Chapter 4 Four

Miss Amelia and Cousin Lymon talked quite a bit in the upstairs room, and this often happened just after midnight when the hunchback couldn't sleep.Generally speaking, Miss Amelia was a taciturn woman, never letting her tongue run wild just because something crossed her mind.But for some topics, she is very interested.These topics have one thing in common - they are all endless.She likes to dream about problems that have been pondered for decades and still can't be solved.As for Cousin Lymon, on the contrary, he likes to talk a lot about any subject, because he is a chatterer.The way they both talk is also very different.Miss Amelia always talked about a subject in a low, thoughtful voice, in a rambling, general way, and turned like the wheels of a cart; while Cousin Lymon always interrupted her suddenly, and babbled on a detail. In general, even if this problem is not important, at least it is very specific, and it is a practical problem related to daily life.Miss Amelia's favorite topics were: the stars, why black people are black, the best cure for cancer, and so on.Her father was also a favorite subject of endless conversation.

"Oh, Luo. "Lo" is the transliteration of the first syllable of "Li Meng". It's a kind of pet name." She said to Li Meng. Went to bed... oh, I fell asleep like I was in warm axle oil. Then it was daylight and Big Daddy came in and put his hand on my shoulder. 'Wake up, girl,' He said. And a little while later when the stove was hot, he was yelling upstairs from the kitchen. 'Quesadillas,' he yelled, 'juicy white meat. And ham and eggs.' So I Come downstairs to dress by the hot stove, and he, go outside, and wash his face at the pump. Afterwards we'll go up to the brewery together, maybe . . . "

"The quesadilla we had this morning was terrible," Lemon cut in. "The fire is so strong that it's raw inside." "Those days, when Big Daddy puts out the wine..." The conversation would go on endlessly, and Miss Amelia always propped her long legs straight in front of the fireplace, whether it was winter or summer, There was always a fire burning on the grate, for Lemon was a timid creature.He sat across from her in a low chair, his feet barely touching the ground, and his upper body was usually wrapped in a blanket or the green woolen shawl.Miss Amelia never mentioned her father to anyone but Cousin Lymon.

It was her way of showing him love.He had her confidence in the slightest as well as in the greatest matters.He alone knew where her wine map was kept, which whiskeys were buried where nearby.He was the only one who had access to her bank balance and the key to the cabinet where she kept her antiques.He could take cash from the cash drawer at will, in large handfuls, and he appreciated the crisp jingle of coins in his pocket.All of Amelia's property is also his, because as soon as he is unhappy, Miss Amelia panics and looks around for gifts to give him, so that up to now, there is nothing left at hand. Give him something.The only life experience she didn't want to share with Cousin Lymon was the memory of those ten days of married life.Marvin Macy was the only thing they never talked about.

As the years passed, it was a Saturday evening six years after Cousin Lymon had come to town.It was August, and all day the sky burned like a fire over the town.By this time, the green twilight approached, and people seemed relieved.The layer of golden dry dust on the street was a full inch thick, and the little child was running around half naked and was about to sneeze in no time.They were sweaty and grumpy.The textile factory stopped at noon.On the west side of the street, the people in the houses came out and sat on their front steps, and the women kept waving palm-leaf fans.There is a sign in front of Miss Amelia's house, with the words "Cafe" written on it.In the corridor behind the store, the latticed eaves cast mottled shadows, and it was cooler. Cousin Limon sat there shaking ice cream—he often took out the ice and salt, took out the mixer and licked it to see if it was ready .Jeff is cooking in the kitchen.Early this morning, Miss Amelia put up an advertisement on the front porch: "Chicken rice is new tonight - 2 cents per order."The café was open, and Miss Amelia had some work done in her office.All eight tables were full, and the mechanical piano was tinkling happily.

