Chapter 15 14

14 Marianne's head rose slowly like a periscope from the landing, and the first thing she saw were her bare legs.Standing in the small hall and looking down at her was Ainsley; she hadn't dressed up yet, and her face was still as indifferent as usual. Only when you observed carefully, you could find a slight mixture of surprise and surprise in her expression. unhappy. "Hey," she said, "I thought you weren't coming back for dinner tonight." She stared at the bag of groceries in Marianne's hand, disapprovingly. Marianne didn't say a word, and after she walked upstairs, she replied: "I didn't plan to come back, but now the plan has changed. There is an urgent matter in Peter's office." She went into the kitchen and took the paper bag. Put it on the table.Ainsley came in after her, and she sat down in a chair.

"Marian," she said suddenly, "must it be done to-night?" "What's the matter?" Marianne asked vaguely as she put the carton of milk in the refrigerator, not paying attention to her words. "Hey, that's it, Leonard." Marianne was so preoccupied with her own business that she didn't catch what Ainsley meant for a moment, and it took a while to wake up. "Oh, that's the thing," she said.She took off her coat thoughtfully. In the past two months, she hadn't paid much attention to what happened to Ainsley's (or was it Leonard's?) plan of action, and she decided not to interfere.But whether she is willing or not, Ainsley will not let her go. She will always tell her her analysis and troubles in detail, from which she can infer the general situation.After all, you don't have to interfere, but you can't plug your ears.Things don't seem to be going according to Ainsley's plan, and it looks like she's gone a little too far.When they met for the first time, she portrayed herself as an innocent and innocent girl, and she cunningly refused to get close to Lun, which made Lun dare not act rashly.

He was worried that any overly abrupt and overly aggressive behavior would scare her away, and he could only approach such a girl in a considerate, careful and gentle way.As it turned out, he just asked her out to lunch a few times at first, and then progressed to asking her out to dinner at regular intervals, and finally to going to the theater to watch foreign movies together, and once when he watched a movie, he plucked up his courage took her hand.He even invited her to his house for tea one afternoon.Afterwards, Ainsley swears more than once that his behavior was unbelievable. Since she made a sign not to drink, she couldn't find an excuse for him to get her drunk.He really treated her like a little girl during the conversation, patiently told her this and that, told her about filming TV, which opened her eyes, and repeatedly said that he just treated her as a little sister , didn't have a bad idea at all, she almost cried out when she heard it.As for her, she can't even talk back to him. Since she is pretending to be so innocent, naturally she can't make people feel that she has a deep heart in her chest.It's a bit of a cocoon; she's made herself into that image, and now she's stuck with it.If there is a little initiative, if one or two words that appear to be slightly clever and witty are accidentally missed, the trick will be exposed, and her pantomime will not be able to continue.So she was privately worried and angry that Lun's overcautious strategy made her itch, and she could only watch the crucial calendars go through, without any results.

"If it doesn't work out tonight," Ainsley said, "I've got nothing to do. I can't take it anymore, I'm going to have to find another one, and it's such a waste of time." She wrinkled Brows, but hers were so pale they were barely noticeable. "So where...?" Marianne asked, half understanding why Ainsley was upset about her coming home suddenly today. "Well, he's obviously not going to ask me to look at his camera," said Ainsley petulantly. "Anyway, if I say yes to everything, he'll be suspicious right away. But we're going out to dinner." , I thought maybe I could invite him over for a cup of coffee after dinner..."

"You mean I'd better go out and get away?" Marianne asked bitterly. "Oh, that's as good as it gets. Normally, I don't care, and I don't think he'd be surprised if a whole bunch of people were in the next room, or under the bed, but Well, he's gonna think I should care about stuff like that. I'm going to let him get me into bed step by step." "Well, I see." Marianne sighed.At this point, she has no way to make irresponsible remarks and blame the other party. "But where should we go?" Ainsley immediately beamed with joy. Her main purpose had been achieved, and the rest of the details were only secondary. "Hey, can you call Peter and say you're going over? He shouldn't care, you're already engaged."

