فرهنگي

The twin brothers wake up on the morning of their 100 years birthday to prepare for a 2 hours long travel towards the ocean to leave their fishes there. They are keeping two fishes in their separated pitchers as the symbols of healthiness and life every year and they believe if one of their fishes dies, the one who owns it will die shortly after.

The brothers are ready now with the help of their middle age nurse to move to the train station which is located near the edges of their small village but they have a delay and the passenger train is forced to leave the station after a few minutes of waiting. Then they are supposed to seat at the station with their fishes for an hour or two to board a cargo train which only has one compartment.

During these moments, railways' personnel at the station who have accompanied the brothers in their birthdays during these years, come for visiting and honoring them. The cargo train with a 60 years old locomotive pilot and his young assistant arrives to the station. The young assistant happy to see the passengers, cleans the only comportment on the train and help the twin brothers to board it but when he is putting the pitchers on the designated area above the chairs, he notices that one of the fishes is dead. He knows that it is the sign of the death of fish's owner.

As the young assistant informs the locomotive pilot, they decide until the end of the 2 hours trip, the assistant try to divert brothers' attention, avoiding them to find out this sorrowful occurrence.

But the twin brothers are worried about the place of the pitchers. They are asking the assistant to give the pitchers back to their hands and they young man using different tricks deviate their attention until they arrive to the next station. He asked for help from a young couple at the next station. The young couple enter a discussion about "modernism and traditions in Japan" with the brothers which unwillingly hurt them. The assistant is forced to drop the couple at the next station and ask one of the policemen to help him. The policemen, this time board a soldier with a young criminal. The twin brothers appeasing the criminal and he cleverly misuse their truth and steal their little saving. At the third station the young assistant is forced again to drop the soldier and the criminal and this time board a farmer who is traveling to the city, pleading for justice. The farmer didn't listen to the warning of the assistant and he was just telling the incident about the fishes to the brothers when the assistant droped him off too.
During this time the locomotive pilot is trying to give the full details of the dead fish to railways officers at the destination to find a substitute as fast as possible and change it with the dead fish. The last passengers of the compartment are two teenager students who make the brothers happy by their innocence.

At the destination, the railway officers, immediately put a live fish in the pitcher, give them to the brothers. The twins accompanying by the railway officers and some of the local citizens go to the coast. They participate in "leaving the fishes to the waters" formalities. Then they return to the city market to choose and buy two new colorful fishes.

This time, the twins board a passenger train, tired of a half-a-day trip, going towards the destination. They are leaned on their chairs, having a pleasant smile on their faces and they are slept. Some of the passengers are eager to gaze at their beautiful asleeped faces and a young couple photographs them. When the train reaches the destination, the middle age nurse is ready to take them back home but only of the twins get up from the sleep. The other one have slept forever while his colorful fish dancing in his blue pitcher.

Written By: Mahmoud Ayden

Translated by: Prlupin