The front door creaks open, and Nath reappears in the kitchen, his eyes and nose red.
前门嘎吱一声开了,纳又出现在厨房里,眼睛和鼻子都红了。
From this she knows he has been crying,
从这一点她知道他一直在哭,
but she pretends not to notice, keeping her head bent, stacking the pieces one by one in her cupped palm.
但她假装没有注意到,低着头,把碎片一个一个地堆在她的杯状手掌里。
“What happened?”
“发生什么事了?”
“Mom and Dad had a fight.”
“妈妈和爸爸吵架了。”
She tips the broken cup into the garbage can and wipes her damp hands on the thighs of her bell-bottoms.
她把破杯子倒进垃圾桶,用潮湿的手擦了擦喇叭裤的大腿。
The water, she decides, will dry on its own.
她决定,水会自己干的。
“A fight? About what?”
“打架?为了什么?”
Hannah lowers her voice to a whisper.
汉娜把声音压得低低的。
“I don’t know.”
“我不知道。”
Although there is no sound from their parents’ bedroom overhead, she is antsy.
尽管头顶上父母的卧室里没有声音,她还是坐立不安。
“Let’s go outside.”
“我们出去吧。”nn
Outside, without discussing it, she and Nath both head for the same place:
在外面,她和纳不假思索地朝同一个地方走去:
the lake. All the way down the block, she scans the street carefully,
湖中。沿街而下,她仔细地扫视着街道,
as if their father might still be around the corner, no longer angry, ready to come home.
仿佛他们的父亲可能还在附近,不再生气,准备回家。
She sees nothing but a few parked cars.
她只看见几辆停着的车。
Hannah’s instincts, however, are good.
然而,汉娜的直觉是好的。
Pulling out of the driveway, James too had been drawn to the lake.
驶出车道时,詹姆斯也被吸引到湖边。
He had made a loop around it, once, twice, Marilyn’s words echoing in his mind.
他绕着它转了一圈,一次,两次,玛丽琳的话在他脑子里回响。
Kowtowing to the police.
向警察磕头。
Over and over he hears it, the palpable disgust in her voice, how little she thought of him.
他一遍又一遍地听着,从她的声音里听得出明显的厌恶,她对他的在乎是多么少。
And he cannot blame her.
他不能责怪她。
How could Lydia have been happy?
莉迪亚怎么会幸福呢?
Lee stood out in the halls.
李站在大厅里。
Few seemed to have known her well.
似乎很少有人了解她。
Suicide Likely Possibility.
自杀的可能。
He passes the dock where Lydia would have climbed into the boat.
他经过了一个码头,莉迪亚本可以在那里上船的。
Then their little dead-end street.
然后是他们那条死胡同。
Then the dock again.
然后又是码头。
Somewhere in the center of this circle his daughter, friendless and alone, must have dived into the water in despair.
在这个圈子中间的某个地方,他的女儿,没有朋友,孤身一人,一定是绝望地跳进了水里。
Lydia was very happy, Marilyn had said.Someone is responsible.
莉迪亚非常高兴,玛丽琳说过。有人会负责。
Someone, James thinks, and a deep spike carves its way down his throat.
有人,詹姆斯想,一根深深的钉子从他的喉咙里钻了出来。nn
He cannot bear to see the lake again.
他再也不忍看那湖了。
And then he knows where he wants to be.
然后他就知道自己想去哪儿了。
He has rehearsed in his mind what to say to Louisa so often that this morning, he awoke with it on his lips.
他心里反复默想着该对路易莎说些什么,所以今天早上醒来时,他嘴里还含着这句话。
This was a mistake. I love my wife. This must never happen again.
这是个错误。我爱我的妻子。这种事绝不能再发生。
Now, when she opens the door, what comes out of his mouth is: “Please.”
现在,当她打开门,从他嘴里说出来的是:“拜托”。
And Louisa gently, generously, miraculously opens her arms.
路易莎轻轻地,慷慨地,奇迹般地张开双臂。
In Louisa’s bed, he can stop thinking—about Lydia, about the headlines, about the lake.
躺在路易莎的床上,他可以不去想莉迪亚,不去想新闻头条,不去想那个湖。
About what Marilyn must be doing at home.
关于玛丽琳在家做什么。
About who is responsible.
关于谁该负责。
He focuses on the curve of Louisa’s back and the pale silk of her thighs and the dark sweep of her hair,
他的目光集中在路易莎的背部曲线、她大腿上的白丝和她乌黑的鬈发上,
which brushes his face again and again and again.
一遍又一遍的刷他的脸。
Afterward, Louisa wraps her arms around him from behind, as if he is a child,
之后,路易莎从背后搂住了他,仿佛他是个孩子,
and says, “Stay.” And he does.
然后说,“留下来。”他确实这么做了。