Chapter 17 instant snapshot

I used the camera my parents gave me, and took a lot of snapshots when my family was not paying attention. There were so many snapshots that my father forbade me to develop all the negatives. He forced me to choose which rolls of negatives were worth developing. Later I kept two boxes of negatives in my closet, one marked to be sent out for laundering and the other to be kept temporarily, and my mother said that was the only time I was organized. I love the moments captured by Kodak automatic cameras. The corner flash of the camera flashes, the flash bulb is fleeting, and the moment of taking the picture is gone forever. The only thing left is a picture.The flashes were hot to the touch when they first ran out, and I tossed the little quad-shaped flashes between my hands until the flashes cooled.The burnt tungsten filaments in the bulbs turned into dots of blue filaments, and sometimes scorched the thin glass black.I capture precious moments with my camera, and with a camera, I can stop time and keep that moment forever.These images are all mine, and no one can take them away from me.

One night in the summer of 1975, my mother said to my father: Have you ever had sex in the ocean? Dad replied: no. Neither did I, Mom said: Let's pretend this is the sea.I may leave tomorrow, maybe we will never see each other again. The next day, she went to her grandfather's cabin in New Hampshire. That same summer, Lindsay, Dad, or Buckley would often find a pot of stew, a cake, or Dad's favorite apple pie, some good, some not so good, sitting outside the door, Stead Mrs.'s stew was unpalatable, Mrs. Gilbert's cake was too gooey but not too bad, and Luanna's apple pie was the best, out of this world.

After my mother left, my father often stayed in the study all night long, and he read and reread Mary.Chester (Mary Chestnut) wrote a letter to her husband, trying to forget everything.He didn't want to blame anyone or hold out hope, but he couldn't.Only one thing brought a slight smile to his face. Luanna.Singer's apple pie is really good.He wrote in his notebook. One autumn afternoon, Dad received a call from his grandmother. Jack, grandma said on the phone: I want to move in with you. Although Dad didn't say anything, his hesitation was completely silent. I wanted to go over and help you and the kids, I've wasted enough time in this big empty house.

Mom, our lives are just getting back on track.He stammered, but he knew he couldn't keep bothering Nate's mother with Barkley, who had been away for four months, whom he had thought was just a temporary absence, and who now looked like she wasn't coming back. Grandma is quite persistent, I watched her resist drinking the vodka left in the glass, I will control myself not to drink, at least she thought about it seriously, um, at least I will not drink before five o’clock in the afternoon, oops, whatever His, if you think it's necessary, I'll quit drinking. Do you know what you are talking about?

Grandma is very clear in her heart, from the hands holding the receiver to the feet wearing high heels, the pores of her whole body are very clear, yes, I know what I am talking about. After hanging up the phone, Dad started to worry. He suddenly thought: where should we let grandma sleep? Everyone knows which room grandma should sleep in. By December 1975, Mr. Harvey had been gone for a year, but his whereabouts were still unknown.For a while a neighboring shop had taped a sketch of Mr. Harvey to the window, until the tape became grimy and the sketch was in tatters.Lindsey and Samuel spent a lot of time at Hall's garage, and she never set foot in a fast food place where other young people went, and the owner of this place was very law-abiding, and he took George.A sketch of Harvey's figure was double-magnified and taped to the gate, and when guests asked what was going on, he immediately described all the horrific details, from the murder of a young girl in a cornfield to the fact that only an elbow was found by the police.

When Lindsey finally asked Hall to drive her to the police station, she wanted to know what the police were going to do. They say goodbye to Samuel, who remains in the garage, and Hall takes Lindsey to the police station in a wet and snowy blizzard. Linxi was young and menacing, and the police were a little at a loss from the beginning. After they knew who she was, they respected her even more.This angry fifteen-year-old girl is focused, with small round breasts, thin but curvaceous legs, and her eyes are as beautiful as flowers, but as hard as stone. Lindsey and Hall waited on a wooden bench outside the chief's office, and there was something on the other side of the bureau that seemed very familiar to her.The things were placed on Detective Fenemont's desk. Because of the special color, they were quite prominent and could be seen at a glance.My mother often said that this kind of red is Chinese red, which is more dazzling than bright red roses. It is difficult to see this color in nature, and only lipstick can show this color.My mother is very beautiful in Chinese red clothes, and she is very proud of it. Every time she wears a Chinese red scarf, she always proudly says that even grandma dare not wear clothes of this color.

