奇书网

Text B A Hard Choice（第1页）

TextBAHardChoice

—fresofMadisonty

&James>

She[Francesca]avoidedgoingintotowfewdays，awareallthetimethatRobertKincaidwasonlyafewmilesaway。Frahiopherselfifshesawhim。Shemightruntohimandsay，“gonow!”ShehaddefiedrisktoseehimatCedarBridge，oomuseeinghimagain。

ByTuesdaythegrocerieswererunninglowandRieededapartforthepickerhewasgettingbashape。Thedaywaslow-slung，steadyrain，lightfog，cust。

Richardgothispartandhadcoffeewiththeothermenatthecafewhilesheshroceries。HeknewhersdwaswaitingoutinfrontoftheSuperValuewhenshefinished。HejumpedhisAllis-ChalmersdhelpedherloadthebagsintotheFordpitheseatandaroundherknees。Aoftripodsandknapsacks。

&orunuptotheimplementpla。IfotonemorepieceImightneed。”

TheydrovenorthonU。S。Route169，whiedthemaierset。AblocksouthoftheTexa，shesawHarryrollingawayfromthepumps，windshielding，andoutontotheroadaheadofthem。

&umbroughtthemuprightbehindtheoldpidsittinghighintheFord，shecouldseeablacktarpauliightinthebaingasuitdguitarcasewedgedihesparetirelyingflat。Thebadoattered，butpartofhisheadwasvisible。Heleaogetsomethingfromtheglovebox;eightdaysagohe’ddoandhisarmhadbrushedacr。Aweekagoshe’dbeeninDesMoinesbuyingapinkdress。

“Thattrugwayfromhome，”remarkedRichard。“WashingtonState。Lookslikeawit;longhair，anyway。Ohought，I’llbetit’sthatphotographertheybeentalkin’aboutatthecafe。”

TheyfollowedRobertKincaidafewbloorthtowhere169ih92ruawasafour-，withheavycrosstraffialldireplicatedbytherainandthefog，whichhadgottenheavier。

Formaybetweheysatthere。Heahead，onlythirtyfeetfromher。Shecouldstilldoit。Getoutandrunthtdoor，overtheknapsaddtripods。

&KincaidhaddrivenawayfromherlastFriday，sherealized，inspiteofhowmuchshethoughtshe’dthen，shehadhelessbadlyuedherfeelings。Thatdidn’tseempossible，butitwastrue。Shehadbeguandwhathealreadyuood。

Butshesatfrozenbyherrespoaringatthatbadowharderthanshehadeverlookedatanythinginherlife。Hisleftsignallightomenthe’dbegone。RichardwasfiddlingwiththeFord’sradio。

&oseethingsinslowmotion，somecurioustriind。Histurnd。。。slowly。。。slowly。。。hemovedHarryierse—shecouldvisualizehislonglegswthedacceleratorandthemushisrightfasheshiftedgears—gleftnowonto92towardcilBluffs，theBlackHills，ahwest。。。slowly。。。slowly。。。theoldpickupd。。。soslowlyitdthroughtheiion，puttingitshewest。

Squintingthroughtearsandrainandfog，shecouldbarelymakeoutthefadedredpaintonthedoor:“KincaidPhotography—Bellingham，Washington。”

Hehadloweredhiswindowtohelphimgetthroughthebadvisibilityasheturhedshecouldseehishairblowioacceleratedown92，headi，rollingupthewindowashedrove。

“Oh，Christ—oh，JesusChristAlmighty。。。no!”Thewordswereinsideofher。“Iwaswro，Iwaswrongtostay。。。butI’tgo。。。。Letmetellyouagain。。。whyI’tgo。。。。TellmeagainwhyIshouldgo。”

Andsheheardhisvoiingbathehighway。“Inauniverseofambiguity，thiskiyesonlyoneveragain，nomatterhowmaimesyoulive。”

Richardtookthetruckacrosstheiionheadingnorth。ShelookedforaninstantpasthisfacetowardHarry’sredtaillightsmovingoffintothefogandrain。TheoldChevypiallbesideahugesemitrailerrigri，sprayingawaveofroadwateroverthelastcowboy。

“Good-bye，RobertKincaid，”shewhispered，aoly。

Richardlookedoverather。“What’swrong，Frannie?Willyoupleasetellmeithyou?”

“Richard，Ijustomyself。I’llbeallrighties。”

Riedintheockreports，lookedoverather，andshookhishead。

&herthefollowirue（T）orfalse（F）。

1）FrancescaavoidedgoingintotownbecauseshewasafraidthatRobertKincaidmighttakehera>

2）OnTuesdayFrandRittotowher。（）

&daysagoFraogetherwithRobertKincaid。（）

4）RobertKincaidwasalocalresideown。（）

5）AfterRobertKiher，FrancescarealizedshehaduedherloveforRobert。（）

6）FrancescachoseherloveforRobertoverherrespohefamily。（）

7）RobertKincaidhotographer。（）

8）RichardwasawareofthethoughtsweighingonFrancesd。（）