Chapter 10

Eccles had reached for him, it felt like, out of the ground. The minister's voice had sounded tinny and buried. Ruth's bedroom is dim; the streetlamp like a low moon burns shadows into the inner planes of the armchair, the burdened bed, the twisted sheet he tossed back finally when he realized the phone would never stop. The bright rose window of the church opposite is still lit: purple red blue gold like the notes of different bells struck. His body, his whole frame of nerves and bone, tingles¹, as if with the shaking of small bells hung up and down his silver skin. His spent groin tingles. He wonders if he had been asleep, and how long, ten minutes or five hours. He finds his underclothes and trousers draped on a chair and fumbles² with them; his white shirt seems to crawl, like a cluster of glowworms in grass. He hesitates a second before poking³ his fingers into its illusion, that turns under his touch to safe cloth, dead. He carries it in his hand to the bed with its silent burden.

 

"Hey. Baby."

 

The long lump under the covers doesn't answer. Just the top of Ruth's hair peeks⁴ out. He doesn't feel she is asleep. When she is asleep her breathing is noisier.

 

"Hey. I got to go out."

 

No answer. If she wasn't asleep she heard everything he said on the phone, but what did he say? He remembers nothing except this sense of being reached. Ruth lies heavy and sullen⁵ and her body hidden. The night is hot enough for just a sheet but she put a blanket on the bed saying she felt cold. It was just about the only thing she did say. He shouldn't have made her do it. He doesn't know why he did except it felt right at the time. He thought it might be a breakthrough. She had done it for others, what was wrong with him? If she didn't want to, if it would spoil him for her, why didn't she say No? He kept touching⁶ her cheeks with his fingertips. He kept wanting to lift her up and hug her in simple thanks and say Enough you're mine again but somehow couldn't bring himself to have it stop and kept thinking the next moment, until it was too late, done. Right down her sweet red gullet. With it went instantly that strange floating feeling of high pride. Shame plunged⁷ in.

 

"My wife's having her baby. I got to go see her through it. I'll be back in a couple hours. I love you."

 

Still the body under the covers and the frizzy crescent of hair peeking⁸ over the top edge of the blanket don't move. He is so sure she is not asleep he thinks, I've killed her. It's ridiculous, such a thing wouldn't kill her, it has nothing to do with death; but the thought paralyzes him from going forward to touch her and make her listen.

 

"Ruth. I got to go this once, it's my baby she's having and she's such a mutt I don't think she can do it by herself. Our first one came awfully⁹ hard. It's the least I owe her."

 

Perhaps this wasn't the best way to say it but he's trying to explain and her stillness frightens him and is beginning to make him sore.

 

"Ruth. Hey. If you don't say anything I'm not coming back. Ruth."

 

She lies there like some dead animal or somebody after a car accident when they put a tarpaulin¹⁰ over. He feels if he went over and lifted her she would come to life but he doesn't like being manipulated and grows angry. He puts on his shirt and doesn't bother with a coat and necktie but it seems to take forever putting on his socks; the soles of his feet are tacky.

1 tingles   

n.刺痛感( tingle的名词复数 )v.有刺痛感( tingle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Something has been pressing on my leg and it tingles. 腿压麻了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His cheek tingles from the slap she has given to him. 他的面颊因挨了她一记耳光而感到刺痛。 来自互联网

2 fumbles   

摸索，笨拙的处理( fumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Van der Meyde boots the ball to safety after Toldo fumbles a right cross. 因为托尔多在右侧漏球，范得美德把球护到安全的地方。
• The placement shot fumbles the primary cause which into this competition Chinese army loses the game. 定位球失球成为本场比赛汉军输球的主要原因。

3 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

4 peeks   

n.偷看，窥视( peek的名词复数 )v.很快地看( peek的第三人称单数 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• A freckle-face blenny peeks from its reef burrow in the Solomon Islands. 奇特的海生物图片画廊。一只斑点面容粘鱼窥视从它的暗礁穴在所罗门群岛。 来自互联网
• She peeks at her neighbor from the curtain. 她从窗帘后面窥视她的邻居。 来自互联网

5 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

6 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

7 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

8 peeking   

v.很快地看( peek的现在分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• I couldn't resist peeking in the drawer. 我不由得偷看了一下抽屉里面。
• They caught him peeking in through the keyhole. 他们发现他从钥匙孔里向里窥视。 来自辞典例句

9 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

10 tarpaulin   

n.涂油防水布，防水衣，防水帽

参考例句：

• The pool furniture was folded,stacked,and covered with a tarpaulin.游泳池的设备都已经折叠起来，堆在那里，还盖上了防水布。
• The pool furniture was folded,stacked,and covered with a tarpaulin.游泳池的设备都已经折叠起来，堆在那里，还盖上了防水布。