Chapter 27 Extra Story Ⅰ The Devoted Timothy
After Albert did his father's funeral, it took him a long time to gather himself. He came to the old house to pack the things left by his father.
There hadn't been any visitors for a long time, and the house was dusty. He opened the door and saw the familiar furniture inside. He looked around and recalled how his dad had waited here day and night for his mother to return.
Albert opened the door to the master bedroom, which was stuffed up. According to Timothy, these objects were shipped from their hometown. When their houses were demolished, he couldn't bear to throw them away. All the things were shipped to Buena City.
The stuff was piled up in the old house. His dad would come and sort them out from time to time.
Albert rummaged through the boxes. There were clothes, old items, and various books. Albert squatted down and opened a box loaded with high school textbooks and exercise books. Timothy's name was on the covers. These should be the books used by him when he was in high school. Albert hadn't expected them to be kept to this day.
Albert sat down, leafed through the books, and saw various notes which showed how diligent his dad was back then. He went on to check out the exercise books and found that they belonged to different subjects. Timothy's handwriting was seen on them. All the key points, difficult questions, essential points, and knowledge points in the textbooks were covered. In tree structures, the notes were concrete and clear.
Albert read the content. Given how smart Timothy was, he didn't need such notebooks. These seemed to be the notes shown to others. Timothy used to teach him in this way.
Surprisingly, all the subjects such as English, mathematics, French, physics, chemistry, and biology were covered. There were a dozen notebooks for each subject. All the knowledge structures were analyzed in detail. Albert believed that those notes left by his dad could be on sale as reference books. Albert wondered whom Timothy tutored back then that he put in so much effort.
Albert continued to rummage through the boxes until he found an alumni book and a photo album. In a hurry, he picked up the album before seeing the photos of Timothy when he was a child. Timothy looked pedantic, cool, yet good-mannered. There were only photos of Timothy alone or him with his parents till he was in primary school. There weren't any photos of his class.
Then Albert found the photo of a class when Timothy was probably a junior high student. Albert spotted his dad at a glance. Short in height, the boy had a plump face and soft black hair. Quiet and good-mannered, he was standing in the front row. Then the figures became richer. There were photos of Timothy and his classmates as well as photos of him in competitions. Most of them were photos of Timothy and a girl. They were not the only ones, but the girl was in every photo. She was always smiling at the camera, and Timothy was always standing beside her.
When a group of people went to have a barbecue together, Timothy squatted down to get the fire going. The girl was nibbling something with a smug look. There was another photo of the girl lying prone to the desk in the classroom. A pile of books was on the desk. Sitting behind the girl, Timothy rested his chin on his hand and smiled. There was also a photo of her birthday. The girl stood in the center of a circle. Carrying a cake, she was smiling broadly. Standing on the side, Timothy was looking at her. In the graduation photo, the two were in school uniforms. Standing along with their classmates, they looked serious. There were also photos of small groups. They bent their arms around each other's shoulders, smiling at the camera.
Albert continued to flip through the album and saw photos of Timothy when he was in college. In a white shirt, he was delivering a speech on the stage. There were also photos of him at the school gate, and most of the rest were photos of the couple.
They dined in the cafeteria, went on tours, and graduated together. Hand in hand, they walked in the shade, lay on the couch, and got their marriage license...
There were several albums full of pictures that witnessed their love... Albert folded the album and wondered if Timothy had flipped through these photos every time he came. How did he feel when he looked back into the past?
Albert sat there for a long time before continuing to flip through the album. He found the cards that Queenie sent to Timothy on the New Year, her test papers in high school, her admission ticket for the National Grad Test of Second Language, her college diploma, their marriage license, as well as many tickets for trains and buses that were bound for almost every part of the country. There was also an old map. Many cities on it were marked with circles...
Tears blurred Albert's eyes as he looked at these things. He couldn't help lowering his head and whimpering. He felt sad for his dad and himself. His dad was so kind and gentle, but Albert could not see him again.
Not anymore.
He felt sorry for his dad. Timothy's love was so deep and heavy. It came to such a sudden end.
There wasn't another man in this world as devoted as his dad was. His name was Timothy, a man who engraved Queenie on his soul.