"Ah," said the child calmly, "I do remember how my mother died. ”

……

By the time "Mr. Stryff" threw his slender shadow into the fourth-grade classroom, Mr. Humbert's conversation with Sasha had come to an end, the child was in good spirits, the teacher was a little sluggish, and the desire for communication or something else had apparently faded from his fat body. Weakly, he greeted his colleague and handed it back. Striff, tucking the memo under his arm, staggered back to his private office at the end of the hallway—one of the prerogatives of the head of St. Thomas Church Elementary School.

The office was small, with only a desk, a few chairs, and a ring of lockable iron filing cabinets, and Mr. Humbert pulled out the record of the day, which contained only a few words on the paper, but he signed his name anyway, and stuffed it into a pale yellow paper folder, and then put the folder in a tin cabinet, and let it be crowded together with hundreds of his kind, and when he was done, Mr. Humbert did not lock the filing cabinet, he bent down, I reached into the bottom drawer of the tin cabinet and fumbled around, and finally pulled out a stainless steel wine bottle with a capacity of about 5 ounces.

The head of St. Thomas' Church Elementary School made a cup of instant coffee, poured about two ounces of Irish whiskey into it, thought about it for a moment, poured a little more, and then took a big sip in his eagerness—the special concoction that had warmed countless passengers as transatlantic planes approached Irish airports on the last Friday of May, and Mr. Humbert felt that the ice that had congealed in his veins was rapidly disappearing, A poor little heart doesn't always dangle like it used to be.

"A quirky kid!" He muttered quietly.

He has done this more than once with children whose father and mother have died or left, as long as they mention their lost mothers and fathers, and let them think about whether they are not good enough to be abandoned - this is a fact, you see, other children are good, good, everything, because God is watching, they are good children, and some are not - those little cubs are either crying or hysterical, and even if they are hysterical, they will end up crying like they are going to die at any moment, Usually he would give some comfort, pat on the head or give him a hug or something, oh, it wasn't that there weren't ungrateful little bastards who barked at him or wanted to take a bite, but then he would have a reason to teach them a good lesson, and while New York City didn't allow the children to be beaten on the buttocks with short pulp, he could kick them out - it would make their parents furious, and then begging and pleading, If they don't want their children to mix with those slum or half-breed kids for at least thirteen years.

St. Thomas's Church Elementary School was a good school of old-fashioned and disciplined nature, and the glory of God had been hanging over it since a hundred and twenty years ago, and every student and teacher had been carefully screened—Mr. Humbert's hand shook slightly, coffee spilled on his shirt, he didn't notice it at all, he regretted it so much, he shouldn't have submitted the report so quickly, especially since it was a report in favor of Striff, he should have delayed it a little longer, and kept an observation journal or something...... What a terrible child he had.

He let the sand be sprinkled. Streiff recalls his mother's death, just to foreshadow the rest of the story...... Maybe it will make this beautiful child very sad, but then everything will be fine. Yes, yes, Mr. Humbert felt that he had done the right thing no more, and the doctor had said that digging into the deep scars and crying out loud from time to time was good for physical and mental health, and although it was not made public, he thought that parents would approve of it.

The problem is that today's events are out of the ordinary, or rather out of his expectations.

The abnormal child described to him the moment of his mother's death—from the face that resembled a wax figure in a wax museum, to the cold wrists (inversely proportional to the warm hands of the nurse holding his shoulders); From the hard pumping sound coming through the respirator to the doctor's say, "It's okay, take the child away." ”； From the hard and smooth floor of the patient room to the warm and soft carpet of the lounge...... The words were precise, the tone was flat, almost to the second, and the child's memories unfolded in front of Humbert, highlighted, and then etched into his mind, and Humbert felt as if he were standing there together, watching the woman die.

These were certainly not enough to frighten an adult, a calm, healthy adult, and what made Mr. Humbert deeply uncomfortable was that he and Sasha. Streiff's position seems to be reversed—the child is observing him, admiring him, and sipping him...... The restlessness is relished.

As Stryff stepped into the classroom, Humbert thought of something else that made him sweat - if it were an ordinary child, he would almost certainly not say anything, and even if he did, the parents might not believe it. Stleiff is different.

His father not only loved him, but also believed in him.

For the first time, Mr. Humbert regretted his recklessness, and he probably shouldn't have let Sasha in the first place. Streiff studied here.

***

The father and son of "Stryff" returned to the classroom supervised by the "saint Badomauido, who became the protector of tanning because he was skinned", and to Sasha's little surprise, in addition to them, there was also a familiar and triumphant face in the empty classroom - Dolores. Kent.

