One month after the fire, after a few days of enduring a sore back, Samuel finally caught the bus and went to the city. He thought he had seen a second-hand shop near the railway station--he even had this vague feeling of having seen a few chairs there, hanging from the anchors that supported the awning in front of the store. The trip to the city was a long one, or at least Samuel deemed it so; for this reason he didn't go to the city very often. About halfway to the city, they had a ride of about 20 minutes along a rugged mountain road. As the bus rode on, Samuel took a glance down the steep ravines by the road. He couldn't help feeling rather anxious at the sight of these deep gorges that looked like they were about to swallow him. However, the bus driver was used to these tricky roads, Samuel knew him well.