Hall.The more she looked at the scarf on Fenemont's table, the more familiar it seemed, and the muscles all over her body tensed accordingly. What's up? Did you see that red scarf? see. Can you go over and get it to me? Hall turned to look at her and Lindsay said to him: "I think it's my mum's scarf. Hall went to get the scarf, Ryan walked in from behind Lindsay, he patted Lindsay on the shoulder, and suddenly saw Hall walking towards his desk.For a moment, Lindsay and Detective Fenemont looked at each other intently. Why is my mother's scarf here? Ryan stammered: She probably stayed in my car one day.

Lindsey stood up and faced him, her eyes were piercing, she was already thinking the worst, what is she doing in your car? Hi Hall.Ryan said. Hall held the scarf in his hand, and Lindsey snatched the scarf away. The more she said, the angrier she became: Why do you have my mother's scarf? Although Ryan was a police detective, it was Hall who saw the change in Lindsay's expression first.Lindsay has a clear face, with all kinds of colors emerging like a rainbow on her face. My sister is always the first to calculate the answer in math class, and she often explains puns to her classmates. Her reaction is very fast, and it is the same this time.Hall put his hand on Lindsay's shoulder, pushed her and said: We should go.

Later in the room behind the garage, Lindsey wept and told Samuel what she couldn't believe. My younger brother built me ​​a castle when he was seven years old.My sister and I used to talk about building a castle together, but Dad never had the courage to help my younger brother. When he thought of the castle, Dad remembered that he had pitched a tent with the missing Mr. Harvey. Such memories made him sad. Mr. Harvey moved into a family with five daughters, George.The spring after Harvey absconded, they built a swimming pool in the backyard, and the girls' laughter often wafted into Dad's study.The backyard was filled with the sound of little girls chirping and chirping. The girls were all healthy and happy, without any injuries.

Dad heard it in his ears and felt pain in his heart.It was the spring of 1976, and his mother had been away from home for a long time. He closed the window of his study and kept the window open even on the hottest night. Only in this way could he not hear the laughter of the little girl next door.He watched his youngest son talking to himself alone in the dense bushes. Buckley had already brought several empty clay pots from the garage, and he had also dragged over the forgotten shoe polisher in the corner. When everything on the city wall was moved to the backyard by him.Lindsay, Samuel and Hall also helped him move two large rocks from the driveway at the gate. Samuel didn't expect Buckley to find such a large rock. He looked at the rocks and asked, "Do you plan to take them?" What roofs?

Buckley looked at Samuel suspiciously. Hall wondered what things in the garage could be useful. He suddenly remembered that there were two pieces of iron on the wall behind the garage. In this way, Buckley's castle has a roof.One hot night, my father looked out of the study, but he couldn't see his son.Buckley sat peacefully in the castle. He half-kneeled and half-climbed to pull the clay pot in, and then placed a large cardboard in front of the clay pot. The cardboard was so high that it almost touched the iron roof. The light in the castle was weak, and he could barely read a book. , Hall also complied with Barkley's request, using black spray paint on one side of the wooden door to write a few large characters that do not enter. The younger brother mostly stays inside and reads comics such as Avengers and X︱Men. He fantasizes that he becomes Wolverine in X︱Men. Wolverine has a skeleton made of the strongest metal in the universe. No matter how serious the injury is, the next day he can Automatic healing.He thinks of me now and then, and he misses my voice, and wishes I would run out of the house, slap on the tin roof of the castle, and yell at him to let me in.Sometimes he wished Lindsey and Samuel would stay home longer, or that his father would play with him as he had done before, when his father, who used to be carefree, now always smiled with a hint of sadness.My little brother felt that everything was tinged with anxiety. Despair and sadness, like an invisible magnetic field, always enveloped our father.But the younger brother didn't allow himself to miss his mother. Whenever he thought of his mother, he buried his head in the world of comic books. Iron walls and iron walls, jumping up skyscrapers in one leap.Usually he imagines himself as a Spider-Man, who turns into a Hulk when he gets angry, and when he gets hurt, he imagines himself as a hero in a comic book. In a blink of an eye, he is no longer a sensitive and fragile little boy, but a strong superman , The childish heart has also become a heart of stone.Watching my little brother grow up like this, I can't help but think of a sentence my grandmother once said. When Linxi and I made funny faces behind her back or showed disdainful expressions, my grandmother always