迟到很多年的客人

As the mountain-line bookshop is about to close, a middle-aged customer comes in holding an old book.

He says he came here twenty years ago and borrowed this novel before.

The owner has not met him before, but she recognizes the old bookmark in the book.

On the bookmark it says: after finishing it, bring me back to the mountain line.

The customer says when he was young he moved house and was ill, and later never came back.

He ran a small shop in another city before, but always remembered the ending of this book.

The owner turns to the end and finds an unfinished line on the blank page.

The customer picks up a pen and says, “I promised myself I would finish writing it.”

That night, the bookshop is long past closing time, but the light is still on.

The owner says even a late book can bring a story back right on time.