Chapter 15: The Town (1)

Catherine carried a basket and basked in the morning sun and fresh air, as well as the sweet scents of sage, rosemary, fresh herbs, peach and apricot trees.

That night a few months ago, with the help of the potential of the drug, Catherine took the unconscious Sasha, dipped into the cold, muddy blood water again under the watchful eyes of the forest python and the crocodile, swung her weak limbs across hundreds of feet, and found the yacht and boat that were busy picking up passengers in the remains of the trestle that had fallen on the surface of the river, but were still burning on the surface of the river—it had to be said that it was risky, but it was also because of this that the two dangerous guys would go to kill the "hunters" of their rivals and institutions first, Instead of taking Sasha from her arms...... To them, they are probably as unthreatening as a doe that is desperately lacking in brain and physical strength, chased by fire to exhaustion.

Ariau's attendants and travelers still remembered Sasha, and when Jack was asked, Catherine could not remember how she answered them, and the only thing that was certain was that from the time they left the dangerous Ariaeu, went down the river, and were transferred to the municipal hospital in Manaus, the seat of government in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas, no one suspected that the tall, beautiful young woman was an outright abductor.

Catherine waited for herself and Sasha to settle down, and then found a suitable opportunity, and at the convenience of the hospital, she obtained two tubes of lidocaine (a local anesthetic drug) and a small scalpel, and managed to remove the tracker in her earlobe in the bathroom; That night, after the doctor's rounds were over, she stole Sasha out of the pediatric ward, and after the two of them changed into two sets of casual clothes and shoes bought at the hospital supermarket in the small garden attached to the hospital, Catherine carried her and walked out of the hospital quietly and hurriedly, like any mother with a child at night clinic.

Catherine withdrew all her deposits from the bank in Manaus, most of which she had earned after working at the institution, and she was glad that she didn't come across the usual plot in the movies - her account was not frozen.

She then went to buy a mild-mannered hair dye and a prescription contact lens to change the color of her iris, and her blonde purple eyes were always very impressive at any time and place, and she wasn't the type to forget (she was a little proud of it, but it was a real nuisance, especially now). After doing so, Catherine cautiously chose a family hotel, one that still uses paper rather than computer registration of guests' names, so that the police or "agencies" of the state government of the state of Amazonas do not find her through the hotel registry connected to the government's network.

In the hotel, she excused herself that Sasha was unwell (which is so), and instead of going out every day like a normal tourist, she stayed in the hotel and read the newspaper: she was very happy, she saw in the newspaper that Jack's name was not on the death list from the Arriau fire, he was a clever fellow, Catherine thought to herself, he left earlier than anyone else, and the forest worm and the fire should not have any effect on him, but she was sure that Jack would never choose a woman to be his partner again, Unless she is Ruth reborn (note 1).

But even Ruth could not watch her sister's child, her only relative, fall into the hands of the devil and continue to live her life without regard for it, even Delilah (note 2) may not have such a hard-hearted heart.

Catherine didn't realize that she was subconsciously making excuses for herself.

She was too preoccupied to notice that Mrs. Alain, who was walking in front of her, had stopped in front of a cheese stand, and that the reckless young woman had nearly knocked her over, if it had not been for the enviable accumulation of muscle and fat from years of toiling and abundant and nutritious food.

"Catherine~" Mrs. Alain called Catherine's name, the end was slightly prolonged, indicating that she was dissatisfied, but not angry, and after receiving Catherine's apology, she did not hesitate to send a piece of cheese with an orange-red crust on the outside and a creamy yellow inside straight under Catherine's nose: "Eat it," she ordered as a matter of course, "You haven't eaten breakfast this morning." ”

The cheese was mellow and fragrant, sticking to Catherine's teeth, and when she took a second bite, she saw that Mrs. Alain was walking towards the lettuce stand, and she glanced at the owner of the cheese stand, an old man, who was cutting his goods with a finger-long knife, piece by piece, and ate his own breakfast with red wine, without looking at them.

