Chapter 28 27

27 The first guests were three office maidens.Lucy arrived first, and Amy and Millie arrived almost at the same time five minutes later.They clearly hadn't expected to meet here: everyone seemed a little annoyed that she wasn't alone.Marianne introduced Peter to them, led them into the bedroom, and told them to put their coats on the bed beside hers.They all praised Marianne for looking good in red in a peculiar tone.Everyone looked at themselves in front of the mirror, arranged their clothes carefully, and straightened their bodies before entering the hall. Lucy put on another lipstick, and Amy dabbed two hastily on her head.

They sat down carefully on the modern Danish sofa, and Peter brought them drinks.Lucy wore a purple fleece dress with silver-gray eyelids and false eyelashes; Amy wore pink chiffon that looked a bit like a high school uniform.Her hair was sprayed with hairspray, so the strands looked unnatural, and her petticoat was showing.Millie was dressed in a light blue satin dress, but it was bulging in places, which looked weird; she carried a small bag full of sequins, and she spoke in the most nervous tone of the three. "I'm glad you all came," Marianne said.In fact, she was not happy at all at this time.They were so excited, each of them wished a miracle would happen, and a man like Peter would come in through the door, kneel down on one knee and propose to himself.What would happen if they met Fish and Trevor (not to mention Duncan)?Besides, not to mention Duncan, what would Fish and Trevor do if they saw them?She thought that the three men and three women would run out screaming, the three women would rush out the door, and the three men might jump out of the window.She thought: What have I done?She hardly thought about the three graduate students any more, though; and as time went on and the whiskey drank better, the three seemed more and more distant, and perhaps they would never come at all.

Peter's guests came one after another with their wives.Peter played a record on the stereo, and the room was noisy and crowded.The three office virgins turned their heads at the door every time someone knocked, looking disappointed when they saw a well-dressed husband standing next to a smug, glamorous wife, I had no choice but to turn around to drink some wine and talk a few words with an unnatural expression.Amy was fingering a rhinestone earring she was wearing, and Millie was tugging at a loose sequin on her bag. Marianne smiled, and led the wife swiftly into the bedroom.The coats piled higher and higher on the bed.

Peter served wine for everyone, and drank quite a bit himself.Peanuts, potato chips, and other foods were passed from hand to mouth.The people in the living room have gradually been divided into two groups according to the habit. The wives are gathered on the side of the couch, and the men are on the side of the stereo. There seems to be an invisible boundary between the two.The office virgins are sitting in the wrong place, and they gloomily listen to the conversations of the wives.Marianne felt another pang of regret.But she didn't think she had time to greet them now, she was passing pickled mushrooms to everyone.

She wondered why Ainsley hadn't come yet. The door opened again, and Clara and Joe entered, followed by Leonard Slank.Marianne's heart skipped a beat, and a mushroom fell from the plate she was holding, bounced a few times on the floor, and rolled out of sight under the stereo.She put down the tray hastily, and Peter was already greeting them, shaking Len's hand cheerfully.After a few drinks, his voice got louder and he said, "Hey, how are you? It's so good to have you here, man, I've been meaning to call you." Lun Well, it was just a stagger, staring at him blankly.

Marianne grabbed Clara by the sleeve and pulled her into the bedroom. "Why is he here?" She asked a little rudely. Clara took off her coat. "We brought him. I hope you don't mind. I don't think you will mind. You are old friends after all. I think it's better to bring him. We don't want him to walk around by himself. You must You can see he's in a bad situation. He came as soon as the babysitters got to our house and he was kind of scary looking, he's clearly in serious trouble. He told us off and on about having an affair with some woman He said that he was afraid to go back to his own residence. I really don’t know what’s going on. Is someone going to do something to him? It’s so pitiful, there is no way, we are going to let him temporarily sleep in the second In the room at the back of the building, which is actually Arthur's room, but I don't think Len would mind being crowded with him. We are all worried about him, and he needs someone who will take good care of him and give him With the warmth of the family, he seems unable to cope at all..."