said: Be careful of the expressions on your faces. Whatever expression you put on now, it will always be this virtue in the future. One day, Buckley, who was in the second grade, took home a story he had written. The story went like this: Once upon a time, there was a kid named Billy. He saw a hole in the ground, and he walked into the hole. Never came out again. Dad was so absent-minded all day long that he couldn't see anything wrong with the story.He posted the story on the refrigerator like his mother, and in the same place there was a crayon drawing that Buckley had drawn long ago, but no one had noticed the blue horizon on the picture for a long time.Although the younger brother was young, he knew that there was something wrong with the story he wrote. He noticed that the teacher's reaction was very strange, as vague as a character in a comic book.So he took the story off the fridge and sneaked it into my old room while Grandma was downstairs, and he folded the story into little squares and stuffed it under the mattress where I used to keep my treasures , is now empty. On a hot day in the autumn of 1976, Ryan.Fenemont went to the evidence room to check a large safe. In the safe were animal bones and some powder found in the middle of the ceiling of Mr. Harvey's basement. The test results confirmed that the powder was quicklime. No matter how deep the search was, the police still found no other bones or bodies in Mr. Harvey's house.My blood on the garage floor was the only clue to the case, but the police had no idea.Ryan spent weeks, if not months, poring over the sketches that Lindsey had stolen, and he took a team back to the cornfield to search again. After digging and digging, they finally found it on the other side of the field. An empty Coca-Cola can. Two fingerprints were found on the empty can. The police collected his fingerprints at Mr. Harvey's house and compared them with my birth certificate.At this point, the evidence is finally conclusive, and Ryan also knows Jack.Shamon was right from the start. But no matter how hard he tried to track down George.The whereabouts of Harvey, who seems to have disappeared from the earth and can't be found no matter how hard he looks.Nor could he find any records of this person, there is no such person in official records. All he had was Mr. Harvey's doll's house, so he called the businessman who sold Mr. Harvey's doll's house and the rich man who bought the doll's house, but he still got nothing.There are many small chairs, small doors with brass handles, and small slanted windows in the doll's house. There are also some cloth bushes and small trees outside the house. Ryan called the manufacturers of these things, but still couldn't find anything. information. All kinds of evidence are placed on a large table in the basement, and there is nothing on the table except the evidence.Ryan sat at the table, examining a large stack of missing person posters printed by my father one by one. Although he already knew my face, the posters in front of him still made him dazed.Recently, a lot of new houses have been built in this area. He thinks that the key to solving the case may depend on this. With the development of the community, people build houses on the ground, and the nearby land has been completely turned over. Maybe the police will find what they need to solve the case. evidence of. There is a bag at the bottom of the safe, which contains the hat with the bell on it.He remembered that when he gave the hat to my mother, she fell to her knees on the rug in grief.He still doesn't know when he fell in love with her, but I know when it was.That day he and Mom sat in the living room of my house waiting for Dad to come home. Buckley and Nate slept on the sofa touching their feet, and Mom scribbled on the drawing paper. From that day on, he fell in love with her. He tried in vain to find my murderer; he tried in vain to love my mother. Ryan looked at the sketch of the cornfield stolen by Linxi, and had to admit a fact in his heart: because of his own hesitation, the murderer escaped from him.He couldn't get rid of the guilt in his heart. If no one else knew, he knew very well that George.It was all his fault that Harvey had the chance to escape. He took out the wallet from his pocket. The photos in the wallet represented the cases he had participated in but could not solve. One of them was his dead wife.He put all the photos on the table, turned them face down one by one, and wrote the word "death" on the back of each photo.Before, he waited to write the date of the crime on the back of the photo, but now the question of who the murderer was, why he did it, how he did it, and so on has no meaning for him.He would never guess why his wife committed suicide, and he would never understand why so many children were missing.He put the evidence and photos back into the safe, turned off the lights, and left the cold evidence room. But he was ignorant of the following things: On September 10, 1976, a hunter was hunting in Connecticut. When he walked back to his car, he saw something shining on the ground. It was the