【英文读物】Gigolo.docx
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1、【英文读物】GigoloTHE AFTERNOON OF A FAUNThough he rarely heeded its summonscagy boy that he wasthe telephone rang oftenest for Nick. Because of the many native noises of the place, the telephone had a special bell that was a combination buzz and ring. It sounded above the roar of outgoing cars, the splas
2、h of the hose, the sputter and hum of the electric battery in the rear. Nick heard it, unheeding. A voiceSmittys or Mikes or Elmersanswering its call. Then, echoing through the grey, vaulted spaces of the big garage: Nick! Oh, Ni-ick!From the other side of the great cement-floored enclosure, or in m
3、uffled tones from beneath a car: Whatcha want?Dame on the wire.I aint in.The obliging voice again, dutifully repeating the message: He aint in. Well, its hard to say. He might be in in a couple hours and Pg 2then again he might not be back till late. I guess hes went to Hammond on a job (Warming to
4、his task now.) Say, wont I do?. Whos fresh! Aw, say, lady!Youd think, after repeated rebuffs of this sort, she could not possibly be so lacking in decent pride as to leave her name for Smitty or Mike or Elmer to bandy about. But she invariably did, baffled by Nicks elusiveness. She was likely to be
5、any one of a number. Miss Bauers phoned: Will you tell him, please? (A nasal voice, and haughty, with the hauteur that seeks to conceal secret fright.) Tell him its important. Miss Ahearn phoned: Will you tell him, please? Just say Miss Ahearn. A-h-e-a-r-n. Miss Olson: Just Gertie. But oftenest Miss
6、 Bauers.Cupids messenger, wearing grease-grimed overalls and the fatuous grin of the dalliant male, would transmit his communication to the uneager Nick.S wonder you wouldnt answer the phone once yourself. Says you was to call Miss Bauers any time you come in between one and six at Hyde Parkwait a m
7、intyehHyde Park 6079, and any time after six atWhad she want?Well, how the hell should I know! Says call Miss Bauers any time between one and six at Hyde Park 6Pg 3Swell chanst. Swell chanst!Which explains why the calls came oftenest for Nick. He was so indifferent to them. You pictured the patient
8、and persistent Miss Bauers, or the oxlike Miss Olson, or Miss Ahearn, or just Gertie hovering within hearing distance of the telephone listening, listeningwhile one oclock deepened to sixfor the call that never came; plucking up fresh courage at six until six oclock dragged on to bedtime. When next
9、they met: I bet you was there all the time. Pity you wouldnt answer a call when a person leaves their name. You could of give me a ring. I bet you was there all the time.Well, maybe I was.Bewildered, she tried to retaliate with the boomerang of vituperation.How could she know? How could she know tha
10、t this slim, slick young garage mechanic was a woodland creature in disguisea satyr in store clothesa wild thing who perversely preferred to do his own pursuing? How could Miss Bauers knowshe who cashiered in the Green Front Grocery and Market on Fifty-third Street? Or Miss Olson, at the Rialto tick
11、et window? Or the Celtic, emotional Miss Ahearn, the manicure? Or Gertie the goof? They knew nothing of mythology; of pointed ears and pug noses and goats feet. Nicks ears, to their fond gaze, presented an honest red surface proPg 4truding from either side of his head. His feet, in tan laced shoes,
12、were ordinary feet, a little more than ordinarily expert, perhaps, in the convolutions of the dance at Englewood Masonic Hall, which is part of Chicagos vast South Side. No; a faun, to Miss Bauers, Miss Olson, Miss Ahearn, and just Gertie, was one of those things in the Lincoln Park Zoo.Perhaps, som
13、etimes, they realized, vaguely, that Nick was different. When, for example, they triedand failedto picture him looking interestedly at one of those three-piece bedroom sets glistening like pulled taffy in the window of the installment furniture store, while they, shy yet proprietary, clung to his ar
14、m and eyed the price ticket. Now $98.50. You couldnt see Nick interested in bedroom sets, in price tickets, in any of those settled, fixed, everyday things. He was fluid, evasive, like quicksilver, though they did not put it thus.Miss Bauers, goaded to revolt, would say pettishly: Youre like a mosqu
15、ito, thats what. Person never knows from one minute to the other where youre at.Yeh, Nick would retort. When you know where a mosquitos at, what do you do to him? Plenty. I aint looking to be squashed.Miss Ahearn, whose public position (the Hygienic Barber Shop. Gents manicure, 50c.) offered unPg 5l
16、imited social opportunities, would assume a gay indifference. Theys plenty boys begging to take me out every hour in the day. Swell lads, too. I aint waiting round for any greasy mechanic like you. Dont think it. Say, lookit your nails! Theyd queer you with me, let alone what else all is wrong with
17、you.In answer Nick would put one handone broad, brown, steel-strong hand with its broken discoloured nailson Miss Ahearns arm, in its flimsy georgette sleeve. Miss Ahearns eyelids would flutter and close, and a little shiver would run with icy-hot feet all over Miss Ahearn.Nick was like that.Nicks r
18、eal name wasnt Nick at allor scarcely at all. His last name was Nicholas, and his parents, long before they became his parents, traced their origin to some obscure Czechoslovakian provincelong before we became so glib with our Czechoslovakia. His first name was Dewey, knowing which you automatically
19、 know the date of his birth. It was a patriotic but unfortunate choice on the part of his parents. The name did not fit him; was too mealy; not debonair enough. Nick. Nicky in tenderer moments (Miss Bauers, Miss Olson, Miss Ahearn, just Gertie, et al.).His method with women was firm and somewhat ste
20、rn, but never brutal. He never waited for themPg 6 if they were late. Any girl who assumed that her value was enhanced in direct proportion to her tardiness in keeping an engagement with Nick found herself standing disconsolate on the corner of Fifty-third and Lake trying to look as if she were mere
21、ly waiting for the Lake Park car and not peering wistfully up and down the street in search of a slim, graceful, hurrying figure that never came.It is difficult to convey in words the charm that Nick possessed. Seeing him, you beheld merely a medium-sized young mechanic in reasonably grimed garage c
22、lothes when working; and in tight pants, tight coat, silk shirt, long-visored green cap when at leisure. A rather pallid skin due to the nature of his work. Large deft hands, a good deal like the hands of a surgeon, square, blunt-fingered, spatulate. Indeed, as you saw him at work, a wire-netted ele
23、ctric bulb held in one hand, the other plunged deep into the vitals of the car on which he was engaged, you thought of a surgeon performing a major operation. He wore one of those round skullcaps characteristic of his craft (the brimless crown of an old felt hat). He would deftly remove the transmis
24、sion case and plunge his hand deep into the cars guts, feeling expertly about with his engine-wise fingers as a surgeon feels for liver, stomach, gall bladder, intestines, appendix. When he brought up his hand, all dripping with grease (which is the warmPg 7 blood of the car), he invariably had put
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