"Did he say who that woman was?" Marianne asked hastily. "Of course not," said Clara, raising her eyebrows. "He doesn't usually mention that name." "I'll get you some drinks," said Marianne, feeling a little out of sorts.Clara and Joe naturally wouldn't know who that woman was, or they wouldn't have brought him here.She wondered, too, that he should come. He must have known that there was a good chance he would meet Emberly at the party, but perhaps he was too distracted to care about it at the moment.What worried her most was how Ainsley would react to seeing him.She might not be able to control herself and make some extreme moves.

When they returned to the hall, Marianne found Leonard surrounded by the office maidens, and they saw that he was alone, and immediately took action.Now he was forced into the middle with his back against the wall, with one person on one side and a third standing in front of him, and there was no way he could escape.He braced himself against the wall with one hand to keep himself from falling, and in the other he held a large beer mug.As they talked, his eyes kept moving back and forth on the faces of the three of them, as if he didn't want to take too long on one of them.His face was gray and swollen like dough, and now he had a look of suspicion, boredom, and panic.But the three ladies seemed to have forced something out of him, too, because Marianne heard Lucy yell, "Television! That's wonderful!" The other two just giggled uncomfortably.Leonard desperately downed a big gulp of beer.

Marianne, who was distributing olives, saw Jo leave the group of men and come towards her. "Hello," he said to her, "thank you for having us here tonight, Clara rarely gets a chance to go out." They both turned to look at Clara, who was now talking to a lady over the couch. "Well, I'm worried about her," went on Jo. "I think it's more difficult for her than it is for most women, I think, for all women who go to college. She has ideas, she has brains, and the professors who teach her take her opinions very seriously. She was seen as an active mind. But when she got married, her inner core was destroyed..."

"What did you say?" Marianne asked. "Her core, that is, the center of her personality, the pillar of her spirit, you can also say that it is her own image in her mind." "Well, that's right," said Marianne. "The fact is that her responsibilities as a woman are in conflict with her core, and as a woman, responsibilities require her to be in a passive way..." For a moment Marianne seemed to see floating in the air above Jo's head a large round cake decorated with buttercream and cherries in glace. "So she let her husband take over her inner core. After the child was born, one day she suddenly found that her heart was empty, and there was nothing left. She no longer knew what was going on with her, her inner core The knot is ruined," he shook his head slightly, taking a sip of his wine. "I see the same thing with my own female students, but warning them doesn't help either."

