ENGRAVING

"Do you guarantee that every word you say is true?" "I guarantee it, absolutely true!" "If the person living with you now is not your father, then who is he?" "I don't know, he looks exactly like my father, and not only in appearance, but even in behavior and tone." "Then how can you be sure that he is not your father?" "Because... my father will not suddenly stare at the table and sneer while eating, will not lie on the bed and stare at me in the middle of the night, will not always refuse to take a bath, and will not make that weird sound from his mouth." "What Sound?" "It's like the gurgling sound of water flowing into the trachea of ​​a drowning person." "Under what circumstances did he make this sound?" "Whenever he was alone, such as when he was sitting in the living room watching TV, in the kitchen, or sleeping alone in the bedroom." "You didn't ask him directly why he did this?" "I did, but he always denied that he did anything strange. He was still making that sound in the last second, but when I ran over to ask him the next second, he would immediately deny it." Jack sighed and looked at his old classmate Adam who was sitting opposite him. At this moment, Adam's face showed uneasiness, palpitations, and even a little panic. This guy held a cup of tea on the table that was still a little hot in his hands, but he didn't drink it. Jack raised the tea in front of him and took a sip. The slight bitterness penetrated into his throat through the taste buds, and then a faint sweetness rose, and his thoughts slowly calmed down. The words of the old classmate surprised Jack for the first time in his life that there were bizarre events in the world like his own time travel and rebirth. Jack traveled through time about five months ago. He has the same name as the original owner of this body. The original owner was engaged in the sculpture business, producing and selling his own products, and running a small shop. In the original owner's memory, the man named Adam in front of him was his college classmate. The two had not seen each other for nearly three years. Originally, Adam found Jack to give his father a sculpture of his father's upper body as a birthday gift on his 55th birthday, so he ordered it from Jack in advance. At that time, the two agreed to deliver the sculpture in a month. According to the photo of Adam's father provided by Adam, the prototype of the sculpture was basically completed, but in order to ensure that the image of Adam's father was not distorted, Jack thought it was necessary to meet Adam's father again in person, so as to restore the real person in his work to the greatest extent in this way. Who knew that after contacting Adam, he found out that this strange thing had happened in his family! According to Adam's description, Adam's father started to be strange two weeks ago, and the specific strange behavior was as he said just now. Jack could see that Adam's body was shaking slightly after describing his father's situation. It was June now. Although the air conditioner was on in the teahouse, the temperature was moderate, neither too hot nor too cold. Besides, Adam was still holding the hot tea that the waiter had just brought. He was shaking at the moment, obviously because of the fear in his heart. His father's abnormal changes had affected Adam's normal life. After taking another sip of tea, Jack asked, "Do you need to cancel the sculpture you ordered?" You know, his sculpture business is not easy to do. It was not easy to take such a big job. This order, excluding the wear and tear of wood and tools, and not counting the manual and time consumed, can make about 2,000 yuan. The most important thing is that Jack spent a lot of mind and energy on this work. At the beginning, because of trust in each other, the two only made a verbal promise and received a deposit of 200 yuan. If Adam really canceled the sculpture order because of this emergency, it would be hard to blame the other party. Although Jack also knew that even if Adam wanted to cancel, he would pay him a loss of work fee or compensation. Adam shook his head, "No, keep working on the sculpture. I'm telling you this because I haven't found anyone to talk to in the past two weeks, and I've become more talkative when I see you. Well, my father should be fine." Jack suggested, "Should we send Adam's father to the hospital for a checkup?" "Are you talking about the psychiatric department?" Adam was stunned and shook his head, "He is very conscious, with no signs of insanity, except for the strange behaviors I told you about." "So you think he is not your father based on this?" Jack smiled helplessly. Adam nodded, then shook his head and sighed softly: "I don't know now." Jack thought for a while and asked: "Does your father have a birthmark or something? Have you noticed it?" Adam was stunned for a moment: "To be honest, although