SLICKERED AND BOOTED, WEARING THE SAME jeans and wool sweater as before, sitting behind the wheel of his silver BMW, Corky Laputa felt stifled1 by a frustration2 as heavy and suffocating3 as a fur coat.
Although his shirt wasn’t buttoned to the top, anger pinched his throat as tight as if he’d squeezed his sixteen-inch neck into a fifteen-inch collar.
He wanted to drive to West Hollywood and kill Reynerd.
Such impulses must be resisted, of course, for though he dreamed of a societal collapse4 into complete lawlessness, from which a new order would arise, the laws against murder remained in effect. They were still enforced.
Corky was a revolutionary, but not a martyr5.
He understood the need to balance radical6 action with patience.
He recognized the effective limits of anarchic rage.
To calm himself, he ate a candy bar.
Contrary to the claims of organized medicine, both the greed-corrupted Western variety and the spiritually smug Eastern brand, refined sugar did not make Corky hyperkinetic. Sucrose soothed7 him.
[82] Very old people, nerves rubbed to an excruciating sensitivity by life and its disappointments, had long known about the mollifying effect of excess sugar. The farther their hopes and dreams receded8 from their grasp, the more their diets sweetened to include ice cream by the quart, rich cookies in giant economy-size boxes, and chocolate in every form from nonpareils to Hershey’s Kisses, even to Easter-basket bunnies that they could brutally9 dismember and consume for a double enjoyment10.
In her later years, his mother had been an ice-cream junkie. Ice cream for breakfast, lunch, dinner. Ice cream in parfait glasses, in huge bowls, eaten directly from the carton.
She hogged11 down enough ice cream to clog12 a network of arteries13 stretching from California to the moon and back. For a while Corky had assumed that she was committing suicide by cholesterol14.
Instead of spooning herself into heart failure, she appeared to grow healthier. She acquired a glow in the face and a brightness in the eyes that she’d never had before, not even in her youth.
Gallons, barrels, troughs of Chocolate Mint Madness, Peanut-Butter-and-Chocolate Fantasy, Maple15 Walnut16 Delight, and a double dozen other flavors seemed to turn back her biological clock as the waters of a thousand fountains had failed to turn back that of Ponce de Leon.
Corky had begun to think that in the case of his mother’s unique metabolism17, the key to immortality18 might be butterfat. So he killed her.
If she had been willing to share some of her money while still alive, he would have allowed her to live. He wasn’t greedy.
She had not been a believer in generosity19 or even in parental20 responsibility, however, and she cared not at all about his comfort or his needs. He’d been concerned that eventually she would change her will and stiff him forever, sheerly for the pleasure of doing so.
In her working years, his mother had been a university professor of economics, specializing in Marxist economic models and the vicious departmental politics of academia.
[83] She had believed in nothing more than the righteousness of envy and the power of hatred21. When both beliefs proved hollow, she had not abandoned either, but had supplemented them with ice cream.
Corky didn’t hate his mother. He didn’t hate anyone.
He didn’t envy anyone, either.
Having seen those gods fail his mother, he had rejected both. He did not wish to grow old with no comfort but his favorite premium22 brand of coconut23 fudge.
Four years ago, paying her a secret visit with the intention of quickly and mercifully smothering24 her in her sleep, he had instead beaten her to death with a fireplace poker25, as if he were acting26 out a story begun by Anne Tyler in an ironic27 mood and roughly finished by a furious Norman Mailer.
Though unplanned, the exercise with the poker proved cathartic28. Not that he’d taken pleasure in the violence. He had not.
The decision to murder her had really been as unemotional as any decision to purchase the stock of a blue-chip corporation, and the killing29 itself had been conducted with the same cool efficiency with which he would have executed any stock-market investment.
Being an economist30, his mother surely had understood.
His alibi31 had been unassailable. He inherited her estate. Life went on. His life, anyway.
Now, as he finished the candy bar, he felt sugar-soothed and chocolate-coddled.
He still wanted to kill Reynerd, but the unwise urgency of the compulsion had passed. He would take time to plan the hit.
When he acted, he would follow his scheme faithfully. This time, pillow would not become poker.
Noticing that the yellow slicker had shed a lot of water on the seat, he sighed but did nothing. Corky was too committed an anarchist32 to care about the upholstery.
Besides, he had Reynerd to brood about. A perpetual adolescent [84] inside a dour33 exterior34, Rolf had been unable to resist the temptation to deliver the sixth box in person. Looking for a thrill.
The fool had thought that perimeter35 security cameras did not exist solely36 because he himself could not spot them.
Are there no other planets in the solar system, Corky had asked him, just because you can’t locate them in the sky?
When Ethan Truman, Manheim’s security chief, came calling, Reynerd had been stunned37. By his admission, he behaved suspiciously.
As Corky wadded up the candy wrapper and stuffed it into the trash bag, he wished that he could dispose of Reynerd as easily.
Suddenly rain fell more heavily than at any previous moment of the storm. The deluge38 knocked stubborn acorns39 from the oak under which he had parked, and cast them across the BMW. They rattled40 off the paint work and surely marred41 it, snapped off the windshield but did not crack it.
He didn’t have to sit here, in a danger of acorns, plotting Reynerd’s demise42, until a rotting thousand-pound limb broke free, fell on the car, and crushed him for his trouble. He could get on with his day and mentally draw up blueprints43 for the murder while he attended to other business.