Marianne turned to look at Clara; she was standing talking in a simple beige serge dress and long flaxen hair.She wondered if Joe had told Clara that her kernel was destroyed; she remembered the worm in the apple.She saw Clara make a gesture for emphasis, and the lady seemed startled, and took a step back. "Of course it's no use realizing that," Joe was still going on. "Whether you realize it or not, it happens. Maybe women shouldn't be allowed to go to college at all, so that they won't feel that there is something missing in their spiritual life in the future. I suggested to Clara, for example, that she should Go out and do something, like take a course at night, and she just looks at me funny." Marianne looked up lovingly at Jo, and, as she was flushed from drink, it was not apparent that she had been affected.She thought of Jo running around the house in his underwear, washing the dishes, ripping stamps from envelopes roughly while he pondered the importance of his spiritual life; she wondered how he tore them off. How to deal with it in the future.She wanted to reach out and touch him, to tell him that Clara's inner core wasn't really destroyed, to reassure him that everything would be alright.She wanted to give him something.So he passed the plate in his hand to him and said, "Eat an olive." The door behind Joe opened and Ainsley walked in. "I'm sorry," Marianne said to Joe.She put the olive on the stereo and hurried over to Ainsley, who had to tell her about it beforehand. "Hi," Ainsley said out of breath, "I'm sorry I'm late, I just had a sudden whim to tidy up..." Marianne hurried her into the bedroom, hoping Len didn't see her.She happened to see the three virgins closing him tightly. "Ainsley," she said as soon as they entered the bedroom, "Len is here. I'm afraid he's drunk." Ainsley took off her coat.She was dressed up in splendor.The dress was turquoise, with matching eyeshadow and shoes; her hair was shiny and coiled up on top of her head.Due to the effect of various hormones, her skin is very shiny, and it is not obvious that she is pregnant. She studied herself in the mirror before she said, "Really?" Her eyes widened, and she answered calmly, "Honestly, Marianne, it's no problem for me at all. Today After that afternoon's confrontation, we have a good understanding of each other's positions, and I believe that we will not take any childish moves. No matter what he says, I don't care. " "But," said Marianne, "Clara told me he was very troubled. He had evidently gone to their house. I saw him when he came in, and he looked terrible. I hope you don't say What provoked him to explode." "I don't want to talk to him at all," Ainsley replied briskly. The voices of the men on one side of the invisible line in the hall had grown louder now.Someone was telling a nasty joke, which caused everyone to roar with laughter.The lady's pitch and volume are also amplified, so that the shrill soprano is again heard amidst the cacophony of baritones and basses.As soon as Ainsley appeared, there was an instant commotion; as expected, several gentlemen left their circles to catch up and ask for introductions.Their wives were always very vigilant, so she hurriedly got up from the sofa and rushed over to prevent them from getting close.Ainsley smiled blankly. Marianne went into the kitchen to fetch Ainsley's drink and another for herself as well.The originally well-ordered kitchen has become a mess. The neatly arranged cups and bottles are here and there, and the sink is full of half-melted ice cubes and food crumbs.A glass was broken, broken glass pieces and olive pits were thrown aside in a mess, the long countertop, the square table and the refrigerator were full of wine bottles, some were empty, some had half a bottle left, some spilled on the floor what.There were a few clean glasses, though, and Marian poured Ainsley a drink. When she came out of the kitchen, she heard someone talking in the bedroom. "Your voice on the phone is charming enough, but your face is even more handsome." It was Lucy's voice. Marianne glanced into the bedroom.Lushou and Peter were inside, and Lucy raised her silver eyeshadow eyes to look at Peter, who was standing with his camera in his hand, smiling at her like a silly boy.Then Lucy had already given up on the siege of Leonard, she must have realized that there would be no results, and in this regard, she was the shrewdest of the three.Still, it was touching, indeed, sympathetic, to see her trying to make ends meet with Peter.In fact, Peter is almost married, and she has the wrong goal. Marianne laughed to herself, and took a step back, but Peter had already seen her, and he felt guilty, and immediately waved the camera to greet her enthusiastically. "Hi, honey, the party started off well, time to take some pictures?" Lucy also smiled and turned her head towards the doorway, her eyelids lifted like blackout curtains. "Here's your drink, Ainsley," Marianne passed the glass to her as she passed the gentlemen. "Thank you," Ainsley said.She took the glass half-heartedly, and Marianne thought something was wrong. She followed Ainsley's gaze, and Len was looking across the room at them, his mouth slightly open.Millie and Amy were still attacking him, keeping him immobile.Millie was in front of him, her wide skirt blocking a lot of space, and Amy was moving back and forth like a basketball guard, but there was no one on one side.Marianne turned her head just in time to see Ainsley smiling that way. There is a knock on the door.I must hurry, Marianne thought, Peter is busy in the bedroom. She opened the door