After dinner, Nelson and Tom walked down the street. They had already changed out of their travel clothes and put on the usual clothes in their closet—the same beige sweater, the same jeans, and the same sneakers. The afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the two of them, adding a touch of gold to their faces.

The two stopped in front of the alley where things were previously stolen. Around the winter solstice is the time when London’s solar altitude angle is the smallest, and the sun that is about to set west makes the two shadows very long. Nelson stands in the middle of the long street, and Tom stands in the middle of the long street. At the entrance of the alley - Nelson stands on the empty golden street covered with a layer of gold-rimmed shadow, while Tom's shadow disappears into the deep alley.

"Have we ever done this pose?"

Tom held a stack of photos in his hand, and as he walked, he looked down at a sheet of paper, and he pulled one out and handed it to Nelson.

Nelson took the photo. In the black and white photo, he and Tom were wearing suits and sitting on a small sofa with arms around their shoulders. Jonas leaned down with his hands on the sides of the sofa, and the three grinned at the camera. , a dangling slender palm made a gesture of victory by the side of the camera. After a while, Jonas straightened up and walked out of the edge of the photo. Bella briskly ran into the frame and stood in Jonas' original position ——This is a photo taken by Bella. In the black-and-white photos, the hair color of the two is not real. Nelson's hair color seems to be darker, Tom's hair color seems to be lighter, and the two look like a pair of real brothers.

They have been played by Bella for a long time, just like a little girl got a new favorite toy, Bella couldn't put it down to the camera Nelson brought back. See, it is very convenient to avoid the process of waiting for the film to turn into a photo. What is more convenient is that it does not need to replenish the film, as if there is a continuous flow of photographic paper inside. But I have to say that although speed and portability are the eternal trends in the development of various products, the experience of walking into a photo studio with your lover, posing for a photo, holding each other’s hand in a burst of flashing lights, and then waiting for the film at home is even more so. A rare romance.

"It should be, my aunt took so many photos, I can't remember clearly." Nelson had the camera hanging around his neck. Before leaving, Bella asked them to take more photos with their former good friends...but Nelson only had part of the time Staying in the orphanage, where is Tom? When did he make any good friends in this kind of place? "But it's pretty good, go back to Diagon Alley and ask me to copy a few..."

Seeing that Tom was ignoring him, he turned his head and saw that Tom was flipping through the pile of photos again, so he had to whistle and catch up, shaking the cloth bag in his hand.

"Don't shake it!" Tom turned, raising an eyebrow at Nelson.

"I know I know it contains Tom's brother's chocolate after all." Nelson didn't give him a chance to interrupt this time, but finished the speech that would make Tom look ashamed and angry like an underground rapper, and Tom's That was the reaction—he turned and walked away briskly, without a word, his ears and his whole neck blushing.

The two walked one by one and chased by the other, and soon came to the door of this dilapidated orphanage in West London.

Looking at the peeling paint surface, revealing the rusty iron gate, Nelson and Tom stopped. Through the gap of the iron gate, it was the first time for him to look at the place where he grew up so carefully. Compared with the stack of happy things in Tom's hand, the scene in this small courtyard is more like a black and white photo.

A small dusty building stood alone in the not-so-small yard. Two sickly-looking pine trees stood at the inconspicuous doorway of the small building. There were a few faded colored strips hanging from the trees. Nelson Have been running into them at Christmas for several years in a row. The yard was bare, only a few swings nailed with wooden boards creaked and swayed in the wind under the rusty iron frame. The orphanage neither had enough funds to repair the ground nor enough manpower to fix What plants are grown and cared for here. There were no children in the yard, and it was supposed to be their supper time. Nelson saw a small face protruding from the corner of the window of his own room on the third floor. After meeting his eyes, he quickly retracted.

"Found him." Laughing, Nelson nudged Tom in the ribs.

Tom followed his gaze up, and his eyes stopped by the window, and the little face stretched out again, this time he was more cautious, only showing a pair of black eyes under the newsboy hat and the brim, "It's actually Your room." While talking, Tom raised the corners of his mouth and cut the boy's throat in a standard way, and he quickly shrank back, and then never appeared again.

