The scent of flowers in October has a taste of thoughts; it is the taste of home; it is the taste of the heart full of parting sorrow when you are about to travel far away. I got into Master Chen’s car, and this time only Harry and I were left. The car drove on the highway, the occasional yellow light through the car curtain projected on the side. The empty car seemed to be missing something.
I didn’t say goodbye to each of my friends because I was afraid of the sadness of parting. Harry’s eyes were silently looking out of the window as the car headed east, extraordinarily quiet. The streetlights pulled the car’s shadow far away. The years are too busy to write down every inch of the scenery. At this moment Harry seems to understand the meaning of this long mountain road.
At 11:30 p.m., we arrived at a rest stop near Pudong Airport. The innkeeper saw us with so much luggage and asked us curiously where we were going. I said the southern hemisphere. The boss got even more curious and wanted to know more. It turned out that the owner was a photography enthusiast. He had been to many places with his camera on his back when he was young. I told him that I just wanted to go with my dog to fulfill a childhood dream.
The next morning at 5:00 am, it was dawn. I headed to Pudong airport. I found that due to the size of the objects. My luggage could not fit through the security gate. The staff needed to unpack the box to see what was inside. After the staff checked to make sure it was a bike and parts. They brought tape and scissors. Master Chen and I hurriedly packed the luggage back again, and by now we were sweating profusely.
The Harry Air case was too big and needed to be in the aerobic compartment of the cargo hold. I was still worried about it before we parted. I went to Harry’s air box and told Harry I would see him again soon. Calming its nerves.
Thirteen hours of flying. For the first leg, I stopped in Seoul, Korea for two hours. And then flew all the way east. Across the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Strait, as well as large ice fields and forest meadows. The scenery outside the plane and ship was also changing…
I opened my hazy eyes. It was eight o’clock in the morning, local time. The morning sun is shining on the bay and the mountains near Vancouver. There is a stratospheric fog just in time. This has a kind of stage dream feeling. The tiredness of the flight for more than 10 hours disappeared instantly.
The plane landed smoothly at Vancouver airport. All the passengers on the same flight had already confirmed their luggage. I was the only one left in the waiting room. Two hours had passed. There was only one hour left in the original three-hour transit time.
At this time, a staff member came up to me. The expression was grave and bitter. I subconsciously knew that something bad was happening. He said apologetically, “Sir, are you bringing your dog on the plane with you?”. I said, “Yes.” The man then added, “I’m sorry that a worker’s error on our end took your dog out of Canadian customs. But he’s safe now. We’re contacting U.S. Customs. We hope to check it onto the plane right away. ….” Then he kept calling and nodding to me to apologize. I was also momentarily baffled. All I wanted at the moment was for Harry to be okay.
They rebooked me on a 1:30 pm flight. I rushed to tell my friend John, who was picking us up at LAX, that we wouldn’t have to leave very early.
The plane to Los Angeles finally took off. Three hours later we landed in the United States. At the same time, I received Harry without any problems. Got my bike, Harry’s trailer, and solar panels.
John and I both carried Harry and all the luggage to his pickup truck. By now, it was six o’clock in the evening. The purple evening sun and a bright moon greeted us ahead. What a beautiful and memorable moment.
It was about an hour’s drive to John’s house in the lake forest. John’s wife, Auntie Zheng, was preparing dinner for us while telling me the story of her and John. The story sounded so wonderful and interesting. I said your story could be a movie.
Auntie always smiled happily. Those are their good memories. Only John is too old to go too far now. But he still goes on bicycle trips. Auntie Zheng, on the other hand, likes to travel by boat. She was happy to tell me. She has been to Antarctica and the North Pole and shares with me the sights and sounds of those places. Auntie always has a smile on her face. John also looked on with a smile.
When a person grows old. Some good things are memories that are remembered for a lifetime. Whenever you think back, you will smile. It’s enough to have someone to laugh with.
Continued from previous episode 1.
