「故事·听力」I Was Afraid To Come Out Of Home

I Was Afraid To Come Out Of Home

This is a story of how a pet lobster changed someone’s life. It may sound a little absurd, but it’s actually true. This is how it happened, from the very beginning.

This is Tony. He’s something of an agoraphobic, which means he’s not comfortable staying outdoors. He’s undertaken several years of therapy, and during that time he’s learned to live in harmony with his condition. He can go the shops, although they aren’t very far from his home. He spends most of his time at home doing freelance work, surfing the web and being visited by his two best friends, who are basically like brothers to him. The only thing that really saddens him is that he can’t travel, and travelling has always been a dream of his. 

Tony has a soft spot for fish and seafood. He eats a lot of fish, and because it’s hard for him to eat out, he makes all his meals from scratch. It also means he has a healthy working relationship with the local fishmonger.

Tony walked in looking for some fresh fish, and the fishmonger said to him, “Ah, my friend! Only the best for you. I have the special stock out back.” Of course, Tony wanted only the special stuff.

So he followed him out the back, and the fishmonger unveiled this little creature – a lobster, beautifully blue, with just one antenna. He placed it on the table. It wiggled its little antenna at Tony... And in that moment, for some reason he felt that the lobster in front of him was special. He gazed into the lobster’s eyes and felt that he had an emotional connection with the animal – a lobster! He decided that he didn’t want to eat it, but keep it as a pet. He even had a name ready for him – for Tony, he was called Walrus.

So Tony took Walrus home, but soon found himself in a difficult position. He couldn’t eat the lobster – you don’t eat pets, right? But then – what was he supposed to do with it? He scoured the web, looking up basic info about lobsters, trying to work out how he was going to keep Walrus alive and healthy in his room. Eventually, he realized that there was really no way he could actually keep him. It was then that he reached the conclusion that he would have to set Walrus free, back into the sea. The problem was that the sea was around 200 km away from where Tony lived, and as you know, Tony is not the most mobile of people.

Suddenly, Tony noticed that Walrus wasn’t looking very lively, and he realized that without a water tank their friendship would soon come to an abrupt end. So in a panicked frenzy, Tony called his friends. They picked Tony up and together headed off to the supermarket to buy a water tank, sea salt, ice, water, and cod and carrots (he’d googled what lobsters eat and got pretty confused, so they bought both). As soon as Tony filled the tank with iced, salty water and put Walrus in it, it became clear that the lobster felt a lot better. It wasn’t ideal, but it would keep him hydrated.

Now they had to get Walrus back into the sea as soon as possible, and so they started off. Things went ok for the first 170 kilometers, but when there was only 30 left to go to the sea, he noticed that Walrus was unresponsive. He tried to get him to move by gently brushing his eyes and clicking his claws. But eventually, Tony concluded that the lobster had died. 

Tony and his friends concluded that it would be appropriate in any case to bury Walrus in the sea where he belonged, so they traveled the last 30 km in solemn silence. When they reached the beach, Tony took some seaweed, wrapped Walrus up in it so it would be like home, and eased him into the wash. They contemplated the animal’s fate for a couple of minutes, and Tony grieved over his friend’s body. Then suddenly, Tony realized that the lobster’s antenna had begun to twitch slightly. Tony rushed over to him and stayed by his side while he slowly came back to life. Hell, that was one impressive resurrection story! Tony happily pushed Walrus into the sea.

Tony was still looking at the sea in a daze when suddenly he realized: “Wait, am I 200 km from home without having panicked even once?” He was shocked. It seemed that he had been so focused on saving Walrus ASAP that he completely ignored the fact that he was unable to travel far from home!

And you know what? He’s now even started making small trips outside the city, not far – but still. As a result, Tony’s begun to cautiously entertain the hope that, maybe, one day he’ll even be able to plan a trip to one of the countries he’s always dreamed of visiting. And each time when he thinks about where he wants to go next, he imagines his lobster friend running free somewhere deep in the oceans, and he feels that Walrus really was a special fella.