主题：【原创】Treasure Island -- 颜赤城

先贴一篇看看反应。这是参加一个写作比赛。比赛的选题是根据一幅画写故事。图画是海滩上的一个售货亭。

原发于外链出处

文章太长，看下面两个跟贴。

Treasure Island

The city of Je’Ang was the second largest city of the young Republic of Yabul. The name of the island where Je’Ang was located meant Treasure Island. The rumor said, long before the city was built, the island was the base of pirates, who hid their trophies somewhere in the misty mountain.

No one took the rumor seriously. Still, children loved to play a game called Seek Treasure. It was a kind of riddle game. The players were given a map or some hints where the treasure was. Then they could figure it out, search for it and dig it up. During holidays, the award could be a box of candies. Sometimes it was simply a piece of note saying "You Win!" Children enjoyed the game anyway.

Yakk didn’t play the game any more. He was already sixteen years old. During school breaks, he’d do a small job --- taking care of a trailer selling beverage on the beach.

The autumn was almost there. There weren’t too many people on the beach. Yakk was listening to the radio and looking at the sea. It was a clear afternoon. The sea was dark blue as always. The radio said Americans were starting a plan to send men to the moon. Yakk thought, “That could take some time.”

Then there came the man, walking up to the trailer.

Yakk thought the man might be a native of Je’Ang. He looked like the strong fisherman just living nearby. But his skin was whiter than fishermen’s, so maybe he was just a tourist.

The man stopped in front of the trailer. Yakk noticed there was a scar on his chin. The scar was scary. If the man didn’t look so nice, the scar would have made him very hideous. But the man had a warm smile and his eyes gave people a sense of security.

“How are you doing, Sir?” Yakk said.

“I’m great.” The man said, “May I have a cold beer, kid?”

“Sure.” Yakk took a bottle of beer from the icebox and gave it to the man.

The man took the beer, opened the bottle and took a drink. He didn’t appear to want to leave yet. “You don’t have many customers, do you?” he said.

“Nope, the summer is almost over.” Yakk thought it’d be good to have someone to talk with. “Where are you from? Do you live here?”

“I’m from nowhere. But this is my hometown.”

I guessed so, Yakk thought.

“Haven’t been back for a long time. I left in the old time.”

When people said the old time, they meant the time before the republic was founded. That should be over ten years before.

“Do you still know anybody here? Can you find them?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll find them. Or I’ll leave again tomorrow.” The man looked at the beach. “When I was a kid, my friends used to play on the beach. We loved playing Seek Treasure. You know Seek Treasure, don’t you?”

Yakk nodded, “Of course I do.”

“The girl, I called her Shine, was really good at the game. She was very smart. She won most of the time. But her little brother was a little slow. We called him Trunk. We three always played together. Other kids liked making fun of Trunk. They said he was stupid. But he was not. He’s just a little bit slow. His sister always protected him. Me too. I fought with those kids several times. So they dared not to tease Trunk again. I don’t understand why I needed to do that. Trunk was a big boy. Those kids didn’t dare to fight with him. In the old time, life was poor. But we enjoyed ourselves.”

“I grew up in the old time too.”

“Yes, I guess you were born in the war time, right? Those were some tough years. When you grow up, you’ll feel the pressure of making a living. When I grew up, the only thing I could do was to carry baggage from the port to the town. Trunk was with me. We had a flat cab.

We were both young and strong. But the job was very hard. Rich men weren’t nice to us. You had no chance to argue with them. Police were all bad too. Sometimes we worked for nothing. ‘Don’t argue with them.’ I always reminded myself. I was no willing to beg either.”

“Was there any better job?”

“I was saving money. I fell in love with Shine. We were engaged. But I didn’t want to marry her as a coolie. We were saving money and planning to open a grocery store. We had saved a good amount of money. We could see that our dream was becoming true. That year we already rented a store and started to decorate it. We were planning our wedding as well. Trunk would be my best man. He was so happy for us. We three grew up together. Trunk was really like my brother.”

“Then you got married, didn’t you?” Yakk asked, but he had an ominous feeling that things might have happened another way.

“No, I didn’t. Something happened. That day, Shine was in our shop and I was buying some things in the street. A guy, who worked in the port with Trunk and me, ran all the way to me, yelling, ‘They are beating Trunk!’

I said, ‘Who is beating Trunk?’

‘Coah’s men are beating him.’

So I ran with the guy to Coah’s house. Coah was a ‘businessman’. He was actually a smuggler. He stole antiques from the mainland and sold them to other rich men.

I asked, ‘What happened?’