Pennsylvania stone that used to hang on my silver bracelet.After a while, he saw that the nearby ground had been dug by the bear, and there were some bones on the messy ground, which he knew were the feet of a child. Mom only spent one winter in New Hampshire before deciding to drive to California.She's always wanted to drive across America, but never got the chance to do so.A friend of hers in New Hampshire told her that a winery near San Francisco was looking for people to work with labor, they didn't ask for strict conditions, and if they didn't want to talk about it, they wouldn't ask about your personal affairs, All three sounded good to her. This friend is interested in her, but she doesn't want to have a relationship with him.At this point, she already knew that sex could not solve the problem. From the first time she had sex with Ryan in the shopping mall, she knew that there was absolutely no result for the two of them, and she couldn't even really feel his love and affection. She packed up her things and set off for California. Every time she stopped in a small town along the way, she would send postcards from the town to her sister and brother. The postcard said: Hi, I am in Dutton, Ohio. state bird, or arrived in Mississippi yesterday evening, the Mississippi is really wide. Back and forth, she came to Arizona, where she used to travel only close to home, and was now eight states away from the furthest place she had ever been before.She rented a room, got a bucket of ice from the ice machine outside, was arriving in California tomorrow, bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate, and remembered a friend from New Hampshire who said he spent a He spends a whole year cleaning the large wine barrel, which is full of mold. He lies down on his back and scrapes off layers of mold inside the barrel with a knife.The mold looked or felt like a liver, and no matter how many showers he took after get off work, fruit flies were still flying around him. She sips champagne from a plastic cup and looks at her reflection in the mirror.She forced herself to watch it. She remembers sitting in the living room with Dad, me, Lindsey, and Buckley one New Year's Eve, the first time our whole family stayed up to watch the New Year's Eve, and she put Buckley to bed first during the day so that my little brother could get enough. sleep. Buckley slept until dark and didn't get up. He felt that night must be more fun than Christmas Eve. In his young mind, New Year was the most interesting holiday. He thought that when the clock struck midnight, he would be in a colorful toy kingdom. Hours later, the boy was yawning and leaning against Mom's lap, and Mom was running her fingers through his hair, and Dad was slinking into the kitchen to make hot cocoa, and Lindsay and I were cutting the chocolate cake.At midnight, the bell struck twelve times, and congratulations could be faintly heard in the distance, interspersed with the sparse sound of firecrackers, except for that, the surroundings were completely silent.The little brother was very disappointed. He didn't understand why he was so quiet. His little face was full of doubts and disappointment. My mother didn't know what to do after reading it. She thought of an early song by Peggy Lee <Is that all? >, the younger brother’s expression is like this, it looks like he is about to cry. She remembered that her father raised her little brother on his shoulders, and then began to sing loudly, and we sang along: how can old friends forget each other, how can we not miss each other after parting; how can old friends forget each other, remembering the good old days. Buckley stared at everyone. The new words in the lyrics floated in the air like bubbles. He had no idea what it meant. What is lang syne? He asked with a puzzled look. Yeah, what does that mean?I also asked my parents. old days.Dad answered. Yes, lang syne represents the long gone days.Suddenly, Mom said, she looked down and piled the cake crumbs together on the plate. Hey, girl with sea eyes, Dad said: What's the matter? She remembered dismissing her father's questions casually, as if she had a faucet switch in her mind, and turning it to the right blocked her thoughts.After a while, she stood up and asked me to help her clear away the dishes. In the fall of 1976, my mother came to California.She drove directly to the beach and stopped the car to look at the sea.Along the way, she saw families arguing, yelling, or shouting at the top of their voices. Everyone seemed to face endless pressure every day.She hadn't seemed to see anything but these rowdy families for the past four days, and now she was looking at the sea through the windshield, and she felt relieved at last.She thought of the books she read in college, and Virginia.Woolf's life, at that time everything seemed hazy and full of romantic sentiment, when she was tired from reading, she would go to the seaside, pick up a stone in her pocket, swim among the waves lapping on the shore, and live a good life poetic. She tied the sweater loosely around her waist and climbed down the cliff next to the bank.There