駅で待っていた友達に、私は本を手渡した。すると彼は言った。
「毎日10ページずつ、ゆっくり読むよ」
After leaving my workplace, I hurried to the station.
There was an appointment with my friend. The appointed time was coming.
The train came and I got on. It started to move on time.
“I wish the train were to arrive 10 minutes earlier…!”
I supposed, but there were still three stations to pass through.
I sent a message to my fiend that I would arrive 10 minutes late.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to rush.”
He didn’t get angry.
I handed my friend a book.
It was a very short meeting. Only a few words were exchanged.
Then we left the station, saying goodbye with peaceful smiles.
“I read 10 pages a day,” later, my friend told me. “Today I read the first 10 pages. Tomorrow, I will read the following 10 pages. Then, next 10 pages, the day after tomorrow.
Everyday, each part of the story is repeatedly drawn in my mind again and again. That is how I grab the contents of a book.”
I liked his way of reading though it was quite different from mine.
How many days will it take for him to finish a whole book?
Seeing others do something slowly often makes me relieved. They have their own pace, in which I feel a tender message: I don’t have to rush.