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I do not remember seeing her at all until four years later, one Saturday night when Mavis and I were having Cokes in the Regal Cafe.
在我的記憶中，我后來根本沒有見到過她，直到四年之后才又見過她一次。那是一個星期六的晚上，我和馬維斯正在里歌咖啡館喝可口可樂，
The jukebox was booming like tuneful thunder, and beside it, leaning lightly on its chrome and its rainbow glass, was a girl.
電唱機播放出雷聲般的音樂，那鍍鉻材料和五彩玻璃造的電唱機旁斜依著一個姑娘。
Piquette must have been seventeen then, although she looked about twenty. I stared at her, astounded that anyone could have changed so much.
那時皮格特大概是十七歲，但看上去卻有二十歲左右。我盯住她看，為一個人能發生這么巨大的變化而大為驚訝。
Her face, so stolidand expressionless before, was animated now with a gaiety that was almost violent.
以前，她的面孔十分呆板，毫無表情，而現在卻帶有一種有幾分狂歡的活力。
She laughed and talked very loudly with the boys around her. Her lipstick was bright carmine, and her hair was cut Short and frizzily permed.
她和身邊的小伙子們大聲地說笑。她的唇膏是一種鮮亮的洋紅色，她的頭發剪短，燙成彎彎曲曲的小卷。
She had not been pretty as a child, and she was not pretty now, for her features were still heavy and blunt.
小時候她長得就不漂亮，現在也還一樣，她的五官粗糙、呆板。
But her dark and slightly slanted eyes were beautiful, and her skin-tight skirt and orange sweater displayed to enviable advantage a soft and slender body.
但是，她那雙烏黑、稍稍斜視的眼睛卻是美麗的。而且，一條緊身裙和一件桔黃色毛衣將她那柔軟、苗條的身材襯托得恰到好處，令人羨慕。
She saw me, and walked over. She teetered a little, but it was not due to her once-tubercular leg, for her limp was almost gone.
她看到我，就走了過來。她走路有點搖搖晃晃的，但那并不是由于她那曾經患骨結核的腿的緣故，她瘸腿的毛病已幾乎沒有了。
Hi, Vanessa, Her voice still had the same hoarseness . Long time no see, eh?
你好，凡乃莎，她的聲音還是那樣沙啞，好久不見，是吧?
Hi, I said Where've you been keeping yourself, Piquette?
你好，我說。你這些日子都到哪兒去了，皮格特?
Oh, I been around, she said. I been away almost two years now. Been all over the place-Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon. Jesus, what I could tell you!
哦，到處漂泊，她說。我離家已將近有兩年了，到了好多地方--溫尼佩格、雷金那、薩斯卡通。嗨，要說的可多啦!
I come back this summer, but I ain't stayin'. You kids go in to the dance?
我今年夏天才回來，但不打算呆下去。你們要不要去跳舞?
No, I said abruptly, for this was a sore point with me. I was fifteen, and thought I was old enough to go to the Saturday-night dances at the Flamingo. My mother, however, thought otherwise.
不要，我斷然回答道，因為她的問話正觸著我的痛處。我那時已十五歲，自己覺得到了可以去參加火烈鳥歌舞廳周末舞會的年齡了，但我母親卻不以為然。
