Foreign Miniature Romance Novel: Dating

Appointment

[Us] S· L. Kikuro

Translated by Chen Shiyi

The clock at the top of the information booth at New York's Central Station told people that it was 6 minutes before 6 o'clock, and the tall young lieutenant looked up at his sun-tanned face and squinted his eyes at the exact time. His heart was pounding, and in another 6 minutes he would see the woman who had occupied a special place in his life for thirteen months. Although he had never seen her, the words she wrote always gave him endless strength.

Lieutenant Branford in particular remembers the day when the fighting was at its height, when his planes were surrounded by a swarm of enemy aircraft.

He confessed to her in his letter that he was often frightened. Just a few days before the battle, he received a reply from her: "Of course you will be afraid... Brave people are afraid. The next time you doubt yourself, I want you to listen to the voice I recite to you: Yes, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I am not at all afraid of disaster, because you are with me. He remembered that these words had given him new strength.

Now he was going to hear herself. It was 6 o'clock after 4 minutes.

A large girl passed by, and Lieutenant Branford's heart skipped a beat. She was wearing a flower, but it wasn't the red rose they had agreed upon. Moreover, the girl was only about 18 years old, and Herris Menelle told him that she was 30 years old. "So what?" He wrote back, "I'm 32 years old. "He's really 29 years old.

He remembered the book he had read in the boot camp: The Bondage of Man. The whole book was full of women's handwriting. He had never believed that a woman could see through a man's heart so gently and thoughtfully. Her name is engraved on the imprint of the collection: Herris Menelle. He got a New York City phone book and found her address. He wrote to her, she replied, and the next day he got on the ship and went abroad, but they continued to write back and forth.

For thirteen months she faithfully wrote back to him. When she didn't hear from him, she wrote it anyway. Now, he believed, he loved her, and she loved her.

But she refused to ask her to send him a photo, stating: "If your feelings for me are real, my appearance doesn't matter." If you imagine me being pretty, I'll always be unable to get rid of the feeling that you're just lucky. I hate this love. If you imagine that I don't look good (and you have to admit that it's more likely), then I'll always be afraid, afraid that the reason you keep writing to me is because you're alone and have no other choice. No, don't ask me to give you a picture. When you come to New York, you'll see me, and then you'll make your decision. ”

In another 1 minute it will be 6 o'clock... After taking a sharp sip of his cigarette, Lieutenant Branford's heart beat.

A young woman was walking toward him. She was tall, Tingting Yuli, her pale yellow hair curled up behind her delicate ears, eyes as blue as the sky. Her lips and cheeks appeared gentle and calm. Dressed in pale green, she came as lively and light as spring.

He stepped forward, not noticing that she was not wearing any roses. When she saw him coming, a teasing smile appeared on her lips.

"Soldier, are you fighting with me?" She murmured.

He took another step closer to her and saw Herath Menelle.

She was almost standing behind the girl, a woman who was already over 40 years old. Her hair was almost graying under a worn hat, her body too plump, a pair of fat feet tucked in low heels. However, she was wearing a red rose.

The girl in green walked away quickly.

Lieutenant Branford felt as if he had been split in half, how strong his desire to follow the girl was, but how deep his yearning was for the woman who had sincerely accompanied and inspired him spiritually; she stood there. He could tell that her pale, plump face was gentle and virtuous, and that there was a warm glow in her gray eyes.

Lieutenant Branford made a decision. He clutched his fingers at the book of Human Bondage, which she had used to identify him. It will not be love, but it will be something precious, a friendship that he has been grateful for, and must be grateful forever...

He straightened his shoulders, performed a salute, and held the book in front of the woman, though he felt the bitterness of disappointment as he spoke.

"I'm Lieutenant John Brandford. You—you're Miss Herris Menelle. How happy I am to see you. Me — can I invite you to a meal? ”

The woman grinned widely and smiled. "I don't understand what this is all about, child," she replied, "and the young lady in the green dress, she asked me to pin this rose to my dress." She also said that if you asked me to go with you somewhere, I should tell you that she was waiting for you in the restaurant on the other side of the street. She said it was a bit of a test. ”

[Comment] S· L. Kirch is an American writer. The novel "Dating" is an ode to divine love. The work praises the sincere and beautiful hearts of the heroes and heroines, and shows people the idea that true love is based on the echo and intersection of the heart, and external conditions such as appearance and age are not the main basis for establishing love.

The novel is exquisitely conceived, the plot twists and turns, and the character memories and realistic scenes are intertwined, which is natural and appropriate. The whole story is just a short 6-minute shot, and under the author's careful arrangement, the entire love process between the lieutenant and the girl seems to be on the paper. This narrative method not only clearly explains the origin and development of the strange love life of the two lovers, but also shows the purity and nobility of their hearts layer by layer, and the story capacity and thought capacity are enormous. Although the author takes Bramford as the center of the structure of the novel, the shaping of the image of Horace Menier is not affected, on the contrary, through the side description, the image of a girl who combines spiritual beauty and appearance beauty is vividly presented in front of people. The end of this novel is particularly dramatic, when the protagonist's love is tending to return to the mountains and rivers, and the peaks and turns, the willows are dark and bright, full of comedic meaning.