Catherine grabbed a piece of good-looking, blue-green green-patterned non-crusty cheese, but found that there was no instrument that could be used to calculate the price and the portion, so she stood stupidly for a while, feeling that the cheese in her hand was about to melt, and the old man who had eaten a row of cheese finally looked at the cheese from the cheese to the little girl with a little face: "What do you want cheese for?" He asked unceremoniously.

“…… Uh," Catherine thought the question was strange, but she had to answer again, "Eat." ”

The old man gave her a contemptuous look, "Mozzarella," he pointed to a piece of pale cheese, "made of buffalo milk, suitable for pizza; Parmesan cheese," he said, turning to another piece of dairy product with a golden color: "Ground into crumbs, as a condiment for pasta, soups, and other dishes, and as a beautiful sweet with pears; mascarpone cheese, which is used to make tiramisu; There are also soft cheeses made with goat's milk, marinated in brine, which are best used as appetizers, you just had a soft cheese that I washed with wine, which is more suitable for breakfast and after-dinner snacks, and now you have blue cheese in your hand, which has a strong flavor, a wonderful topping for baked vegetables and pasta, and can also be used as a cheese platter. ”

His tone made Catherine feel that the first twenty years had been wasted at all, and finally the old man chose a few pieces of fresh cheese and hard unripe cheese for her, because both of them were among the more accessible to the "novice", and each piece of cheese could tell the weight of it in his hand, and the tone was so conclusive that Catherine did not dare to doubt it in the slightest - God knows, she was just embarrassed to eat such a large piece of free cheese, which she had tried in the city supermarket before, but it was always a small point with a toothpick, and it was not so delicious.

Having paid the old man's advice that "you still have to learn more from your mother", Catherine carefully put the crumbling cheese in her basket and caught up with Mrs. Alain, who was wandering in front of a tomato stand.

"What do you think of this tomato?" Mrs. Alain frowned, "The tomatoes here haven't been fully ripe lately, so they must have come from outside." She grabbed a tomato, looked at its stalk and buttocks, pinched it, sniffed it, and indecent it.

Catherine thought the tomato was very good, bright red, full, and the stalk was still juicy, and it was evident that it had just been picked in the morning.

But Mrs. Alain did not need her help, and decided to take the risk of buying a little to taste, and Catherine followed suit, and the old man at the cheese stall was right, she had come to study to-day, although Mrs. Alain was not her mother.

She and Sasha had come here five months earlier.

Catherine had spent a few days in Manaus nervously for her new papers. The unbearable past was not without its benefits, at least for now—she contacted a supposedly reliable forger expert through the computer, then sent a photo of herself and Sasha, as well as a certain amount of cash, and after about seventy-two hours, she found her and Sasha's birth certificate, medical insurance, passport, driver's license, marriage certificate (according to her request, Sasha was a legitimate child she had with another man, according to her request), and so on.

The future destination was decided by Catherine, and although it was in a hurry, she thought that the place would never have been better.

She had never traveled here before, or inquired or investigated the place. Catherine got all the information about it from her college dorm mates — the girl named Miranda who complained endlessly about Catherine's top bunk after the lights went out at night, complaining about her nagging and conservative parents, her ubiquitous neighbors and nosy elders, and the backward town.

Like other towns in the state, it is located next to a river valley and on a mountainside, separated by vast forests, fields, and vast uncultivated virgin lands, relying on the raw materials for natural soaps, various oils, shampoos, and skin care products such as lavender, geraniums, sage, vetiver, cedar, oak moss, peaches, apricots, etc., for the cosmetics companies in Manosque...... and so on, and sometimes their pits and leaves. The people here are basically followers of the Supervising Sect, they do not tolerate lies and concealments, they prefer the same traditional life, they hate outsiders, or anything that comes from outside, and the town has only a bakery, a cloth shop, a butcher's shop, a post office and a café, a humble family hotel, no ready-to-wear shops, no supermarkets, no bars, no cinemas, only a sheriff who seems to be used for embellishment.

