Night On The Milky Way Train by Kenji Miyazawa

Author:Kenji Miyazawa
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-03-29T04:00:00+00:00

75

Giovanni’s Ticket

‘We are about to leave Swan Zone. See for yourself. There’s the renown Albireo Observatory.’

Outside the window four big black buildings stood in the very middle of the Milky Way, which itself was a galaxy of fireworks. Two enormous spheres, of translucent blue sapphire and dazzling yellow topaz invisibly looped to gether, were revolving around each other on the flat roof of one of the buildings. When the yellow one made its way around back, the smaller blue one circled forward until their edges overlapped, forming a single convex lens of rare green. Then gradually the centre would bulge and the blue sapphire would appear exactly in front, a green sphere with a yellow topaz ring around it. Again, slowly, the sapphire would move across to the other edge, reversing the shape of the lens before, and the two would part company as the topaz came forward. The black observatories lay there silently, as if at rest, encircled in the formless soundless liquid of the Milky Way.

‘That’s an instrument for measuring the speed of the water as it flows. You see, the water….’

That was all the birdcatcher could say before, without warning, a tall conductor in a red cap came up to their seats and spoke…

‘Please have your tickets ready.’

The birdcatcher pulled a small slip of paper from his inside pocket without saying a word. The conductor glanced at it, immediately turning to Giovanni and Campanella, wagging his finger and pointing to them, as if to say, ‘And where are your tickets?’

‘Oh, gee,’ said Giovanni, fidgeting at a loss for what to do. But Campanella produced a small gray ticket from out of nowhere, as if by second nature. Giovanni, now in a real flurry, reached deeply into his coat pocket to see if there was a ticket there, finding a big folded piece of paper.

He quickly brought out his hand, surprised himself that there was something in it, and held up a green piece of paper, folded in quarters, about the size of a postcard. He thought…

I don’t know what this paper is, but the conductor has his hand out, so why not give it to him!

The conductor took the piece of paper from him, stood at attention and carefully unfolded it. He fiddled with the buttons on his jacket as he read it, while the lighthouse keeper did his best to steal a peek at it from below. Giovanni, quite excited, was sure that the paper was some kind of certificate.

‘Have you carried this from the Third Spatial Region?’ asked the conductor.

‘Search me,’ said Giovanni, chuckling and looking up, now feeling considerably relieved and safe.

‘Very well. We will be arriving at the Southern Cross in the neighbourhood of the next Third Hour,’ said the conductor, returning Giovanni’s ticket and going on down the aisle.

Campanella was dying to find out what was written on Giovanni’s ticket, so he quickly took a peek at it. Giovanni couldn’t wait to see either. But all they could make out on it were designs of black arabesques with ten or so funny-looking printed letters among them.

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