Elmer talked earnestly and with great freedom, walking up and down and waving his arms about. "You don't understand what's the matter with me so of course you don't care," he declared. "With me it's different. Look how it has always been with me. Father is queer and mother was queer,too. Even the clothes mother used to wear were not like other people's clothes, and look at that coat in which fa- ther goes about there in town, thinking he's dressed up, too. Why don't he get a new one? It wouldn't cost much. I'll tell you why. Father doesn't know and when mother was alive she didn't know either. Mabel is different. She knows but she won't say anything. I will, though. I'm not going to be stared at any longer. Why look here, Mook, father doesn't know that his store there in town is just a queer jumble, that he'll never sell the stuff he buys. He knows nothing about it. Sometimes he's a little wor- ried that trade doesn't come and then he goes and buys something else. In the evenings he sits by the fire upstairs and says trade will come after a while. He isn't worried. He's queer. He doesn't know enough to be worried."The excited young man became more excited. "He don't know but I know," he shouted, stopping to gaze down into the dumb, unresponsive face of the half-wit. "I know too well. I can't stand it. When we lived out here it was different. I worked and at night I went to bed and slept. I wasn't always seeing people and thinking as I am now. In the evening, there in town, I go to the post office or to the depot to see the train come in, and no one says anything to me. Everyone stands around and laughs and they talk but they say nothing to me. Then I feel so queer that I can't talk either. I go away. I don't say any- thing. I can't."The fury of the young man became uncontrollable. "I won't stand it," he yelled, looking up at the bare branches of the trees. "I'm not made to stand it."Maddened by the dull face of the man on the log by the fire, Elmer turned and glared at him as he had glared back along the road at the town of Winesburg. "Go on back to work," he screamed. "What good does it do me to talk to you?" A thought came to him and his voice dropped. "I'm a coward too, eh?" he muttered. "Do you know why I came clear out here afoot? I had to tell someone and you were the only one I could tell. I hunted out another queer one, you see. I ran away, that's what I did. I couldn't stand up to someone like that George Willard. I had to come to you. I ought to tell him and I will."Again his voice arose to a shout and his arms flew about. "I will tellhim. I won't be queer. I don't care what they think. I won't stand it."Elmer Cowley ran out of the woods leaving the half-wit sitting on the log before the fire. Presently the old man arose and climbing over the fence went back to his work in the corn. "I'll be washed and ironed and starched," he declared. "Well, well, I'll be washed and ironed." Mook was interested. He went along a lane to a field where two cows stood nibbling at a straw stack. "Elmer was here," he said to the cows. "Elmer is crazy. You better get behind the stack where he don't see you. He'll hurt some- one yet, Elmer will."At eight o'clock that evening Elmer Cowley put his head in at the front door of the office of the Winesburg Eagle where George Willard sat writing. His cap was pulled down over his eyes and a sullen determined look was on his face. "You come on out- side with me," he said, stepping in and closing the door. He kept his hand on the knob as though pre- pared to resist anyone else coming in. "You just come along outside. I want to see you."George Willard and Elmer Cowley walked through the main street of Winesburg. The night was cold and George Willard had on a new overcoat and looked very spruce and dressed up. He thrust his hands into the overcoat pockets and looked inquir- ingly at his companion. He had long been wanting to make friends with the young merchant and find out what was in his mind. Now he thought he saw a chance and was delighted. "I wonder what he's up to? Perhaps he thinks he has a piece of news for the paper. It can't be a fire because I haven't heard the fire bell and there isn't anyone running," he thought.
同类推荐
热门推荐
千金小混混
我,沐晓晚,在所有人的期盼下迟迟降生,成为沐家百年来第一个小姐。本该像公主一样受所有人的宠爱,可事实却并非如此——五岁懂事的时候被三个哥哥欺负,我看着被墨汁染黑的白色衣袍气愤地吼道:“你们为什么要这么做?”沐若风,大哥,十一岁就开始精明到算计别人。他冷冷哼道:“都是你,顶替了我们小妹的位置——”沐若阳,才九岁的二哥,就像个小老头儿一样沉稳:“你可知道我们期盼有一个妹妹多久了?”沐若辰,大我两岁的三哥,冲我做个鬼脸——“把妹妹还来!”我无语,神啊,苍天啊,我是女的!十七岁之前,我是银罗国英俊潇洒风流倜傥的沐家四少。一夜之间三个哥哥像转了性,围着我殷勤地又是端茶又是倒水,让被孤立了十七年的我很不习惯,鸡皮疙瘩都要冒出来!那个总是斜着眼睛看我的表哥也突然热切起来,居然…居然说要娶我做妻子?我无语,神啊,苍天啊,我可不可以不要做女人?做惯了沐家风流潇洒的四少,突然要我变成大门不出二门不迈的闺秀?我,我要离家出走——江湖,我来啦!江湖险恶,却有一个傻乎乎的沈笑一直跟着。打不还手,骂不还口,某一天我突然发现自己张嘴无言,提手开始心软......江湖第一大帮派的帮主——诸葛青云。清俊的面容下是一颗怎样的心?老是这么暧昧下去,姑奶奶受不了啦!银罗国第一人的才子甘修文,情愿为我折腰。为了我,要丢掉那顶让人眼红的乌纱。一抹如虹影般易碎的微笑再没有出现过的竹马,我曾经想非他不嫁。几个男人齐刷刷站在我面前质问:“说,你要选谁?”脑子有些发麻,我唯一想到的一个字就只有——“逃”......下面介绍七色好友的新文:孤月如我:狂魅相公娇柔妻糖糖宝贝:烈妃言凌歌极品太女紫蝶淡落抢来妖孽相公懒离婚凤御九龙落叶孤单三嫁极品夫君敛心误惹黑心王爷*筱静梦*贱妻黯香虐妃陌上柳絮你丫抢婚有完没完刘君祖完全破解易经密码(全六册)
《刘君祖完全破解易经密码》系列书是海内外公认的易学大家刘君祖先生历时四年多,对《易经》六十四卦作透彻详尽的解读,以深入浅出的方式洞悉决策模式,把《易经》智慧延伸在现代生活中,更进一步通过依经解经的方式,以易理和其他学术相印证,如儒家、道家、佛家、兵家,以及中医养生与企业管理等,在在圆融无碍,使得我们对《易经》六十四卦爻符号的无字天书不再陌生,进而欲罢不能、意犹未尽。