Chapter 1682： touch of heart

The fourth update today, please recommend, please subscribe!

Alexander-Super Wanderer is heading for Mexico, and the McCanders have never heard of him, and Karina starts to worry, not least because neither of her parents has heard from Christopher.

In fact, Alex tried to call home before heading to Mexico, and he was already sitting in a payphone booth. Next to him sat an old man with white hair, who held the microphone tightly with his trembling hands, "Give me one more chance, please, hurry, please. Hurry, now ask me One more coin. I'm out of coins, can you hurry?"

Alex looked at the earnest old man in front of him, and there was a trace of unbearableness in his azure blue eyes. He finally hung up the receiver in his hand and handed his coin to the old man next to him. In the end, Alex didn't call home either.

This is a source of unease for Karina, because she may receive a call, and if she doesn't answer, she can just hang up. Karina wondered why he didn't send a single letter back, or relayed it through her friends, which made her uneasy all the time.

But for Alex, it was the source of the beauty of life, the beauty of freedom and simplicity that he indulged in, although Wayne paid him enough to hopefully make his wandering easier , but currently because Wayne is in prison, he can't cash in on his company. However, the penniless days made life more exciting, and he decided to continue living like this. Because it's really hard to miss.

After arriving in Mexico, Alex lived a life with sand there, before the raft was blown away by the storm and he had to head north back to the Mexican border. However, he was not allowed to enter the United States because he did not have an ID card. In the end, Alex decided to take the train and illegally entered the United States and arrived in Los Angeles.

Alex returned to Los Angeles after a long absence. Unfamiliar city life made him one of the homeless, and he had to spend the night in a shelter. At the shelter, he tried to get an ID card because he didn't have one. In this modern society, many things can become very difficult. He has the help of the kind lady in the almshouse, but he soon realizes that there is no place for him in this bizarre city, and he can't even imagine it. I live in the city like a "normal person". Jack London's "Call of the Wild" became Alex's spiritual food for a while. Therefore, he chose to leave and continued to wander without an ID card.

When Alex got on the train again, he was found by the railway inspectors that night, blasted off the train, and then gave him a lesson, beating him until he vomited blood. And when the inspector asked "do you have identification". Alex can only answer "no". Obviously, he is disappearing into this society in an invisible way.

Set the clock back to the days of the Magic Bus. Seven weeks after arriving on the Magic Bus, spring came, and Alex was finally able to hunt animals, but there were still not many, and he could only rely on the combination of animals and plants to fill his stomach. So his belt is getting tighter and tighter, and his body is losing weight at a speed that can be seen with the naked eye.

In a time of crisis, Alex was overjoyed when he hunted a giant moose, enough to feed him for weeks. However, it is already spring now. If fresh venison is not handled properly, the food will be targeted by flies and then maggots. So, even though Alex was nauseated by the blood and nausea of ​​killing, he still resolutely started his struggle to survive.

Alex treats the moose meat as he learned on the farm, smoking it. But he worked hard for a long, long time. The venison still inevitably grows maggots, which is an absolute disaster for him, which almost destroys all his confidence. Instead, he preferred not to kill the moose, which brought tears to his eyes for the first time since he left home. "This is one of the greatest tragedies in my life."

The maggot-laden moose meat was discarded by the river, and a pack of wolves and goshawks swarmed over to eat the moose. Alex clearly felt the unfriendly force against humans, which was a reactionary force from nature.

But this kind of life still makes him feel happy, besides being depressed, he is happy, because he can enjoy the emptiness and tranquility brought by the wilderness without restraint and freedom. It's just that, from time to time, he will start to recall the past, recall his childhood, recall his days in society. He even imitated the appearance of his parents involuntarily. Those quarrels and confrontations became his most vivid impression of the family in his magical bus life.

