“…”
The old woman lay motionless in her rocking chair, her eyes slowly closing.
“Teacher…” A voice full of anxiety came from afar.
“Pop.”
The middle-aged man’s hand trembled, and the twig in his hand fell to the ground.
The skin on the old woman’s face trembled, and her eyes, which had been about to close, opened again. A little relief shone in her cloudy eyes, “Artie, I’m going to die…”
She could hear the voice of her apprentice.
The man named Artie next to her had also been shocked for a long time. He looked up and saw a slender figure running towards them in the narrow alleyway in front of the shack.
“Old lady, no, it’s Paige, Paige is back!”
Artie suddenly stood up, his voice shaking with excitement.
“Teacher!” Paige shouted, running towards the shack as fast as she could. She tripped and almost fell to her knees in front of the old lady’s rocking chair.
Her knees hurt.
Master Chris turned his head stiffly and saw a small, pretty and spirited face. Her eyes moved, and her body trembled instantly. She leaned back and tried to sit up without her arms, but she couldn’t do it at all.
“Teacher, teacher…” Paige knelt down next to her and saw this and hurriedly reached out to help the old lady up.
The old lady sat up and looked at her steadily, as if she couldn’t recognize her.
“Teacher, I’m Paige,” said Paige, meeting her gaze. Her voice trembled slightly, and her nose tingled.
The old lady lowered her head, moved closer to her, and almost pressed her eyes to her face. After a long time, the old lady finally recognized her, and her body trembled even more.
“Little Paige, I knew you would come back,” said Artie, standing by her side and looking at her with great emotion, smiling foolishly.
“Uncle Artie,” said Paige, looking up at him. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, everything’s fine.” Artie looked at her and saw that her eyes were red.
Dr. Clinton, who had been panting after them with a medical kit, just stopped and looked up, and saw an old woman with two broken arms spit at Paige.
The saliva splashed onto Paige’s face.
“…”
Dr. Clinton watched in horror. If Mr. Gustin were here, he must be very worried.
But Paige didn’t seem angry. She looked at the old woman cheerfully and said, “It seems that Bastion was wrong. You still have a good spirit.”
“Hmph,”
the old woman turned her face away, as if she didn’t want to see her. “The outside world is so good, why did you come back?”
“You’re here, so of course I’ll come back,” Paige said with a smile.
“Why, are you disappointed to see that I’m not dead?” The old woman gave her a vicious look. ‘You still want to go out every day, is it fun out there? Have you had enough fun? Have you had enough candy?’
Upon hearing this, Paige’s eyes became watery, and a light mist covered her vision. Her voice was a little choked up, ‘I’ve had enough.’
She had eaten a lot.
She had eaten everything she hadn’t eaten for the past three years on the island.
Hearing this choked sound, the old lady’s face trembled violently, and tears could not be held back in her cloudy eyes. She was completely out of control and had no hands to wipe them away. She could only sit there with a fierce and mean face, looking miserable as she shed tears.
Dr. Clinton looked at this scene and suddenly understood a little bit. He knew that the old lady was a strong person, so Paige pretended not to see her tears and forced a smile, saying, “I also brought you some candy.”
She reached into her pocket to get the candy, but her pocket was empty.
She had forgotten to take it.
She had clearly brought it onto the cruise ship, so how could she have forgotten to take it off!
She looked at the old lady with self-reproach, and the fog in her eyes grew thicker. The old lady glared at her and said in a trembling voice, “How could you learn to cry when you go out? You’re really getting worse and worse, useless.”
“I forgot to bring the candy,” Paige said sadly, her eyes sore beyond words.
“I’ve never had anything delicious to eat before, why would I care about your two candies?”
The old woman scolded, her eyes constantly streaming with tears as she couldn’t help but take a long, detailed look at her.
It was true that she was looking more and more delicate.
She looked good.
Just like a delicate flower grown in a greenhouse.
As she looked, the old woman suddenly coughed, coughing violently.
Seeing this, Artie hurriedly poured a bowl of hot water and was about to bring it over. Paige glanced over and saw that the water was full of impurities. She quickly said, “Dr. Clinton, come and check.”
“Oh, oh, coming.”
Dr. Clinton quickly went up with a medical kit, picked up a stethoscope and listened to the old woman for a while, his eyes darkening.
After a while, he said, “The old lady hasn’t eaten for a long time, so let’s start with some nutrient solution.”
The old woman coughed twice, then lay motionless in her rocking chair, ignoring what Dr. Clinton was doing and staring at Paige as if she were afraid she might run away.
The old woman had no arms, so after some thought, Dr. Clinton inserted the needle directly into her head.
There was nowhere to hang the IV bag, so it was hung under the eaves.
After all this, Dr. Clinton crouched on the ground and gave Paige a wink, indicating that she should go aside and talk.
Paige nodded, got up from the ground, and just as she stood up, the old lady tried to get up as well, but failed and fell back heavily.
The tube of the infusion was swaying.
“Teacher, I’m not leaving, I’m not leaving, I’ll go get you a blanket,” Paige said hastily.
The old lady turned her head away from her, “Ungrateful little girl, who cares if you leave or not.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Paige patted her and left. Suddenly, sensing something, she looked up and looked at the row of shed roofs in front of her. There was nothing up there.
Paige took her eyes off and walked on.
Dr. Clinton hurried to keep up.
On the opposite shed roof, Blanca pushed the box in front of her aside, squatted on the wooden board that could collapse at any time, and looked down at the old man lying in the rocking chair.
The middle-aged man with a beard sat down next to the old woman and sighed, “Old lady, why do you say that? Paige is not here, and you miss her very much. When you come back, you don’t say anything nice.”
Master Chris fell back in the rocking chair, tears streaming down his face, “Why come back? This place dirtied her feet.”
“No matter what, she has served you here for so long, and this is also her home,” the middle-aged man said.
“Her home shouldn’t be here.” Master Chris closed his eyes, ‘You ask her later, if she’s sneaking in, tell her to leave.’
“…”
Blanca looked at the patched clothes the two men were wearing, and then at the simple shack, with the wooden boards patched together and moldy outside.
Not to mention living in it, some of the properly managed pigsties and chicken coops nowadays look more decent than this.
And her daughter has lived here for three years.
Blanca listened to the two people below ramble on, and sat collapsed on the roof of the shed. The weather in Wind Island was warm, but she felt cold, cold to the bone.
…
“Miss, the old lady’s health is not good. You have to be prepared mentally. It may be… that she could die at any time.”
Walking a little further away, Dr. Clinton said this to Paige with a somewhat somber voice.
Paige walked in the narrow passage, her steps frozen. “I think she’s in pretty good spirits.”
She can still scold her.