and it was Trevor, bewildered.Two other friends stood behind him, and there was a stranger who looked like a woman in a loose Helles tweed jacket, sunglasses, and black stockings. "Excuse me," Trevor asked, "is there a Mr. Peter Woodland living here?" He obviously didn't recognize her. Marianne's heart skipped a beat at Gurdon; she had forgotten all about them.Oh, but there was so much noise and confusion in the hall that maybe Peter wouldn't notice them at all. "Hey, I'm so glad you're here," she said. "Come in, by the way, I'm Marianne." "Well, hahaha, that's right," Trevor laughed loudly. "I'm so stupid that I didn't recognize you. Honey, you are so beautiful, you look good in red. " Trevor and Fish and someone else stepped through the door beside her, and Duncan was still standing outside.He grabbed her arm and pulled her out into the corridor, closing the door behind him. His hair hung almost to his eyes, and he stood there without saying a word, looking her up and down. "You didn't tell me it was a masquerade," he said at last. "What the hell are you playing?" Marianne dropped her shoulders in disappointment.From this point of view, her attire was nothing extraordinary. "You're just seeing me in makeup for the first time," she said weakly. Duncan sneered. "I like your earrings best," he said. "Where did you get them?" "Oh, don't talk about that," she said impatiently, "go in and have a drink." He's very annoying, how does he want her to dress up?Do you regret wearing rough clothes?She opened the door. The sound of talking, laughing and music in the room carried into the corridor.Then suddenly there was a flash of white light, and someone shouted triumphantly: "Haha, catch me on the spot!" "That's Peter," said Marianne, "he must be taking pictures." Duncan took a step back. "I don't want to go in," he said. "But you have to go in. You have to see Peter, and I really want you to see him." She felt suddenly that it was important that he go in with her. "No, no," he said, "I can't go in. I can see that it's going to be bad. One of us is bound to disappear like a vapor, and that's probably me. Anyway , it's too noisy inside, I can't bear it." "Come in, please," she said, reaching for his arm, but he had already turned and was sprinting down the corridor. "Where are you going?" she called sadly behind her. "To the laundry room!" he answered loudly, turning his head. "Goodbye, and a happy marriage," he added.She saw him grinning as he turned the corner.Then, she heard his footsteps coming downstairs. For a moment she wanted to run after him, to go with him, and she would never be able to face so many people in the room again. But, she told herself, "I have to go back." She went through the doorway and back into the room. The first thing she saw was Fish Smythe's broad back in his sweater.He was wearing a striped turtleneck that was surprisingly casual.Standing next to him was Trevor, impeccably dressed in a two-piece suit with shirt and tie.They were talking about the symbol of death with the man in the black socks. She moved deftly around them so they wouldn't ask her why Duncan hadn't come in. She unconsciously walked behind Ainsley who was wearing a turquoise dress, and after a while she realized that standing on the other side of Ainsley's plump and well-proportioned body was Leonard Slank.She couldn't see his face, it was hidden by Ainsley's hair, but she recognized his arms and hands.He had the beer glass in his hand, and she noticed that the beer in the glass was filled again.Ainsley whispered something eagerly to him. She heard him answer vaguely: "No, hell! You can't catch me..." "Okay." Before Marian could figure out what was going on, Ainsley had raised her hand and slammed the wine glass to the ground.Marianne jumped back in fright. The glass shattered with a thud, and the conversation ended instantly, as if an electric plug had been pulled.There was silence in the room, except for the violin's low, uncoordinated sighs, when Ainsley spoke. "Len and I have good news for you," she said, her eyes twinkling, and she slowed down for effect. "We're going to have a baby." Her tone was flat.Oh my God, Marianne thought, she's forcing a showdown. A few shouts could be heard from beyond the couch.There was a sneer, and one of Peter's friends said, "Len, boy, that's great." Now Marianne could see Lun's face.His face was red and white, and his lower lip was shaking. "You bloody bitch!" he cursed hoarsely. The room fell silent again.One of the ladies hastily opened her mouth to say something else, but when there was no answer, she had to keep her mouth shut.Marianne looked at Lun. She thought he was going to hit Ainsley, but unexpectedly he grinned, showing all his teeth.He turned to everyone. "Listen, everybody, that's right," he said. "We're going to baptize the baby in our womb right now, in the presence of all our friends. I'm going to name him after me," he said. Bian quickly reached out and grabbed Ainsley's shoulder, raised the beer glass, and slowly poured a full glass of beer on top of her head. The ladies yelled with delight; the gentlemen yelled "Ha!", and just as the last drop of foam was on Ainsley's head, Peter rushed out of the bedroom, busily attaching a flash to his camera. "Just hold on," he yells, snapping a shot right away. "Brilliant! This photo must be great. Hey, what a great party!" A few people looked at him unhappily, but most of them paid no attention.Everyone immediately dispersed to talk, and the soft sound of the violin still sounded in the room.Ainsley stood dripping wet with a puddle of frothy beer