When I rushed into Barnsworth on a jingling bicycle, the first to greet me was not the mayor, but a man in a full wetsuit, standing by the mailbox and eating a sandwich. “Seagulls are so rampant,” he said to me seriously, “Underwater is the only pure land.” And it was written on my task list: “Help the diver find the lake he lost”.
At the beginning of the game, I was just an ordinary textile salesman, riding a cart full of samples to this border town. But the first customer stunned me — Mrs. of the tailor’s shop. Higglebottom asked me to be his “mannequin” on the grounds that “I need to observe the drooping feeling of the fabric in a state of panic”. When I was frightened by the sudden pop-up fake snake as instructed and fell into the pile of cloth, she recorded with satisfaction: “Well, the panic index is up to standard.”
The most exciting thing is the absurdity of the residents. The owner of the fish shop insists that all transactions must be paid with “emotional currency”. I have to make him happy with exaggerated performances before I can exchange for a mackerel. The owner of the flower shop claimed that she could understand plants. When I threw three flowerpots according to the requirements of “Roses said it wanted to juggle”, the postman who passed by calmly commented, “I really should make them happy on Tuesday.”
The beauty of the game lies in its accurate grasp of British humor. Without exaggerated cartoon special effects, all the absurdities happen in extremely realistic scenes. When I cooperated with the members of the “Silent Disco” club in the town square to pretend to have a party, there was always an old woman in the background feeding pigeons as if nothing had happened, as if it was normal for young people to dance collectively with invisible headphones.
The mission design is full of unexpected twists and turns. “Helping the library find quiet” sounded reasonable, until I found that I needed to secretly replace all the books that would make noise — replace hardcover books with soft leather books, replace bell bookmarks with ribbons, and finally put special silence masks on snoring homeless people. Each step is absurd and logical, which makes me continue to move forward with tears and laughter.
As the game progresses, the town gradually shows a warm background. When I helped the teahouse owner rescue the dried scones in the rainstorm, he secretly discounted my order; when I finally helped the diver “find” the lake in his memory (which was actually a small puddle) in the cornfield, he solemnly gave me a “pebble of a century-old lake”.
The most unforgettable thing is the town celebration ceremony on the last day. I need to coordinate twelve residents at the same time to complete their own incredible preparations — let the choir rehearse in the inflatable castle, help the magician turn the wig into a real rabbit, and teach the gardening association to paint on the lawn with herbicides. When the fireworks bloomed in the night sky and all the residents applauded my salesman, I found that this grotesque town had already become my second home.
For a long time after customs clearance, I would smile when I saw any strange behavior in real life. Maybe every ordinary town hides its own absurdity, but it just needs a pair of eyes that are good at discovering. If you also want to escape from serious daily life for a while, you might as well come to Barnsworth Town — remember to bring your sense of humor and a pair of spare pants (after all, no one knows whether you will suddenly need to pretend to be a walking cabbage).