At a table in the corner by the door Henry Macy sat with a child.He was drinking a glass of wine, which was an unusual thing for him, because he got drunk easily, and when drunk he either cried or sang.He was very pale, and his left eye twitched nervously, as it always did when he was excited.He slipped into the cafe quietly and was greeted without saying a word.The boy next to him was of the Horace Wells family, and had been brought up in the morning to be treated by Miss Amelia. Miss Amelia emerged from her office in high spirits.She went to the kitchen to do a few chores, and then went back to the cafe with a cooked chicken butt in her hand, which was her favorite food.She looked around the room, saw that it was generally all right, and went to Henry Macy's desk in the corner.She turned the chair around and sat across the back of the chair with her legs spread apart. She didn't plan to have dinner yet, she just wanted to chat with everyone casually and say hello.In the back pocket of her work trousers was a bottle of "Wanjin Wine" - a medicinal wine made from whiskey, rock sugar and a secret medicinal ingredient.Miss Amelia unscrewed the cork and held the mouth of the bottle to the child's mouth.Then she turned to Henry Macy, saw the twitching of his left eye, and asked:

"What's the matter with you?" Henry Macy looked as if he was about to say something very difficult to say, but after looking into Miss E. Leah's eyes for a while, he swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva and said nothing. Miss Amelia then turned to her patient.Only one face of the child was exposed on the table.His face was flushed, his eyelids were half drawn, and his mouth was only half open.He had a hard, swollen boil on his leg, and he was brought in for Miss Amelia to operate on.Miss Amelia had her own way of dealing with children; she didn't like to see them suffer and struggle and fear.So she let the boy stay with her all day, and after a while he would chew some licorice and take a sip of "Wanjin Wine".When it was getting dark, she wrapped a napkin around his neck and kept him well fed.Now, he sat on the edge of the table, slowly moving his head from side to side, and sometimes, when he breathed out, he could be heard groaning weakly.

There was some commotion in the café, and Miss Amelia turned her face quickly.Cousin Li Meng came in.The hunchback strutted into the cafe just like every night.When he walked to the center of the room, he suddenly stopped, looked around cleverly, weighed the situation of the person who came, and immediately made a decision on what kind of emotions he would show that night.The hunchback is a master at sowing discord.He loved watching people fight, and he could miraculously get people fighting without saying a word.It was because of him, the twin brothers surnamed Renee, who quarreled over a pocket knife two years ago, and they haven't spoken a word since.He was there when Luber Wilbon got into a big fight with Robert Galvehar; he was also present in the series of fights that started after he came to town.He sniffs everywhere, and he knows everyone's privacy clearly.Twenty-four hours a day, as long as he's not sleeping, he's nosy.But, strange to say, despite all this, it was thanks to the hunchback that the café thrived.As long as he is present, the atmosphere is active.When he walked into the room, there was always a momentary sense of tension, because in the presence of this meddling fellow, you never know what fate will befall you, or what will happen to the room. Suddenly something happened.The more people feel that there may be troubles and disasters ahead, the more they will indulge themselves to enjoy themselves while they can.So when the hunchback came into the room, everyone turned to look at him, and there was chatter and corks everywhere.

Li Meng waved to Stout MacPhail, who was sitting with Merry Ryan and "Curly Haired" Henry Ford. "I went to Stinky Lake to go fishing today," he said, "and half way I lifted my foot up to step over something I thought at first was a fallen tree. But I was about to step over , it suddenly moved. When I looked carefully, it turned out that there was a big crocodile under its feet, as long as the front door to the kitchen, and its body was thicker than a pig." The hunchback continued chattering.Everyone looked at him after a while.Some people listened carefully to his nagging, while others ignored him at all.Sometimes he talked for a long time without a word being true.What he said tonight was also bragging and big talk.In fact, he lay in bed all day, his tonsils festered because of the heat, and he didn't get up until late in the evening to shake ice cream.Everyone knows about this.But he still stood in the middle of the cafe, eloquent and eloquent.Those who don't know the big words will feel their scalps go numb.

Miss Amelia watched him, her hands in her trouser pockets, her head on one side.There was a tenderness in her strange gray eyes, and she was smiling.She sometimes looked away from the hunchback to look at the other people in the café--then her eyes were proud and threatening, as if someone wanted the hunchback to take responsibility for his stupidity , who is she going to risk her life with.Jeff was serving out the dinner that was already in the basin, and the electric fan in Xin'an in the cafe was blowing a pleasant cool breeze. "The little one is asleep," said Henry Macy at last.

