Big Stryff came out of the gray mist of the morning, and he was better than Joseph. Kent was more agile and lighter, his gray-blue eyes staring at the dark swamp, and for a moment his hands hung naturally, and in his right hand he grasped a split branch.

He walked around a tuft of poisonous donkey's hoof, and climbed the trunk of a tree with thick pods of acacia scattered among the bony soil, and he stood above the swamp, his eyes lowered...... Two little hands hovered at his feet, the sound of servants in the mire grew clearer, and Strev watched as the moss-stained little fingers touched his boots, and they carefully kissed the smooth black leather like the tongue of a snake, and then shrank back in terror.

Stref lifted the branch and stabbed it straight down.

The branch came to a halt less than five inches into it, forming a semi-circular arc in the air, chirping, the mire churning violently, a dull roar accompanied by a splash of foul-smelling water and plants and soil, and Striff held on to the branch firmly, motionless, he slowly pressed hard, feeling the force coming from the end of the branch—it was getting smaller and smaller.

Bright red gurgles out of the black-brown sludge.

"You know, even Hollywood," Streiff said to the swamp, "it's not very fashionable to come back from the dead over and over again." ”

***

It was a terrible summer vacation for Mrs. Borough.

What happened the day before the summer vacation was simply a precursor to the whole disaster. Before that, Madame Borough had never imagined that a child, a child who had just turned ten, would go and frame her teacher, and for such a terrible and degrading crime—she could be said to be ashamed to plead with Claude. Mr. Stryff kept this confidential...... Whatever the facts, this is a true scandal, and if it gets out, it will inevitably bring incalculable damage and damage to St. Thomas's Church Primary School, who had originally intended to write a letter to Mrs. Kent the second week after the summer vacation began: about Dolores. Kent's, to put it simply, is that the school quota is full, so the new semester starting in September will not be able to keep Dolores. ...... of students in Kent In this way, for the next two months, the Kent couple will have time to find a public school for the naughty little girl who is willing to accept her.

But before she could get to paper, another head of the school, Mr. Humbert, had an accident when he disappeared while investigating the living conditions of minors in the 27th District, and then mysteriously appeared in a morgue several miles away, where several careless interns suspended the ...... Oh, poor Humbert, according to the later coroner, he was probably awake at the time, but he could not prove that he was alive anyway when the frizzy children cut him open only to find that he was still alive and kicking. It took a lot of effort for the police to figure out who he really was, and they tried to contact Humbert's family, only to find that Mrs. Humbert was "allegedly" doing closed weight loss training in a "beautiful place, with plenty of oxygen, hot springs, and swimming pools" (i.e., no mailbox, no telephone, no internet), and that Humbert's daughter had disappeared before her father. Mrs. Borough, Humbert's closest friend and colleague, had to take on the work of the first two, claiming the body, taking notes, and writing letters to relay the bad news to her relatives and friends...... and her duty to inform the school board and the higher authorities of the Teachers' Parents' Association of Humbert's death, to take over his unfinished work and to attend to his non-personal affairs...... She was so busy that week that she wanted to crawl straight into the coffin and rest with Humbert several times—if it weren't for Mrs. Humbert's misunderstanding, she might have done so.

When things were finally over with Humbert, and Madame Borough thought she could finally start enjoying a leisurely holiday life, something happened to the Kent family.

Although Mrs. Boro didn't like Dolores. Kent, but she was still a gentle, kind, enthusiastic old man at heart, and she liked Anne. Kent also had a good impression of the Kent couple, so she didn't want to see some irreparable disaster happen to the Kent family...... So when she received a call from Mrs. Kent at the hospital, she immediately put down and entrusted the other work at hand, and drove to the Kent house, and looked after the whole family and two little girls for her. Mrs. Borough sincerely hoped that Mrs. Kent and the child in her womb would be safe and sound, but the baby did not survive more than twenty-four hours, and Mrs. Kent was greatly stimulated, and her thoughts were filled with remorse, insecurity, and anger, and the symptoms of this bad mood and the paranoia that resulted from it even affected Dolores and Anne.

"So, you haven't seen Dolores and Anne since that day?" Streiff asked softly.

"Yes," said Mrs. Borough, "it was a messy day, and it was nearly midnight when I brought the two children back to the Kent house and into their respective bedrooms," she paused, not embarrassed to tell Mr. Stryff that she had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room of the Kent house, "and the next morning Mr. Kent returned, and I went back," she sighed, "and then I received a call from Mr. Kent that he had sent the two children to his sister's farm in Illinois. His sister would take good care of the two children, and when Mary was discharged from the hospital, Mary would go too, and they might finally be reunited in the Harrington D.C. ”

"That is, they are not coming back."

"I'm not coming back." Mrs. Borough said, "I will miss Anne. Kent's, as for Dolores, I think I think about her once in a while, she used to be a nice little girl, but I'm more worried now, that the school discipline in Illinois is said to be unusually lax, the students do what they want, the teachers get by, and I'm afraid she'll get worse there—I'd like to talk to her if I could. Even if she's no longer a student at our school. ”

"If you're worried about that," said Stryff, "I promise she won't do that again—I talked to her once, and though it wasn't for long, Dolores was smart, and maybe she didn't quite understand what I meant for a while, but she was able to understand a lot." ”

Mrs. Borough raised her eyebrows in surprise: "But then it's summer vacation, when did you talk to her?" ”

"A very fortuitous encounter." "Didn't I promise you to complete Mr. Humbert's investigation on his behalf in the days that had befallen Mr. Humbert," said Stryff. On the way back I met Dolores playing ball with a group of boys on the community basketball court, and I treated her to ice cream and juice — I think she knew she was wrong before she left. ”

"You're a good teacher." Mrs. Borough exclaimed, "Accepting your cover letter is one of the most correct things I have done in my life. ”

"It's a great honor." "Again, I think submitting that cover letter was one of the best decisions I've ever made – Sasha and I both love it." ”

He looked out of the classroom window, and in anticipation of the beginning of September, every corner of St. Thomas's Church Primary School had been cleaned by the industrious school workers, and some places could even be said to be spotless, the trees were pruned and watered, every leaf was so green and pleasant, and all the glass, metal, and tiles were so bright and bright that they almost burned people's eyes when the sun hit them.

"Pure, blissful, and peaceful."

He said.

(To be continued)

Preview of the next volume: borrowing Jane. Austen's quote: "It has become a universally accepted truth that every bachelor who has property must marry a wife." ”