"I thought you had gone back." Sasha sees Dolores and Anne on the school bus.

"The school bus went out for a minute, and I vomited on the school bus." Dolores held a cup of chocolate that was as thick as solid, and her excited and proud tone made Sasha almost think that instead of stinking undigested food and gastric juices, she was spitting out roses and perfume.

Sasha's unconscious retreat made Dolores furious: "What kind of expression do you have!" I've got it clean! ”

Dr. Hopkins looked at the two children, he smiled, walked over, and put his hand on Sasha's shoulder: "Yes, Sasha, I promise she's cleaned up, I personally took care of it for her." Also, you might want to thank her. ”

Sasha gave him an inquiring look, and then was horrified to see Dolores' face flush - Dolores' skin was like a mixed race because she liked to run around in the sun like a boy, and it was a bit of a great thing to see blood on her tan skin.

"She came to tell me that you were left to talk to Mr. Humbert, who is a stern man, and she worries about you." Dr. Hopkins said bluntly.

Sasha opened her mouth slightly, and Dolores raised her glass, her eyes rolling around the chocolate: "He's too fierce," said the little girl, "and you're too small." “

"My job is over." Dr. Hopkins said, "Wait a minute, I've called your mom, Dolores. Miss Kent, I'll send you back. ”

"Great." The little girl deliberately didn't look at Sasha, "If my mother comes to pick her up, she will be the dog who scolded me for blood." ”

"Just a thanks," Mr. Hopkins paused meaningfully, "I suppose there's a reason for your vomiting?" ”

Now even Sasha could feel the heat on the little girl's face: "...... It's nothing," she buzzed, "I hate Humbert." ”

She'd been buried in the chocolate ever since, Sasha frowning, thinking he might have made a mistake.

When Humbert mentions his mother, the first thing that comes to mind is the female paranoia that begins with "C" (though he enjoyed it for a while) and the large and powerful "agency" behind her, which he thinks is related to them, or to the police.

The child was not allowed to sit in the passenger seat, and Sasha and Dolores sat side by side in the back seat, the seat belt held them tightly to the seat, and they were so close that Sasha only had to turn his head to see Dolores' ears, which were only inches away from him.

"Mr. Humbert said the same to you...... Those words? He thought he needed to confirm: "Some excesses." ”

“…… He said that it was because I was not well-behaved enough that my father went back to work in Harrington, and that it was because of this that my mother was not in good health because she was worried too much. Dolores was silent for a few seconds before replying in a very soft voice (no louder than the exhaust of the air conditioner in the car): "He also said that Anne. Kent is more like the daughter of the Kent family than I am...... Not me, the Kents loved Anne, and if they could, they would send me to an orphanage and leave Anne at home. ”

"Obviously, he likes to talk more than anything else." Sasha made a cold assessment.

It took a moment for Dolores to turn her head, her unkempt hair sweeping across the tip of Sasha's nose.

“…… Well," the little girl scratched her head in embarrassment, "I know you're comforting me," she asked, "but ...... Female...... What does yellow mean? ”

…… Sasha pursed her lips.

***

"A simple pedophile."

"A simple pedophile." Dr. Hopkins agrees.

Sasha was a little frustrated, he was thinking too much.

"It's okay, my dear, prudence is a virtue." Dr. Hopkins rummaged through the white mist freezer: "Chicken or duck?" ”

"Duck." Sashaman was suspicious: "Why do I think you're happy?" ”

"Any father has the right to be happy at this time." Dr. Hopkins put the duck in the pool of cold water and pulled out a pen pad while waiting for it to thaw, and the meat at home needed to be replenished: "When his children are favored." He said seriously.

Sasha's face darkened.

Dr. Hopkins deepened his smile as he stuck out his blood-red tongue and licked his gums, reminiscing and pondering as he scribbled on notes: chicken breast, chicken thigh, boneless pork chops, bone-in pork chops, lean pork loin, beef with beef and beef loin, shoulder, herring, moray eel, crab, lobster, ...... What else? Oh......

He tilted his head and thought for a moment, and wrote at the end of the shopping memo - Humbert.

(To be continued)

Note: Dr. Hopkins' pseudonym is Claude. Striff. Sasha takes the surname.

And also...... Although this article is summarized in supernatural reasoning, it should actually belong to the dark category of supernatural abilities (there is no such thing in the girl's channel at the starting point), so ...... It is unlikely that there will be a "sudden realization" scene at the end like in Agaza's novel...... Thank you for your support!