The narrator sits in a second-class coach of the Ekosuka-Tokyo train and waits for the signal to depart. At the last second a village girl of about thirteen-fourteen with a rough, weather-beaten face runs into the car. Putting a knot on the knees with things, she squeezes a third-class ticket in her frozen hand. The narrator is irritated by her ordinary appearance, her dullness, which prevents her from understanding even the difference between the second and third grades. This girl seems to him a living embodiment of gray reality. Having run through the newspaper, the narrator is asleep. When he opens his eyes, he sees that the girl is trying to open the window. The narrator coldly looks at her unsuccessful efforts and does not even try to help her, considering her desire a whim. The train enters the tunnel, and just at that moment the window opens with a thud. The car is filled with suffocating smoke, and the narrator, suffering from a throat, begins to cough, and the girl protrudes
out the window and looks forward along the train. The narrator wants to scold the girl, but then the train leaves the tunnel, and the smell of land, hay, water poured into the window. The train passes through a poor suburb. Behind the barrier of the deserted crossing are three boys. Seeing the train, they raise their hands and shout some illegible greeting. At this moment, the girl takes out a mandarin of warm golden color from behind her bosom and throws them out the window. The narrator instantly understands everything: the girl leaves for work and wants to thank the brothers who went to the crossing to spend it. The narrator looks quite differently at the girl: she helped him “for the time being forget about her inexpressible fatigue and longing and about the incomprehensible, lowly, boring human life.” and the girl protrudes out the window and looks forward along the train. The narrator wants to scold the girl, but then the train leaves the tunnel, and the smell of land, hay, water poured into the window. The train passes through a poor suburb. Behind the barrier of the deserted crossing are three boys.
Seeing the train, they raise their hands and shout some illegible greeting. At this moment, the girl takes out a mandarin of warm golden color from behind her bosom and throws them out the window. The narrator instantly understands everything: the girl leaves for work and wants to thank the brothers who went to the crossing to spend it. The narrator looks quite differently at the girl: she helped him “for the time being forget about her inexpressible fatigue and longing and about the incomprehensible, lowly, boring human life.” and the girl protrudes out the window and looks forward along the train. The narrator wants to scold the girl, but then the train leaves the tunnel, and the smell of land, hay, water poured into the window. The train passes through a poor suburb. Behind the barrier of the deserted crossing are three boys. Seeing the train, they raise their hands and shout some illegible greeting. At this moment, the girl takes out a mandarin of warm golden color from behind her bosom and throws them out the window. The narrator instantly understands everything: the girl leaves for work and wants to thank the brothers who went to the crossing to spend it. The narrator looks quite differently at the girl: she helped him “for the time being forget about her inexpressible fatigue and longing and about the incomprehensible, lowly, boring human life.” but then the train leaves the tunnel, and the smell of land, hay, water poured into the window. The train passes through a poor suburb. Behind the barrier of the deserted crossing are three boys. Seeing the train, they raise their hands and shout some illegible greeting. At this moment, the girl takes out a mandarin of warm golden color from behind her bosom and throws them out the window. The narrator instantly understands everything: the girl leaves for work and wants to thank the brothers who went to the crossing to spend it. The narrator looks quite differently at the girl: she helped him “for the time being forget about her inexpressible fatigue and longing and about the incomprehensible, lowly, boring human life.” but then the train leaves the tunnel, and the smell of land, hay, water poured into the window. The train passes through a poor suburb. Behind the barrier of the deserted crossing are three boys. Seeing the train, they raise their hands and shout some illegible greeting. At this moment, the girl takes out a mandarin of warm golden color from behind her bosom and throws them out the window. The narrator instantly understands everything: the girl leaves for work and wants to thank the brothers who went to the crossing to spend it. The narrator looks quite differently at the girl: she helped him “for the time being forget about her inexpressible fatigue and longing and about the incomprehensible, lowly, boring human life.” Seeing the train, they raise their hands and shout some illegible greeting. At this moment, the girl takes out a mandarin of warm golden color from behind her bosom and throws them out the window. The narrator instantly understands everything: the girl leaves for work and wants to thank the brothers who went to the crossing to spend it. The narrator looks quite differently at the girl: she helped him “for the time being forget about her inexpressible fatigue and longing and about the incomprehensible, lowly, boring human life.” Seeing the train, they raise their hands and shout some illegible greeting. At this moment, the girl takes out a mandarin of warm golden color from behind her bosom and throws them out the window. The narrator instantly understands everything: the girl leaves for work and wants to thank the brothers who went to the crossing to spend it. The narrator looks quite differently at the girl: she helped him “for the time being forget about her inexpressible fatigue and longing and about the incomprehensible, lowly, boring human life.”
