Xiao Bai and the man

There was once a man who had a friend in his pick up truck which was white in colour and was named "Xiao Bai" meaning little white. The man worked as a fishmonger and drove Xiao Bai everyday from home to the fish market and here and there to collect and deliver goods. The fishmonger worked hard and had an optimistic outlook in life. His dream was to earn and save up enough money to travel by road to the Sea of Japan which he had a picture book he read about when he was little. The picture book was second hand and when it had words, they were in Japanese, which he did not understand, but he learnt much about the fish of the Sea of Japan which was what the book was mostly about. He liked the book a lot not because of any particular reason except for that particular affinity that one sometimes develop for things for no particular reason.

When, the day came when he finally had enough money, the man ran around making exciting arrangements about the route and finding somebody to take over his business during his on year of absence. The preparations geared Xiao Bai up for the excitement of the adventure that it had heard about since the first day the man bought and drove it around.

At the end of the first Lunar month, the man and Xiao Bai took off. They wanted to travel during this period so that they would not experience winter in the middle of their road trip. They drove across different countries, and they saw landscapes that they've never seen before, experienced wilderness they've never had before, and felt loneliness like they had never felt before. When they reached the sea of Japan, they travelled along the coast for a month. They saw the different fish, some kinds of which they imported and sold, and had a good time watching the sun rise many times, and counting the number of fishing boats they could find. Looking at the fish at the fish market, they wondered what kind of life the fish must have lived, and how much more of the Sea of Japan it must know than what the man or Xiao Bai ever will.

When the time was up and the amount of money left was down, they turned around and headed back. On the way home, winter was harsh and it was difficult to drive around on the slippery roads and in the cold. The man couldn't spend the nights in Xiao Bai as he usually did, because he would die of the cold if he did, so he didn't. Xiao Bai was alone in the carparks and the man, in his rented room. The nights were dreadful and sleepless for them who were conscious of how the trip was nearing its end.

Finally, the day came when they reached home. After a heated rush of administering the everyday life to set mundane routines into motion again and mastering them. In between, they reminisced about the road trip.

The man concluded that his favourite part of the trip was seeing the Sea of Japan and seeing the fishing boats unloading the fish he recognised from the picture book he had when he was young. He especially liked to see dark clouds and rain fall out at the sea from the distance. In the distance, the rain looked like a gentle grey shadow of nothing which he enjoyed watching and imagining how it might be like to be out at sea.

Xiao Bai's favourite part of the trip was when they traveled in the mountaineous region, Xiao Bai was not as old as the mountains, but he was made of the mountains because steel and other raw materials that Xiao Bai was made of came from the earth. When they drove up and down mountains, Xiao Bai would like to observe the rain and how close they were to the clouds above and how rain fell at such altitude.

After some time, the fishmonging business was back to usual but the man was less enthusiastic and Xiao Bai aged significantly, and they wondered when should Xiao Bai retire and the man thought about getting married and starting a family and settling down.

One day, while on the way home from fishmonging, it started to rain very heavily. Xiao Bai was tired and it broke down as it thought about how life was more than selling fish knowing that it would always continue to age and would never get any younger tomorrow than today. While comforting Xiao Bai, the man felt alone sitting in the truck by himself in the middle of the way in the middle of pouring rain.