The man stared out over the hot, dry scrubby landscape. From here Arthur could just see the old woman, a tiny speck in the distance, dancing up and down swatting flies.

那人凝视着布满树丛的炎热大地。从这儿阿瑟刚好能看见刚才的老妇人，虽然只是远处的一个小点；她还在跳来跳去地拍苍蝇。

‘You see her?’ called the old man, suddenly.

“看见她了？”老头突然喊了一声。

‘Yes,’ said Arthur. ‘I consulted her in fact.’

“看见了。”阿瑟回答说，“事实上我还向她咨询过。”

‘Fat lot she knows. I got the beach house because she turned it down. What advice did she give you?’

“他懂个鬼。就是因为她不愿意掏腰包我才搞到那栋海滨小屋的。她给你什么建议来着？”

‘Do exactly the opposite of everything she’s done.’

“做任何事都要跟她完全相反。”

‘In other words, get a beach house.’

“换句话说，买间海滨小屋。”

‘I suppose so,’ said Arthur. ‘Well, maybe I’ll get one.’

“我猜是这样没错。”阿瑟说，“恩，或许我会去的。”

‘Hmmm.’

“恩。”

The horizon was swimming in a fetid heat haze.

地平线在恶臭的热气里晃动着。

‘Any other advice?’ asked Arthur. ‘Other than to do with real estate?’

“还有什么别的建议吗？”阿瑟问，“除了跟买房置业有关的。”

‘A beach house isn’t just real estate. It’s a state of mind,’ said the man. He turned and looked at Arthur.

“海滨小屋可不是什么房产。它是一种精神状态。”男人转过来看看阿瑟。

Oddly, the man’s face was now only a couple of feet away. He seemed in one way to be a perfectly normal shape, but his body was sitting cross-legged on a pole forty feet away while his face was only two feet from Arthur’s. Without moving his head, and without seeming to do anything odd at all, he stood up and stepped on to the top of another pole. Either it was just the heat, thought Arthur, or space was a different shape for him.

奇怪的是，那人的脸现在离他只有两尺来远了。他看起来似乎完全正常，可他的身体正盘腿坐在四十尺开外的杆子上，脸离阿瑟却仅仅两尺之遥。他似乎并没有移动脑袋，也没有做出任何奇怪的动作，就这么站起来走到了另一根杆子上。阿瑟暗想，要么是天气太热，要么就肯定是空间在他那里有什么不同的形态。