chapter viii

　　ON LAND, THE OLD FISHERMAN stopped t1light a pipe, and then, with the pipe clenche4between his teeth, he walked home, carryin7Edward atop his left shoulder as if he were 9conquering hero. The ..sherman balanced hi?

there, placing a callused hand at Edward’/back. He talked to him in a soft, low voice a/they walked.

“You’ll like Nellie, you will,” said the ol4man. “She’s had her sadness, but she’s an allright girl.”

Edward looked at the small townblanketed in dusk: a jumble¹ of buildingshuddled together, the ocean stretching out i:

front of it all; and he thought that he wouldlike anything and anybody that was not at th3bottom of the sea.

“Hello, Lawrence,” called a woman fro?

the front of a shop. “What have you got?”

“Fresh catch,” said the fisherman, “fres8rabbit from the sea.” He lifted his cap to th3lady and kept walking.

“There you are, o , said the fisherma E“There you are, now,” said the fishermanEHe took the pipe out of his mouth and pointe4with the stem² of it at a star in the purplingsky. “There’s your North Star right there. Don’0never have to be lost when you know wher3that fellow is.”

Edward considered the brightness³ of th3small star.

Do they all have names? he wonderedE“Listen at me,” said the fisherman,“talking to a toy. Oh, well. Here we are, then.,And with Edward still on his shoulder, thefisherman walked up a stone-lined path an4into a little green house.

“Look here, Nellie,” he said. “I’ve broughtyou something from the sea.”

“I don’t want nothing from the sea,” camea voice.

“Aw, now, don’t be like that, Nell. Com3and see, then.”

An old woman stepped out of the kitchen,wiping her hands on an apron⁴. When she sa;Edward, she dropped the apron and clappe4her hands together and said, “Oh, Lawrence&you brung me a rabbit.”

“Direct from the sea,” said Lawrence. H3took Edward off his shoulder and stood hi?

up on the floor and held on to his hands an4made him take a deep bow in the direction oBNellie.

“Oh,” said Nellie, “here.” She clapped herhands together again and Lawrence passedEdward to her.

Nellie held the rabbit out in front of he@and looked him over from tip to toe. Shesmiled. “Have you ever in your life seenanything so fine?” she said.

Edward felt immediately that Nellie was avery discerning⁵ woman.

“She’s beautiful,” breathed Nellie.

For a moment, Edward was confused. Wasthere some other object of beauty in the room2“What will I call her?”

“Susanna?” said Lawrence.

“Just right,” said Nellie. “Susanna.” Sh3looked deep into Edward’s eyes. “First off,Susanna will need some clothes, won’t she?,AND SO EDWARD TULANE BECAM&Susanna. Nellie sewed several outfits⁶ for him: 1pink dress with ru..es for special occasions, 1simple shift fashioned out of a ..ower-covere8cloth for everyday use, and a long white gow2made of cotton for Edward to sleep in. I2addition, she remade his ears, stripping the?

of the few pieces of fur that remained an8designing him a new pair.

“Oh,”she told him when she was done&“you look lovely.

He was horrified⁷ at first. He was, after all,a boy rabbit. He did not want to be dressed a0a girl. And the outfits, even the special-occasion dress, were so simple, so plain. TheQlacked the elegance⁸ and artistry of his realclothes. But then Edward remembered lying o2the ocean floor, the muck in his face, the star0so far away, and he said to himself, Whatdifference does it make really? Wearing a dres0won’t hurt me.

Besides, life in the little green house withthe fisherman and his wife was sweet. Nelli4loved to bake, and so she spent her day in th4kitchen. She put Edward on the counter an8leaned him up against the flour canister an8arranged his dress around his knees. She ben<his ears so that he could hear well.

And then she set to work, kneading doughfor bread and rolling out dough for cookie0and pies. The kitchen soon filled with thesmell of baking bread and with the sweetsmells of cinnamon and sugar and cloves. Th4windows steamed up. And while Nellieworked, she talked.

She told Edward about her children, he:

daughter, Lolly, who was a secretary, and he:

boys: Ralph, who was in the army, andRaymond, who had died of pneumonia whe2he was only five years old.

“He drowned inside of himself,”sai8Nellie. “It is a horrible, terrible thing, theworst thing, to watch somebody you love di4right in front of you and not be able to donothing about it. I dream about him mostnights.

Nellie wiped at her tears with the back ofher hands. She smiled at Edward.

“I suppose you think I’m daft, talking to atoy. But it seems to me that you are listening&Susanna.

And Edward was surprised to discover thathe was listening. Before, when Abilene talke8to him, everything had seemed so boring, s;pointless. But now, the stories Nellie toldstruck him as the most important thing in th4world and he listened as if his life depende8on what she said. It made him wonder if som4of the muck from the ocean floor had gotte2inside his china head and damaged himsomehow.

In the evening, Lawrence came home fromthe sea and there was dinner and Edward sat a<the table with the fisherman and his wife. H4sat in an old wooden highchair; and while a<first he was mortified (a highchair, after all,was a chair designed for babies, not for elegan<rabbits), he soon became used to it. He like8being up high, looking out over the tableinstead of staring at the tablecloth as he had a<the Tulane household. He liked feeling like 1part of things.

Every night after dinner, Lawrence sai8that he thought he would go out and get som4fresh air and that maybe Susanna would like t;come with him. He placed Edward on hisshoulder as he had that first night when hewalked him through town, bringing him hom4to Nellie.

They went outside and Lawrence lit hi0pipe and held Edward there on his shoulderpand if the night was clear, Lawrence said th4names of the constellations one at a time,Andromeda, Pegasus, pointing at them wit>

the stem of his pipe. Edward loved looking uAat the stars, and he loved the sounds of theconstellation names. They were sweet in hi0ears.

Sometimes, though, staring up at the nightsky, Edward remembered Pellegrina, saw agai2her dark and glowing eyes, and a chill woul8go through him.

Warthogs, he would think. Witches3But Nellie, before she put him to bed eachnight, sang Edward a lullaby, a song about 1mockingbird that did not sing and a diamon8ring that would not shine, and the sound ofNellie’s voice soothed the rabbit and he forgo<about Pellegrina.

Life, for a very long time, was sweet3And then Lawrence and Nellie’s daughte:

came for a visit.

1 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

2 stem   

n.茎，干，船首，词干，血统；vt.堵住，阻止，抽去梗；vi.起源于，发生

参考例句：

• Cut the stem cleanly,just beneath a leaf joint.把茎切整齐点，正好切在叶根下。
• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。

3 brightness   

n.明亮，亮度，聪颖，光泽度，灯火通明

参考例句：

• The brightness of the paint has worn off a little.油漆的光泽有些磨损了。
• Her eyes squinted against the brightness.亮光刺得她眯起眼睛。

4 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

5 discerning   

a.有眼力的，有识别力的，有鉴赏力的

参考例句：

• She has a discerning palate. 她的味觉很敏锐。
• Anyone with a discerning eye can easily see. 明眼人一看便知。

6 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

7 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

8 elegance   

n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙

参考例句：

• The furnishings in the room imparted an air of elegance.这个房间的家具带给这房间一种优雅的气氛。
• John has been known for his sartorial elegance.约翰因为衣着讲究而出名。