Marianne thought for a moment.In the past, she couldn't remember exactly which period of time it was, but that's okay, even if he wasn't happy, it didn't matter.But these days, especially after his call this afternoon, it wasn't quite right.Even if she just quietly hid alone in the living room reading a book, he would secretly blame her for always clinging to him, worrying about him, and interfering with his work.Even if she told him the truth, it was useless.Nor did she want to bring it up in front of Peter: he had barely seen each other since then, and he was no longer a happy bachelor, but a mature male who was engaged. In front of people, such views on friends and things he interacts with will change accordingly, but he may still adopt a protective stance, which will cause trouble, if not for Ainsley, at least for herself.This would provide him with material to attack. "I don't think I'd better go," she said, "he's busy as hell." She really had nowhere to go.Clara is in the hospital.It was too cold to pass the time by sitting in the park or hanging out on the road.Maybe go to some office maid's house... "I'm going to the movies," she said finally.

Relieved, Ainsley smiled. "Great," she said, going into her room to get dressed.A few minutes later, she poked her head out again and asked, "Can I use that bottle of whiskey? Maybe he wants to drink it. I'll just say the wine is yours, and you won't care." "Sure, use it," Marianne said.The whiskey actually belonged to the two of them, and she knew that Ainsley would settle it with her the next time she bought wine.Besides, even if she forgot about it, half a bottle of whiskey could accomplish such a great thing, and the sacrifice didn't matter.Although the matter is not hers, it is really uncomfortable to drag it on like this without any result.She was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the long countertop, staring at the sink, where there was a piece of eggshell, four glasses with some cloudy liquid in them, and a pot that was just Overcooked macaroni and cheese.She was determined not to wash the dishes, but she picked up the egg shells and threw them in the trash can, which was a symbolic cleanup.She has always disliked throwing debris around.

Ainsley emerged in a shirt-and-sleeve dress suit, with earrings in the shape of daisies in her ears and meticulously painted eyebrows and eyeshadow.Marianne said to her, "Well, the movie doesn't last all night. I have to be back around half past twelve." She thought, you can't tell me to sleep on the side of the road. "I saw that the situation was completely under control by then," Ainsley said firmly, "if not, the two of us would not be in the room. I would throw him out of the window first, and then I would Jump off the building again. But just in case.When you come back, if you see a door closed, please knock first, and don't come in. "

Marianne thought that this sentence was a bit wrong, if you see which door is closed? "Well," she said, "I must make it clear that you don't come into my room." "Well, your room is cleaner," Ainsley replied convincingly, "and if I get carried away by him in the heat of the moment, I can't interrupt him. Tell him you're in the wrong room." ',right?" "You're right," said Marianne, and for a moment it seemed to her that she was cast out and homeless. "I'm afraid to crawl into my bed and find someone else is already sleeping there."

"Well," Ainsley said, "if you do use your room, I'll put a tie on the doorknob, okay?" "Whose tie?" Marianne asked.She knew that Ainsley liked to collect things, and she could see photos, letters, and dried flowers on the floor of her room; but she hadn't heard that she also collected ties. "Hey, of course it's his," Ainsley said. Marian was disturbed for a while, and seemed to see a trophy showroom in front of her eyes, and some deer heads with horns were vaguely nailed to the wall. "Why not just use his scalp?" she asked.After all, Leonard is still her friend.

