Chapter 25 25. A Midsummer Knight's Dream

Dear readers, it's summertime.The sun glared down at the city, with fierce eyes and no compassion.It is difficult to have the sun be vicious while showing guilt at the same time.The temperature is oh, to hell with the thermometer!Who bothers with standard measurements anyway?the weather is so hot that The Roof Garden restaurant has put in so many extra waiters that you can now count on getting your gin once everyone else has gotten theirs.Hospitals are adding extra beds for bystanders.That's because when fluffy puppies stick out their tongues and bark at the fleas that bit them, woof!Barking, nervous, the old lady in black denim screamed mad dog! , when the police draw their guns and shoot, someone will be injured for sake.The man who always wears a coat in July is from Pompolton, New Jersey.He once appeared at a restaurant on Broadway, drinking hot scotch while enjoying the annual radiant fun.Philanthropists are petitioning the legislature to pass a bill ordering builders to make tenement fire escapes wider, so that families might die from the heat instead of one or two.After the tenants of the apartment come back to town to thank the people who took the trouble to take care of the house, so many men tell you how many times they shower every day, and you are amazed at how they come alive.In the same restaurant, the same young man, who raised his voice and called out cold beef and cold beer, and declared that he would not pay for the roast chicken and the red burgundy. He blushes when he meets your eyes, because you've heard him call the same ascetic food all winter long, in a moderate voice.The soup is getting weaker, the wallet is shrinking, the dresses are getting thinner, the actors are getting thinner, and the reasons for baseball are getting less and less convincing.Yes, it is summer.

A man was standing on Thirty-fourth Street, waiting for his car to go downtown.A man of forty, gray-haired, red-cheeked, shrewd, excitable, modestly dressed, with melancholy eyes.He wiped his forehead and laughed loudly when a fat man who looked like he was out of the house stopped to talk to him. No, sir, he cried in contempt, not one of your old mosquito-chased swamps was built for me, not one of your high-rise buildings built for me.When I want to escape the heat, I know what to do.Sir, New York is the best summer resort in this country.Stay in the shade, watch your food, and stay away from electric fans.Talk about your Adirondacks and your Catskills!There is more comfort in Manhattan than in the rest of the country put together.no sir!No heavy footsteps climbing the cliffs, no waking up by a million flies at four in the morning, eating canned food straight from the city, prepared for me.Somewhat dated New York will accept a select few summer guests; the comfort and convenience of being at home is the ad and my daily answer.

【Note】Adirondack Park: (Adirondack Park) is a state reserve in upstate New York. You need a vacation, said the fat man, watching the other carefully, you haven't left the city in years.Anyway, you'd better leave me for two weeks.Now, Beaverkill's trout are romping and jumping at anything that looks like a fly.Harding wrote that he had caught a three-pound trout last week. nonsense!The other yelled, if you like, you put on your rubber high shoes and fumble with your brains to catch fish, go.When I want fish, I go to a cool restaurant and order one.When I think of you running around in the heat of this country and thinking you're having a good time, I laugh at you guys.For my part, I love the ancestral farm in New York, which is so little changed, with wide boulevards running through its center.

Fatty felt sorry for his friend and left by himself.The man who considered New York the greatest summer resort in the country got into his car and creaked to his office.As he drove, he dropped the newspaper and looked up at the ragged edge of sky above the roof. Three pounds!He muttered absently that Harding couldn't lie.I believe that if I could but it's impossible they must have at least another month. At the office, those in favor of spending midsummer in the city gleefully plunge into the public swimming pool.Adkins, his clerk, came in and added a stack of letters, memorandums, and telegrams.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the busy man leaned back in his office chair and exclaimed thoughtfully: I wonder what bait Harding used. She was all white that day, so Compton lost the bet and Gaines won.Compton had bet that she would be in light blue because she knew it was his favorite color, and since Compton was the son of a millionaire, it was almost obvious that he was betting on whom to win. Note.White was her choice, however, and Gaines held his head high with the haughty look of a quarter. That year, the small summer hotel in the mountains ushered in a group of energetic guests.Two or three young men from the university, some artists, and a young naval officer formed a party.In keeping with what they considered to be a group of upper-class rich and powerful, there were enough beauties among the young ladies to form the other side.However, Mary.Sewell is the moon among the stars.Every young man is eager to find something to do so that he can pay the bills for her tiara and fuel the fire so that she can melt away the Sewell part of her name forever.Those who could only stay for a week or two left disheartened after a shot or two.But Compton stayed, like the mountains themselves, because he could afford to pay.Gaines stayed because he was a scrappy guy, not afraid of a millionaire's son, and uh, he adored the country.

