Pain

One day Li learned that pain is part of life…

It happened on the way home, when they had just passed a small village and were moving along a battered regional highway. The old bus he was riding, breathing its last, could not withstand the hardships and potholes of the difficult road. The wheels jumped and bounced along the road until, finally, the tire on one of them, on the left rear axle, scraped against a broken edge of asphalt at another turn. That was the last straw for the time-worn rubber, and air slowly and almost imperceptibly escaped through a side cut. The driver did not notice the changes for a while, since the paired wheel continued to honestly absorb its share of the unevenness. But after about five hundred meters, the dissatisfied yelps of the passengers became impossible to ignore, and the bus had to be stopped.

As luck would have it, the bolts holding the spare had seized over years of disuse. The driver cursed tiredly, trying to do something, but in the end he waved his hand, announced over the loudspeaker that the bus would not go any further, and asked passengers to contact roadside assistance.

For the next hour Li watched the passengers around him go through all the stages of loss. First the most impatient demanded to keep driving, because “one wheel is enough, it will hold us!” Then a woman who had seemed pleasant and calm all the way began to yell at the driver, demanding that he “fix everything immediately,” otherwise “what did I pay money for.” One solid-looking passenger with a neat leather briefcase tried to bargain with the driver: “I’m sure fifty dollars will fix the matter, you can think of something for me, right?!”

Finally, someone three rows away burst into desperate tears, realizing they wouldn’t make it home today.

Another forty minutes passed before a short man stepped forward, saying, “Well, it seems we’re thoroughly stuck. The next bus won’t be until Thursday. We’ll have to figure something out tomorrow; morning is wiser than evening. And for now, let’s sort out food and lodging!”

Someone immediately responded, realizing they had sausage and lemonade in their suitcase. The girl sitting across the aisle from Li smiled and offered to share champagne. A bearded young man sitting two rows ahead and, as Li now recalled, who had more than once thrown glances at the girl on the way, responded happily that yes, they were stuck, but there is no bad without good! And volunteered to open the bottle.

Life continued. Li, it must be admitted, was seriously alarmed at first. And what worried him was not so much that the bus was stuck at least until the next morning, as that this time would have to be spent in the company of forty-odd strangers.

With a sad smile and a deep sigh, he took his backpack and slowly stepped out of the bus into the open air.

To the left of the road stretched a wide field. It was green with something that resembled rye or wheat. Li found it hard to tell which, as he was more used to rice fields in his native places. To the right, shrubs came almost right up to the bus, and beyond them, about two hundred meters away, a sparse grove began.

Behind them on the highway appeared the light of headlights. The relieved passengers went out to meet it, raising their hands in a plea to stop. The car stopped a little ahead of the bus, the driver got out. Having listened to the driver’s story and the passengers’ garbled proposals, he offered to take about five people with him and drive them to the nearest village, at the same time calling roadside assistance. “Chen won’t come to you today, he’s too old for that. You’ll have to hold out until morning somehow,” he admonished those who remained.

Li pressed his lips regretfully. Well, he would not be home soon. So be it. At least he had to spend the night as comfortably as possible, especially since it was summer and warm.

He surveyed the stopping place. Nothing particularly useful — only bushes and grass all around.

“Have a drink with us, respected sir!” came a deliberately cheerful voice from somewhere to the side. The bearded man who had opened the champagne addressed Li directly. “We’re all in the same boat, so let’s pass the time cheerfully!”

“Oh, thank you, I’d be glad to,” Li responded. Carefully taking the plastic cup handed to him, he smiled and clinked with the containers offered toward him. “To cheerful adventures!”

“Oh yes, may only good memories remain for us!” smiled the girl whose champagne they were now drinking. And she winked at the bearded man. “After all, everything is in our hands!”

They laughed merrily. It was strange to see such an island of fun and even some mischief in the midst of the generally gloomy landscape of a bus wreck.

Not everyone shared such lightness and fun. Some passengers remained in the bus. Some animatedly discussed the misfortunes that had fallen on them, clustering ten meters from the cab.

Li slowly moved toward the forest. Pushing through the bushes, he looked around and saw a path in the grass. The grass was pressed down, but not trampled — someone had clearly just passed here. He carefully, with unhurried steps, moved along the pressed grass, hoping to get away from the noisy place of the accident.

After a dozen meters the path forked. Suddenly from the right branch a man came toward him, heading back to the bus.

“There’s a good bush that way,” he waved his hand, clearly indicating where he had come from.

