Jeremy slept poorly on his last night at Greenleaf. He and Alvin had finished up filming—as the train passed, Riker’s Hill only faintly registered the reflected light—and after viewing the film, both he and Alvin had decided1 it was good enough to prove Jeremy’s theory, unless they were willing to arrange for better equipment.
Still, on their way back to Greenleaf, Jeremy’s mind was barely on the mystery or even the drive. Instead, he began to once again replay the last few days in his head. He remembered the first time he’d seen Lexie in the cemetery2, and their spirited exchange in the library. He thought of their lunch on Riker’s Hill and their visit to the boardwalk, recalled his amazement3 at the extraordinary party in his honor, and how he’d felt when he first glimpsed the lights in the cemetery. But most of all, he remembered those moments when he first began to realize that he was falling in love with her.
Was it really possible for so much to have happened in only a couple of days? By the time he’d reached Greenleaf and entered his room, he was trying to pinpoint4 the exact moment when everything started going wrong. He wasn’t quite sure, but it seemed to him now that she’d been trying to run away from her feelings, not simply from him. So when had she begun to realize that she had feelings for him? At the party, like him? At the cemetery? Earlier that afternoon?
He had no idea as to the answer. All he knew was that he loved her and that he couldn’t imagine never seeing her again.
The hours passed slowly; with his flight leaving from Raleigh at noon, he would be leaving Greenleaf shortly. He rose before six, finished packing his things, and loaded them in his car. After making sure that he saw Alvin’s light shining from his own room, he made his way through the chilly5 morning air to the office.
Jed, as he expected, scowled6. His hair was even more unkempt than usual and his clothing wrinkled, so Jeremy figured he must have risen only a few minutes earlier. Jeremy set the key on his desk.
“Quite a place you have here,” Jeremy said. “I’ll make sure to recommend it to my friends.”
If possible, Jed’s expression grew even meaner, but Jeremy merely smiled ingratiatingly in return. On his way back to the room, he saw headlights bouncing in the fog as a car slowly made its way up the gravel7 drive. For an instant, he thought it was Lexie, and he felt a surge in his chest; when the car finally came into view, his hopes sank just as quickly.
Mayor Gherkin, bundled in a heavy jacket and scarf, emerged from the car. Showing none of the energy he had at their previous meetings, he groped his way toward Jeremy in the darkness.
“Packing up, I suppose,” he called out.
“I just finished.”
“Jed didn’t slap you with the bill, did he?”
“No,” Jeremy said. “Thanks for that, by the way.”
“You’re welcome. Like I said, it was the least we could do for you. I just hope you enjoyed your stay in our fine town.”
Jeremy nodded, noting the worry on the mayor’s face. “Yeah,” he said, “I did.”
For the first time since Jeremy had met him, Gherkin seemed at a loss for words. As the silence grew uncomfortable, he retucked
the scarf into his jacket. “Well, I just wanted to drop by to tell you that the folks around here sure enjoyed meeting you. I know I’m speaking for the town here, but you’ve made quite an impression.” Jeremy put his hands in his pockets. “Why the ruse8?” he asked.
Gherkin sighed. “About adding the cemetery to the tour?”
“No. I mean about the fact that your father recorded the answer in his diary and that you hid the answer from me.”
A sad expression crossed Gherkin’s features. “You’re absolutely right,” he said after a moment. His voice was hesitant. “My daddy did solve that mystery, but I suppose he was meant to.” He met Jeremy’s eyes. “Do you know why he became so interested in the history of our town?”
Jeremy shook his head.
“In World War II, my daddy was serving in the army with a man named Lloyd Shaumberg. He was a lieutenant9, my daddy was a grunt10. People these days don’t seem to realize that during the war, it wasn’t just soldiers out there on the front lines. Most of the people serving were just regular folks: bakers11, butchers, mechanics. Shaumberg was a historian. At least that’s how my daddy referred to him. Actually, he was just a history teacher at a high school in Delaware, but my daddy swore there was no finer officer in the army. He used to keep his men entertained by telling stories from the past, stories that hardly anybody knew, and it kept my daddy from being so scared about what was happening. Anyway, after the push up the boot in Italy, Shaumberg and my dad and the rest of the platoon were encircled by the Germans. Shaumberg told the men to retreat while he tried to provide cover for them. ‘I don’t have a choice,’ he said. It was a suicide mission—everyone knew it, but that’s who Shaumberg was.” Gherkin paused. “Anyway, my daddy lived and Shaumberg died, and after my daddy came home from the war, he said that he’d become a historian, too, as a way to honor his friend.”
“Because,” Gherkin replied, “as I see it, I didn’t have much of a choice, either. Every town needs something to call its own, something to remind folks that their home is special. In New York, you don’t have to worry about that. There’s Broadway and Wall Street and the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. But down here, after all the business closings, I looked around and realized that all we had was a legend. And legends . . . well, they’re just relics13 from the past, and a town needs more than that to survive. That’s all I was trying to do, searching for a way to keep this town alive, and then you came along.”
Jeremy glanced away, thinking about the boarded storefronts he’d seen when he first arrived, remembering Lexie’s comment about the closing of the textile mill and phosphorous mine.
“So you came by this morning to give me your side of the story?”
