The Sensory Animals of Ston Hill

By evening, Grace developed a fever, which quickly developed into a high fever.

This is the worst night ever.Allen ordered the doctor to go to sleep in the next room, in case the situation got worse, the doctor must have a pair of steady hands and a clear mind; Eva refused to go anyway, and stayed in the house with him to take care of Grace.

In the middle of the night, Eva remembered that it was time to change Grace's towel while dozing off, and woke up with a start.She saw that Alan Stone was already doing this. She replaced the wet towel that was already warm on Grace's forehead with a cold one, and then used another wet towel to wipe Grace's face and then her arms.

Although Grace has entered a coma-like sleep and is not easily awakened, Alan Stone is still careful and gentle. After wiping his arms, he wipes his hands again, first the palms, then each finger, and then wipes Grace Gently put his hand back on the bed.

Looking at it like this, Eva felt a strong emotion in her heart, so she didn't make a sound to disturb her.

After wiping Grace's two arms, Alan Ston cooled the towel in cold water, and then went to wipe Grace's legs; after that, the same steps followed, face, neck, arms, hands, legs... Wa thought this was a better way than putting a cold towel on her forehead, and then she realized that maybe Alan Stone had been doing this thing repeatedly while she was asleep, without taking a break...

She walked over and took over the job, hoping that Alan Stone would also take a nap on the recliner.She knew that Alan Stone was more tired than herself, and he rode back directly from the battlefield.

But Alan Stone just moved the chair aside, and then took Grace's hand to his lips.

Eva peeked at him as she wiped Grace's calf.At first she thought Alan Stone was kissing the back of Grace's hand, but then she was shocked to find that he was praying.

"Eva, do you have a Bible?"

Eva shook her head lightly. She saw dense red blood in Alan Stone's eyes. "The radicals asked people to burn the Bible. It's probably hard to find it now."

Alan Stone didn't say anything, just held Grace's hand and continued to pray in a low voice.Eva saw in him the same helpless piety she had seen countless times in her mother.

By daybreak, Grace's fever hadn't gotten any better.Alan Stone called the doctor once, but the doctor couldn't do anything about it.He said to Colonel Ston, whom he feared: "You have been in the army for so long, you should understand this situation..."

Eva hurriedly asked the doctor out because Alan Stone covered his eyes.She thinks that such a man should not be seen to shed tears by others.

Eva ran out for a while, and came back soon, with an extra Bible in her hand.She gave the Bible to Alan Stone.

Alan Stone looked down at the cover of the book, was stunned for a moment, and thanked her in a low voice.

He took the Bible to the empty room next to him, locked the door, then went to the window and knelt down facing the dim night sky.

He opened the Bible and began to read it word by word from the first line on the first page.

As he recited the Book of Songs line by line, he gradually understood his elder brother.

He is no longer the ignorant boy who worships and follows his elder brother as his father, nor is he the arrogant teenager who wants to be more dazzling and more visible than his elder brother.

He was William at the moment.

He worries about what William once worried about, fears what William once feared, and regrets what William once regretted.

He has never felt so deeply as at this moment that William is gone, but he will never go, he will always be in his body, in Grace's body, between himself and Grace.

He read the last line of the Bible when there was a knock on the door.

Standing up and opening the door, Eva told him with a teary smile, "Grace's fever is gone."

The author says:

In the chapter of "The Untamed Lion", a reader asked about the sentence in Allen's letter to William: "Dear William, you always hope to wait until everything is perfect, because the good things are already in your hands; but I am different, What I want, I have to grab it myself." Is the "good thing" here Grace?

Yes.Alan was born without a father, and his almost perfect brother became his father.He has been following in his elder brother's footsteps, worshiping him, imitating him, following him, and growing up along William's trajectory.Because William got good grades, he knew that he had to take classes seriously when he was a child; because William got a badge, he asked his mother to make the same badge; because William went to military school, he went to military school regardless of his mother's sadness; Because William kissed Grace, he began to fantasize about Grace.But then also because of Grace, he began to want to be more outstanding than William, so that Grace could see herself beyond William's brilliance.