The Board Game from Hell

Later, more and more people began walking into this convenience store. Someone who had spent over seven hundred sleepless nights came in to buy a cup of yogurt, then left an extra piece of candy behind. Someone burned paper money beneath the utility pole outside the store every year for six years, just to remember someone who would never return. Someone had their name erased, leaving only a string of numbers, but in the end, a group of strangers tracked down their registered hometown and relatives one by one. Someone watched him from an unlicensed car across the street for three nights, then later sat beside the cash register, coming every evening at the same time for a cup of red date soup. They left candy on the counter, added an extra spoonful of brown sugar to the red date soup, looked up at the flowers beneath the plane trees, and pushed open the glass door marked “Open” at three every morning. This convenience store had no number, yet it held nearly a hundred people, each with a name.