Chapter 2： Bonito disappearing quietly

This is the same morning as always.

The sky in London is as foggy as ever.

Mr. Evans, who lives on Christchurch Road, opened his own shop at 7 o'clock in the morning as always.

The small shop run by Mr. Evans is a very common restaurant in England, which only sells fish and chips.

Although it’s not a well-known old store, Evans’s shop is well-known in this area near Christchurch Road. The office workers around who don’t have time to cook often come here to solve the problem of food and clothing.

Unlike most fish and chip shops, Evans did not use cod as the main ingredient for fried fish, but ingeniously chose the bigger bonito.

And the reason why Mr. Evans chose bonito...

Of course it’s because bonito is cheaper!

As for the taste... the fried fish he sells are cheap and large. Is the taste very important? After the bombing, it's almost the same.

Besides, it’s not that Mr. Evans is presumptuous. With the tongues of most of his compatriots, it is indeed not an easy task to distinguish the difference between bonito and cod.

After opening the shop, Mr. Evans hummed a little tune that could not be heard, and went to the kitchen to start processing the ingredients.

Although he chooses cheaper bonito in terms of raw materials, Mr. Evans still has his own insistence-all fish are fresh live fish.

The bonito in the kitchen had just been pulled from the old Wright, and they were still jumping around.

Reaching out to catch a bonito, Evans skillfully threw it on the cutting board. The bonito, which was still struggling, passed out in an instant, and was quickly broken down by Evans with a kitchen knife. On the plate.

After processing a dozen bonito by the same procedure, Mr. Evans stopped his work, picked up the fish plate, and prepared to wrap them in flour and breadcrumbs, and then put them in the frying pan. Frying.

But as soon as Mr. Evans picked up the plate, he immediately noticed something was wrong.

Lightweight.

Mr. Evans, who has been in this business for more than ten years, has a clear idea of ​​how much fish he has cut. The weight of the fish in his hand is obviously slightly different from the amount he cuts.

"strangeness…"

Mr. Evans looked around and found no fish falling on the ground.

Is it because when you just cut the fish, you accidentally threw the fish meat and visceral bones into the trash can?

I scratched his dwindling hair in doubt. Mr. Evans didn’t care too much. Anyway, he felt that he was missing two or three pieces of fish. A batch of customers is coming soon.

Mr. Evans, who put the matter aside, continued to fry the fish and chips according to the original procedure.

Even after the guests arrived, Mr. Evans took the incident as a conversation and chatted with the old customers.

What Mr. Evans never thought was that today is just the beginning.

As the days passed, Mr. Evans lost more and more fish, and he lost more and more fish. He even rummaged through the trash can instead of throwing the fish in by himself.

However, no matter how carefully Mr. Evans guarded the cut fish, he still could not stop the disappearance of the fish. He even put the fish plate under his nose, but the fish seemed to have grown legs. It was gone in the blink of an eye.

After experiencing the mysterious disappearance of fish meat again, Mr. Evans finally couldn't bear it, and spent fifteen pence "huge money" to hire a seven-year-old John from the neighbor's John's house to help him to see how his fish disappeared. .

It was another new morning. Mr. Evans brought little John to his shop. He first let little John get into the box he had prepared, and he handled the fresh bonito according to his usual habits. fish.

Little John hid in the box beside him, staring at the plates on the table through the cracks in the box.

Nothing happened at first, but as the fish on it gradually increased, a ghostly figure suddenly appeared on the cupboard above Mr. Evans.

It was a silver-gray tabby cat. Little John couldn’t tell whether he was a British short or an American short. The kitten didn’t look very old, and his size was only a little bigger than an adult’s palm, and he had a pair of turquoise eyes. Through the gap in the cabinet, staring at the fish on the table.

Kitty turned her ears, as if she had noticed the existence of Little John, her big green eyes turned to the box he was hiding in, and stopped there for a moment.

Little John met the aquamarine eyes through the gap in the box, and his little hands covered his mouth and nose, fearing that he would accidentally make a noise and disturb the little cat.

seemed to realize that Little John didn't intend to stop him, the tabby kitten withdrew his gaze, and refocused his attention on the bonito meat on the table.

confirmed that Mr. Evans was not paying attention to the fish. The tabby kitten fell from the cupboard like a ghost and fell gently on the table without making a sound.

Turning his head and glanced at Mr. Evans who was still immersed in his work, the tabby kitten quickly picked up a piece of fish on the plate, UU reading shook his head twice and swallowed it smoothly. , And then he used the same steps to quickly swallow fish almost as much as his body, and then gently jumped onto the cabinet, followed the top of the cabinet to the skylight of the kitchen, and got out of the gap in the skylight. Disappear.

Until the tabby kitten left, little John jumped out of the box excitedly.

"Uncle Evans! I saw it! That is a very beautiful kitten!"

Little John danced excitedly, describing the appearance of the kitten to Mr. Evans, and interceded with Mr. Evans on behalf of the kitten: "It doesn't eat much anyway, Uncle Evans, don't hurt him! It really doesn't work, I can use my pocket money to pay for it!"

Looking at the excited little John, Mr. Evans touched his head naively. He knew that little John wanted a football in his heart. He had already saved a lot of money for this. During this time, he thought carefully. The degree is even comparable to the famous old miser at the corner tailor's shop.

What magic power does that fish-stealing kitten have that can actually make Little John give up his favorite football?

but…

Is that cat's appetite a bit big?

According to Little John’s gesture, it should be just a small milk cat, how could it be possible to eat so much...

Probably the gap in the box is too small, so Little John couldn't see clearly.

Mr. Evans shook his head and smiled, then patted Little John's head and said, "You should keep your money for football. I can still afford this."

So Evans’s shop has one more talk today, that is the mysterious silver-gray tabby kitten that only John has seen.