Min Khak Soe San - The Lifeguard of the Bird

(1)

The train has left him behind.

He was left standing alone in the small churchyard of a small town. The steel body of the train was slowly moving away from him.

The way he slid down the stairs was so smooth and comfortable. In fact, he was the only one who didn't live comfortably.

The thought of being alone reminded me of the train being so long. I wanted to feel like I had something to do, but I didn't have anything to do. Is that what life is all about.... There is something to do. But I want to remember that there is nothing to do, isn't it?

He felt he wasn't ready for anything.

Two birds were seen resting on the red tiled roof of the station. The appearance of the station, which was dull and oil-stained, seemed to be hiding something among the small daisies and paper flowers. Red and yellow daisies were scattered on the green grass. There were also bunches of dried pink paper flowers. .

He walked down the dirt road near the station. He would have to take something to get into the city. A horse-drawn carriage or a rickshaw, he thought. He didn't know how far he had gone. It was the first time he had ever been to the town. If he hadn't heard that his father had been there, he would have said that he had never been to the town in his life.

Well... now it's getting involved. Let's say it's because of my father... Well... I can't say that yet. My father didn't tell me to look for me, son... He went because he wanted to go. I thought, "I'm looking for myself." Well... then, I thought, "It's because of me that I got involved in this town." Well, that's not so bad. If it were up to him and his own mind, he certainly wouldn't be looking for my father. Let him go. Let him go where he thinks he can get away with it. Let him find his father's peace. He has no reason to follow me, in other words, no reason to bother me.

Shouldn't a person be free to choose between himself and his environment? He believes so. The power of a person is limited. If he can do it, he will change the entire environment. It is not easy. He will have to face opposition. And there will be people like him who want to change the world to their liking. If their preferences do not match his preferences, he will have to compete with them. Changing the world is only for those who are very ambitious. If the world were a lump of clay, they would sell it all. And when they disagree, let them each throw their own punches. That's it. If you can't do that, the least you can do is to choose what you like from what is already there without changing anything.

My father couldn't do the most. So he did the least he could. He left his family and went off to find his peace. What happened?

The only problem was, Mom. . . . Mom couldn't accept him. In fact, she was the one who created the environment that Dad didn't want to choose. She was the one who made Dad go looking for her to drag him back into that environment. He thought it was lucky Dad wasn't a match. If he had been a match, Mom would have filled it with gasoline and lit it every now and then.

He saw a rickshaw parked in the shade of a coconut tree at the end of the small red road. He walked towards the coconut tree. As he got closer, a rickshaw driver

"Sir, would you like to rent a rickshaw?"

"He asked. He nodded and asked how far into the city. The rickshaw driver...

"Give me forty, sir."

"You're not much, are you?"

"How close is it to getting on a rickshaw? It costs thirty, sir."

Oh my God... is there a lot of gold in this chair?

He sat down on the cushion of the rickshaw, which was already covered in coconut fibers. He glanced at the other rickshaw driver. He felt a pang of sadness in his heart that he would be left without a passenger. Now... look, how stupid he is.

I'm just making up a story that doesn't have anything to do with it. Well... I'm not the only one who rented two rickshaws. I'm sure I'll have to leave one behind. No need to worry about anything, now... forget it.

The problem is that he is the only passenger who gets off at that station. The rest of the rickshaws will not have any more passengers. He will go home with an empty seat. His face became hot as he thought,

But when I imagined him riding alone on two rickshaws, one leg on one side, the other on the other, my face turned red. Well... That's how it is, sometimes in the world there are situations where it's impossible to help each other. What can I do? I just turn my face away.

When the rickshaw he was riding passed by the man who had been left behind, he instinctively turned away. However, after a long time, he couldn't help but turn around and saw the rickshaw driver who had been left behind, his face covered by a bamboo hat, peacefully dozing on his rickshaw.

Good. He doesn't seem to be holding any grudges for the passenger he didn't get. He doesn't seem to be anxiously waiting for something to save him. He doesn't seem to be thinking about anything in particular, good.

He was a little dazed. He had to repair his mind, which he had been trying to save everywhere. "Destroyed" minds take a long time to repair.

"Sir... will you go all the way to the front?"

The rickshaw driver he was riding asked. Suddenly he didn't know what to say.

"Well... let's do this. Send me to a guesthouse. Not a fancy one. Just a small one where I can stay in peace and quiet."

The rickshaw driver chuckled and said... "Sir, it's like you've never been to this city before." He was a little surprised and said... "Oh... you've never been here before. This is your first time. Why?"

“The teacher is offering guest houses. There is only one guest house in our town. There are high-class, medium-class, low-class, and those who want to stay in peace and quiet, and there is no need to choose between them. The teacher said, “Our town is small and small.”

He nodded. If that's the case, then his father would be staying in that one inn. There's no reason he couldn't find it. He and his father must meet.

He decided to ask the rickshaw driver to make sure...

"Brother... does your rickshaw stop at the station every day?"

"Yes, brother. At other times, I have to walk around the market and the city. When the train is almost time, I go and wait at the station."

He used the word “brother,” so the rickshaw driver changed his name from “teacher” to “brother.” Not bad. You might need to get close to this rickshaw driver.

He unzipped his suitcase and pulled out a photo of his father. Then... he showed the rickshaw driver the way...

"Brother... did you send this old man to the inn you mentioned earlier, about four, five, six days ago?"

The rickshaw slowed down. The boy didn't look at the photo, but looked at his face. He saw the fear and worry in the rickshaw driver's eyes.

The rickshaw driver asked, "Are you from the intelligence service?" He laughed mischievously and...

"No, no. I'm looking for my father. He got angry and left the house. This is a picture of my father."

The rickshaw driver took the photo and looked at it. He glanced at his face again. Then, after looking at the photo carefully and thoughtfully, he shook his head.

"I don't see you, brother." "Then what about the other one..."

He asked, referring to the rickshaw driver who had been left behind at the station. The rickshaw driver thought for a moment.

After that..

"I can't tell you, brother. In our small town, there aren't many trains going up and down. Just one or two. I can't see them without seeing them. But if I left the station after I got the passengers, I don't know, brother."

If that's the case, nothing can be calculated.

It's getting a little difficult for him to think. In life, formulas are useless. School teaches you how to solve equations with one unknown, equations with two unknowns, but in life, school doesn't teach you how to solve problems where all the numbers in the puzzle are unknowns.

He could only sit and stare at those unknown numbers. For him, arithmetic seemed to be only useful for keeping track of debts.

"Brother... is there another way to get to this city instead of taking the train?"

The boy was pedaling the rickshaw briskly...

"Let me tell you a little about the location of our city, brother. This is how it is... There is a railway line that I came across earlier all the way to the west of the city. To the east of the city,

There is a stream. It is called Shwe Laung Stream. It is said that a long time ago, a boat made of gold sank in it.

Story. But until now, there have been people who have been able to get gold from that stream. They say the treasurer gave it to them.

"If you put that stream and the railroad parallel, it's like the city is closed off on both sides, with one line to the east and one line to the west. So, if my brother... my father doesn't come by train, we'll just have to cross the stream and enter the city."