Smoke was rising in the distant village, and several families had already started making breakfast.

The day in a seaside town is about to begin.

A barefoot child, after all his parents had slept, and after the whole village had slept, walked barefoot and pushed open the door, walked out the door, and walked to the sea.

The feeling of my feet stepping on the coarse grains of sand was so real that I could feel the sand moistened by the high tide at night.

They cling to the protagonist's feet with an unfriendly aura.

He ignored the discomfort, as if he had become accustomed to it.

That's right, he's used to it, and he should be used to it.

He is a child who grew up by the sea, was born and grew up by the sea.

But why did he sneak to the beach alone?

What is he looking for? What is he looking for by the moonlight?

A distant legend, this is his only hope, a little boy pins his fate on a legend that if he can find that transparent crystal ball brought by the sea, everyone will no longer laugh at him.

Never again.

At this point in the story, I learned why he left home in the middle of the night, and why he waited for everyone in the village to sleep, and searched for him alone by the sea.

So, at the end of the story, I need to answer myself, and I also need to answer this little boy, is the legend true?

Will he be able to find the crystal ball?

No, maybe something was stopping him from finding the crystal ball, someone had snatched it.

At this point, the story winds back to "me".

It's up to me to decide, and it's up to me to control the fate of the little boy.

I don't want to upset him, I'm certainly willing to give him a happy ending, and I want to ask Cortázar how he would finish this story if it were him?

This short story is only 5000 words, and it has been left in the book, which is the beginning of my creation, with a clear outline, because "All Fires Return to One".

"So, Cortázar and Borges, that's how I know."

Beans proudly occupied my chair, where he sits, and I, who can only stand by the windowsill.

"What are you laughing at? When will they end? Six? ”

I nodded.

"Didn't they invite you along?"

"I'm invited." I replied truthfully, "But I refused, and I have to thank Douzi." ”

"Thank me for what?" Beanzi looked at me suspiciously.

"Thank you for helping me move the mineral water, but they still don't seem to be satisfied, and they even bought ice cream at five o'clock."

Douzi looked at me strangely, "So are they reading books or partying?" ”

I shrugged my shoulders and whispered, "I don't know." ”

I'm happy not only because the beans showed up in time to bring me a cup of black tea ice cream, but more importantly, if it weren't for a book club like today, I probably wouldn't have rearranged Borges's, and by the way, I would have rearranged the bookshelf.

"Are there 12 people here today?" Douzi asked while drinking milk tea.

"Well, so I can reimburse the beans for the money for the drink."

Burst!

"No, I mean, it's actually good to make money this way, and you don't have to sell books to make money, so you can make money by relying on venue fees? There is no cost. ”

Douzi is actually right to say this, 30 yuan for one person, 360 yuan for 12 people, I didn't do anything, just greeted everyone a little, and then prepared some cola, mineral water and other drinks for them in advance.

Douzi suggested buying a few packets of potato chips for everyone, but I declined because the chips fell on the ground and if we didn't clean them up in time, we would find cockroaches or mice.

The study can't stand the rats.

These wooden bookshelves can't stand the gnawing of rats, and these books are even more afraid of mice, if the rats are having a lot of fun, and each book bites a few times and eats it as a biscuit, how can I substitute it to my outsiders.

So, I'm firmly against potato chips and whatever.

"So, Lixia earned 360 yuan today, 30 yuan after removing two boxes of mineral water, and 20 yuan after removing Coke, Lixia earned 310 yuan?"

I smiled and turned my face to look at the beans, "That ......"

The money was earned, but it was also spent by me.

Seeing that I didn't speak, Douzi urged, "What did you say?" That what? Haven't they paid yet? There's no need to worry about this, I see that Senior Yang has affection and righteousness for Lixia. ”

"Wait, where is the affection and righteousness?" Why did Beanzi say that?

"Yes, I have already given me all the money this morning." I said.

"Then you can say whatever you want." Douzi took a sip of milk tea, and I smiled awkwardly, a little embarrassed.

"Borges has released the second series of the complete works, I just placed an order on JD.com, it was exactly more than 300 yuan, and it was all used up."

——

For the first time, I learned that the reading club activities of the Literature Club were supposed to run out of time.

The activity from three o'clock to six o'clock did not end until eight o'clock, and Douzi fell asleep on the bookshelf, and I was also hungry and sleepy, and I looked at the time several times, and I didn't dare to ask more.

As it approached half-past eight, everyone's interest seemed to be higher than before, and the speeches changed from the beginning of the sequential expression of opinions to one word and one word, and from time to time there was an argument.

"Is this a quarrel?" Beanzi rubbed his eyes and pushed my shoulder.

Although I was holding it, I couldn't concentrate between the lines, I was sleepy, and I was hungry......

At this time, Douzi pushed my shoulder again, and I looked up to see the senior standing in front of me, "That...... I'm really sorry, probably because everyone talked more happily today, maybe it will take a while to end, I don't know what time the bookstore will be open? ”

The senior is so polite and polite, and I'm really embarrassed to say that I usually have dinner at this time and read idle books at home.

"I didn't ...... It's okay. I shook my hand and heard the voice of the delivery man outside the door.

"Huh? Did the beans order takeout? I turned my face sideways to look at the beans.

"I called it, and everyone was hungry, so they bought some pizza, and bought one for Douzi and Lixia."

I see, everyone wants to eat pizza here.

I stood up and was about to open the door, but Senior Ming Yang said, "Lixia sit, I've caused you a lot of trouble today, I'll just go and get it myself." ”

"Oh, that's good, don't fall on the ground when you eat, this bookstore is the most afraid of mice, the cheese on the pizza is fragrant, and the rats must like it."

"That's that, that's." The senior took the pizza, one person held a few large boxes, and for the first time, I saw more than a dozen people ordering pizza together, and it turned out that it was enough to buy four large pizzas.