I doubt him, I haven't thought about checking it." After saying that, he drank the tea he had been holding in one breath, as if drinking boiled water. After putting down the cup, he said to Jack: "Let's go to my house now. You can observe my dad up close, and then go back to continue to improve the sculpture. I will find a chance to see his birthmark then. Well, there is a light red birthmark on his left shoulder near his neck. Because he likes to wear a shirt, the collar just covers it completely." "Okay, let's go." Jack put down the teacup and left the teahouse with Adam. The two stood on the street and hailed a taxi. After getting in, Adam introduced Jack to his family situation. He has a sister, but she has married to another place and is no longer in this small country. Adam also called his sister to tell her about his father's abnormal condition. His sister just asked him to take Adam's father to the hospital for a thorough check-up to see if it was a sign of Alzheimer's disease. Jack had the same guess when he was in the teahouse just now. Before his rebirth, his grandmother had Alzheimer's disease. He was more familiar with the manifestations of this disease. Maybe he could help Adam judge whether Adam's father had Alzheimer's disease later. Adam's mother had passed away a long time ago, and there were only his father and him at home. After graduating from college, he got along with a girlfriend, but the two did not live together, and his girlfriend was away from Yungu City on a business trip these two days. The house is a self-built house, not in the city, but in the suburbs of this small country, but the transportation is convenient. It only takes 20 minutes to get to the city center by car. There is a wide yard in front of the self-built house. A lot of flowers and plants are planted in the corners around the yard, and there is a short neck tree with branches growing close to the wall. The air here is very fresh. Jack hasn't been to the suburbs for a long time. He couldn't help but breathe deeply and felt a little refreshed. Adam's family is not the only one here. There are self-built houses all around, some high, some low, and in different styles. Thinking that he couldn't visit Adam's father empty-handed, Jack bought some fruits on the street. Adam walked in front and opened the gate, and entered the yard first. Jack, who followed behind, looked around the yard first, then walked in, then turned around and closed the door, and checked whether it was closed tightly. Adam couldn't help but smile when he saw this scene, and asked: "Why, your obsessive-compulsive disorder hasn't been cured yet?" "It can't be cured." Jack shrugged, "If you don't check the closed door, you will think about it all day." Adam smiled and shook his head, pointing to the direction of the living room: "My dad may be watching TV." Jack nodded and followed him into the living room door. The moment he stepped over the threshold, Jack seemed to hear some strange and rhythmic sound, but the moment he entered the door, the sound disappeared immediately, making people think that the sound just now was like an illusion. Looking up at Adam, he found that Adam seemed to have not heard anything, but just pointed at the sofa in the living room with his mouth: "My dad is there." At this moment, his expression has become very cautious and careful, and the uneasy expression in the teahouse just now appeared again. Jack looked at the sofa and saw Adam's father was watching TV intently, and did not notice that someone had entered the house. He was short, thin, and had dark skin. He must have done a lot of farm work when he was young. "Dad, this is Jack, my college classmate." Adam said loudly. Adam's father turned his head and smiled. His expression was no different from that of ordinary people. He nodded: "Is it Jack? I seem to have some impression of him. Come, come and sit. Anjie, go and get a glass of water for your classmate." Adam blinked at Jack and took the electric kettle to boil water. Jack approached Adam's father, put down the fruit he was carrying, sat on the other side of the sofa, and watched TV with him. The two chatted with each other, nothing more than caring about Adam's father's health and Jack's job. During this process, Jack did not forget to observe Adam's father's behavior, especially the expression on his face, which could help him further improve the sculpture image of Adam's father. After Adam sat down, Jack got to the point and asked Adam's father: "Adam's father, have you found yourself forgetting things recently? For example, you were about to do something, but you forgot it in a blink of an eye, and it took a while for you to suddenly remember it again." Adam's father looked at him puzzled and shook his head: "No, my memory is very good, do you think I have Alzheimer's disease?" After saying this, he couldn't help laughing.