Old things in the south

Chapter 1 Old Things in the South of the City——Dongyang·Childhood·Camel Team
The camel team came and stopped in front of my house.

They are arranged in a long line, standing silently, waiting for people's arrangement.It was dry and cold.The camel puller took off his felt hat, steam was rising from the bald gourd, and a puff of white smoke merged into the dry and cold atmosphere.

Dad is negotiating the price with him.Each of the two-humped camels carried two sacks of coal.I was thinking, is it "Nanshan Gaomo" or "Wujinmoyu" in the sack?I often see these big black characters written on the white walls of the coal stacks on Shuncheng Street.But the camel driver said that they came from Mentougou, and they and the camels came step by step.

Another camel driver is calling the camels to eat grass.They bent their front feet, pouted their buttocks, and then knelt down.

Dad has negotiated a price with them.People are unloading coal, and camels are grazing.

I stood in front of the camels and saw how they ate grass and chewed: such ugly faces, such long teeth, such a quiet attitude. With the heat, white foam covered his beard.I was so stunned that my teeth moved.

The teacher taught me to learn from a camel, an animal that can hold its breath.Seeing it is never in a hurry, walks slowly, chews slowly; it will always come, and it will always be full.Maybe they are born to be slow, occasionally dodging the car to take two steps, the posture is ugly.

When the camel team comes over, you will know that the leader of the camel always has a bell tied under its long neck, and when it walks, it rings "dang, dang, dang".

"Why is there a bell?" I have to ask about things I don't understand.

My father told me that camels are very afraid of wolves because wolves will bite them, so humans put bells on them. When wolves heard the sound of the bells, they knew that humans were protecting them, so they dared not invade them.

My childish mind is full of different ideas from adults. I said to my father:
"No, Dad! Their soft soles walked on the soft desert without making a sound. Didn't you say that they walked for three days and three nights without drinking a sip of water, just chewing their food silently?" Is it the food poured out of the stomach? It must be the camel-drawing humans, who couldn’t stand the long and lonely journey, so they put bells on the camels to add some fun to the journey.”

Dad thought about it, smiled and said:
"Perhaps your idea is more beautiful."

Winter is almost over and spring is coming. The sun is so warm that people want to take off their cotton jackets.Isn't it?The camel also took off its old camel hair robe!Its fur fell off its body in chunks and hung down under its belly.I really want to get a pair of scissors and cut them because it's so messy.The same goes for the camel pullers. They also took off their big sheepskin jackets that were worn backwards, and put them on the hump of the camel's back.The sack was empty, the "Wu Jin Mo Yu" was sold, and the bell rang more clearly in a relaxed pace.

Summer is coming, and there is no shadow of the camel anymore, so I asked my mother again:

"Where do they go in summer?"

"Who?"

"Camel!"

Mom couldn't answer, she said:
"Always ask, always ask, you boy!"

Summer passed, autumn passed, winter came again, and the camel caravan came again, but childhood was gone and never returned.I will never do the stupid thing of chewing like a camel under the winter sun.

However, how much I miss the scenery and people living in the south of Beijing when I was a child!I said to myself, write them down, let the physical childhood pass, and the spiritual childhood live forever.

In this way, I wrote a book "Old Things in the South of the City".

I thought silently and wrote slowly.Seeing the caravan of camels approaching under the winter sun and hearing the slow and sweet bells, my childhood came back to my heart.

(End of this chapter)