She simply made some food and then made tea by herself.Ainsley had already gone out, and while she dawdled at home until it was almost the hour before going out to the evening movie, she thought about the matter again. She was thinking about it as she made her way to the nearby theater district.Sometimes, she would have a vague idea in the back of her mind that she should have warned Len anyway, but she didn't know how to do it, and more importantly, she couldn't see why she should. this way.She knew that in Lun's eyes, Ainsley was young and naive, like a young child who didn't understand anything. He would never easily believe that Ainsley was a scheming woman who was plotting against him. , In fact, he was used as a substitute for free artificial insemination, he was not treated as a human being at all, and he did not care about the consequences of this for him.Moreover, Ainsley has been extremely cautious, and there is no evidence at present to convince Len that such a thing will happen.Several times Marianne thought of calling him in the dead of night, covering the receiver with nylon stockings and whispering "Look out!"He couldn't even guess what to watch out for.Sending an anonymous letter...he would think it was a good thing done by some mentally disturbed person, or that one of his ex-girlfriends was jealous and wanted to mess with him and deliberately ruin his good business, and it would only make him Pursue his goal with more vigor.In addition, since she got engaged, she and Ainsley have reached a certain tacit understanding, that is, they will not interfere with each other's big affairs.Although it is very clear that neither person approves of the actions taken by the other according to their own moral principles.If she had said something to Lun, she was sure Ainsley could have fought back successfully, at least to the point of making you miserable.Forget it, leave Lun to his fate, no doubt he'll jump right in with glee.Besides, what made Marianne even more confused was that she couldn't remember whether she had thrown Christian to the lion or the lion to Christian.As Ainsley asked her one Sunday, was she on the side of the force that created life, or was it against it? Besides, the landlady downstairs must not be forgotten.Even if she hadn't stood at the window or peeked behind the velvet curtains when Leonard came, she would have known by the sound of footsteps that a man had come upstairs.Her mind is like an autocratic kingdom, and the code of conduct is as inflexible as gravity. According to her point of view, those who go upstairs must come down, and it is best not to exceed half past eleven at night.Although she never made it clear, it was tacitly understood by everyone.Marian hoped that Ainsley would not forget this, and get him out as soon as he was done, no later than twelve o'clock in the middle of the night; Come on, wait until the next morning to find a solution.As for the method, she didn't know, maybe she had to stuff him into a laundry bag and carry him out secretly, anyway, he couldn't let him walk down the stairs in a big way.Of course, if they had no choice, they could find another house to live in, but she didn't want to make a fuss. Marian got off at the subway station not far from the laundry room.There are two movie theaters facing each other on both sides of the nearby street, and she went to both of them first.One was showing a foreign film with subtitles, and the outside advertisement used some comments copied from newspapers. These uncolored texts were not printed very clearly. " and "mature", this movie has won several awards. Another showed a cheap American Western, with colorful advertisements showing men on big horses and a few dying Indians.At this moment, she felt that she was not in the mood to follow the ups and downs of the plot and appreciate the large sections of close-up shots; in those highly artistic shots, the facial muscles of the actors twitched, and even the pores could be clearly seen.She just wanted to find a warm place to sit for a while and forget about some annoying things for a while, so she chose western movies.She bought a ticket and walked in. The movie had already started, and there were not many audiences. Half of the seats were empty, so she found a seat in the dark. She sat down listlessly, leaned her head on the back of the chair, pressed her knees against the seat in front of her, and slightly closed her eyes.This pose is a bit inelegant. Anyway, no one can see it in the dark, and there is no one on either side of her.She took care to choose such a seat, so that no sneaky old man would come to make trouble.She remembers encountering it once when she was in elementary school, when she had no idea that such things could happen in movie theaters.Touching your knee with your hand, or touching you tremblingly, is nothing to be afraid of (you just have to avoid it in silence), it just makes her feel very embarrassed, because these gestures are not malicious .For these groping in the dark, a little physical contact with someone, even a little touch, is extremely important. Colorful pictures appeared in front of her eyes. A big man wearing a wide-brimmed hat riding a tall horse occupied the entire screen. With the switching of the camera, big trees and cacti appeared in the foreground for a while, and disappeared in the foreground for a while. In the background, other than that, there is only smoke billowing, gray sand billowing, and galloping horses.She didn't intend to figure out what the cryptic dialogue meant, nor did she want to figure out the plot of the story.She knew there had to be bad people up to it, and the good ones would fight them, probably preemptively, and get the money (and the Indians, there were as many of them as buffalo anyway, and everybody had free access to them) , but she doesn't have to worry about which one is the good guy and which one is the bad guy on the screen.At least it's not a new-style western about insanity.She looked at the supporting actors with great interest, thinking that these people must not have much to do, and wondered how they passed the time, and whether anyone would dream of becoming a big star one day. This is at night, and the screen is a hazy purple-blue, which can only be seen in color movies.One was approaching the other on tiptoe across the grass, and all was silent except for the rustling of the grass and the imitation of crickets.Then, behind her, to her left, there was a soft click, followed by the sound of something hard hitting