"Sir," seeing the two of them, a dry old man ran out from the gatehouse, looked at the small door that was open on the big iron gate, "the door is not locked, why do you—"

He looked at the faces of Nelson and Tom, and the words on his lips suddenly stopped, "Are you? Nelson?" He looked at Nelson with some doubts, then shifted his gaze to Tom's face, and asked in an uncertain tone, " Tom?"

"Yes, Mr. Button." Nelson raised his hand, and Tom nodded beside him.

Complex emotions including but not limited to surprise, joy, disbelief, relief, etc. erupted on the old man's face instantly, "Come in! Come in!" He pushed open the small iron gate, grabbed the hands of the two people, and pushed them inside Pulling, when they faced the iron gate, they let go of their hands again, and trotted towards the small building, while turning around and shouting at them, "Come in! Come in!"

Mr. Barton is a respectable old man. He lives alone in an old tube building in the block next to the orphanage. It is said that he was originally an officer of the Allied Powers. A stray bullet was shot in front of her eyes, and the pregnant daughter-in-law couldn't bear the blow, and there was no news on a foggy night...

After the war, he donated all his property to the orphanage next to his home, and he came here to work as a porter. Although he has a bad temper and a foul mouth, he treats every child like a grandson, and he almost spends all his family money to help these children who have lost their families. Sometimes the busy Mrs. Cole entrusted him to take care of the children, but he never told everyone about the war. If someone asked him, he would say, "You should be good people and not be interested in a butcher like me. "

This is a poor old man who has been devastated by the war, but as he said, every stray bullet on the battlefield may create a broken family. Why didn't Lee Enfield, who was with him, take the lives of others? The ghost who died under the blind bullet may be a father, son or husband.

"There may be right and wrong in war, and soldiers will do evil, but children are innocent." One day Nelson was sitting on the roof reading a book about World War I by the moonlight, and Mr. Barton struggled to climb up to sit on him. Smoking next to him, he smiled and rubbed Nelson's hair, "Before I became an officer, I was a sharpshooter. Later, I felt that being a soldier is worse than being a doctor."

Looking at his back while limping and calling Mrs. Cole's name, Nelson patted Tom on the back with red eyes. Tom was looking up at the sky with his eyes closed. The old man who grew up with them really old.

Barton brought the two of them to Mrs. Cole's office, where she poured hot tea, declined the invitation of the three of them, and he returned to his post.

"What are you doing back here?" Mrs. Cole frowned and looked at the two of them. She was stirring the teacup with a spoon, and the old tea leaves, which were already full of broken leaves, were mixed up by her. You guys, it's not for you to come back."

Tom and Nelson had long been used to Mrs. Cole's sternness. They listened quietly to her admonishment, and looked at this thin woman who had black hair a few months ago. On her pale face, with unusually prominent cheekbones, she stopped stirring the tea and stared at them seriously.

Suddenly she stretched her brows and smiled at them, "Tom, Gnar, you have grown a lot taller."

"Mrs. Cole, how are you and the orphanage doing these days?" Nelson relaxed and raised his teacup to say hello.

"I'm still the same," Mrs. Cole smiled self-deprecatingly, "The orphanage is much busier than the first half of the year, and the number of homeless children has increased in the past two years... As soon as you left, the police station sent A group of children came, your room was occupied just two days after it was vacant, and there are even older children who need two people to squeeze into a room. There are vacant rooms everywhere, only orphanages are impossible. Empty room."

"So nervous?" Tom asked.

"Well, the situation in other orphanages in London will not be much better than ours. You are older children, you should understand that although the newspapers are full of songs and dances, but..." Mrs. Cole shook her head helplessly, and turned to Tom again. Laughing, "By the way, Tom, your chocolate kids love it, and many of them haven't eaten chocolate since they grew up..."

She suddenly choked up, lowered her head and took out a handkerchief from under her skirt, and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry, I just...".

"I understand, Mrs. Cole." Tom rarely maintained a cold look, nor did he blush because of the chocolate, but stood up and patted Mrs. Cole on the shoulder, comforting softly.

"You are all good children," Mrs. Cole calmed down, lowering her head and holding up her teacup with red eyes, "although I love every child here as I love my own children, but I hope they can be like you Get out of here and never come back."

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