A Winter of Recuperation

The town of Trochene in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, is located in the western French-speaking region, near Geneva, at an altitude of 418 meters, making it a low-altitude area.

In winter, temperatures in Tolochenaz range from 0 to 6 degrees Celsius. Around Christmas, the area is often covered in snow and ice.

However, this place is not at a higher latitude than Alaska, so the climate is certainly not as harsh as that region which is close to the Arctic Circle.

The courtyard doesn't require much maintenance during this period. Basically, as long as the flowers and plants can survive, that's good enough. No one will deliberately prune them in winter.

But that doesn't mean you can do nothing in winter and just stay cooped up by the fireplace all winter.

The most important thing is to clear the snow—from the rooftops, the yard, and the paths.

The snow doesn't accumulate as thickly in the town of Tolochenaz as it does in Alaska, so it's rare for roofs to collapse under the weight of snow.

The main problem is the snow on the road. Even though it's a thin layer, it's so light that you can just step on it and it's on the ground, so it doesn't seem like you need to clear it.

However, this action usually only turns the snow into a thin layer of ice, not eliminates it. And thin ice is very slippery, meaning that without special care, you'll end up turning your yard into something like an ice rink. It wouldn't be surprising if someone slipped and fell to their death at any time.

So Henry's most important task upon waking up each morning was clearing the snow. The roof didn't need to be cleared every day, but the paths in the yard required extra attention, because taking a walk in the garden was now the only exercise Ms. Hepburn could do.

The snow wouldn't disappear unless Henry used Heat Vision to melt it. But he didn't want to do that; he'd just pile the snow aside.

Simply pushing away the snow was too boring. So Henry did something he had wanted to do for two lifetimes but had never done before.

That's building a snowman.

Therefore, in the small town of Tolochenaz during this winter, at Ms. Hepburn's home, one could see a young man shoveling snow early in the morning.

They built a snowman. And there were five Jack Russell Terrier running around happily nearby.

Because the roads are slippery in winter, Robert doesn't go out for runs or walks with the dogs; he only exercises at home. The five dogs can only get some exercise while Henry is outside, instead of being confined at home.

However, the fun of building snowmen only lasted two or three days, because Henry started playing with snow sculpting.

From the very beginning, the Alien, comparable to Cthulhu, made viewers' sanity plummet; later, they evolved to Rodin's the Thinker, Michelangelo's David, the Greece Athena, and the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Basically, he shovels snow every day and changes the design daily. Henry swings his big shovel, scraping here and there. If he goes too far, he just pats the snow back on. It's much simpler than a real sculpture; at least you have the chance to start over if you regret it.

Henry didn't expect it to be very detailed anyway, since it was outside and would be deformed by the snow anyway. It was basically just something to pass the time in the morning.

The rest of the time was spent practicing without professional skills. Ms. Hepburn had a well-maintained vintage piano in her home, not a famous brand or an antique.

Occasionally, a skilled pianist will come and play a piece; sometimes, a lady will strike the keys on a whim to soothe her mood. But most of the time, it just gathers dust.

Henry took this opportunity to practice on the piano.

Although Audrey Hepburn and Robert Wolders were not renowned pianists, their acting backgrounds gave them a certain level of appreciation, and they could offer some advice on Henry's piano playing.

Henry's playing, according to Robert, was simply following the score strictly and lacked his own personality. But at least it wasn't unpleasant to listen to.

But practice sessions were short, lasting at most an hour. Most of the remaining time, everyone followed Ms. Hepburn's preferences, immersing themselves in the world of reading. Robert, however, would occasionally do his own thing; he wasn't so fond of reading.

The family's books, as well as books borrowed from the town's library, were sometimes shared among the members.

The person who read the most diverse books was, of course, Henry. In particular, he could understand foreign language books that neither Ms. Hepburn nor Robert could understand, so the two of them would often pester him to share their reading experiences, sometimes with Ms. Hepburn listening alone.

Reading time usually takes place in the afternoon. Everyone sits in front of the large windows that let in the Sun Pharma, enjoying the warmth of the winter sun while reading the words on the page and savoring the author's thoughts.

"Henry, what book are you reading today?" asked Mrs. Hepburn, who had put down her book after reading for a while to rest her eyes.

Henry held up the book, showing the cover, and said, "Natsume Soseki's * the Poppy *. He was a Japan modern literary writer from the late 19th century."

It's not that I don't want to read Chinese books, but the Chinese collection in the town library was already read out long ago.

What is the content?

Henry said, "The Poppy in the book's title refers to a type of red poppy, which is very alluring and is therefore often used as a metaphor for beauty in ancient Eastern texts. Also, because this flower is the raw material for opium, it also implies the harm behind beauty."

"The stories in the book are similar. Through the female protagonist's seduction of men, it metaphorically suggests that the prosperity brought to Japan by Western civilization at that time was merely a bubble, a baseless illusion."

"It sounds like a sad story," Ms. Hepburn said intuitively.

"Rather than writing a sad story, it's more like a vehicle for showing off literary skills, then endlessly spouting a bunch of useless Reason."

Ms. Hepburn chuckled and said, "How come your comment completely changes my mind?"

Henry shrugged and said, "Writers, you know, they use the most ornate language to tell the most ordinary stories, and then hide some Reason in order to preach to others."

"You're not wrong," Audrey Hepburn agreed.

"Actually, there's a rather interesting anecdote about this author."

What is it?

Henry said, "Because the author was exposed to Western culture quite early, he worked as an English teacher for a while, teaching students English."

At that time, there was a student who directly translated "I_love_you" in English into " inch" in Japanese.

"He said that the Japanese would not use such direct expressions, and it would be more appropriate to use the expression "the moon is beautiful and beautiful". This sentence means "the moonlight is beautiful tonight" and implicitly expresses the desire to "share a beautiful night with you."

Wow, that sounds amazing. Is it true?

Henry calmly replied, "No, according to later research, the earliest source of this claim is more than a decade after Natsume Soseki's death. It's probably a fabrication by later generations."

"Oh, you naughty child, can't you let people have some good thoughts?" Audrey Hepburn said with displeasure.

"Heh," Henry chuckled again, "But What If...? a story spreads that makes people think, 'Ah, that's something this person would do,' isn't that impressive too?"

"That's true."