As soon as Catherine left Amazon (before that, she had not forgotten to stuff the tracker into a suitcase covered with customs tags), she went to a ready-to-wear store for the adherents of the supervising sect, bought a half-dozen long black dresses and headscarves, and flat-heeled leather shoes.

When she arrived at the town, she went straight to the little inn, which had been reviled so many times by her roommate on the upper bunk, and which had been explained in great detail, and the owner of the inn, Mrs. Alain, greeted her with vigilance.

Catherine told her that she had been commissioned by Miranda to visit her relatives in the town, and that she had brought them a recent photograph of Miranda who had been disguised but never recognizable here, and a brief note that she had copied so vividly that she had not been suspected, though she could not provide Miranda's recent contact information. But it was evident that her family was very pleased with the photographs and letters, and with her "friend", and they gathered around her to listen to her description of Miranda's life "outside", lest they miss a single detail (although Miranda's grandfather and father had been humming disdainfully), and entertained her and Sasha for dinner and lodging, which was a rare occurrence for people here.

So Catherine, who was widowed and had nowhere else to go with a child, stayed at Miranda's house until she found a job with Mrs. Alain, and stayed with her for the necessities of her work.

"What do you think of this?"

Mrs. Alain interrupted Catherine's memories again, holding up a large egg with a brown shell: "This one is the best for boys, one early, one later, healthy and tall." She put her eggs in the basket: "Your sand is good for everything, but your body is too weak." "She had three boys, all of whom seemed to be of cow, boar, and monkey blood, and Catherine's child, probably because she had lost her father at a very early age, was as quiet and delicate as a little girl who had not left home.

"Uh, of course." Catherine smiled and blinked, "Of course." ”

Yes, on the birth certificate, Sasha is a boy. Because that's exactly what happened.

Mrs. Alain looked at Catherine suspiciously, as the smile on the young woman's face grew strange.

She remembered her first little encounter with Sasha.

Catherine was taken aback when she saw the sign on the hospital bed that said "Male", so in the hospital, she brought Sasha small bib pants and a shirt and a cap, and before leaving the Amazon, Sasha had no objection to the men's clothes that Catherine had prepared for him (and should now be said to say "him"), but in the Supervising Sect's ready-to-wear store, when Catherine entered the fitting room, he had selected all the dresses for herself.

"I thought you knew you were a boy." Catherine remembered holding her arms and said. When she first learned that Sasha was a boy, she didn't mention how angry and lucky she was - Sasha was only six years old now, and she probably didn't have any irreversible effects on the mind and physiology of it.

"Louis XIV also wore a skirt until he was a minor (note 3)." The six-year-old boy raised an eyebrow, and until then he had been silent as if he didn't exist.

"So he died three hundred years ago." Catherine said with a heartfelt voice.

Sasha found himself unsure of what to say, in fact, the biggest reason he wore a dress was his father, Mr. Anthony Hopkins had always loved him, Sasha didn't think it was a big deal to wear a dress to calm his father's mental state, he had always known that he was a boy.

There's no need to wear a placket with a sequin-embellished "I.am.a.boy. (I'm a boy)'s jacket to remind you of all the time.

In the end, the two each took a step back, Catherine gave up the sequined jacket, and Sasha gave up the skirt.

"Catherine," said Mrs. Alain, snapping a fresh, juicy gherkin, and handing half of it to Catherine, "taste the cucumber." "It's time for you to stop that uncomfortable smile.

Catherine learned to raise her eyebrows from Sasha, and it was no wonder that Mrs. Alain told her not to go out for breakfast.

"It's kind of bitter." Mrs. Alain: "Not in my hotel." ”

The two of them went on, there were no cucumbers in the basket that did not suit the taste of the hotel, the woman who guarded the cucumber stall did not show a trace of unpleasantness, Catherine told herself not to feel guilty, this is the case, every stall owner has to accept the housewife's merciless selection and wanton tasting, how can you know if it is good or bad without tasting it herself? Of course, some people will buy it if they think it is suitable, and it is normal to give up if you feel bad, but if you are too calculating and stingy, you will have to get out of this market.

