Atanyrate， ， shewentontocollege， ， ， andherletterswerethehighlightofthosegrinding， ， ， andalmostimmediatelyherrepliesbecamelessfrequent， lesspersonal.
’dmetincollege.“Ithoughtshewrotetoyou.” hermothersaid.
Her“DearJohn” ， Imusthaverecoveredratherquickly， althoughforthefirstfewmonthsIbelievedIdidn’， Ifoundsomeoneelse， whomIlearnedtolovewithadeepandpermanentcommitmentthathaslastedtothisday.
Then， recently， afteranintervalofmorethan40years， .
， Ihadn’tthoughtabouther， -hairedmatronattherestauranttablewastheRachelofmydreamsanddesires， thesupplemermaidofthatsnapshot？
， andquicklydiscoveredwewerebothgrandparents.
“Doyourememberthis？” ’， shesnatchedthepoemfrommeandreturnedittoherpurse， asthoughfearfulIwasgoingtodestroyit.
Itoldheraboutthesnapshot， howI’dcarrieditallthroughthewar.
“Itwouldn’thaveworkedout， youknow.” shesaid.
“Howcanyoubesure？” Icountered.“Ah， colleen， itmighthavebeengrandindeed—myIrishconscienceandyourJewishguilt！”
， ourglanceswerefurtive， ’doncebeentoourselves， weimmortals.
BeforeIputherintoataxi， sheturnedtome.“.” Hereyesmetmine.“Iwantedtothankyouforhavinglovedmeasyoudid.” Wekissed， andsheleft.
Fromastorewindowmyreflectionstaredbackatme， anagingman， ， ， andthescenebeforemewassobeautifulthatIwantedtoshoutanddanceandsingforjoy.
Thatsoonpassed， aseverythingmust， andpresentlyIwasabletostandandstartforhome.
我记得，当时的阳光洒落在她的发丝上。她转过头，我们四目相对，在那间吵闹的五年级教室里，我感觉到了一些东西，觉得心底遭到了一击。我的初恋就此开始了。
她叫雷切尔，我从小学到中学一直很迷恋她，看到她，我的心就怦怦地跳，有她在时，我说话就有些结巴。我就像夏日里一只不幸的小昆虫，被一扇窗前微弱的灯光吸引，在黑暗的夜晚徘徊在她的窗前。
