, , IprayedforJackandAlicetofindwork; IprayedforJack'ssafetyontheroad; Iprayedfortheforlorn, beatenland, andfortheyoungmanwhohadcomeandgoneandhadaskedforsolittle.
Theweekafterhisstopatmygate, Iwatered, , , , , Ithoughtimmediately, andhurriedtothebox.
Theenvelopeborenostamp, noname, andnoaddress, butcontainedamessagepenciledonascrapofbrownpaper:
Totheladyinthegarden:
Igotajobatawarehouseafteryoufedmeandletmerest.
, letmehelpyou.
Foldedwithinthepaperwerethreeone-dollarbills.
, butthiswasn'tthetimeforcrying.“Alice, honey, pleasehurry,” Icalled, asIranintothehouse.“'slineuptomorrowmorning!”
“Mama, areyouawake? Areyoureadyforyourbirthdaydinner?”
IopenmyeyesandseeIamsurroundedbythepeopleIlove: gentleAlice, nowgrayandheavy; youngRebecca, vivaciousandpretty, andalltheothers, oldandyoung.
“Youweretellingyourselfastory, weren'tyou, Mama?” Alicesays, teasing.“Itmusthavebeenahappystory, .”
“Itwasabeautifulstory.”
AsIstruggletomyfeet, Rebecca'snewshoesslideoffmylapandfalltothecarpetwithasoftthud.
“您不喜欢我的新鞋吗？”
当丽贝卡将一双雅致的高跟鞋放在我的膝盖上时，眼睛里闪烁着喜悦的光芒。这双鞋外观很简单，毫无瑕疵，只是我这双瘦骨嶙峋的手会破坏它们圆滑的曲线。
“多么优质的皮革！真不错。”
“才八十五美元！”
“上帝啊！我一定是变老了，丽贝卡。买一双鞋好像是花了很多钱啊。”
“噢，奶奶，我明白您说的那些。”
丽贝卡倾斜着身体吻了一下我的脸颊，她那柔软而富有光泽的头发晃动着。她的香水弥漫着春天和青春的气息。二十三岁的她可是全家的宝贝。
“奶奶，先不要睡觉，您的生日宴会就要开始啦。”她轻轻地说着，溜出了房间。