is nothing under the cliff but steep stones and rushing waves.Although she was very careful, I still watched her every step closely. I was really worried that she would slip and fall accidentally. My mother just wants to climb to the bottom of the cliff to look at the sea. She wants to ride the waves from the other side of the sea on this beach thousands of miles away from home. She only has this thought in her heart. Maybe the sea will baptize her, and the waves are gentle. One shot, everything can start all over again.But is life really that simple?Children often play a game in physical education class. The children run back and forth between two closed rooms, picking up wooden blocks and stacking wooden blocks. Will life repeat itself like this, endlessly? ?All she wanted was to go to the sea, sea, sea, and I nervously watched her step by step between the rocks.Suddenly a girl's voice came from nearby. We heard the voice at the same time, and we were all startled when we looked up. There is a little baby on the beach. Mom saw a little sandy beach between the rocks, and on the sand was a blanket with a little baby girl in a pink knitted hat, a vest, and boots.The little baby was lying on the blanket alone, with a white plush toy next to it, which looked like a little sheep. Mom slowly climbed down, and there was a group of adults standing on the beach with their backs to mom, everyone was wearing black and dark blue clothes, with cool lines on their hats and boots, everyone looked serious, but behaved quite panic.I glanced with my wildlife photographer's eyes and immediately saw several tripods and a silver disc surrounded by a ring of wire.A young man moved the disk from side to side, and the light fell on the baby on the blanket. Mom laughed out loud and everyone was busy except for one assistant looking up at Mom among the rocks.I think they are probably shooting commercials, but what kind of commercials?Buying a healthy and lively little baby girl to replace a dead daughter?I watched my mother laugh, her face gradually brightened, and I saw the strange expression behind the smile. She looked at the waves behind the baby girl and thought how dazzlingly beautiful the waves were.They can quietly sweep a little baby girl from the sand in a blink of an eye, and the sea can take the life of a little baby girl in a blink of an eye, and these fashionable adults can't do anything to chase them.Although the surroundings are calm, disasters may occur at any time. When the waves come, the life of the little baby girl will be lost with the waves. No one can save her, even the mother who has already anticipated the unexpected disaster is helpless. That week, she landed a job at Cuso Winery, a vineyard in a valley above the bay.She wrote a number of postcards to Lindsey and Buckley, in which she narrated happy moments in fits and starts, hoping that she would sound happier in these limited postcards. During her vacations she used to walk the streets of Sauceredo or Santa Rosa, elegant and wealthy towns where everyone seemed to be a stranger.She tried to concentrate on observing the strange things around her, but no matter how she tried, as soon as she walked into a gift shop or a coffee shop, she immediately felt the walls beating in all directions, and sadness suddenly hit her heart.There was pain in her heart, and sorrow slowly spread throughout her body. Tears poured out like brave soldiers on the battlefield. She took a deep breath and tried her best to restrain herself from crying in public.Sometimes she would go to the restaurant, order a cup of coffee and a toast, and swallow the toast with tears.She often goes to the flower shop to buy daffodils. If she can't find them, she will feel as if she has been robbed of something.She wants nothing more from life than a bright yellow and delicate daffodil. The impromptu memorial service for me in the cornfield would have touched Dad and left him wanting to do more.He has held annual memorial services since then, but with fewer and fewer neighbors and friends attending.Ruth, the Gilberts and others attend on time every year, but most of the others are high school students nearby.For a long time, the students only heard my name, and everyone spread rumors, and later even used my experience to warn the loner students, especially the maverick girls. Whenever these strangers mentioned my name, I always felt a tingle in my heart.I find it comforting when Papa calls me, or when Ruth mentions me in her diary, but when these strangers talk about me, I feel as if they remember me but then forget who I am, as if I’ve been posted. Put up a hashtag that said: Murdered girl, that feels very bad.Mr Burt was one of only a few teachers who remembered what I looked like.He sometimes used his lunch break to sit in his red Fiat car, thinking about his daughter who died of leukemia alone in the car. The cornfields in the distance could be vaguely seen through the car window. He looked at the cornfields and prayed for me silently. In just a few years, Ray.Singer turned into a handsome youth.He exudes a heroic spirit, which is quite eye-catching