浪漫曲折路

Detour to Romance

Located in the checkroom in Union Stationas I am, I see everybody that comes up the stairs.

Harry came in a little over three years agoand waited at the head of the stairs for the passengers from the 9∶05 train.

I remember seeing Harry that first evening.He wasn’t much more than a thin, anxious kid then. Hewas all dressed up and I knew he was meeting his girl and that they would bemarried twenty minutes after she arrived.

Well, the passengers came up and I had toget busy. I didn’t look toward the stairs again untilnearly time for the 9∶18 and I was very surprised tosee that the young fellow was still there.

She didn’t come onthe 9∶18 either, nor on the 9∶40,and when the passengers from the 10∶02 had all arrivedand left, Harry was looking pretty desperate. Pretty soon he came close to mywindow so I called out and asked him what she looked like.

“She’s small anddark,” he said, “and nineteenyears old and very neat in the way she walks. She has a face,” he said, thinking a minute, “that has lotsof spirit. I mean she can get mad but she never stays mad for long, and hereyebrows come to a little point in the middle. She’sgot a brown fur, but maybe she isn’t wearing it.”

I couldn’t rememberseeing anybody like that.

He showed me the telegram he’d received: ARRIVE THURSDAY. MEET ME STATION. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.?? MAY. It was from Omaha, Nebraska.

“Well,” I finallysaid, “why don’t you phone toyour home? She’s probably called there if she got inahead of you.”

He gave me a sick look. “I’ve only been in town two days. We weregoing to meet and then drive down South where I’ve gota job. She hasn’t any address for me.” He touched the telegram.

When I came on duty the next day he wasstill there and came over as soon as he saw me.

“Did she work anywhere?” I asked.

He nodded. “She wasa typist. I telegraphed her former boss. All they know is that she left her jobto get married.”

Harry met every train for the next three orfour days. Of course, the railroad lines made a routine checkup and the policelooked into the case. But nobody was any real help. I could see that they allfigured that May had simply played a trick on him. But I never believed that,somehow.

由于我工作的地方在联合车站的行李寄存处，我看得见每一个上楼的人。

哈里3年多以前来到这里，站在楼梯口等待9点05分到达的火车旅客。

我还记得那第一晚见到哈里时的情景。那时，他瘦瘦的，神情焦虑，就像个孩子似的。他穿戴整齐，我知道他是在等女朋友，而且在她到达20分钟之后他们就要结婚。

旅客们过来了，我得忙碌起来。等到9点18分的那趟车快到的时候我才再往楼梯方向看去，我吃惊地发现那个年轻人还在那里。

她也没乘9点18分的那趟车来，9点40分的车上也没她。等10点02分那趟车的旅客全都到达并离开后，哈里显得很失望。很快他走近我的窗口，我就招呼他，问她长得什么模样。

“她个子小，皮肤黑，”他说，“19岁。走路的样子很利落。她的脸，”他想了一会儿，说，“很有个性。我的意思是说她会生气，但从不会生气太久。她的眉心处有一个小点儿。她有一件褐色毛皮大衣，不过可能没穿着。”

我想不起来看见过有谁长得像那样。

他给我看他收到的电报：星期四到。车站接我。爱爱爱爱。——梅。电报寄自内布拉斯加州的奥马哈市。

“呃，”我最后说，“你干吗不往家里打个电话？如果她先你到达这里，她可能已给你家打过电话。”

他懊恼地看了我一眼。“我到城里才两天。我们打算见面之后开车去南方，我在那儿找到了一份工作。她——她也没给我任何地址。”他摸了摸电报。

第二天我去值班时他还在那儿。一看见我，他就走了过来。

“她在哪儿工作过吗？”我问。

他点了点头。“她本来是个打字员。我给她以前的老板拍了电报。他们只知道她不干了，结婚去了。”

哈里在后来的三四天接了每趟车。当然，铁路方面作了例行检查，警察也参与了这件事。但是实际上谁也没帮上忙。我看得出来，他们都觉得梅只不过是跟他开了个玩笑，但不知怎么我却根本不这么认为。

2024丨浪漫曲折路 1