Sheriff Aaron happily introduces Mrs. Alain and Catherine to the new wine he has tasted, and Mrs. Alain gladly accepts his courtesy, while Catherine feels a little uncomfortable, for Sheriff Aaron reminds her of Jack, both men have beautiful teeth that would make a Hollywood dentist willing to pay 10,000 dollars for advertising. Once again, she told herself that Jack was safe, perhaps in the office at the top of the twenty-four-story building adjacent to the state government in the "agency", drinking coffee through floor-to-ceiling glass and pouting with his binoculars, looking at the big-breasted beauties on the street below, as she had seen in the five months she had been with his partner.

The white teeth of the early summer sun shone brightly, and they had switched from wine to olive oil, and each one in turn tore off a small piece of the fresh bread provided by the stall owner, pressed a small groove on it with his thumb, then poured a little olive oil on it, and now stretched out his nose and sniffed deeply, revealing a look of intoxication that pleased the stall owner, and then poked out his tongue and pecked off the little spoonful of spicy and fragrant fat like a bird, and swirled around his throat a few times like a wine. Finally, the olive oil-decorated bread is stuffed into the mouth and licked one's fingers – the whole process is like some kind of sacred ritual or agenda.

Catherine thought this was silly, and she wasn't very accustomed to drinking olive oil, no matter how good it was portrayed in food magazines and recipes, she thought it was better to mix it in salads or make sauces, but she also knew that a closed mouth and an obedient attitude were more important than diligent hands and clever minds to live in such a small town that had been closed for hundreds of years, and probably would continue to be closed in the future, and it was not a very important thing. It was only olive oil that was drunk, not sulfuric acid. Although the portion was staggering, Catherine looked painedly at the vial, which ranged from a pale emerald green to a clear golden yellow of liquid oil, and she estimated that after this meal, her belt would have to move back another hole.

Compared with the absent-minded Catherine, Mrs. Alain and Sheriff Aaron were very happy and happy, and after tasting and appreciating more than a dozen olive oils one by one, Mrs. Alain decided to buy about four gallons of more pure olive oil from Andalusia because the sheriff enthusiastically offered to help Mrs. Alain carry some heavier goods back.

As the three of them walked back along the rows of stretched tables, Mrs. Alain stuffed her basket with a great deal of bread, loaves of bread, hard bran, and hot little cross bread, a coarse bun, with a small cross in sugar: "This little child is good for eating." She put the bread in the basket and filled it with some perilla grass sugar and dried lemon. Catherine smiled feebly, it was obvious that it was for Sasha, who, though a young boy, was inclined towards adults when it came to snacks, and he had never given a damn about the chocolate canes and multi-flavored candies that were in the store.

Sasha's way of winning Mrs. Alain's favor was simple, but it was hard to imitate—she couldn't read and write the entire Bible as fluently and smoothly as Sasha.

Overseeing the sect, Catherine twisted her lips in her heart, but she had to admit that this was indeed the fastest way to approach and integrate into the town, and for these devout believers who prayed three times a day, had one service a week, received Holy Communion once, and spent an hour in the confessional, a six-year-old child who knew the whole Bible was simply a little angel from God.

Sergeant Aaron also bought some roses and lettuce, as well as beef jerky, which the boys liked, as gifts for the visit, as Mrs. Alain had also invited him to lunch. As a matter of course, as a poor bachelor, Sheriff Aaron could not find a suitable place to eat in this town except for a café, but luckily, as Catherine could see, he was quite popular, and the townspeople often asked him to help with some work, and then invited him to sit down for lunch or dinner.

Mrs. Alain made the most invitations, and Catherine speculated maliciously about her motives, and Sheriff Aaron was a charismatic man anyway.

***

Sasha didn't know he had been given such a glorious title, and he was reading a book on a cot converted from an old manger with his legs crossed.

There was no Wi-Fi, Catherine didn't allow him to buy computers and CDs through his private account (the kind of thing that allows him to withdraw cash or pay for money by simply checking his account number and password), and the only place where he could access the Internet was the sheriff's private house, which temporarily cut him off from the outside world. He had to read the newspapers from the town's cafés, but the newspapers full of funeral goods sales, clearances, or the transfer of a mongrel dog capable of sniffing three hundred kilograms of truffles in one winter did not allow him to find any useful information. If he still wants something as entertaining as he used to, it's probably just reading. There was a Sunday elementary school in the town, with only a dozen students, but there was still a library, and he put on a little show for the principal of the elementary school to memorize the entire Bible, and as he wished, he was given the right to read and borrow books there, without breaking or losing them, of course.

Sadly, this library is quite ...... for Sasha Childish and clean. But it's better than nothing, Sasha looked up and sighed at the sunlight shining through the small attic window.

I don't know if God or the devil felt that such a life really needed a little compensation/punishment, and before Sasha poked his head again into the book he had managed to find, barely able to look at without causing the brain cells to degrade rapidly, the attic door slammed open.

