{"id":185,"date":"2026-06-12T16:55:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/?p=185"},"modified":"2026-06-12T16:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:55:40","slug":"a-conversation-that-couldnt-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/a-conversation-that-couldnt-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"A conversation that couldn&#8217;t continue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The rain was falling for a long time, as if accidentally spilling a cup of warm black tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I am sitting in the Bluebird caf \u00e9 on the street corner, with a faint layer of moisture on the window glass. There is light jazz music playing in the store, and the sound of saxophones seems to be drifting from far away, or just sighing in the ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I was holding a glass of oatmeal latte in my hand, with just the right temperature coming from my fingertips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Sitting across from me is a man wearing a beige windbreaker. His hair was a bit messy, as if it had just been combed by the wind, and he was holding a crumpled train ticket in his hand. There is a small round table between us, on which there is a pot of unopened Campanula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Actually, &#8220;he spoke, his voice like dry fallen leaves stepping on the snow,&#8221; what I was planning to say that day<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I looked at him without urging. The street lamp outside the window just lit up, and a dim yellow halo shone through the rain curtain, casting a small warm color on his shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">What do you want to say? &#8220;I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He smiled, with a hint of relief hidden in the fine lines at the corner of his eye: &#8220;I want to say, the sunset that day was very beautiful. Also, one of the buttons on your coat is loose<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I lowered my head and looked at my coat. The button was indeed there, firmly fastened, but the thread was a bit old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">What happened later<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Later, the train arrived. &#8220;He gently placed the ticket in his hand on the table, with a place name on the ticket stub that I didn&#8217;t recognize.&#8221; I got on the train, and you stood there for a while. I thought, maybe there were some things, like this train, that missed the platform and didn&#8217;t need to chase after you anymore<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The air is filled with the roasted aroma of coffee beans and a hint of sweet cinnamon roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I suddenly feel that this conversation that couldn&#8217;t continue hasn&#8217;t disappeared. It just became a very light thing, like the raindrops outside the window at this moment, or the rising heat from the cup mouth, hanging in mid air and slowly dispersing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Do you know, &#8220;I whispered,&#8221; I washed that coat later<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He lifted his head, his eyes reflecting the flowing light outside the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">When I was washing, that button fell into the washing machine, &#8220;I stirred my coffee and looked at the center of the whirlpool,&#8221; but I didn&#8217;t pick it up. I thought, maybe it went on a trip<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He paused for a moment, then burst out laughing. The laughter was light, but it was like pushing open a dusty window and letting light in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Traveling is great, &#8220;he said,&#8221; it&#8217;s better than staying stuck in place all the time<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The music in the store has changed to an unknown piano piece with a slow rhythm, like counting the frequency of raindrops falling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">We didn&#8217;t talk again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He just sat quietly, watching the occasional passing car lights outside the window casting long shadows on the glass. I also sat quietly, feeling the process of coffee turning from hot to cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This conversation really couldn&#8217;t continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">But strangely, I don&#8217;t feel regretful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Just like when you pass by a flower shop and see a bunch of blooming chamomile, you stop and look for a while, smell its fragrance, and then continue walking forward. You didn&#8217;t buy it, but there seems to be a little bit of spring flavor in your pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The rain is gradually decreasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He stood up and pushed the ticket in front of me, like leaving a small bookmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m leaving, &#8220;he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Well, be careful on the road<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He pushed open the door, and the wind chime on the door made a crisp sound. The cold wind carried moist air and rushed in, then closed outside as the door closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I looked down at the ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">There is no destination on it, only a handwritten and illegible line of small characters:<br>Wishing you a good dream tonight, even if I&#8217;m not in your dream<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">I tucked my ticket into a book and finished my last sip of latte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The street lights outside the window are still on, like stars that refuse to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The world is big, but the dialogue is short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">But it&#8217;s okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">At least on this rainy night, we shared the tenderness of the same lamp half a meter apart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The rain was falling for a long time, as if accidentally spilling a cup of warm black tea. I am sitting in the Bluebird caf \u00e9 on the street corner, with a faint layer of moisture on the window glass.  &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feeling"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyrecyclebin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}