‘We were at the port waiting for a job. Trunk was also there. I don’t know why he was there. He’s always with you, isn’t he? But he was there. Coah came. He got a lot of boxes and hired some people. We carried the boxes to his house. But in his yard, Trunk stumbled and dropped the box. Oh, the box had a load of china in it. All broken. Coah got mad and his men started to beat Trunk, terribly. I don’t know if they’re ever going to stop. One guy went to call police, one guy went to call Shine, and I came to call you.’

When I got there, Trunk was lying on the ground outside Coah’s house. His head was in Shine’s arms. Shine was crying, saying quietly to him, ‘No, we don’t need money. We don’t need money.’ When she saw me, she said, ‘He thought he could make some money for us...They broke his leg. They broke his leg...’

Those bastards. They didn’t only break his leg, but his nose, too, and his ribs...I wasn’t sure if we were losing him. His face had swollen so badly that he could hardly see. But he managed to open one eye and gave me a smile, breathing heavily.

He said, ‘You’ll need another best man, bro.’ ”

The man stopped. Yakk knew, even many years after, the words still could tear his heart apart instantly. The man shook his head, biting his lips.

Yakk didn’t know how to console the man. Probably nothing could. He had a feeling that the story could explain the scar on the man’s chin and why he left the town. Yakk couldn’t help but ask, “What did you do?”

“I stood up and walked over to Coah’s house. Shine cried ‘Don’t go’ but I didn’t listen. I entered the house and saw Coah with four of his bodyguards. He was looking closely at his remaining antiques and didn’t see me.

I might have argued with him, or maybe I yelled, or maybe I didn’t do anything. I don’t really remember how things happened. But they felt threatened and two punks came at me. I knocked them down. Then the other two punks joined the fight, with knives. So I started to see blood. There was blood all over. Coah tried to run away. I caught him and beat him badly. I heard he lost one eye that day.

It was a mess. But in the end, I was very happy...I didn’t feel hurt.”

Yakk was thrilled.

Yakk knew the consequences of confronting a country gentleman. “Did you regret?” He asked. Obviously he didn’t mean to ask about Mr. Coah.

“No, I didn’t regret for a single second even when they caught me. I didn’t escape. This is an island. I had nowhere to go. They ‘arrested’ me. But I felt regret when Shine came to see me. I was sorry to her. I was so sorry. I wished everything didn’t end up this way. But I didn’t have any other choice. I guess I couldn’t complain too much. Maybe I was just a bad violent man.”

“No, you were not. I’m not blaming you.”

“You’re a very thoughtful boy.” The man laughed.

“They put me in a prison in a remote island. Shine tried to see me, but I refused. I knew that they’d let me rot in the prison. I’d never be able to walk out alive. The last time I saw Shine, I said to her, ‘You and your brother always got me into troubles. Now you got me here. What else do you want from me? Get the hell out of here.’ Yes, I said all those words.

She left, sobbing all the way, and never came again. I wished she had married a good guy. She was a good girl. She could take care of herself just like always. At least, it was good for her that she didn’t have to take care of me.”

“Did they release you when the new Republic was built?”

“Old government, new government. I guess my case didn’t make a difference to them. I was still a prisoner with a violent record. Anyway, they let me out early. That’s why I’m here.”

“You’re coming to see your girl?” Yakk asked excitedly.

“I can’t say that. Actually last year I got a letter from her. She knew I would get out this year. She sent a map to me, asking whether I’d like to play the game of Seek Treasure again just like when we were kids. I think, she might have something to tell me. If I didn’t care about her, I wouldn’t come at all. If I did, I would come and find out.”

“Of course you do!” Yakk confirmed loudly.

“Well, if she’s living a happy life, I’ll leave tomorrow.” The man spoke uncertainly.

“She loves you. She’s waiting for you! Where is your map? Why don’t you look for your treasure? Why are you wasting time talking to me?” Yakk hurried the man.

“Why am I talking to you?” The man smiled. “I really need a favor from you.”

“From me? I’ll do whatever I can!”

“I think my treasure is right under your feet. I’ll need you to move your trailer over so I can dig it up.” The man took a map out of his pocket and showed it to Yakk. “This is odd. On the big beach, the map says the spot is right at where we are.”

Yakk looked at the map. When he saw the signature on it, he was stunned. After a long time, he asked, “Shine’s real name is Shinallel?”

“Yes, she was my fiancée.” The man said gently.

“You left sixteen years ago?”

“Yes. How did you know?” The man was surprised.

Yakk raised his head and looked at the man, “Because now I know why she told you the treasure’s here. I’m sixteen years old. Shinallel is my mom. I’ve always wondered what kind of a person my father is.”

===== The End =====