ANNA

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2013
EVENING
She’s on the floor in the kitchen. She’s bleeding¹, butI don’t think it’s serious. He hasn’t finished it. I’mnot really sure what he’s waiting for. I suppose it’snot easy for him. He did love her, once.
I was upstairs, putting Evie down, and I wasthinking that this is what I wanted, isn’t it? Rachelwill be gone at last, once and for all, never to return.
This is what I dreamed about happening. Well, notexactly this, obviously². But I did want her gone. Idreamed of a life without Rachel, and now I couldhave one. It would be just the three of us, me andTom and Evie, like it should be.
For just a moment, I let myself enjoy the fantasy³,but then I looked down at my sleeping daughter andI knew that was all it was. A fantasy. I kissed myfinger and touched it to her perfect lips⁴ and I knewthat we would never be safe. I would never be safe,because I know, and he won’t be able to trust me.
And who’s to say another Megan won’t come along?
Or—worse—another Anna, another me?
I went back downstairs and he was sitting at thekitchen table, drinking a beer. I couldn’t see her atfirst, but then I noticed her feet, and I thought atfirst that it was done, but he said she was all right.
“Just a little knock,” he said. He won’t be able tocall this one an accident.
So we waited. I got myself a beer, too, and wedrank them together. He told me he was really sorryabout Megan, about the affair. He kissed me, he told me he’d make it up to me, that we’d be OK, thateverything would be all right.
“We’ll move away from here, just like you’ve alwayswanted. We’ll go anywhere you want. Anywhere.” Heasked me if I could forgive him, and I said that Icould, given time, and he believed me. I think hebelieved me.
The storm has started, just like they said it would.
The rumble⁵ of thunder wakes her, brings her to. Shestarts to make a noise, to move around on the floor.
“You should go,” he says to me. “Go back upstairs.”
I kiss him on the lips and I leave him, but I don’tgo back upstairs. Instead I pick up the phone in thehallway, sit on the bottom stair and listen, thehandset in my hand, waiting for the right moment.
I can hear him talking to her, soft and low, andthen I hear her. I think she’s crying.

1 bleeding   

adj.出血的；（心情）过度悲痛的；（用于加强语气，尤表示非常厌烦）该死的；讨厌的n.流血，失血v.流血( bleed的现在分词 )；勒索，敲诈；散开；给（某人）放血

参考例句：

• Press firmly on the wound to stop the bleeding. 用力压住伤口止血。
• The nurse applied pressure to his arm to stop the bleeding. 护士压住他的胳膊止血。

2 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

3 fantasy   

n.幻想，白日梦

参考例句：

• Your husband is living in a world of fantasy.你丈夫正生活在一个虚幻世界。
• The whole story is a fantasy.整个故事只是一个虚构。

4 lips   

abbr.logical inferences per second 每秒的逻辑推论n.嘴唇( lip的名词复数 )；（容器或凹陷地方的）边缘；粗鲁无礼的话

参考例句：

• Her lips compressed into a thin line. 她的双唇抿成了一道缝。
• the fullness of her lips 她丰满的双唇

5 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。