"Sasha," without asking, without knocking on the door, the little boy with a wet red hair rushed into the room, like an excited puppy: "Hurry down, Mommy is back!" ”

Sasha was almost dragged down by him, from the hallway to the stairs, and Sasha remained quiet all the way, listening to the boy muttering, "Bring back a lot of good food...... Oh, we've got to hurry down, or Tom and Jane will eat up everything they can find...... I'm talking about not only my mom but also your mom...... And Sheriff Aaron, who was going to have dinner here...... No, and lunch...... In the afternoon we went swimming together...... You're always reading, yes," the boy rubbed his fingers up roughly, "what were you reading?" Interesting? ”

Sasha, who could almost guess that he was going to lend me the next sentence to see, shrugged, "Snow White." ”

An unbearable expression immediately appeared on the boy's face, as if he had seen steaming shit in a truffle omelette: "That's a girl's book." His voice sounded like he was going to vomit at any moment.

Sasha smiled, he didn't say the full title, the full title is "Snow White", the most important work of the American literary master Barthelme. The whole book is full of the sense of depression, frustration and jealousy peculiar to a woman who is immersed in housework, who is always thinking about what is wrong, day after day dreaming of fairy tales that are incompatible with real life, longing for attention, or simply going on an adventure wrapped in sex scandals, while the seven dwarfs have no sense of responsibility, no sympathy, no ignorance or indifference to the problems of reality, they crave Snow White's emotions and body, but they are not willing to make even the slightest really useful effort for it...... It has been hailed as a classic of postmodernism, black humor, and absurdist literature.

In Anthony. In the eyes of Hopkins's children, the book cannot be said to be very good, in any case, it does not analyze human nature deeply enough, the thoughts are not examined in detail enough, and the physical aspects are lacking, and even if it is simply an entertaining novel, its content and writing are far inferior to "One Hundred Years of Solitude" or "John Christopher".

But at least better than a copy of "Snow White", when Sasha turned to the book in the library, its cover was very shabby, but the inner pages were still very new, it is conceivable that the library administrators at that time just looked at its harmless name and pure cover and bought it directly, without turning even a page, and later borrowers were too young to understand the book, and most of them turned two pages and returned it directly, so the book was lucky to be preserved to this day.

The two boys ran into the kitchen one after the other, and sure enough, the two older boys were already there and began to devour tomatoes, cheese and sweets.

Sasha greeted Mrs. Alain and Sheriff Aaron, thanked him, and then spread out his share of perilla grass candy and dried lemon and beef jerky, and invited the boys to share—they tasted the perilla grass candy and dried lemon that looked good, and they frowned and stuck out their tongues together, and threw Sasha with a look of incredulity...... Why would he like to eat that kind of thing?

Then, as we said before, after a hearty lunch of creamy turnips, pepper sausages, carp olive bread slices, chilled red and white wine, and a big spoonful of homemade melon sauce, Sheriff Aaron went to work in the lavender fields, the children except for the sand went swimming, and Catherine and Mrs. Alain were busy sorting and storing the things they had bought for the day in the kitchen.

Sasha spent an afternoon reading the entire book of "The Legend of Snow White", some of which gave him a toothache, and he went down to the attic and went to the kitchen to see if there was anything that could make him forget something about the book.

Mrs. Alain was not in the kitchen, and there were only Catherine and Sheriff Aaron in the kitchen.

"Mrs. Alain's children have returned, and now she is upstairs supervising them to take a good bath." Catherine winked at Sasha with her azure eyes, "Maybe you'd like to help me tidy up the dishes?" "It was a large drawer that had been washed, but there was no silver cutlery to sort into for the time being.

Sasha slowly walked over to the bench in front of the table and sat down, took off his hat, and Sheriff Aaron, wearing only his shirt, tied up the last bunch of fresh lavender and stacked it in a corner of the kitchen, which was an order that would be picked up by a guest tomorrow.

He walked over to the kitchen sink to wash his hands, and watched the six-year-old, cute and beautiful child, sort out the various dishes slowly but accurately like an adult with a calm temperament, and did not hide the clear curiosity and estimation in his eyes.

"Do you like circuses?" After a few minutes of silence, the sheriff, who didn't look much like a sheriff, picked up a conversation. In fact, there was nothing wrong with his choice, an ordinary child would definitely be ecstatic about a circus that was about to pass through the town and would stay here for a week, the question was that for Sasha, lions, tigers, horses, etc., and even any kind of fierce beast of prey could hardly arouse his interest, and could there be a better animal trainer in this world than him? His commands, if necessary, can even make animals go against their own nature and instincts.

So...... I'm sorry, but Sasha couldn't disguise his eagerness for the sheriff's warm recommendation, and he could only politely give him an intermittent nod and smile to show that he was listening and thanking him for his introduction.

“…… And the clowns," said the sheriff, in his last attempt, as he picked up a tomato and demonstrated to Catherine and Sasha the kind of ball-throwing juggling that the clowns used to play, one, two...... "Look! He exclaimed excitedly.

Three...... Maybe that's good...... As he struggled to make his way towards four, two tomatoes collided in the air, and one of them shot towards the sand like a small cannonball.

Catherine exclaimed, then she raised her hand and covered her mouth.

A small, silver-glittering fruit fork pierced the runaway tomato and pressed it against the sheriff's head, nailing the reckless fruit neatly to the kitchen wall.

Crimson sap and yellow-green seeds emerged from the wounds left by the fruit fork and flowed down the yellow wall panels of the kitchen.

"It's all sorted out." Sasha said, showing Catherine the neatly arranged box of cutlery (one with a small fruit fork missing): "I think I need to take a break, then...... See you at dinner, both. ”

He slid off the bench, pulled the door open and walked out.

“…… I thought," said the sheriff, "maybe he doesn't like the circus very much?" ”

(To be continued)