Miss Amelia looked down at the patient beside her, and calmed herself for the operation.The child's cheeks were pressed against the edge of the table, and a trace of saliva or Wanjin wine emerged from the corner of his mouth.His eyes were closed tightly, and a group of little bugs were peacefully surrounded by the corners of his eyes.Miss Amelia put her hand on his head and shook him vigorously, but the patient did not wake up.So Miss Amelia picked up the boy from the edge of the table, taking care not to touch the sore spot on his foot, and went into the office.Henry Macy followed her, and they closed the office door. Cousin Lymon was bored that night.Nothing interesting happened, and despite the heat, the customers in the cafe were all in good spirits. "Curly" Henry Ford and Horace Wells sat at the edge of one of the middle tables, with their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing nonstop at a lengthy joke--but he still couldn't make out why he walked over, Because overhead he didn't hear it.The moonlight illuminated the dusty road very brightly, and the short peach trees were motionless and dark, and there was no wind at all.The hypnotic hum of mosquitoes flying out of the swamp was like the echo of the still night.The whole town was pitch black, except for a little light flickering at the end of the road on the right.Somewhere in the darkness, there is a woman singing a ditty in a wild high voice, with no beginning and no end, a total of three notes, singing over and over again endlessly.The hunchback stood on the front porch, leaning against a post, looking out at the empty road, as if waiting for someone to come. Footsteps sounded behind him, followed by voices: "Cousin Li Meng, your dinner is ready on the table." "I have a bad appetite to-night," said the hunchback, who had been eating sweets from his snuff-box all day. "I have a sour mouth." "A little bite is all right," said Miss Amelia. "Just breast meat, liver, and heart." They went back together into the bright café, and sat down at the long table where Henry Macy was.Their table was the largest in the café, and on it was a bouquet of marsh lilies in a Coca-Cola bottle.Miss Amelia was very happy when she was cured.There were only a few sleepy and ignorant whimpers coming from behind the closed office door. Before the patient woke up and was frightened, the operation had already been completed.The child was lying on his father's shoulders, sleeping soundly, his little arms hanging loosely on his father's back, his puffing little cheeks were red... They were leaving the cafe and going home. Henry Macy remained silent.He was very cautious when eating, and he didn't make a sound when he swallowed. His gluttony was less than one-third of that of Cousin Li Meng, who kept saying that he had a bad appetite, but kept adding food to the bowl. Eat up.Henry Macy often looked up at Miss Amelia across the table, but remained silent. It's a standard Saturday night.An old couple came from the country, held hands and hesitated at the door for a while, and finally decided to come in.The old couple had lived together for so long that they resembled twin siblings.Their skin is brown and black, and they are shriveled and shriveled, like two peanuts. The difference is that they can still walk.They left early and by midnight most of the customers had left.Rosecrane and Merry Ryan were still playing chess, and Stout MacPhail was sitting at the table with a wine bottle on the table (his wife would not allow him to be so presumptuous at home), talking to himself calmly Soliloquy.Henry Macy had not gone, which was very unusual, for he usually went to bed as soon as it was dark.Miss Amelia was yawning, but Cousin Lymon was still in high spirits, so she didn't suggest closing the door. At last, at one o'clock, Henry Macy looked up at the corner of the ceiling, and said calmly to Miss Amelia, "I have a letter today." This would not have surprised someone like Amelia, who was constantly receiving business letters and catalogs of all kinds. "This letter is from my brother," said Henry Macy. The hunchback was strutting up and down the cafe, his hands clasped behind his head.Then he stopped suddenly.He is very sensitive to any change in the atmosphere of a group.He scanned every face in the room, waiting. Amelia frowned and clenched her right fist. "Thank you for telling me," she said. "He was granted parole. He came out of jail." Miss Amelia's face became very gloomy, and she shivered, in spite of the heat.Stumpy MacPhail and Merry Ryan pushed the board away.There was no sound in the cafe. "Who?" Cousin Li Meng asked.His large pale ears seemed to grow back on his head and harden. "What's up?" Miss Amelia tapped the table. "Marvin Macy is a..." Her voice became hoarse, and it took her a while to say: "He should be in prison all his life." "What has he done?" asked Cousin Lymon. There was a long silence, because no one knew how to answer. "He robbed three gas stations," Stumpy MacPhail said.But his answer sounded incomplete, and he seemed to be concealing some serious crime. Miss Amelia and Cousin Lymon talked quite a bit in the upstairs room, and this often happened just after midnight when the hunchback couldn't sleep.Generally speaking, Miss Amelia was a taciturn woman, never letting her tongue run wild just because something crossed her mind.But for some topics, she is very interested.These topics have one thing in common - they are all endless.She likes to dream about problems that have been pondered for decades and still can't be solved.As for Cousin Lymon, on the contrary, he likes to talk a lot about any subject, because he is a chatterer.The way they both talk is also very different.Miss Amelia always talked about a subject in a low, thoughtful voice, in a rambling, general way, and turned like the wheels of a cart; while Cousin Lymon always interrupted her suddenly, and babbled on a detail. In general, even if this problem is not important, at least it is very specific, and it is a practical problem related to daily life.Miss Amelia's favorite topics were: the stars, why black people are black, the best cure for cancer, and so on.Her father was also a favorite subject of endless conversation. "Oh, Luo. "Lo" is the transliteration of the first syllable of "Li Meng". It's a kind of pet name." She said to Li Meng. Went to bed... oh, I fell asleep like I was in warm axle oil. Then it was daylight and Big Daddy came in and put his hand on my shoulder. 'Wake up, girl,' He said. And a little while later when the stove was hot, he was yelling upstairs from the kitchen. 'Quesadillas,' he yelled, 'juicy white meat. And ham and eggs.' So I Come downstairs to dress by the hot stove, and he, go outside, and wash his face at the pump. Afterwards we'll go up to the brewery together, maybe . . . " "The quesadilla we had this morning was terrible," Lemon cut in. "The fire is so strong that it's raw inside." "Those days, when Big Daddy puts out the wine..." The conversation would go on endlessly, and Miss Amelia always propped her long legs straight in front of the fireplace, whether it was winter or summer, There was always a fire burning on the grate, for Lemon was a timid creature.He sat across from her in a low chair, his feet barely touching the ground, and his upper body was usually wrapped in a blanket or the green woolen shawl.Miss Amelia never mentioned her father to anyone but Cousin Lymon. It was her way of showing him love.He had her confidence in the slightest as well as in the greatest matters.He alone knew where her wine map was kept, which whiskeys were buried where nearby.He was the only one who had access to her bank balance and the key to the cabinet where she kept her antiques.He could take cash from the cash drawer at will, in large handfuls, and he appreciated the crisp jingle of coins in his pocket.All of Amelia's property is also his, because as soon as he is unhappy, Miss Amelia panics and looks around for gifts to give him, so that up to now, there is nothing left at hand. Give him something.The only life experience she didn't want to share with Cousin Lymon was the memory of those ten days of married life.Marvin Macy was the only thing they never talked about. As the years passed, it was a Saturday evening six years after Cousin Lymon had come to town.It was August, and all day the sky burned like a fire over the town.By this time, the green twilight approached, and people seemed relieved.The layer of golden dry dust on the street was a full inch thick, and the little child was running around half naked and was about to sneeze in no time.They were sweaty and grumpy.The textile factory stopped at noon.On the west side of the street, the people in the houses came out and sat on their front steps, and the women kept waving palm-leaf fans.There is a sign in front of Miss Amelia's house, with the words "Cafe" written on it.In the corridor behind the store, the latticed eaves cast mottled shadows, and it was cooler. Cousin Limon sat there shaking ice cream—he often took out the ice and salt, took out the mixer and licked it to see if it was ready .Jeff is cooking in the kitchen.Early this morning, Miss Amelia put up an advertisement on the front porch: "Chicken rice is new tonight - 2 cents per order."The café was open, and Miss Amelia had some work done in her office.All eight tables were full, and the mechanical piano was tinkling happily. At a table in the corner by the door Henry Macy sat with a child.He was drinking a glass of wine, which was an unusual thing for him, because he got drunk easily, and when drunk he either cried or sang.He was very pale, and his left eye twitched nervously, as it always did when he was excited.He slipped into the cafe quietly and was greeted without saying a word.The boy next to him was of the Horace Wells family, and had been brought up in the morning to be treated by Miss Amelia. Miss Amelia emerged from her office in high spirits.She went to the kitchen to do a few chores, and then went back to the cafe with a cooked chicken butt in her hand, which was her favorite food.She looked around the room, saw that it was generally all right, and went to Henry Macy's desk in the corner.She turned the chair around and sat across the back of the chair with her legs spread apart. She didn't plan to have dinner yet, she just wanted to chat with everyone casually and say hello.In the back pocket of her work trousers was a bottle of "Wanjin Wine" - a medicinal wine made from whiskey, rock sugar and a secret medicinal ingredient.Miss Amelia unscrewed the cork and held the mouth of the bottle to the child's mouth.Then she turned to Henry Macy, saw the twitching of his left eye, and asked: "What's the matter with you?" Henry Macy looked as if he was about to say something very difficult to say, but after looking into Miss E. Leah's eyes for a while, he swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva and said nothing. Miss Amelia then turned to her patient.Only one face of the child was exposed on the table.His face was flushed, his eyelids were half drawn, and his mouth was only half open.He had a hard, swollen boil on his leg, and he was brought in for Miss Amelia to operate on.Miss Amelia had her own way of dealing with children; she didn't like to see them suffer and struggle and fear.So she let the boy stay with her all day, and after a while he would chew some licorice and take a sip of "Wanjin Wine".When it was getting dark, she wrapped a napkin around his neck and kept him well fed.Now, he sat on the edge of the table, slowly moving his head from side to side, and sometimes, when he breathed out, he could be heard groaning weakly. There was some commotion in the café, and Miss Amelia turned her face quickly.Cousin Li Meng came in.The hunchback strutted into the cafe just like every night.When he walked to the center of the room, he suddenly stopped, looked around cleverly, weighed the situation of the person who came, and immediately made a decision on what kind of emotions he would show that night.The hunchback is a master at sowing discord.He loved watching people fight, and he could miraculously get people fighting without saying a word.It was because of him, the twin brothers surnamed Renee, who quarreled over a pocket knife two years ago, and they haven't spoken a word since.He was there when Luber Wilbon got into a big fight with Robert Galvehar; he was also present in the series of fights that started after he came to town.He sniffs everywhere, and he knows everyone's privacy clearly.Twenty-four hours a day, as long as he's not sleeping, he's nosy.But, strange to say, despite all this, it was thanks to the hunchback that the café thrived.As long as he is present, the atmosphere is active.When he walked into the room, there was always a momentary sense of tension, because in the presence of this meddling fellow, you never know what fate will befall you, or what will happen to the room. Suddenly something happened.The more people feel that there may be troubles and disasters ahead, the more they will indulge themselves to enjoy themselves while they can.So when the hunchback came into the room, everyone turned to look at him, and there was chatter and corks everywhere. Li Meng waved to Stout MacPhail, who was sitting with Merry Ryan and "Curly Haired" Henry Ford. "I went to Stinky Lake to go fishing today," he said, "and half way I lifted my foot up to step over something I thought at first was a fallen tree. But I was about to step over , it suddenly moved. When I looked carefully, it turned out that there was a big crocodile under its feet, as long as the front door to the kitchen, and its body was thicker than a pig." The hunchback continued chattering.Everyone looked at him after a while.Some people listened carefully to his nagging, while others ignored him at all.Sometimes he talked for a long time without a word being true.What he said tonight was also bragging and big talk.In fact, he lay in bed all day, his tonsils festered because of the heat, and he didn't get up until late in the evening to shake ice cream.Everyone knows about this.But he still stood in the middle of the cafe, eloquent and eloquent.Those who don't know the big words will feel their scalps go numb. Miss Amelia watched him, her hands in her trouser pockets, her head on one side.There was a tenderness in her strange gray eyes, and she was smiling.She sometimes looked away from the hunchback to look at the other people in the café--then her eyes were proud and threatening, as if someone wanted the hunchback to take responsibility for his stupidity , who is she going to risk her life with.Jeff was serving out the dinner that was already in the basin, and the electric fan in Xin'an in the cafe was blowing a pleasant cool breeze. "The little one is asleep," said Henry Macy at last. Miss Amelia looked down at the patient beside her, and calmed herself for the operation.The child's cheeks were pressed against the edge of the table, and a trace of saliva or Wanjin wine emerged from the corner of his mouth.His eyes were closed tightly, and a group of little bugs were peacefully surrounded by the corners of his eyes.Miss Amelia put her hand on his head and shook him vigorously, but the patient did not wake up.So Miss Amelia picked up the boy from the edge of the table, taking care not to touch the sore spot on his foot, and went into the office.Henry Macy followed her, and they closed the office door. Cousin Lymon was bored that night.Nothing interesting happened, and despite the heat, the customers in the cafe were all in good spirits. "Curly" Henry Ford and Horace Wells sat at the edge of one of the middle tables, with their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing nonstop at a lengthy joke--but he still couldn't make out why he walked over, Because overhead he didn't hear it.The moonlight illuminated the dusty road very brightly, and the short peach trees were motionless and dark, and there was no wind at all.The hypnotic hum of mosquitoes flying out of the swamp was like the echo of the still night.The whole town was pitch black, except for a little light flickering at the end of the road on the right.Somewhere in the darkness, there is a woman singing a ditty in a wild high voice, with no beginning and no end, a total of three notes, singing over and over again endlessly.The hunchback stood on the front porch, leaning against a post, looking out at the empty road, as if waiting for someone to come. Footsteps sounded behind him, followed by voices: "Cousin Li Meng, your dinner is ready on the table." "I have a bad appetite to-night," said the hunchback, who had been eating sweets from his snuff-box all day. "I have a sour mouth." "A little bite is all right," said Miss Amelia. "Just breast meat, liver, and heart." They went back together into the bright café, and sat down at the long table where Henry Macy was.Their table was the largest in the café, and on it was a bouquet of marsh lilies in a Coca-Cola bottle.Miss Amelia was very happy when she was cured.There were only a few sleepy and ignorant whimpers coming from behind the closed office door. Before the patient woke up and was frightened, the operation had already been completed.The child was lying on his father's shoulders, sleeping soundly, his little arms hanging loosely on his father's back, his puffing little cheeks were red... They were leaving the cafe and going home. Henry Macy remained silent.He was very cautious when eating, and he didn't make a sound when he swallowed. His gluttony was less than one-third of that of Cousin Li Meng, who kept saying that he had a bad appetite, but kept adding food to the bowl. Eat up.Henry Macy often looked up at Miss Amelia across the table, but remained silent. It's a standard Saturday night.An old couple came from the country, held hands and hesitated at the door for a while, and finally decided to come in.The old couple had lived together for so long that they resembled twin siblings.Their skin is brown and black, and they are shriveled and shriveled, like two peanuts. The difference is that they can still walk.They left early and by midnight most of the customers had left.Rosecrane and Merry Ryan were still playing chess, and Stout MacPhail was sitting at the table with a wine bottle on the table (his wife would not allow him to be so presumptuous at home), talking to himself calmly Soliloquy.Henry Macy had not gone, which was very unusual, for he usually went to bed as soon as it was dark.Miss Amelia was yawning, but Cousin Lymon was still in high spirits, so she didn't suggest closing the door. At last, at one o'clock, Henry Macy looked up at the corner of the ceiling, and said calmly to Miss Amelia, "I have a letter today." This would not have surprised someone like Amelia, who was constantly receiving business letters and catalogs of all kinds. "This letter is from my brother," said Henry Macy. The hunchback was strutting up and down the cafe, his hands clasped behind his head.Then he stopped suddenly.He is very sensitive to any change in the atmosphere of a group.He scanned every face in the room, waiting. Amelia frowned and clenched her right fist. "Thank you for telling me," she said. "He was granted parole. He came out of jail." Miss Amelia's face became very gloomy, and she shivered, in spite of the heat.Stumpy MacPhail and Merry Ryan pushed the board away.There was no sound in the cafe. "Who?" Cousin Li Meng asked.His large pale ears seemed to grow back on his head and harden. "What's up?" Miss Amelia tapped the table. "Marvin Macy is a..." Her voice became hoarse, and it took her a while to say: "He should be in prison all his life." "What has he done?" asked Cousin Lymon. There was a long silence, because no one knew how to answer. "He robbed three gas stations," Stumpy MacPhail said.But his answer sounded incomplete, and he seemed to be concealing some serious crime.