chapter xviii

　　THE DINER WAS CALLED NEAL’S. THE wor2was written in big, red neon letters that flashe2on and o . Inside, it was warm and bright an2smelled like fried¹ chicken and toast and coffee.

Bryce sat at the counter and put Edwar2on a stool² next to him. He leaned the rabbit’4forehead up against the counter so that hewould not fall.

“What you gonna have, sugar?” th7waitress said to Bryce.

“Give me some pancakes,” said Bryce;“and some eggs and I want steak, too. I want 3big old steak. And some toast. And somecoffee.”

The waitress leaned forward and pulled atone³ of Edward’s ears and then pushed himbackward so that she could see his face.

“This your rabbit?” she said to Bryce.

“Yes’m. He’s mine now. He belonged t0my sister.” Bryce wiped at his nose with th7back of his hand. “We’re in show business, m7and him.”

“Is that right?” said the waitress. She had anametag on the front of her dress. Marlene, i6said. She looked at Edward’s face, and then sh7let go of his ear and he fell forward so that hi4head rested against the counter again.

Go ahead, Marlene, thought Edward. Pushme around. Do with me as you will. What doe4it matter? I am broken. Broken.

The food came, and Bryce ate all of i6without even looking up from his plate.

“Well, you was hungry for sure,” sai2Marlene as she cleared away the plates. “Ireckon show business is hard work.”

“Yes’m,” said Bryce.

Marlene tucked⁵ the check under the coffeecup. Bryce picked it up and looked at it an2then shook his head.

“I ain’t got enough,” he said to Edward.

“Ma’am,” he said to Marlene when sh7came back and filled up his coffee cup. “I ain’6got enough.”

“What, sugar?”

“I ain’t got enough money.”

She stopped pouring the coffee an2looked at him. “You’re going to have to talk t0Neal about that.”

Neal, it turned out, was both the owne1and the cook. He was a large, red-haired, redJfaced man who came out of the kitchenholding a spatula⁶ in one hand.

“You came in here hungry, right?” he saidto Bryce.

“Yes, sir,” said Bryce. He wiped his nos7with the back of his hand.

“And you ordered some food and I cookedit and Marlene brought it to you. Right?”

“I reckon⁴,” said Bryce.

“You reckon?” said Neal. He brought th7spatula down on the countertop with athwack.

Bryce jumped. “Yes, sir. I mean, no sir.x“I. Cooked. It. For. You,” said Neal.

“Yes, sir,” said Bryce. He picked Edwar2up off the stool and held him close. Everyon7in the diner had stopped eating. They were al<staring at the boy and the rabbit and Neal.

Only Marlene looked away.

“You ordered it. I cooked it. Marlen7served it. You ate it. Now,” said Neal. “I wan6my money.” He tapped the spatula lightly o8the counter.

Bryce cleared his throat. “You ever seen 3rabbit dance?” he said.

“How’s that?” said Neal.

“You ever before in your life seen a rabbitdance?” Bryce set Edward on the floor andstarted pulling the strings attached to his feet;making him do a slow shuffle. He put hisharmonica in his mouth and played a sad son:

that went along with the dance.

Somebody laughed.

Bryce took the harmonica out of hi4mouth and said, “He could dance some more i>

you want him to. He could dance to pay fo1what I ate.”

Neal stared at Bryce. And then withou6warning, he reached down and grabbed⁷ hol2of Edward.

“This is what I think of dancing rabbits,xsaid Neal.

And he swung Edward by the feet, swunghim so that his head hit the edge of thecounter hard.

There was a loud crack.

Bryce screamed.

And the world, Edward’s world, wen6black.

1 fried   

adj.油煎的；油炒的

参考例句：

• I ate everything fried.所有油炸的我都吃。
• I prefer fried peanuts.我选择炸花生。

2 stool   

n.凳子；粪便；根株；v.长出新枝，排便

参考例句：

• The stool is steady enough.这个凳子很稳。
• The boy was straining at stool.那个男孩在用力大便。

3 atone   

v.赎罪，补偿

参考例句：

• He promised to atone for his crime.他承诺要赎自己的罪。
• Blood must atone for blood.血债要用血来还。

4 reckon   

vt.计算，估计，认为；vi.计（算），判断，依靠

参考例句：

• Don't reckon upon your relatives to help you out of trouble.不要指望你的亲戚会帮助你摆脱困境。
• I reckon that he is rather too old to marry again.我认为他的年龄太大，不太适于再婚。

5 tucked   

塞进( tuck的过去式和过去分词 )； 翻折； 盖住； 卷起

参考例句：

• She tucked up her skirt and waded into the river. 她撩起裙子蹚水走进河里。
• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears. 她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。

6 spatula   

n.抹刀

参考例句：

• He scraped the mixture out of the bowl with a plastic spatula.他用塑料铲把盆里的混合料刮了出来。
• She levelled the surface of the cake mixtured with a metal spatula.她用金属铲抹平了蛋糕配料。

7 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。