The time of death

In Montmartre lived a poor man named Martin. He is pitiful because he can only live one day out of every two days. During the day of his existence, he could live as a normal person, but at midnight, he would suddenly disappear; Twenty-four hours later, he would resume his interrupted dream in his bed. This bothered him, for he had no memory of those vanished days, and he needed to be careful not to let the folly to get out.

Fortunately, Martin did not need to earn a living. His uncle let him get a large fortune. He lived alone in an old house, and to keep his secrets he never received anyone or stayed overnight. He accustomed to get up at dawn and go shopping until evening, but even then he felt the time passed too quickly.

One morning, as Martin was passing a butcher's shop, he heard a pleasant voice behind him: "Please cut a small piece of meat." He turned around and saw a beautiful and gentle young woman. He fell in love with her at first sight and stared at her so intently that her face turned red.

Then, every other day, Mardan would meet the woman in front of the butcher shop, but he did not have the courage to talk to her. After all, he could not live like a normal person, and even if he were her, she would run away in fear if she were a widow every two days.

Finally, on a rainy morning, Mardan plucked up courage and invited the woman to shelter under his umbrella and expressed his love for her. To Mardan's surprise, the woman said her name was Aite and she fell in love with him at first sight. As the two are about to part, Aite will offer to date tomorrow. 'No! Mardan was startled. "Ming... I won't be home tomorrow. What about the day after tomorrow?" Aite agreed.

The meeting took place in a cafe, and after they had exchanged polite words, Mardan sighed, confessed his secret, which he kept for only one day every other day, explained the matter at length, and finally said nervously, "I want you to understand the situation at the outset, and then you can consider whether to go out with me."

"Of course, being together every day is the best damn thing, but that's the way life is. There's always something you don't like." Martin, who had not expected her to be very understanding, took her hand excitedly.

Soon, Aite moved into Mardan's house. At midnight, when Martin was lying in bed with her in his arms, the clock struck twelve, and Martin vanished into thin air! She lets out a cry. Disappointment turned to fear that she would never return. She bursts into tears.

The next morning. When she woke up in a daze, she began to cry again at the thought of Martin's absence, and was in a better mood in the afternoon. Through the night, she waited anxiously for Mardan's return.

At the stroke of twelve, Martin recovered himself, and was lying on the bed from which he had given it. When Mardan looked at the date on his alarm clock, he realized that he had been missing an entire day. Aite threw herself on Top of Mardan and began to cry. "What's going on?" Martin touched her head and said. "Don't you understand? Yesterday was the right time of death for me! But to you it is only part-time. Telling me about yesterday. '

"I can't tell you how you disappeared... Suddenly, your whole person is gone, I can still feel your temperature, but the bed is empty. Even though I prepare for it, it was very sad..."

But she soon got used to the absence of Mardan. She found it the same as her husband going out to work one day every other day. And Mardan no longer as before, always worried about the passage of time, he felt more and more deeply for Aite, he felt that Aite had changed his life.

But just two years into their relationship. Aite has failed to maintain the same freshness and enthusiasm that Mardan does, and she's even glad he doesn't exist for one day out of two.

One midnight Martin came back to reality and found himself lying in the dark, just trying to finish what he had not finished the night before, but Aite did not answer. He groped and reached out his hand, but aite was not there. He turned on the light and found that eating was not in the room. He suddenly felt how much had happened in the hours of death over which he had no control. The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became, almost suffocating.

At about a quarter past twelve, she came back. "Please excuse me, dear," she said quietly. "I went to the movies and didn't expect to finish so late." Martin nodded and said nothing, lest he should outlive his temper. "You blames me for going to the movies?" she said softly.

'Where! Martin sniffed. "Why should I blame you? You have the right to go to the movies, or even wherever you like. What you do when I don't exist is your business, not mine. Besides, knowing all that you have done, is there something I can do? '

"You're dreaming again!" Ait pursed her lips and, not bothering to explain, undressed and went to sleep. Martin found her quickly and sweetly sleep. Still absorbed in the other world she had just left. Mardan was so sad that he could not fall asleep all night.

Unfortunately, this happened more and more frequently, and at least once a week. she didn't get home until after midnight. Mardan was furious. For him, every minute she came home late was an encroachment on his pitiful existence. Finally, one day, he could not resist criticizing her. Aite, however, remained unhurried, which made Mardan even more annoyed.

In fact, Aite did meet an accordion player named De one day when Mardan didn't exist and fall madly in love with him. Every additional day, Aite would go to Ede's house and meet him. You just have to claim to be an artist, have a lot of girlfriends, and not be tied to exclusivity. this, ate also tasted the taste of jealousy, but also understood Mardan's pain, and did not leave him.

Soon, in order to date more freely, De told her that she could no longer receive her at home. Aite was so miserable that she begged him to carry on a date with her at Mardan's, and reluctantly agreed.

One day, when Mardan didn't exist. Reed come to madman's house to have dinner ate in his room. She had to think about how to sever the relationship, and she was afraid to hear what he would say. Neither of them noticed what was on their minds, and it was twelve o 'clock. Mardan's back!

At the sight of the house, Mardan was too stunned to speak. A man in shorts stood with his back to him in the middle of the room and said in a deep voice. "Aite, many people are doomed to face, and you two are not born to understand me..." Aite covered her face with her hands and cried as she begged him not to quit her.

Maddening, Martin sprang to his feet and chased them out the door. Have to find the room suddenly appeared an unknown person, immediately frightened, even clothes did not take up and run away. Martin threw his clothes out of the window, along with Atte's, and then set out on his bed and stayed awake until dawn.

In the morning, Mardan tries to get back to his old singleton routine, taking a walk down the street. But somehow it seemed to him that the hours dragged on, as if none would never arrive. Finally, in the afternoon, he went to see a movie and bought a detective story, but nothing he could do could relieve his boredom. Then he was of the view that every day of his existence passed very slowly, and sometimes he wished he could live only one day a week, or even one day a month.

One night, Mardan thought about the time of his death when he didn't exist, and imagine that he could escape into that state forever. Nevertheless, he was still a little reluctant to live an adventurous life again. So he went into the cinema with the idea of a romantic encounter. He was wrong with sit next to a young woman. He was talking to her, but she got up and walked away with another man in her arms.

Mardan came out of the cinema and walked dejectedly down the boulevard. It was nearly midnight, the hour of his disappearance, when he saw her across the road, sitting with a strange man on the terrace of a cafe. Ignoring the traffic. Mardan trotted across the road.

Just then, a taxi sped up and, without stopping, hit Mardan... Technically, there had failed to accident, and the moment Martin rolled under the engine, it was exactly twelve o 'clock, he had vanished into nothing. But the strange thing is. Mardan hasn't been seen since. Perhaps, at twelve o 'clock, he had been fatally struck.

She smiled and said to her new lover. "Why, it's already midnight..."