Mrs. Alain went on like a hen with a chick, sipping olives, lettuce, dried peaches, rye juice, jam and cheese, and the contents of their baskets grew more and more, until Mrs. Alain decided to buy some more olive oil.

The olive oil stall, which has gathered around a large crowd, is next to an old truck, and like the others, a retractable movable table is placed at the back of the truck, filled with shiny wine glasses filled with fresh rosé red wine, and the men and women around it are each holding a glass and happily enjoying the gift of the Son of God.

Mrs. Alain immediately decided to look at the new wine first, and she walked over with Catherine, and greeted everyone she saw affectionately.

Catherine knew a lot of people, or very few to be exact, she didn't, thanks to the job she got from Mrs. Alain.

Although Mrs. Alain said to run a hotel, the town is rarely visited by tourists, and everyone has a home here, so Mrs. Alain's main income comes from the grocery store on the first floor. She sells cooking spices, tea, sugar, salt, envelopes, toilet paper, detergents, needles and threads, and other daily necessities, and she and her family live on the second floor, and the best and worst part of this upstairs and downstairs store is that you don't have any time to rest, and whenever people need something, they will knock your door until they get what they want.

Mrs. Alain tried to make the shop as good as it could be, with every kind of goods neatly arranged, wooden cabinets and glass jars wiped clean, and sugar, salt, and tea always wrapped in pounds and half pounds, so as not to delay the time of the guests, but such a good shopkeeper had to put the needs of the customers second when the doctor warned her that if she could not get a good night's sleep, her life might be in danger.

One can imagine how sad she was, and at this time, Catherine came with Sasha...... She thinks it's her prayers to God that make a difference.

Catherine now lives on the second floor of Mrs. Alain's, near the stairs, while Mrs. Alain and Sasha live on the third floor, which is not easily disturbed. "Children, like the elderly, need a long, good sleep to be healthy." Mrs. Alain said so.

The task of receiving customers, as well as delivering and withdrawing money according to orders, is basically done by Catherine, and the work is not without pain, but Catherine finds it very pleasant and relaxed. The job allowed her to settle into the town very quickly.

It's an unimaginably clean place.

Everything about Ariawu was like a nightmare, and it disappeared in an instant. "GHOUL", "BLACK SACRIFICE", "INSTITUTION", MARIA, JACK, AND EVEN HER OWN ABILITIES ARE STORED IN THE MOST SECRET CORNERS OF HER BRAIN, AND SHE WILL NOT RELEASE THEM AGAIN UNLESS SHE HAS TO.

"Good morning, Sheriff Aaron."

"Good morning, Lady Alain. Good morning, Catherine. The young man who had been leaning against the truck with the others to taste the new wine smiled and nodded to Lady Alain and Catherine, and raised his glass. He was not tall, with brown hair and black eyes, a square face, and a rather sexy slit in the middle of his chin.

As his name suggests, the sergeant, who had been transferred not long ago, was a good, mild-tempered old man, and Catherine knew that the most recent joke about him was that an outsider, grumpy fellow saw that he was ticketing his car and asked him unceremoniously: "Don't you have anything else to do?" And he replied, "It seems to have been like this lately." ”

It's no wonder that he is so young and strong, but he will be transferred to this town, such a gentle and honest man is impossible to survive in those mixed metropolises.

(To be continued)

Note 1 – Ruth: A woman in the Bible who is known for her loyalty and piety.

Note 2 – Delilah: Samson's wife, who sold her husband for money.

Note 3 – Louis XIV: Known as the Sun King, he was the famous king of the Bourbon dynasty of France, King of Navarre, Count of Barcelona, and his reign was a typical and exemplary example of absolute monarchies in Europe.

Author: Finally caught up, thank you for your support, the first chapter of the new year, and the merger of the day ahead, about 6000 words, more tomorrow, please receive.

Actually, there is a chapter on the dance, but because it is too bloody and dark, it seems that it is not very good to send it on the first day of the new year, so it is changed to the back to describe it in the form of flashbacks - the New Year should be harmonious and beautiful, happy and happy!