4. Night of Centaur Festival
Giovanni came down the cypress-lined slope of darkened town with a lonely mouth shaped like when he was whistling.
At the bottom of the slope stood a big single street light, glowing brilliantly pale.
Giovanni's shadow silhouette stretched backwards, long and vague, like a ghost until that time.
As Giovanni walked down more and more towards the light, the shadow silhouette increasingly became darker and darker and clearer.
It came around to Giovanni's side, lifting its legs and waving its hands.
Giovanni thought.
(I'm a fine locomotive. It's downhill here, so it's fast. I'm going to pass that light now. Hey, now my shadow silhouette is a compass. After turning around it came to the front.)
When Giovanni was passing under the light, Zanelli came out of the dark alley on the other side of the light.
Zanelli wore a new shirt with a pointed collar.
He passed Giovanni in a flash.
"Zanelli, You're going to float Japanese snake gourd."
Before Giovanni finished saying so, he shouted from behind, as if he were throwing it at Giovanni.
"Giovanni, from your father, your jacket of sea otter is coming."
Giovanni felt a chill in his chest.
It seemed to be heard high-pitched noise all over the place.
"What. Zanelli."
Giovanni shouted back, but Zanelli was already inside the house where cypress trees were planted.
"Why does Zanelli say that when I don't do anything?
When he runs, he is like a rat.
It's because Zanelli is a fool that he says such thing though I don't do anything."
Giovanni, busily thinking about things, went through the beautifully decorated streets with all kinds of lights and tree branches.
The watch store was lit with bright neon lights.
Every second the owl's red eyes, made of stone, whirled.
Various gems were moving slowly like stars on a thick glass disc, colored like the sea.
Also, from the other side, a bronze man and horse were slowly coming around to him.
In the middle, a circular black planisphere of constellation was decorated with blue asparagus leaves.
Giovanni forgot about himself and looked at the picture of constellations.
It was much smaller than the one he had seen at school.
But if you turned the disc around to match the day and time, you could see that the sky was appearing as it was in an oval shape.
In the center of it, the galaxy was like a hazy and smoked belt from top to bottom.
Below it, it appeared to be faintly exploding with steam.
Also standing behind it was a small telescope with three legs, glowing yellow.
On the farthest wall, there was a large drawing of the constellations in the sky in the form of strange beast, snake, fish and bottle.
Indeed, would there really be such scorpion and soldier in the sky?
He stood there blankly for a while, thinking he wanted to walk through it forever.
Then Giovanni suddenly remembered milk for Mother and left the shop.
He deliberately walked through the town with his chest out and waved his hands in the air, worrying about the shoulders of his tight jacket.
The air was clear and flowed through the streets and stores like water.
The street lights were all wrapped in blue fir and oak branches.
The six plane trees in front of the electric company had a lot of bean lights inside.
It really looked like the mermaid's city.
The children were all dressed in their new kimonos, whistling Star Travel.
"Centaur, sprinkle dewdrops."
They shouted and ran, and played burning blue magnesia fireworks.
But Giovanni hung his head again and hurry to the milk shop, thinking something different from all that noise.
Giovanni came to a place on the outskirts of town, where many poplar trees were floating high in the sky of stars.
He entered the black gate of the milk shop and stood in front of the cow-smelling dim kitchen.
He took off his hat and said, "Good evening." But the house was quiet as if it wsa empty.
"Good evening. Excuse me." Giovanni stood up straight and shouted again.
Then, a few moments later, an old woman came out of the room, as if she was feeling bad, and mumbled "Did you need me?"
"Well, today, milk didn't delivered to my house, so I just came up to get it." Giovanni said as vigorously as he could.
"There is no one who knows. Please leave it for tomorrow."
She looked down at Giovanni, rubbing the bottom of his red eyes and said that.
"My mother is sick. It needs to be tonight."
"Well, please come back a little later." She was about to leave.
"I see. Well, thank you." Giovanni bowed and left the kitchen.
He tried to walk around the corner of the town, which was crossed.
In front of the general shop, over there towards the bridge, black shadows and vaguely white shirts were jumbled.
Six or seven students were whistling and laughing.
He saw each one coming with a light of Japanese snake gourd.
Their laughter and whistles were all familiar.
They were all children of Giovanni's class.
Giovanni recoiled and started to slink back.
But then he rethought and walked more briskly toward them.
"You are going to the river?" Giovanni was about to say, but he felt a little choked up.
"Giovanni, your jacket of sea otter is coming." Zanelli shouted again.
"Giovanni, your jacket of sea otter is coming." Everyone followed suit.
Giovanni was so red that he didn't even know if he was walking anymore, and was about to go too fast.
Campanella was among them.
Campanella looked sorry, quietly laughed a little.
He looked at Giovanni, as if he worried that Giovanni would get angry.
Giovanni avoided his eyes as if to escape, and then the tall figure of Campanella passed away.
Soon, everyone whistled each.
As Giovanni was turning a corner, he looked back and saw Zanelli also looking back.
Then Campanella also whistled high and walked toward the bridge, which was vaguely visible over there.
Giovanni felt indescribably lonely, and suddenly started to run.
The little children were jumping around with one foot with their hands over their ears, shouting "Yay."
They thought Giovanni was fun and running, so they shouted "Wow!"
Soon Giovanni was hurrying toward the black hill.