wherever he goes.Seventeen years old, he still looks childish, but soon he will become a real adult.He has deep eyes, thick and long eyelashes, thick black hair, and the delicate outline unique to young boys, giving him a mysterious and neutral temperament, and men and women are fascinated by him. I looked at him with an uncharacteristic longing.He often sits at his desk, reading his favorite anatomy classic, Gray's Anatomy, and checking his body according to the book.He gently presses the carotid artery with his fingers, or the sartorius muscle with his thumb. The sartorius muscle extends from the outside of the buttocks to the inside of the knee. He is very thin, with distinct bones and muscles. It is easy to find the longest stretch in the human body. Muscles, I watch his thumbs move along the sartorius, he examines his body dispassionately, all I want to do is touch him, hold him, explore this young body. By the time he packed his bags and prepared to study at the University of Pennsylvania, he had already memorized many uncommon words.The more I looked at these words, the more worried he became. His mind was full of these strange words, how could he place other things?The crystalline structure of the eyeball, the semicircular canals of the ear, or the sympathetic nervous system, I fear he will inevitably push aside Ruth's friendship, his mother's love, and my memories in order to remember these words. In fact, I worry too much.Luana searched around at home, hoping to help her son find books as important as Gray's Anatomy for him to take to school. She also hoped to find something that could keep Lei Chang's heart. When her son was not paying attention, she secretly stuffed a book of Indian poetry into the luggage. There was a picture of me in the book of poetry. When he arrived at the dormitory and opened the luggage, this photo, which had been forgotten by him, fell on the bed. He stared at me. Looking at the photo, trying to analyze the structure of my face, he carefully inspected the capillaries of my eyeballs, the structure of the nasal bone, and the color of the skin, but no matter what, he still couldn’t avoid the pair of eyes that he had kissed lip. June 1977, if I were alive, I would have graduated from high school by now.On the day of the graduation ceremony, Ruth and Ray had already left the school.As soon as school classes were over, Ruth moved to New York City with her mother's old suitcase, filled with her new black clothes.Ray had graduated earlier than the others and was already living the life of a freshman at Penn. Grandma gave Buckley a book on gardening on graduation day from high school.She taught him how to sow and plant. He could grow his favorite flowers, which grew slowly, but the radishes he hated grew fast.Grandma also taught him the names of many plants: zinnias, calendulas, pansies, lilacs, carnations, morning glory and creeping morning glory. Mom occasionally called home from California, and she and Dad didn't speak for long, both feeling uncomfortable.She asked Buckley, Lindsey, and Halliday how they were, how the house was doing, and finally asked Papa if there was anything he wanted to tell her. You are all missed.Dad told her on the phone that it was December 1977, and all the leaves had fallen. The withered and yellow leaves either fell to the ground or were swept into piles by the roadside. Although the earth was ready for the wind and snow, It still hasn't snowed yet.I know.she says. How is teaching work?I thought you were planning to go back to school and teach. I did.To be honest, she was on the phone at the winery's office and had more leisure after lunch, but a group of old ladies came to visit soon after, and she still had to process some orders.She was silent for a while, then said slowly: But plans always change.No one can say that she is wrong, and my father can't say anything. Ruth rented a small room from an old lady in the Lower East Side of New York. The room was originally a closet for the old lady to store clothes, and it could only accommodate one person. Ruth could only afford such a rent, and she did not intend to spend Too much time in the room.Every morning, she rolls up the double mattress and puts it in a corner so she has room to get dressed.She never went back after going out every day, and she would never spend another minute in this closet that barely called home if she had to.It's just a place where she sleeps and receives letters. It's a small place, but it's always a solid place to stay. She worked as a waitress at restaurants and walked all over Manhattan when she wasn't working.I watched her mend worn-out boots with glue. She knew that New York City was not safe. Murders could happen wherever she went. Whether it was a dark stairwell or a beautiful high-rise building, New York City was full of dangers. .She stays in bright places as much as possible, and pays close attention to the movement on the street, so as to protect her own safety.She carries a diary with her, and when she gets tired from walking, she goes to a coffee shop or bar to order the cheapest thing, sit down and write