Corky drove a few miles to a popular upscale shopping mall and parked in the underground garage.
He got out of the BMW, stripped off his slicker and his droopy rain hat, which he tossed onto the floor of the car. He shrugged44 into a tweed sports coat that complemented45 his sweater and jeans.
An elevator carried him from subterranean46 realms to the highest of two floors of shops, restaurants, and attractions. The arcade47 was on this top level.
With school out, kids crowded around the arcade games. Most were in their early teens.
The machines beeped, rang, tolled48, chimed, bleated49, tweedled, [85] whistled, rattattooed, boomed, shrieked50, squealed51, ululated, roared like gunning engines, emitted scraps52 of bombastic53 music, the screams of virtual victims, twinkled, flashed, strobed, and scintillated54 in all known colors, and swallowed quarters, dollars, more voraciously55 even than the iconic Pac-Man had once gobbled cookies off a million arcade screens in an era now quaint56 if not unknown to the current crowd.
Wandering among the machines, Corky distributed free drugs to the kids.
These small plastic bags each contained eight doses of Ecstasy57—or Extasy, if you’d gone to a public school—with a block-lettered label that promised FREE X, and then suggested, JUST REMEMBER WHO YOUR FRIEND IS.
He was pretending to be a dealer58 drumming up business. He never expected to see any of these brats59 again.
Some kids accepted the packets, thought it was cool.
Others showed no interest. Of those who declined, none made an effort to report him to anyone; nobody liked a rat.
In a few instances, Corky slipped the bags into kids’ jacket pockets without their knowledge. Let them find it later, be amazed.
Some would take the stuff. Some would throw it away or give it away. In the end, he would have succeeded in contaminating a few more brains.
Truth: He wasn’t interested in creating addicts60. He would have given away heroin61 or even crack cocaine62 if that had been his goal.
Scientific studies of Ecstasy revealed that five years after taking just a single dose, the user continued to exhibit lingering changes in brain chemistry. After regular use, permanent brain damage could ensue.
Some oncologists and neurologists suggested that in the decades to come, the current high incidence of Ecstasy use would produce a dramatic increase in early-onset cancerous brain tumors, as well as a [86] decrease in the cognitive63 abilities of hundreds of thousands if not millions of citizens.
Eight-dose giveaways like this would not facilitate the collapse of civilization overnight. Corky was committed to long-term effect.
He never carried more than fifteen bags, and once he started to hand them out, he made a point of ridding himself of them quickly. Too clever to get caught holding, he was in and out of the arcade in three minutes.
Because he didn’t need to pause to make a sale, the staff didn’t have an opportunity to notice him. By the time he left the arcade, he was just another shopper: nothing incriminating in his pockets.
At a Starbucks, he bought a double latte, and sipped64 it at one of their tables on the promenade65, watching the parade of humanity in all its absurdity66.
After finishing the coffee, he went to a department store. He needed socks.
收听单词发音 |
1
stifled
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
frustration
|
|
| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
suffocating
|
|
| a.使人窒息的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
collapse
|
|
| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
martyr
|
|
| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
radical
|
|
| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
soothed
|
|
| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
receded
|
|
| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
brutally
|
|
| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
hogged
|
|
| adj.（船）中拱的，（路）拱曲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
clog
|
|
| vt.塞满，阻塞；n.[常pl.]木屐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
arteries
|
|
| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
cholesterol
|
|
| n.（U）胆固醇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
maple
|
|
| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
walnut
|
|
| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
metabolism
|
|
| n.新陈代谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
immortality
|
|
| n.不死，不朽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
generosity
|
|
| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
parental
|
|
| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
premium
|
|
| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
coconut
|
|
| n.椰子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
smothering
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的现在分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
poker
|
|
| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
ironic
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
cathartic
|
|
| adj.宣泄情绪的；n.泻剂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
economist
|
|
| n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
alibi
|
|
| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
anarchist
|
|
| n.无政府主义者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
dour
|
|
| adj.冷酷的，严厉的；（岩石）嶙峋的；顽强不屈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
exterior
|
|
| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
perimeter
|
|
| n.周边，周长，周界 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
solely
|
|
| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
stunned
|
|
| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
deluge
|
|
| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
acorns
|
|
| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
marred
|
|
| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
demise
|
|
| n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
blueprints
|
|
| n.蓝图，设计图( blueprint的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
complemented
|
|
| 有补助物的，有余格的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
subterranean
|
|
| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
arcade
|
|
| n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
tolled
|
|
| 鸣钟（toll的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
bleated
|
|
| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的过去式和过去分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
shrieked
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
squealed
|
|
| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
scraps
|
|
| 油渣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
bombastic
|
|
| adj.夸夸其谈的，言过其实的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
scintillated
|
|
| v.（言谈举止中）焕发才智( scintillate的过去式和过去分词 )；谈笑洒脱；闪耀；闪烁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
voraciously
|
|
| adv.贪婪地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
quaint
|
|
| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
dealer
|
|
| n.商人，贩子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
brats
|
|
| n.调皮捣蛋的孩子( brat的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
addicts
|
|
| 有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
heroin
|
|
| n.海洛因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
cocaine
|
|
| n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
cognitive
|
|
| adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
sipped
|
|
| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
promenade
|
|
| n./v.散步 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
absurdity
|
|
| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |