You look gorgeous, he said simply, because she did.
Hmmmm, she said, as if he hadn’t really answered her question.
She closed the upstairs front door which had stood open all this time, and looked around the little room to see that it was all in a fit state to be left on its own for a while. Arthur’s eyes followed hers around, and while he was looking in the other direction she slipped something out of a drawer and into the canvas bag she was carrying.
Arthur looked back at her.
Ready?
Did you know, she said with a slightly puzzled smile, that there’s something wrong with me?
Her directness caught Arthur unprepared.
Well, he said, I’d heard some vague sort of…
I wonder how much you do know about me, she said. I you heard it from where I think you heard then that’s not it. Russell just sort of makes stuff up, because he can’t deal with what it really is.
A pang of worry went through Arthur.
Then what is it? he said. Can you tell me?
Don’t worry, she said, it’s nothing bad at all. Just unusual. Very very unusual.
She touched his hand, and then leant forward and kissed him briefly.
I shall be very interested to know, she said, if you manage to work out what it is this evening.
Arthur felt that if someone tapped him at that point he would have chimed, like the deep sustained rolling chime his grey fishbowl made when he flicked it with his thumbnail.
“你看上去很光彩耀人。”他回答得很简单，因为她就是这样。
“唔......”她说着，好像他没有真正回答她的问题。
她把楼上常开的前门关上，然后环视这个小房间看看把它独自留在这里是否合适。阿瑟的目光跟随着她，当他在看另一个方位时她从一个抽屉里摸出了某样东西放进了她拿着的帆布包。
阿瑟的目光转回了她身上。
“准备好了？”
“你知道吗？”她带着一丝令人迷惑的微笑说，“我身上有些不对劲的地方?”
她的直白让阿瑟措手不及。
“好吧，”他说，“我模糊地听说过一些......”
“我在想你到底对我有多了解，”她说，“我知道你从哪儿听到的，那不是真实情况。拉塞尔只是在胡扯，因为他根本不能接受现实是什么。”
一阵忧虑击中了阿瑟。
“那么到底是什么呢？”他问。“你能告诉我么？”
“别担心，”她说，“根本不是什么坏事。只是不寻常。非常非常的不寻常。”
她摸着他的手，接着身体向前倾过去飞快地吻了他一下。
“我会很有兴趣知道的，”她说，“如果你能够在今晚想出来那是什么。”
阿瑟感觉，如果现在有人在此时敲击他，他就会鸣响，就好像他用指甲轻敲他的灰色鱼缸所发出的那种低沉浑厚起伏的响声一样。