This is a story that has been sealed in my heart for many years. I have never wanted to mention it in the story. Every time I mention it, my heart seems to tremble, and it feels incredible. I often say to myself, "How could this happen? How could this happen?"
In the early 1980s, Shenzhen had just reformed and opened up, and there were construction sites, bulldozers, and mud trucks and shuttled back and forth on the road, dust was rolling everywhere, which was a construction scene. He and I were comrades-in-arms. I transferred to Shenzhen with the army and participated in Shenzhen construction, and became a member of the construction of Shenzhen Special Zone .
We are fellow townsmen again. We grew up together, went to the army together, and came to Shenzhen together. We can be said to be like saying everything, even closer than brothers. One night, I ran to his place to play, and he lived in the dormitory on the 5th floor of the company. We chatted for a night, and strangely, and as we were chatting, I suddenly said something: "Do you want me to send you back after you die?" He said without thinking: "No." At that time, we didn't say anything else and didn't care at all. It was a joke that no one remembered.
Until one day, the company received a call and a man hurriedly came over and told me, "No, no, your comrade-in-arms had an accident and was hit by a truck at the intersection of Huaqiang North Road. Now he is rescued in the People's Hospital." Without saying a word, I rushed to the People's Hospital in time and saw him lying on the hospital bed, his head tightly wrapped in gauze. You can see that his face was red and swollen, his eyes were closed, his whole head was deformed, and his mouth was inserted into his ventilator and he was breathing hard. The doctor said: "It is hard to say whether you can wake up. It depends on his own vitality. It seems very dangerous at present."
Hospital issued a notice of critical illness . As I am my closest comrade-in-arms, I went to handle everything without hesitation. At that time, Shenzhen's communication conditions were very backward. Due to the urgent situation, I felt that it was too slow to call the telegram. In order to make a long-distance call , I went to Guangzhou to dial and told his father about his critical illness.
His father and his uncle rushed to Shenzhen from 2,000 kilometers away. With the transportation conditions at that time, it would take three days to arrive no matter how fast it was. It’s a pity that after my comrade was hit, I was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment and never spoke again. I stayed with me for three days before my father arrived, but he had already left and was sent to the morgue.
I wonder if it is a premonition? No one can explain clearly. Heaven and earth have spirituality, and people have the sixth sense. Maybe this is the reason. Since that joke, I have also gone to play with comrades. At that time, I was blocked by his boss downstairs of their company, otherwise I would have had the chance to meet. So far, we didn't say anything more, and we finally met in the hospital.
After the cremation of the comrades, his father insisted on taking the ashes back to his hometown for burial. Logically, as a fellow villager, I should have sent him a trip and accompanied his father back to his hometown. At that time, I was very worried about whether I should send him back? Does his last joke count when he died? I thought about it over and over again, respecting the last words of the deceased during his lifetime, and did not choose to send him back. Finally, I found another comrade-in-arms to accompany his father to send his ashes back to my hometown.
After many years, there seems to be a knot in my mind that has not been untied and I don’t know how to solve it. I have never told his father that the reason I didn't send him back. His father didn't know we had ever joked like this. I didn't send him back. I guessed that his father might still be resentful of me, and he might think that my comrade-in-arms is not righteous enough.
Decades have passed, I believe that he, the spirit of heaven, should understand my comrade-in-arms’ approach. Since that incident, I dare not make jokes with others, for fear that the joke will come true.
Do you dare to joke around casually?
