The Crescent Moon

I leaned back with my eyes slightly closed, as if I was sitting on a southbound train, dazed as if I felt my body swaying with the rhythm of the train's forward motion, with the rumbling sound faintly ringing in my ears, just like every time I go to see you. My head lolled to the side of the car window, hitting the glass and jerking my eyes open to find myself leaning on the passenger seat of the unit bus. Just dozed off, I subconsciously glanced at the time, is 1:18 am. Since the outbreak of this new type of pneumonia in Wuhan, with the expansion of the epidemic, the national government at all levels have acted, this Spring Festival, without exception, I also did not have a holiday. Since the unit was located at the border between the two cities, my colleagues and I took turns checking incoming and outgoing vehicles, registering owners' information, and monitoring passengers' body temperatures at the tunnel entrance twenty-four hours a day.

　　I took a painkiller and tilted my head to relax my neck and shoulders, but I unintentionally saw the crescent moon hanging high in the dark blue night sky outside the car window. The wind seems to be less this evening, and occasionally I can hear a few crows "ahhh" cawing, which would fly out in flocks during the daytime. Crows are hardy birds, the Northeast winter is the most horrible time for outsiders, but crows are extremely active here, the blue sky and white snow on the picture, from time to time lined with groups of three or five black elves skimming, but also really add a lot of spirit to this dripping season. The moon tonight is delicate and small, not so big and not so far away, it seems that such a form does not become suitable for poets to recite the object, but it is very lovely. The yellowish hue, the deep bend, the brightness is not bad at all, it spread to my face, I suspect that it is your slightly calloused, usually used to hold the steel gun palm touching me, so that I do not have the slightest fear in front of this disaster. The night sky seemed to turn into a sea of not so rough waves under my gaze, and the crescent moon was like a gently swaying boat, always sailing, but never out of my sight. So I began to believe that it was entrusted by you to protect me on such a special night instead of you. I suddenly wanted to ask you if the moon there is also such a crescent, but then I felt ridiculous, not confused, the moon is only this one, it is the same everywhere you look? Although separated by more than a thousand kilometers, it still brings you and me together under its light, your barracks, I'm at the mouth of the tunnel, you're in a green uniform, I'm wrapped in white protective clothing, so bright and it reflects each other, holding on to their respective posts, together to win this war without smoke and mirrors. This way, I actually feel that we are not separated by such a long distance, you just wait for me back at home, or in another nearby office area, I can see when I turn around. I was just thinking, if it was a peaceful year, mountains, dense forest, snow, night sky, bird chirping, with this baby-like pure moon, in such a cold night in the countryside, how wonderful a scene! If you were with me, I would have had a sweet dream!

　　I saw from a distance in the tunnel ahead slowly approaching headlights, I know there are vehicles coming, I put on a sterilized mask and gloves and began to debug the thermometer, I do not remember how many times this operation, only know that this small instrument has never been touched now I have been used like a part of my own body. I don't know how many cars have stopped next to me in the past few days and rolled down their windows to let me stick this little thing in to get in close contact with each person's forehead, encountering large buses that need to enter the compartment to monitor the temperature of each passenger. I'm not sure if these protective measures I'm covered with in front of the real virus can really protect me like you, but every time I stand in front of the cabin and see the timid eyes of the three children who just joined the workforce following me on duty, I can only rush to the front without hesitation, and I know that you would have made the same choice!

　　The vehicle in front of me is getting closer and closer, I stretched a lazy back to open the door and walk down, looking up to see the crescent moon overhead smiling at me, as if you were on my side.