- To return to table of contents of Night on the Galactic Railroad
At the bottom of the slope stood a big single street light, glowing brilliantly pale.
Giovanni's shadow silhouette stretched backwards, long and vague, like a ghost until that time.
As Giovanni walked down more and more towards the light, the shadow silhouette increasingly became darker and darker and clearer.
It came around to Giovanni's side, lifting its legs and waving its hands.
Giovanni thought.
(I'm a fine locomotive. It's downhill here, so it's fast. I'm going to pass that light now. Hey, now my shadow silhouette is a compass. After turning around it came to the front.)
When Giovanni was passing under the light, Zanelli came out of the dark alley on the other side of the light.
Zanelli wore a new shirt with a pointed collar.
He passed Giovanni in a flash.
"Zanelli, You're going to float Japanese snake gourd."
Before Giovanni finished saying so, he shouted from behind, as if he were throwing it at Giovanni.
"Giovanni, from your father, your jacket of sea otter is coming."
Giovanni felt a chill in his chest.
It seemed to be heard high-pitched noise all over the place.
"What. Zanelli."
Giovanni shouted back, but Zanelli was already inside the house where cypress trees were planted.
"Why does Zanelli say that when I don't do anything?
When he runs, he is like a rat.
It's because Zanelli is a fool that he says such thing though I don't do anything."
Giovanni, busily thinking about things, went through the beautifully decorated streets with all kinds of lights and tree branches.
The watch store was lit with bright neon lights.
Every second the owl's red eyes, made of stone, whirled.
Various gems were moving slowly like stars on a thick glass disc, colored like the sea.
Also, from the other side, a bronze man and horse were slowly coming around to him.
In the middle, a circular black planisphere of constellation was decorated with blue asparagus leaves.
Giovanni forgot about himself and looked at the picture of constellations.
It was much smaller than the one he had seen at school.
But if you turned the disc around to match the day and time, you could see that the sky was appearing as it was in an oval shape.
In the center of it, the galaxy was like a hazy and smoked belt from top to bottom.
Below it, it appeared to be faintly exploding with steam.
Also standing behind it was a small telescope with three legs, glowing yellow.
On the farthest wall, there was a large drawing of the constellations in the sky in the form of strange beast, snake, fish and bottle.
Indeed, would there really be such scorpion and soldier in the sky?
He stood there blankly for a while, thinking he wanted to walk through it forever.
Then Giovanni suddenly remembered milk for Mother and left the shop.
He deliberately walked through the town with his chest out and waved his hands in the air, worrying about the shoulders of his tight jacket.
The air was clear and flowed through the streets and stores like water.
The street lights were all wrapped in blue fir and oak branches.
The six plane trees in front of the electric company had a lot of bean lights inside.
It really looked like the mermaid's city.
The children were all dressed in their new kimonos, whistling Star Travel.
"Centaur, sprinkle dewdrops."
They shouted and ran, and played burning blue magnesia fireworks.
But Giovanni hung his head again and hurry to the milk shop, thinking something different from all that noise.
Giovanni came to a place on the outskirts of town, where many poplar trees were floating high in the sky of stars.
He entered the black gate of the milk shop and stood in front of the cow-smelling dim kitchen.
He took off his hat and said, "Good evening." But the house was quiet as if it wsa empty.
"Good evening. Excuse me." Giovanni stood up straight and shouted again.
Then, a few moments later, an old woman came out of the room, as if she was feeling bad, and mumbled "Did you need me?"
"Well, today, milk didn't delivered to my house, so I just came up to get it." Giovanni said as vigorously as he could.
"There is no one who knows. Please leave it for tomorrow."
She looked down at Giovanni, rubbing the bottom of his red eyes and said that.
"My mother is sick. It needs to be tonight."
"Well, please come back a little later." She was about to leave.
"I see. Well, thank you." Giovanni bowed and left the kitchen.
He tried to walk around the corner of the town, which was crossed.
In front of the general shop, over there towards the bridge, black shadows and vaguely white shirts were jumbled.
Six or seven students were whistling and laughing.
He saw each one coming with a light of Japanese snake gourd.
Their laughter and whistles were all familiar.
They were all children of Giovanni's class.
Giovanni recoiled and started to slink back.
But then he rethought and walked more briskly toward them.
"You are going to the river?" Giovanni was about to say, but he felt a little choked up.
"Giovanni, your jacket of sea otter is coming." Zanelli shouted again.
"Giovanni, your jacket of sea otter is coming." Everyone followed suit.
Giovanni was so red that he didn't even know if he was walking anymore, and was about to go too fast.
Campanella was among them.
Campanella looked sorry, quietly laughed a little.
He looked at Giovanni, as if he worried that Giovanni would get angry.
Giovanni avoided his eyes as if to escape, and then the tall figure of Campanella passed away.
Soon, everyone whistled each.
As Giovanni was turning a corner, he looked back and saw Zanelli also looking back.
Then Campanella also whistled high and walked toward the bridge, which was vaguely visible over there.
Giovanni felt indescribably lonely, and suddenly started to run.
The little children were jumping around with one foot with their hands over their ears, shouting "Yay."
They thought Giovanni was fun and running, so they shouted "Wow!"
Soon Giovanni was hurrying toward the black hill.
- To return to table of contents of Night on the Galactic Railroad