“No,” Gherkin said. “I came by to let you know all this was my idea. It wasn’t the town council’s, it wasn’t the folks’ who live here. Maybe I was wrong to do what I did. Maybe you don’t agree with it. But I did what I thought was right for this place and the people who live here. And all I ask is that when you do your story you keep in mind that no one else was involved. If you want to sacrifice me, I can live with that. And I think my daddy would understand.”
Without waiting for a response, Gherkin went back to his car, and it soon vanished into the fog.
With dawn turning the sky an overcast14 gray, Jeremy was helping15 Alvin load the last of the equipment when Lexie arrived.
She emerged from the car looking much the same as she did the first time he’d seen her, her violet eyes unreadable even as she met his gaze. In her hand was Gherkin’s diary. For a moment, they faced each other as if neither one knew what to say.
“Good morning,” he said.
She forced a smile. “Hey, Alvin.”
“You’re up early.”
She shrugged17, her eyes flashing back to Jeremy. Alvin looked from one to the other before motioning over his shoulder.
“I think I’ll give the room one last check,” he said, despite the fact that no one seemed to be paying attention.
When he was gone, Jeremy took a deep breath. “I didn’t think you’d come by,” he said.
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure I would, either.”
“I’m glad you did,” he said. The gray light reminded him of their walk on the beach near the lighthouse, and he felt with a twisting arc of pain how much he’d come to love her. Though his first instinct was to close the gap between them, her stiff posture18 kept him at a distance.
She nodded toward his car. “You’re packed up and ready to go, I see.”
“Yeah,” he said. “All packed up.”
“And you finished filming the lights?”
He hesitated, hating the banality19 of their conversation. “Did you really come here to talk about my work or whether my car is packed?”
“No,” she said. “I didn’t.”
“Why did you come, then?”
“To apologize for the way I treated you yesterday at the library. I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. It wasn’t fair to you.”
He gave a half-smile. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll get over it. And I’m sorry, too.”
She held up the diary. “I brought this for you. In case you wanted it.”
“I didn’t think you’d want me to use it.”
“I don’t,” she answered.
“Then why give it to me?”
“Because I should have told you about the diary passage and I don’t want you to think that anyone here is engaged in some cover-up. I can see how you might have thought the town was up to something, and this is a peace offering. But I want to assure you that it wasn’t some big scheme—”
“I know,” Jeremy interrupted. “The mayor came by this morning.”
She nodded, and her eyes dropped before rising to meet his again. In that instant, he thought she was going to say something, but whatever it was, she stopped herself. “Well, I guess that’s it,” she said, pushing her hands into her coat pockets. “I should probably let you finish up so you can be on your way. I’ve never been a fan of long good-byes.”
“So this is a good-bye?” he asked, trying to hold her gaze.
“So that’s it, then? You just came by to tell me it’s over?” He ran his fingers roughly through his hair, frowning. “Don’t I have any say in the matter?”
Her voice was quiet when she answered. “We’ve been through all of this, Jeremy. I didn’t come here this morning to argue, and I didn’t come here to make you angry. I came because I was sorry about the way I treated you yesterday. And because I didn’t want you to think that the week meant nothing to me. It did.”
Her words felt like physical blows, and he struggled to speak. “But you’re intent on ending this.”
“I’m intent on being realistic about it,” she said.
“What if I told you that I love you?”
She stared at him for a long moment before turning away. “Don’t say that.”
He took a step toward her. “But I do,” he said. “I love you. I can’t help the way I feel.”
“Jeremy . . . please . . .”
He moved more quickly, sensing that he was finally breaching21 her defenses, his courage building with every step. “I want to make this work.”
“We can’t,” she said.
“Of course, we can,” he said, rounding the car. “We can figure this out.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m going to marry Rodney, okay?”
Her words stopped him cold. “What are you talking about?”
“Last night after the dance, he came by and we talked. We talked for a long time. He’s honest, he’s hardworking, he loves me, and he’s here. You’re not.”
She stared back, her face impassive. “Believe it,” she said.
When Jeremy failed to say anything, she handed him the diary, then raised a hand in a brief wave and began to walk backward with him in her sights, much the way she had that day at the cemetery.
“Good-bye, Jeremy,” she said before turning to get in her car.
Still frozen in shock, Jeremy heard the ignition turn over and saw her look over her shoulder as she began to back out. He strode forward to put his hand on the hood24, trying to stop her. But as the car started to move, he let his fingers glide25 along the damp surface and finally took a small step back as the car slid into drive.
For an instant, Jeremy thought he caught the flash of tears in her eyes. But then he saw her look away, and he knew once and for all he wasn’t going to see her again.
He wanted to shout out, telling her to stop. He wanted to tell her that he could stay, that he wanted to stay, that if leaving meant losing her, then going home wasn’t worth it. But the words stayed trapped inside him, and ever so slowly, the car rolled by him, picking up speed as it made its way down the drive.
In the fog, Jeremy remained standing, watching until the car turned shadowlike and only the taillights were visible. And then it vanished completely, the sound of the engine fading into the woods.
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收听单词发音
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1
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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2
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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3
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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4
pinpoint
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| vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置 | |
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5
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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8
ruse
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| n.诡计，计策；诡计 | |
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9
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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10
grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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11
bakers
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| n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三 | |
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12
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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13
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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14
overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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15
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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16
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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17
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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19
banality
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| n.陈腐；平庸；陈词滥调 | |
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20
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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21
breaching
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| 攻破( breach的过去式 )； 破坏，违反 | |
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22
adamant
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| adj.坚硬的，固执的 | |
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23
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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24
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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