The Great Buddha + Page #6

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you have

or you haven't seen me like this?

I've worn this wig many years

I've worn it so long,

I sometimes feel as if

it's my real hair

Now if I don't wear it for one day

I feel uneasy all over

How's your mother been lately?

Her health hasn't been great lately

If there's a problem at home,

you have to tell me

I believe what humans want most

is peace and safety

That night, after Kevin left

Belly Button came looking for Pickle

But Belly Button kept standing outside,

not daring to enter

Pickle had no choice but to accompany him

In the gloomy black night

under a light drizzle

the two stood there quietly

Pickle watched Belly Button stare wistfully

at the scenery

his eyes filled with a faint longing

He wanted to comfort Belly Button

but couldn't find a single word

Belly Button also visited

Sugar Apple afterwards

But that all happened in a dream

After Sugar Apple awoke,

he couldn't sleep again

and went to a nearby swimming pool

to bathe

Sugar Apple's bathing spot isn't fixed

Sometimes it's a swimming pool

Sometimes it's a lavatory

Tonight there's thunder and lightning

but Sugar Apple doesn't seem scared at all

He feels slightly different today

He has the feeling

that Belly Button's gotten into trouble

That word on the sign with holes in it,

is 'Visits'

All together, it reads 'Meal Visits'

They're specially ordered by

prisoners' families

Because if they're too far or busy to visit

they can ask the foodservice

to send a meal in their name

Belly Button's been in jail before

After his granny passed away

the orphaned Belly Button

could no longer eat meal visits

But auntie still gave food once in a while

treating him like their own son

Besides meal visits

auntie and her husband also grew scallions

When there weren't enough hands

they'd ask their married daughter

to come home and help out

Here, Button

Auntie just happened to have

some vegetables today

So nice

Somebody ordered a meal

and left over a chicken leg

I'll give it to you

Eat plenty

I wondered why there's even chicken today

After getting out of prison

Belly Button would come over to help

Auntie would also prepare meals for him

But today was particularly special

Auntie not only fried vegetables for him

she also prepared a chicken leg

Nobody knew that Belly Button

didn't eat much

Other than at night

when he would snack on cold expired foods

tossed from the supermarket

during the day, he only ate one meal

But the meal he's eating now

is Belly Button's last meal of the day

and also the last meal of his life

The following morning

Belly Button was found in a drainage ditch

The police found high blood alcohol

in his body

meaning he was probably drunk

and got in a car accident

But we usually hear about

drunk drivers killing people

Belly Button could be one of Taiwan's

very few cases

of a drunk killed by a driver

Everyone in the village also knows

that Belly Button doesn't drink

Even if he wanted to drink

he couldn't afford enough to get drunk

After Sugar Apple left the scene

he biked around the entire morning

not knowing where he was biking to

only that he had to keep going and going

His heart was tangled in knots

Appearing over and over in his mind

was the figure of Belly Button

Finally he returned to his seaside villa

I think he was slowly realizing

Belly Button dying wasn't so bad

At least when he died

they drew the figure of a man

For a lonely drifter like him

if he died,

no one would realize it for a long time

By then,

his corpse would've already decomposed

At best,

they could only draw a round puddle

Belly Button's death couldn't have been

that simple

Pickle, his blood running cold

suddenly remembered that night

when Kevin said to him

What humans want most is

peace and safety

Pickle felt that something was wrong

and worried, if anything happened to him

who would take care of his mother

The only person he could think of

was a lifelong liar

with no sense of family responsibility

his youngest uncle

Uncle

These two sponge gourds are for you

No need

You went to the trouble of growing them

you should sell them yourself

I grew these myself

for you to cook

You're giving them to me?

Yeah, you can cook them

All right

You only brought two?

Uncle

My mother...

I know your mother

I know your mother

Did you see something nasty recently?

You have to get this taken care of

How strong are your glasses?

Four hundred

Oh yeah? One side's two hundred,

one side's three hundred

That's five hundred

That's bad for your health

Swap a pair

That's better

Swap it and take a look

With glasses,

your sight should be crystal clear

Is it clear?

It's blurry

It's blurry?

This one's not right

Let me swap another pair for you

Try this pair

Uncle

It's about my mother...

I know about your mother

When your mother went food shopping,

I met her

This pair, is it clear?

Yeah

Oh, right.

You need to wear two pairs of glasses

One for good weather

one for bad weather

When the weather's clear, wear this pair

About my mother...

I know about your mother

Her health isn't well

I know about your mother

I met her at the health center

I know already

Try this pair on

Wear this pair in good weather

Do they work?

Yeah

Yeah?

Ah, my mother

I know about your mother

Two pairs is five hundred

Uncle

I don't think I have enough money on me

How much, how much do you have?

Only three hundred

That's all

Yeah

Get rid of this pair

Try that pair on

This pair's just three hundred for you then

My mother's over eighty years old

I know about your mother, I know

Don't just talk about your mother

From start to finish,

Pickle didn't have a chance to talk

He even paid NT300

to buy this pair of glasses

The problem is, it was his original pair

Pickle didn't complain about

his uncle's behavior

But treated this way by the only man

he could ask

he felt his hopes inside fading

Destiny has a way of teasing people

That afternoon

Kevin asked Pickle to take Mother Pickle

to the hospital for a check-up

He even arranged for a hospital stay

But after a long examination

they didn't find any cause

so she just stayed overnight

and received IV support

Pickle felt very alarmed

that Kevin was doing this for him

He didn't know

what Kevin's intentions were

He just felt like air

was trapped in his chest

that couldn't find an exit

The sun was strong for those few days

Pickle, feeling ill at ease

decided to take care of the leaking roof

He went to the deputy speaker's

service office

and found a discarded election banner

Displayed on the banner was Bill Small

"One vote, one devotion"

with a face promising civil duty

The deputy speaker held passion

for justice and gorgeous women

and was first in line to protect citizens

from harm

After spreading the banner

Pickle sat alone on the rooftop

and slowly came to a decision

to take a look at Belly Button's house

Nobody had ever gone into

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