Do you think he's divorced?"
"What are you talking about? He's a good man."
"Sorry," she chuckled. "Did he get upset?"
"Not at all."
Amanda noticed the snacks I brought. She stared at me.
"Are those yours?" she questioned.
"No, these're Lucy's. She asked me to buy these as well," I told Amanda.
"Using your money?"
"Of course not."
She just smiled. No more words she wanted to talk about now.
Jimmy stopped. He placed his tools besides the machine. He turned and stepped toward us. His clothes and palms looked a little dirty.
"Hi, Richard!" he greeted.
"Hi, Jim. So, how's it?" I asked about the beer machine.
"It's not a huge problem."
"Is it working now?" Amanda enquired.
"Yes, of course," he answered.
Amanda took two small steins, put them on the drip tray, and pulled the faucet. The beer flowed in a smooth way. She released her hand after the beer filled one stein and gave it to Jimmy.
"Thanks!" said Jimmy.
He drank it gently. He kept back all his tools and took a seat.
I started to move. But, Amanda stopped me for a while. She gave me another stein full of beer.
"Please, at once," she demanded.
"Alright," I accepted.
I took the beer, left them, and went upstairs at the back end. I approached Lucy who was sitting on the sofa with Will. They're watching TV together.
It had been so different since they could join the school bus like the other children every day. They didn't need Ryu to pick them up anymore. Therefore, they could return home much earlier nowadays.
"Here you go," I said while giving them the chips.
"Thanks!" said Lucy.
I continued walking along the hallway and stopped in front of a metal door. It had three shed locks complete with combination padlocks. I unlocked all of those and opened the door.
A large room with a bathroom lay beyond this door. It was quite cold in here. The ceilings had two light bulbs. The wooden floor and wall looked clean enough. A desk with a chair stood in the left corner. Some framed photos stayed on the desk. A nice couch positioned at the center with a TV in front of it. A small bed located on the right side. This space was similar to a hotel room.
Uncle Steven was here. We'd decided to treat him like a prisoner after the incident at that time. His figure officially had been written off from resident data since his decease was committed, which was actually a fake death. We locked him up here just to make sure no more ridiculous trouble will arise in this family. It was very effective.
Somehow, he wasn't dejected at all. He looked comfortable sitting on the couch while watching news on TV. He turned it off after he noticed my presence.
"Why took so long?" he chortled.
"The machine was broken." I walked towards and gave him the beer.
"You must be kidding. It's a good brand."
"I know. But, it was really broken. You know, nothing is long-lasting."
"Okay then. At least, I can drink this."
Uncle Steven laughed. He drank the beer in joyfulness.
I walked to the desk and took one framed photo. It was a picture of all of us, Uncle Steven in the middle that embraced Amanda and me; Ryu, Lucy, and Will stood in front. We all looked so young at that time. This photo was taken in the living room of the old house. I really missed that so much. It was uneasy to live back in there since we'd sold the house to pay off a loan from the bank. We were forced to make this place as our new home, though it never felt the same.
I placed back the photo and took another one. It showed a picture of three teenage boys who were smiling while each of them was holding a glass of beer. One of them looked like me on the left side. I turned the frame around. Three small written words that said "Simon, Steven, Galton" were attached on it. No more mistakes, that boy was my father.
I turned to Steven and showed him this picture.
"Where's this taken?" I asked.
He stopped drinking and stared at this photo for a minute. His eyes were starting to look bad. With a bit of luck, he wasn't drunk at this point.
"It's... at our school," he responded. "We celebrated... our victory of an ice hockey match, the annual match between schools. It's our last match. Simon was the best player ever in our team."
"Wow! He never told me about that."
"Of course. He wouldn't tell you."
"But, why?"
"Your father always looked for the prize, instead of the game. He often told me it was too small for him. After we won the fourth match, he stopped playing because the prize was never getting bigger."
"I see. Can you tell me more about him?"
"Uh, perhaps... next time."
"Well, I take it as a deal."
Uncle Steven chuckled. He finished the rest of beer in one gulp. He gave me back the empty stein and leaned back on the sofa. His eyes were closed.
I put back the picture on the desk and walked away leaving him alone in this room. I closed the door and locked it back.
This always felt like a new life, albeit it had been more than three months of living here. Somehow, it was still hard for me to adapt to everything, despite the fact that we didn't become a rich family. We could live like normal people now, such as no need to take someone's food or drinks. It made us really happy, as the major point we always rooted was only one, "Always remember to survive whenever and wherever we are."