Li shrugged, waited until the man passed, and, passing the fork, continued toward the forest.

About thirty meters later the path suddenly ended, opening into a wide clearing. On the other side of the clearing the forest began. And before the entrance to it, under a large stone, sat an elderly person, resting his face in his palms.

Li froze for a second, then pulled himself together and smoothly approached the stone.

“Excuse me, am I bothering you?” he asked after a pause.

The man seemed not to hear him.

“Excuse me?!” Li repeated.

The man stirred, raised his head and looked at Li, as if trying to focus his gaze.

“Am I bothering you?” Li repeated, feeling foolish and realizing the question had now become completely silly.

“Oh, no, not at all,” the man replied tiredly. “You’re looking for a toilet, I guess?”

Li hesitated, embarrassed. Then he smiled gently and answered, “No, no, I just wanted to be farther away from that fuss by the bus. Sorry to bother you.”

“Don’t worry, everything is fine. You didn’t bother me. I was just thinking about my own.”

“You don’t like a bunch of unfamiliar people either, I guess?” Li dared to ask.

“How to put it… My job is to talk to a bunch of unfamiliar people. And I even liked my work. It’s just not the time now, excuse me,” the man responded patiently.

“Oh… Do you mind if I sit down next to you? Going into the forest is a bit scary, and here it’s quite convenient,” Li gestured to the neighboring stone, which was indeed small and comfortable, as if specially left here by someone.

“Please do, it’s not my property,” the man smiled.

Li sat on the neighboring stone. Silence reigned. After a minute Li began to feel that his interlocutor had gone inward again. Li was embarrassed, but at the same time there was something disturbing and sad in how the man lowered his head and covered his face with his hands.

“Are you all right?” Li risked asking.

“What?..” the man seemed to come to again.

“I asked if you’re all right. Forgive me if I’m too intrusive,” Li raised his hands in a calming gesture. “It just seemed to me that something happened to you.”

“As if it’s not enough that our bus broke down?” the interlocutor smiled sadly.

“Well, you probably aren’t like this just because of the bus,” Li pointed out.

“Well, you are very perceptive. I think I’m not all right at all. I’m simply lost,” the man’s voice sounded dull, his lips were pressed together, his eyebrows furrowed. He seemed to struggle with himself.

Li was surprised to find that he had held his breath. A lump rose to his throat. He almost panicked and with difficulty calmed himself.

“What happened?” he asked gently.

The man looked away, hid his face in his palms again. He sat like that for a few seconds. And suddenly Li noticed that his shoulders were shaking. A muffled sob was heard.

“I will never… see them… again…” the man responded in a choking voice. “Never…”

His shoulders shook even more, and he burst into tears, hiding his face and shrinking.

Li was at a loss. In confusion he rushed toward the sobbing man, but froze, stopping himself. His eyes stung, an aching sorrow settled on his heart. He did not understand what was happening… A couple of minutes passed during which Li hardly breathed, while his interlocutor continued to sob, clasping his head in his hands even tighter… Finally the sobbing began to subside. Li moved back. And the man shook his head as if trying to shake off regret and sorrow.

“Sorry… You see, they were in an accident… I only learned about it five days later… It shouldn’t have been like that. I should have been in their place, not them… My son was always so confident, so calm. He took care of his wife, the children. And he didn’t forget me…”

The man fell silent again. You could see the veins in his face tense, his palms clenched, almost to blood. Li turned pale. Tension bound his whole body. The pause dragged on.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Li began.

“He took the kids and was driving to me,” the man continued with a sharp, barking sob. “And the truck driver lost control!”

He almost rose to a shout.

“I will never see them again! I should have been there!” he squeezed out desperately.

Li was silent. His breath caught, his throat was squeezed by tears. It seemed that the whole world had vanished somewhere, shrunk to a point far away, beyond the solar system. Cold pierced his whole body.

Suddenly the air was cut by a long honk. Then it repeated, and again, and again. A cry rang out:

“We are saved! Thank God!”

Along the path, past the bushes, the bearded man ran toward them, smiling and holding a nearly empty bottle high in his hands.

“They brought a spare! And it fits! Let’s go forward!”

Li sat on the stone, stunned, not understanding what was happening.

The man rose from the neighboring stone. He stood firmly on his feet, shook himself off and shouted to the bearded man, “Oh, how wonderful! We’re coming, thank you!”

Then he turned to Li, extended his hand:

“Get up. Everything will be all right…”