In December 1991, Alex had been gone for nearly a year, and all the negativity of Walt and Billie had turned into sadness, and they had fallen into despair, which improved the tension and weirdness between the two They are like travelers stuck in the desert, and if they see any similar backpacker, they will mistake it for their son Christopher. Parents, at this very moment, their nature still prevails. The fear of losing their beloved son makes them instinctively refuse to consider all the worst possibilities. Seeing the appearance of her parents, even Karina began to question whether she could continue to understand what Chris did, but she quickly realized that the appearance of her parents now was not what Chris remembered. , their transformations were all brought about by the pain of loss.

After months of hitchhiking, part-time jobs, walking, and chasing trains, Alex arrived at Slate, a backpacker paradise that Rainey and Jane introduced him to. In Slate City, Alex meets Tracy, a wonderful girl.

Alex and Tracy are attracted to each other, and involuntarily fall in love with each other, and Tracy is even willing to dedicate her precious first time to this boy. But this still couldn't change Alex's urge to go to Alaska. He declined Tracy, and even restrained his emotions because he didn't want to hurt Tracy.

Alex, who was past the chaos of adolescence at this point, knew he could do just fine with no money, but he still needed some realistic currency to trade enough supplies to keep him going during the winter in Alaska. survive. Therefore, he has changed his mind about working to earn money, and he no longer hates money as much as he did when he just left home.

From Alex's tone, he can feel that he has vaguely understood the fact that people belong to society, and it is impossible for people to exist completely out of society. No matter how corrupt or disgusting this society is. However, Alex is still unwilling to completely compromise with society. Alaska is one of his dreams, and he hopes that he can continue to pursue this dream.

In week 9 of the Magic Bus, Alex begins reading "Family and Happiness" by Leo Tolstoy, and "Doctor Zhivago" by Pas Ternak, as well as an introduction to Alaska Books on local plants. In Leo Tolstoy's books, he saw this sentence, "I have gone through all the things in the world, and now I have finally found the place of happiness. I hide in the countryside, help those who can help, and help those who are helpless. Good deeds. Self-cultivation, enjoyment of landscapes, boating on the sea of ​​books, singing and wandering around the world, enjoying the pleasures of the neighbors. This is what I call happiness. And the most important thing is to have you as your company.”

This gave Alex another baptism in his heart, and he definitely packs his bags again and goes home! He left the Magic Bus for the first time in more than two months, but when he returned to the river near the Magic Bus, he found that the river that had crossed in winter had thawed and turned into a long, fast-flowing river. He tried to walk into the river, but was surrounded by danger, and finally managed to escape. In desperation, he had to return to the magic bus here, which filled him with frustration.

Loneliness, panic began to surge. Alex couldn't help but write again in his diary, "With you as my company", looking at this line of words, he fell into deep thought for a long time. He thought back to Ron.

After getting ready in Slate City, Jane drove Alex to Salton to get what Wayne paid him, and then said goodbye. Alex stopped at the "My Heaven" hot spring camp in the Anza Borrego Desert, met Ron, climbed the mountain every day for physical training, accompanied the lonely Ron and inspired the old man to change his life. Alex and Ron lived a very stable and peaceful life. Under the knowledge of Ron, he made himself a leather belt recording his adventures - it was this belt that recorded his magical life. The bus's tapering waistline.

Ron treats Alex very well. He is a soldier. When he was stationed in Okinawa, his wife and children died in a car accident, so he was left alone.

Ron is an old man who is the opposite of Alex's stereotype. He has stayed in Salton all his life and has never left. His ties to work and family have lasted for a lifetime. When Ron learned that Alex had "no family", Ron offered to make Alex his adopted son, and the two of them depended on each other.

This time, Alex was tempted, because Ron had touched the softest part of his heart about affection—this was the third time, the first with Jane and Rainey, the second with Tracy. But this time the result is still the same, Alex made up his mind again for the dream of Alaska, turned around and left.

As he watched Alex leave, Ron burst into tears, watching this lovely young man start his journey again.

Ask for a monthly pass! There will be an update later! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)