the floor.Shots were fired, and then there was another fight, and it was daylight. She heard the click again. She turned her head to the left, the sun was shining brightly on the screen, and in the blurred reflected light, she struggled to make out the appearance of the person two seats away from her, it turned out to be the person in the laundry room that person.He curled up lazily on the seat, staring forward blankly.He held a bag in one hand, and every half minute or so his other hand would take something from that bag and stuff it into his mouth, and then there would be a click, and then something would drop to the floor.He must be eating something in the shell, but it's definitely not peanuts.Peanuts are not as loud.She watched his profile, seeing the shadows of his nose, one eye, and arched shoulders. She turned and looked ahead again, trying to focus on the screen.Meeting him unexpectedly here, she was secretly a little happy in her heart.But this delight was a little unreasonable, because she didn't want to talk to him, in fact, she hoped that he hadn't found her yet, and he wouldn't see her sitting alone in the movie theater without a partner for a while.He seemed obsessed with the movie, he was absorbed in the movie, and the food he ate--what was it that made this annoying clicking sound?If she's silent, he probably won't notice her.But she had a vague feeling that he must have recognized her, and knew that she was sitting next to him long before she recognized him.She stared at the vast expanse of grassland on the screen in a daze, beside her, it still clicked every once in a while, which made her tired of hearing it. On the screen, people and horses are crossing the river, and there is a blond girl in shabby clothes. At this time, she suddenly felt a strange feeling in her left hand.The left hand didn't seem to listen to the command of her brain, and automatically wanted to reach out to touch his shoulder, and she definitely didn't want to do it in her heart.She forcefully ordered her fingers to grab the handle of the chair. "That's never going to work," she warned herself silently. "He's probably going to cry." But since she didn't look at him again, she was afraid that if she did reach out, all she'd find was a Empty chairs, nothing but elegant soft leather covers on the seats. The volume of the movie suddenly increased, and a group of Indians rushed out from the ambush, and there was a burst of shouting and killing. After the attack was repulsed, other sounds could be heard again, but she could no longer hear the soft click on his side, which had been as regular as a clock.She turned her head sharply to the left, only to see that the seat was empty.So, he's gone, or he hasn't come at all; maybe someone else is sitting in that seat. On the screen, a burly shepherd kisses the blond girl reverently on the lips. "Hank, are you...?" she whispered.It won't be long before the sun goes down. At this moment, a sound rang in her ear, and she could feel the exhaled breath blowing her hair. The voice said, "It's pumpkin seeds." She accepted the news calmly in her heart. "Pumpkin seeds," she replied secretly in her heart, "of course it is this thing, why not?" But her body was startled suddenly, and she froze instantly.When the physical tension passed and she was able to turn around, she realized that there was no one behind her. The movie has reached the end stage, she sat there, almost thinking that everything just now was her own hallucination. "Looks like everyone else, I'm finally going crazy," she thought. "It's annoying. But it's a new experience." But at that moment, a shot of the clan flag flying appeared on the screen. , there was another burst of piercing music, and then the lights came on.She took some time to look under the seat he had just (probably) sat on, and there was a pile of white melon seed shells.This is like those road signs used by primitive people, a pile of stones, a mark made of a few branches, or a dent carved in the bark, which indicates the way or indicates the situation ahead.She stared at the pile of melon seed shells for a few minutes, and a few moviegoers passed her sparsely into the aisle, but she still couldn't figure out what was going on.As she walked out of the theater, she thought, no matter what, this person's mouth finally left some visible marks. She walked back to the apartment as slowly as she could, not wanting to interrupt the others while they were still busy.From the outside, there was no light in the house, but when she entered the gate and turned on the light in the hall, a person came out of the dining room without sound and stopped her.It was the landlady, who, despite her head full of curlers and her purple Vielle flannel pajamas, tried to look terribly dignified. "Miss Maccabin," she said, frowning, "I'm really worried. Earlier in the evening I heard a man follow Miss Duby up the stairs, and he must not have come down by now. I You can't hear me wrong. Of course, I'm not saying--I know you're both decent people, but my daughter--" Marianne glanced at her watch. "Oh, I don't know," she replied dubiously, "I don't think there is such a thing. I'm afraid you are mistaken, it is past one o'clock, and if Ainsley hadn't gone out, she would usually have Sleeping."—"Well, that's what I thought too, I mean, I can't hear anyone upstairs...I don't mean...the old woman, she's been eavesdropping, she's got energy, Marianne thought . "Then she must be asleep," She smiled and said, "The person who came here may have gone downstairs quietly because they were afraid of disturbing you. But I will tell her about it for you tomorrow morning." She tried her best to put on a smile so that the landlady Don't worry, then she quickly went upstairs. As she went upstairs, she thought, Ainsley, this whitewashed tomb of alluring burials, and now I have painted her another layer of white paint.But don't forget that there's a speck in your neighbor's eye and a girder in your own eye, and so on.Now the question is, early tomorrow morning, no matter how many bones are left in the guy, how are we going to get him downstairs under the eyes of that shrewd old woman? She saw the bottle of whiskey lying on the kitchen table, three-quarters down.The door to her own room was closed, a green and blue striped tie hanging majestically from the doorknob. That meant she got Ainsley's bed, clearing a place to sleep among the mess of sheets, clothes, blankets, and paperback novels. "Damn it!" she said to herself, throwing off her coat.