听见火车的读者

The mountain-line bookshop receives a travel diary with no name.

When the owner reads the third page, she hears the same train sound outside the window.

The diary says the morning train's brakes sound like a long sigh.

A regular reader says he has heard that sound too.

They turn to the end and see that each page holds a leaf from a different station.

But when the owner sees the last leaf, she suddenly falls quiet.

It is a leaf from the old banyan in front of the bookshop, not scenery from far away.

Only then does the reader hear the small radio behind the counter playing an old station master's message.

It turns out the diary's author had trouble walking, but listened to the world pass by on the platform every day.

The owner says some journeys do not require going far; you only have to truly hear them.