on the hardwood floor.Her face changed shape: for a moment she had to decide whether it was worth crying.Len had let her go.He hung his head, mumbling something vaguely in his mouth.Judging from his expression, he didn't seem to be very clear about what he had just done, and he was even more ignorant about what to do next. Ainsley turned and walked to the bathroom.Several wives made comforting voices from their throats, and rushed forward to steal the limelight, as if they wanted to help.But there was one man who was already one step ahead of them, and that was Fish Smythe.He took off the turtleneck sweater, revealing a body of muscles and a large black hair. "I'm sorry," he said to her, "you have to be careful not to catch a cold, don't you? Especially in your situation, it's not okay to catch a cold." He wiped her with his pullover.He looked at her with concern, and his eyes were a little moist. Ainsley's hair fell in strands over her shoulders, dripping water.She raised her head and smiled at him and said, "Is this the first time we've met?" Her eyelashes were wet, whether it was beer or tears. "I think I understand your situation," he said, patting her stomach with the sleeve of his striped jumper, his tone full of symbolism. It is very late.Unexpectedly, the party was still going on, and the turmoil caused by Ainsley and Lun had naturally calmed down.Someone had swept the broken glass and beer off the floor, and the living room was buzzing with conversation, the music still playing, drinking and talking as if nothing had happened. But the kitchen was in a mess, as if it had been flooded.Marianne rummaged through the pile of dirty cups and saucers for a clean one; she had left hers out somewhere, and could no longer remember where, and wanted to get another. Cup for a drink. The clean cups are all used up.She picked up a dirty glass, rinsed it under the tap, and carefully poured herself a shot of whiskey.She felt very relaxed in her heart, with a sense of floating without care, like lying on the water in a pond.She went to the doorway, leaned there and looked into the room. "I'm coping, I'm coping," she said to herself.This surprised her a little, but made her very happy.The guests were all there (she scanned her eyes and found that only Ainsley and Fish were missing, oh, and Len, I don't know where these people have gone), none of them was missing, and everyone's behavior was consistent with the attendance. The other parties were no different; so was she herself.These people are supporting her, she can float freely without fear of sinking, and she feels that she is one of them, which makes her very secure.She could not help feeling tenderness for them all, for their clear shapes and faces.Usually she couldn't see them clearly, but now, as if a spotlight was shining on them, she could see them all clearly.She even developed a crush on the wives, Trevor, who was gesturing with one hand, and several colleagues in the office. Millie was smiling in her shiny light blue dress, and Amy, unaware that the edge of her petticoat was showing, was still walking around...Peter was also included, holding a Camera, raising the lens to take pictures from time to time.The look of him reminded her of family movie commercials, where the father of the head of the family spends reels of film shooting nothing more than these ordinary shots of everyday life, people laughing and toasting, children Celebrating a birthday party...what could be better? This, then, was a true reflection of his inner world, she thought happily, and this was what he would be. There is nothing strange or scary about the real Peter hidden under his appearance. He is just a man who can be with him day and night and live a happy life at home.This is a typical character that is often seen in family movies.I've awakened his inner nature, she thought, I've stirred up his passion.She took a sip of whiskey. It was a long search.Through the corridors of time, she traced the past one by one. These are long corridors and large rooms.Everything seems to slow down. If Peter was like that, she wondered as she walked along the corridor, would he have a beer belly by the time he was forty-five?Would he sloppily undress on Saturdays and go to work in his little workshop in the basement in wrinkled overalls?It's a reassuring image that he'll have hobbies, he'll be comfortable, he'll be like everybody else. She opened a door on the right and walked in.Peter was inside; he was forty-five, a little bald on the top of his head, but still recognizable as Peter.He stood by the barbecue grill in bright sunlight, holding a long spit in his hand.Wear a chef's apron.She searched the garden carefully for herself, but was much disappointed by the fact that she was not there. No, she thought, she must be in the wrong place, there must be other rooms.Now she saw another door in the hedge on the other side of the garden.She walked across the grass towards it, and as she passed the motionless figure she saw him holding a meat-chopping knife in the other hand; she stepped forward and opened the door and went in. She was back in Peter's living room, glass in hand, leaning against the doorframe, the same guests and the same noise.It's just that now the people are more clearly defined, more defined, more distant, and their movements are getting faster and faster, and everyone is going to go home.A long line of ladies in overcoats came out of their bedrooms and staggered out the door, following their husbands, saying good-bye to each other.Who is that little girl in the red dress who has no three-dimensional