How are you feeling, Miss Mary?Once he said, I know a schmuck in New York who professes to love its summers.Also said you'd stay cooler there than in the forest.Isn't he stupid?I don't think I'll be able to breathe on Broadway after June 1st. Mother thinks she'll be back after next week, said Miss Mary, frowning sweetly. Still, when you miss the city, Gaines said, there's still plenty to enjoy in the city in the summer.Roof gardens, you know, and um roof gardens. On this day, the blue of the lake was at its peak. On this day, they imitated a medieval jousting. The men on the farm's clumsy horses were running around a clearing in the woods, fighting for the point of the spear. How fun it is to ring the bell!

In the shady forest, the air is cool and dry, like fine wine.There is a valley under the forest, which looks beautiful through the milky haze.Halfway up the canyon, a white mist rises from an invisible waterfall, blurring the green treetops palm-wide.The young people joined hands with the energetic Xia Tian and had fun.There is absolutely no such thing on Broadway. Villagers gather to watch the townspeople chase their crazy and wacky farce.The laughter of the little rascal, the water goddess, and the ghost resounded through the woods.Gaines had the most bells, so he had the privilege of crowning the queen of the tourney.He's the victorious knight in terms of snatched bells.A white scarf was wrapped around his arm.Compton wraps are light blue.She had declared her preference for blue, but she was wearing snow white that day.

Gaines looked around, looking for the Queen, to crown her.He heard her joyful laugh, but it seemed to come from the clouds.She slipped away and climbed up a small granite cliff of Himni Rock, where she stood, a white fairy among the laurel leaves, fifteen feet above all heads. He and Compton immediately took on the self-evident challenge.It is easy to climb up the cliff from the back, and there are few support points for hand climbing on the front.Everyone quickly chose their own route and began to climb.A crevice, a bush, a bit of a ledge, a vine or twig all count as foreign aids in the contest.There was no prize for this really stupid move; but there was youth in it, and a contender, and lightheartedness, and something that made Miss Clay look so attractive.

Gaines grabbed a laurel root, and with a tug, dragged himself to Miss Mary's feet.He had a garland of roses on his arm; and to the applause of the villagers and summer guests below, he put the garland on the queen's head. You are a gallant knight, said Miss Mary.If only I'd always been your true knight, Gaines began, and Miss Mary laughed at his stupidity, for Compton climbed the ledge only a minute late. What a beautiful evening when they drove back to the hotel!The milky whiteness of the canyon faded to purple, the mirrored lake surrounded by dark woods, and the invigorating air stirred the heart.The first stars rising above the peaks are pale, and there is still a little bit of light in the sky

I'm sorry, Mr. Gaines, said Adkins.The man who believed that New York was the best summer place in the world opened his eyes and kicked over the glue bottle on the table. I believe I fell asleep, he said. It's all due to the heat, Adkins said, and it's kind of sad to be in town these days Nonsense, the other party said, in summer, the city is ten times better than the country.It takes a fool to drench in a muddy stream, exhausted, trying to catch a fish no longer as long as your finger.Stay in town, stay comfortable that's my point. Just got a few letters, Adkins said, I thought you might want to look at them before you leave.

Let us look over his shoulder and read just a few lines from one of the letters: My dear, dear husband: Just got your letter ordering us to stay another month Rita's cough is almost gone.Johnny just turned wild, like an Indian child It would turn both children wild If it ain't no good for the child, it's going to you The spot where the flower was on my head All these years passed when you said you would be my true knight Fifteen years ago, darling, just think!Been doing that to me forever and ever. Mary The man who said he thought New York the best summer resort in the country, stopped by a café on his way home and drank a beer under the fan, wondered what kind of hook Harding was using, he said to himself.