     "Yes, I understand. Thank you very much." I shifted my gaze to the tips of his shoes as I thanked him. I carefully took out the five dollar bill that was fastened to my shirt pocket with a safety pin, along with the dollar and twenty cents from my wallet, and very respectfully put it all in front of the boss. "I really want to thank you," I said.

     The boss took the money and casually stuffed it into a frawer. "Come in and wait," he said. "Tanaka will look after you. You'd better listen to what he tells you."

     "I will." I nodded my head in answer. I sat at the boss's feet, waiting. I was very happy, but at the same time I couldn't help wondering to myself what kind of a person Tanaka was. It would be nice if he was the one wearing the school uniform.

     As I talked to the boss, the newspaper boys finished folding their papers and started to leave one by one. The big room was quiet and still. I sat quietly at the boss's feet remembering stories I'd read about what other work-study students had accomplished in their lives. I was determined to endure anything in order to accomplish my desires.

II.
     The winetr sun set quickly; by five o'clock the sky was already dark. The boss locked all the drawers and left. The shop was completely empty - - I was the only person in the whole place. I stood up, then sat down again. I was in a strange place with nothing to do, and I didn't know how to pass the time. I didn't have a single cent left. I was hungry, lonely, and cold - - I couldn't help thinking that I might have been tricked out of all my money and was sitting there waiting in vain.

     This was nonsense. My money was in the drawer, the table was in the room, and the room was in the Osaki Newspaper Dispatch. There had just had several newsboys in the room. Their boss had given me a job after I'd been looking for a job all month. It wasn't just an illusion?I stopped thinking about these everchanging, absurd ideas and      reluctantly tried to make myself think about people in the Li Zhi Zhuan, to rekindle the fires of hope in my heart.

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