16
0艾莉
作者： F. 斯科特 · 费兹杰拉德 编译：嘉炜
比尔告诉我站在药店门口的姑娘就是其中的一个，他把我推了过去，但是当我近距离见到这个姑娘的时候，我发现我一点也不喜欢，甚至莫名的反感。
另外的两个女孩儿，分别叫艾莉·卡尔霍恩和莎莉·卡罗尔·哈珀。
从他给我介绍的方式，我就能感觉到他是对艾莉有好感的，但是他脑子里当时都是一些自私的想法，希望等自己离开之后，艾莉的生活能够变得既安静又无趣。
因为艾莉跟比尔太亲近，纵然她有一个这样可爱的名字，我还是会毫不犹豫地认为艾莉肯定也不是个好女孩，自然刻板的不佳印象也就这样进入了我的脑海。
对于23岁的我来说，比尔特意嘱咐我关于艾莉的事情，一定不会是什么好事儿；不过，如果当时比尔请求我，我肯定也会诚心发誓像照顾妹妹一样照顾艾莉，但是他并没有，他只是因为不得不离开而一直在大声地抱怨。
然而三天后，他打电话给我，说他第二天早上就要走了，晚上要带我去艾莉家。
那天我们先约在了旅馆见面，然后朝着绚丽而炎热的暮色，走向郊区。当我们抵达艾丽家门口时，从马路上可以看到，她家的房子正面有四根白色柱子，柱子后面的走廊漆黑的像个洞穴，藤蔓以各种姿态垂悬，蜿蜒在房子的结构上。
当我们走到人行道上时，一个穿白衣服的女孩从前门跌跌撞撞地走了出来，大声的喊着，对不起，我跟你说迟了。
那是艾莉，她看见了我们，又面带掩饰的对我们说，她是十分钟前才知道我们要过来的。显然目前的情况有些尴尬，她这些话是要说给另外的人听的。
突然传来椅子，”咯吱“声，另一个男人———从昏暗的游廊中出现，艾莉也突然安静了，他是哈里·李营的飞行员。
我们听见了争论声，艾莉喊着那个男人的名字，他叫坎比，她问他到底怎么了。
这样的情况既突然又尴尬，这让我跟比尔变得像是在法庭上，被公开诉讼的当事人一样紧张。
艾莉亲昵的安抚着坎比，说有些话要私底下跟他说，并对比尔表明了歉意，她需要一点时间来处理现在的状况。
他们走到了一边，艾莉开始跟他说这些什么。过了一会儿，坎比中尉非常不高兴，用一种严厉的声音大声的说，“那么我们就定在了星期四，这回是确定了，绝对不能再改，也不能再有其他情况。”接着他完全无视我跟比尔，就沿着小路走了下去。在灯光的照耀下，他那开飞机穿的马刺靴，闪闪发亮的刺眼。
看着他离开之后，艾莉把目光投向了我们，接着她一脸俏皮地看着我说：进来吧，安迪。
我有些错愕，很显然她知道的应该不仅仅只是我的名字。
"--and here's one of them now."
We were in front of a drug store and he marched me in and introduced me to a lady I promptly detested.
"The other two are Ailie Calhoun and Sally Carrol Happer.”
I guessed from the way he pronounced her name, that he was interested in Ailie Calhoun. It was on his mind what she would be doing while he was gone; he wanted her to have a quiet, uninteresting time.
At my age I don't even hesitate to confess that entirely unchivalrous images of Ailie Calhoun--that lovely name--rushed into my mind. At twenty-three there is no such thing as a preempted beauty; though, had Bill asked me, I would doubtless have sworn in all sincerity to care for her like a sister. He didn't; he was just fretting out loud at having to go. Three days later he telephoned me that he was leaving next morning and he'd take me to her house that night.
We met at the hotel and walked uptown through the flowery, hot twilight. The four white pillars of the Calhoun house faced the street, and behind them the veranda was dark as a cave with hanging, weaving, climbing vines.
When we came up the walk a girl in a white dress tumbled out of the front door, crying, "I'm so sorry I'm late!" and seeing us, added: "Why, I thought I heard you come ten minutes—"
She broke off as a chair creaked and another man, an aviator from Camp Harry Lee, emerged from the obscurity of the veranda.
"Why, Canby!" she cried. "How are you?”
He and Bill Knowles waited with the tenseness of open litigants.
"Canby, I want to whisper to you, honey," she said, after just a second. "You'll excuse us, Bill.”
They went aside. Presently Lieutenant Canby, immensely displeased, said in a grim voice, "Then we'll make it Thursday, but that means sure." Scarcely nodding to us, he went down the walk, the spurs with which he presumably urged on his aeroplane gleaming in the lamplight.
"Come in--I don't just know your name--"
音播封面人物是Kate Beckinsale 凯特 · 贝金赛尔，她的荧幕形象很贴合小说中 Ailie 艾莉的气质，图片来自豆瓣。
