[Tutorial] Chronicle of Sicily

"In him was life, and that life was the light of man. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not receive the light."

——"New Testament Gospel of John" Chapter 1

Sicily under the sky shuttles between prosperity and tranquility as usual, and the sun and moon alternately caress this scarred but proudly standing land.

In a bar in a small corner of the Port of Palermo, Sicily, the hoarse and slow saxophone whispered about the past clouds of the land, and the flickering yellow lights inside the bar hit the faces of the people in the bar , adding a bit of hazy feeling.

The owner of the bar is a bloated bearded man wearing a dark blue peaked work cap and a pair of yellowish linen overalls. He has a beer belly and a small tattoo on his thick arm wiping the wine bottle. Not a small anchor.He sucked his red nose, and his gray-blue eyes were full of novelty, looking at a handsome young man with chestnut curly hair sitting in front of him, his two sausage-like lips grinned naturally, his voice Loud and steady, but without losing a hint of humor: "Hey, Jamie, why are you free to come to my place today? Don't you have to play with your lovely Jasmine today?"

"Oh, Hans, don't make fun of me here. You know it—I came here to avoid the limelight from that troublemaker Molly." Jamie's two beautiful eyebrows twitched together immediately, He scratched his curly hair, which looked a little messy, in distress.

Hans turned sideways and put the wine bottle, which had been wiped so that it was almost visible, on the wooden display case behind him, and then squinted at Jamie's troubled and happy face—yes, there was a little happiness in distress , in Hans' opinion he thought so.

"Speaking of which, you are probably seventeen or eighteen years old this year. When I was your age, I already had one or two girlfriends." Hans leaned on the bar and approached Jamie, his thick eyebrows Pick up, "Jasmine's kid is about the same age as you, you know what I mean, Jamie."

Jamie rolled his eyes at Hans, his cheeks were inexplicably hot, he straightened his face, stared straight at Hans with brown eyes, and replied solemnly: "It's 17 years old, Hans. I'm 17 years old this year. As for Jasmine, respectable Mr. Hans, I don't have the guts."

Jamie spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and said in a helpless tone: "When that guy was a little kid like me five years ago, he lied that he was a big girl, and such a violent woman, I can't take it."

"Five years ago?" Hans chuckled a few times, but in Jamie's eyes, he looked a bit like a fat rooster with a shrunken neck. Jamie pursed his lips and continued to listen to Hans's words with a smile, "Oh , Jamie, don't underestimate women's hearts, they are creatures who have dreamed of wearing wedding dresses since childhood."

"Forget it, Hans, I don't have the ability to read a woman's heart, and if Jasmine's brother finds out, he won't let me go."

"Don't you have a backstage too, you forgetful kid." Hans glanced at Jamie, reached out and turned over an overturned beer glass, poured a full glass of beer, and sat down in front of Jamie.

"Backstage? What do you mean?"

"Charlotte Charlotte." Hans took a big gulp of beer, white beer froth remained at the corner of his mouth, he grabbed a handful of peanuts from the plate beside him, threw them into his mouth and chewed hard for two Next, "The Charlotte you mentioned when you have nothing to do-although I have never met her, but the name should be a beautiful person-and she is very convincing."

Hearing this name, an inexplicable light flashed under Jamie's eyelashes. He raised the corners of his mouth, grabbed a peanut from the plate and put it in his mouth. After a few seconds of eating the peanut, he opened his mouth slowly: "Speaking of which, I never mentioned Charlotte to Hans."

"I don't mind wasting some time wiping wine bottles listening to your ramblings."

"I met Charlotte five years ago..." Jamie was interrupted by Hans' emotion before he finished speaking.

"Oh, five years ago, you were still a kid with no hair!"

"Hans, do you want to listen?" Jamie frowned, looking a little impatient for Hans to interrupt him.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, you continue."

Jamie rolled his eyes at his happy expression, and continued: "I was still young at the time, and I don't remember much about other things. I just remember that she said something that I could understand at that time—"Fall down It doesn't matter, just stand up again, it doesn't matter if you cry, just smile again', at least this sentence pulled me back from the mental level that was almost collapsed when I was young and ignorant. To be honest, I am very Thank her."

"Oh, that's really good. She is indeed a beautiful and pure girl like Lily."

"Lilies?" Jamie seemed to have heard something amazing, his eyes were wide open, and he looked at Hans inexplicably. Just when Hans was about to fidget with Jamie's eyes, Jamie "chuckled" He burst out laughing, "Hahaha, this is the first time I've heard that Charlotte looks like a lily!"

"..." Hans didn't know what to say for a while, and stared blankly at Jamie's smiling eyes.

"That guy, he's not as noble as a lily. At best, he's just a little wild flower growing on the ruins and facing the sun." As soon as Jamie finished speaking, a delicate voice came from the door of the bar, making Jamie Suddenly his back stiffened.

"Jamie—Jamie Hall—where are you—?"

Jamie glanced at the light blue figure outside the door in extreme horror, jumped off the rotating chair, said goodbye to Hans in a hurry, and slipped out through the back door, not forgetting to turn around and shout at Hans, " Hey, Hans, I'll come back next time!"

"Hey, be careful, don't get caught by Jasmine!" Hans waved his thick arm towards Jamie's back, then withdrew his hand and rubbed his red nose, before being pushed away by the light blue figure. The door showed a simple and honest smile.

After Jamie came out from the back door of the bar, he walked around a small alley and walked to the main road. The sound of the choir was heard from the church on the side of the road, and the huge angel statue at the door of the church looked down at the passing people Everything in the world.Jamie looked up at the angel statue made of snow-white plaster, and suddenly remembered that Charlotte took him to visit the Twin Church four years ago. He looked at the Gothic windows in the church and the angel statue with a kind face, curious He asked Charlotte calmly: "Sister Charlotte, will God forgive sinners who have committed mistakes?"

At that time, Charlotte was taken aback by his question, then looked up at the angel with pure wings and the statue of Jesus in the middle of the church, and said something to Jamie that he never thought of.

"Even the statue of Jehovah requires mortals to build it for him, pay money and efforts, and then kneel before the faith he built and ask for forgiveness. God is a sinner created by mortals."

"... I don't understand."

"In the last century, there were wars and strife in Sicily. Whether it was the mafia or the civilians, they all relied on their own hands covered in mud and blood to fight for their own freedom. God once forgot about this land soaked in history. Charlotte reached out and rubbed Jamie's head, "God is faith, and faith is also God. As long as you stick to that faith and bear the glory and sin together, forgiveness will never come."

"...Well, brother Bell, do you understand what it means?" Jamie was still a little awkward to understand these words, and he turned his head and asked the casual Bell beside him with difficulty.

Bell was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect to ask himself, he grinned with the old smile, "Hee hee hee, it means——God is dead."

"...No, I don't understand even more."

"Hehehe, the prince explained it very clearly."

……

Came back from the memory, Jamie rubbed his tired eyes, looked at the tall angel statue, showed her a warm smile, and said slowly to her: "I think, maybe their It means—you are just statues and have nothing to do with the beliefs in people's hearts."

End.

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