effect?She poses like a paper woman in a mail-order catalogue, smiling and turning, tossing and turning against a vast white background...it can't be, there must be something else.She ran to the next door and flung it open. Peter was inside; he was wearing a smart dark winter suit and had a camera in his hand, but now she could see exactly what it was.There were no other doors, and she reached behind her to touch the doorknob, not daring to take her gaze away from him, only to see him raise his camera and aim at her; he opened his mouth, revealing a mouth full of teeth.Then a blinding light flashed before her eyes. "Don't do that!" she screamed, covering her face with her arms. "What's the matter, dear?" She looked up.Peter stood before her.It really is him.She reached out and touched his face. "I was taken aback," she said. "You're too strong, aren't you, dear," he said, with a mixture of affection and annoyance. "I've been taking pictures all night, you should get used to it." "Is that photo of me?" she asked, smiling meekly at him.She felt that it was like the kind of smile painted on a huge billboard that was a little bit damaged. The paper on the billboard had been lifted piece by piece, and some had fallen off, exposing the metal bottom plate underneath..."No, it's a picture It's Trigg across the room. It's ok, I'll take your picture later. But honey, you'd better stop drinking, you won't be able to stand still." He patted her on the shoulder and walked away . Well, she's not in any danger yet.She had to get away before it was too late.She turned and put the glass down on the kitchen table, despair suddenly making her mind cunning.It all depended on whether she could find Duncan, who would know what to do. She glanced around the kitchen, then picked up her wine glass and poured the contents into the sink.She had to be careful not to leave any traces.Then she picked up the phone and dialed Duncan's number.The phone rang and rang, but no one answered.She puts down the phone.There was another flash of light in the hall, and then Peter laughed.She shouldn't be wearing red, it's too eye-catching. She walked sideways into the bedroom.I've got to be careful not to forget anything, she told herself; I can't come back. Before this, she had been wondering what the bedroom would look like after they got married, imagining various arrangements and colors.Now she understood.The bedroom will be like this, always the same.She looked for her coat among the clothes on the bed, and for a moment she couldn't remember what it was like, but she found it at last and put it on; she avoided the mirror on purpose.She didn't even know what time it was.She looked at her wrist, there was no watch.By the way, she took off her watch and kept it at home, because Ainsley said her watch didn't quite match the overall effect of the dress. Amidst the chatter and laughter in the hall, Peter's voice came out. "Attention everyone, let's take a group photo, everyone come together." She has to hurry.The problem now was how to slip out of the hall.She had to try not to draw attention to herself. She took off her coat again and rolled it up under her left arm, hoping that the dress would effectively protect her and make her inconspicuous among the crowd.She leaned against the wall and walked towards the door through the crowd, trying to hide behind people's bodies and dresses.Peter was busy arranging positions across the room. She opened the door and slipped out, threw on her coat hastily, found her overshoes among the piles of shoes in the newspapers, and hurried across the corridor to the stairs.She couldn't be caught by Peter at this time, as long as he found out and yelled, she would stop like a wooden figure, frozen there unable to move, unable to change. She stopped on the landing on the sixth floor, put on her overshoes, and ran down again, holding on to the railing all the way to avoid slipping.The metal braces of the corset and the rubber bands held her torso, and she felt numb, and every step was difficult, and she had to concentrate... Maybe I'm drunk, she thought.The funny thing is I don't think I'm drunk; fool, you fully understand that going outside in the cold air when drunk is bad for your capillaries.But more importantly, get out there. She walked into the empty hall.Though no one was following her, she fancied she heard a sound; a faint sound, as of glass, which had the icy quality of the tinkling of a chandelier, the shining The high-speed vibration of the current in the space... She walked out of the gate, came into the snow, and ran along the street.She ran as fast as she could even though her dress was in the way, only to hear the snow crunching under her feet.She kept her eyes on the pavement for her balance, and in the winter even flat ground was unreliable, and she must not fall.Perhaps Peter was following at this moment, silently chasing after him in this deserted cold street, and striking when the moment came, just as he silently watched behind his guests in the hall. Steal the scene like that.Hidden behind a camouflage, the black shooter kept his eyes on her until she was in the bull's-eye, a killer with a deadly weapon in his hand. She slipped on a piece of ice and almost fell.When she was on her feet, she turned her head and looked around. The street was empty. "Take it easy," she said. "Calm down." She gasped for air, almost frosting as she exhaled.She slowed down and continued walking.At first she just ran forward blindly, but now she knew where she was going. "Just go to the laundry room," she told herself, "and you'll be safe."