something, or use the restroom in the shop. She believed she had a power of telepathy that no one else had, but she didn't know how to use it other than to jot down what she saw in detail.Even so, she had grown accustomed to this extraordinary sensitivity, and no longer felt frightened.She often sees dead women and children, but in her mind, these ghosts are as real as the living people. In the library of the University of Pennsylvania, Ray read a research report titled Mortality Status, which focused on the elderly in nursing homes. The report pointed out that many elderly people in the hospital said to doctors or nurses that they had Seeing someone standing by the bed, this person usually tries to talk to them or call out their name. Sometimes the elderly who encounter this phenomenon become very agitated, and the doctor must help them prescribe sedatives and even tie them up In bed, help them calm down. The report further explained that the patients often had a series of minor strokes near their death, and thus, they were experiencing these hallucinations.The report pointed out: When discussing this phenomenon with the patient's family, we often refer to it as the visit of the angel of death. In fact, this phenomenon is caused by successive minor strokes. The patient's health has gradually deteriorated, and the stroke has made the patient unconscious. . Ray stroked the report on the table with his fingers. He imagined himself standing by the bedside of an elderly patient. If he had no preconceived notions in his mind, he might feel like Ruth was in the parking lot many years ago, feeling someone gently past him. Mr. Harvey has had no permanent residence for the past few years. He has been active in the suburbs of Boston and in the northern parts of the southern states, where it is easier to find a job and no one asks.He even occasionally wants to be a man again, forcing himself to go the right way.He has always liked Pennsylvania, and he often goes back to see it.There is a 7︱11 convenience store next to the road near my house. There is a forest between the store and the railway. He sometimes sleeps here and finds that there are more and more cigarette butts and beer cans in the forest.Whenever he has the chance, he still likes to drive to the place where he used to live. He usually takes advantage of the early morning or late night adventure, when the surrounding area is empty, only wild pheasants wandering on the road.There used to be a lot of wild pheasants running up and down the road in this part of the country, and when Mr. Harvey's headlights shone, the wild pheasants' empty eyes gleamed.In the past, children were allowed to collect blackberries in this area, but now the farmland has been converted into houses, and more and more houses are built, and children and teenagers are less and less seen here.Mr. Harvey sometimes spends the night in Forge Township Historic National Park, where he sleeps in lush fields and collects wild mushrooms from the forest.One night, he found two dead bodies in the park. These two inexperienced campers accidentally ate poisonous shiitake mushrooms that looked like wild mushrooms and died of poisoning.He carefully took away the valuables from the two of them, and then left without looking back. I saw all of this. Only Hall, Knight, and Halliday can enter Buckley's castle.As time went by, the grass under the boulders had dried up, and when it rained, the castle was muddy and smelly.Despite this, the castle still has not collapsed, but Buckley has been less and less involved.Hall finally spoke up and told Barkley to fix it quickly. Buck, we gotta do some waterproofing.One day Hall said to his younger brother: You are ten years old, you should be old enough to use a glue gun. Grandma always liked young boys, and she encouraged Buckley to listen to Hall, and every time he heard that Hall was coming to our house, she must dress up. what are you doingOne Saturday morning, Dad poked his head out of the study to ask.He smelled lemon and cream, and there was golden dough in the pan. I am making muffins.Grandma said. Dad looked at her incredulously, trying to see if Grandma had lost her mind.It was not yet ten o'clock, and he was still wearing a nightgown. The temperature outside was as high as thirty-two degrees Celsius, but grandma was wearing stockings and had makeup on her face.Suddenly, he noticed Hall standing in the backyard in his undershirt. God, Mom, Dad said: This boy is so young, it's almost yours 但他看了真讓人開心，不是嗎？ 爸爸無可奈何地搖搖頭，然後坐到廚房的餐桌前說：好吧，瑪塔．哈里夫人（譯註：Mata Hari，是二十世紀初荷蘭的紅牌舞女，後來因間諜罪名被判死刑，現在用來泛稱以美貌勾引男人的交際花。），愛心鬆餅什麼時候才會好啊？ 一九八一年十二月，賴恩接到一通來自德拉瓦州的電話，他實在不想接到這樣的電話，但當地的警探依然找上了他。德拉瓦州威明頓附近發生了一件謀殺案，警方研判這個案子和一九七六年康乃迪克州的謀殺案有關，經過一位警探鍥而不捨地追蹤調查，警方發現在康乃迪克州找到的一個手鍊，恰好是我失蹤物品清單上的東西。 這個案子的偵查工作已經告一段落。他在電話中告訴對方。我們想看看你手邊有什麼證據。 嫌犯叫做喬治．哈維，賴恩大聲說，坐在附近的警探都轉過頭來看他，案子發生的時間是一九七三年十二月，受害者叫做蘇西．沙蒙，十四歲。 你們有沒有找到這個賽門女孩的屍體？ 她姓沙蒙，念起來就像英文的鮭魚。我們只找到一隻手肘。Ryan said. 她有親人嗎？ have. 警方在康乃迪克州找到一些牙齒，你們有她的齒印紀錄嗎？ have. 賴恩走到證物室，他原本希望永遠不必再碰這個裝了證據的保險箱，現在卻不得不再把它拿出來。他知道他必須打電話通知我的家人，但他決定盡量拖久一點，等到確定德拉瓦州的警探查出什麼之後，他再和我的家人聯絡。 自從塞謬爾告訴哥哥琳西偷到玉米田的素描之後，將近八年來，霍爾一直悄悄地透過機車騎士朋友們追查喬治．哈維的下落。他也像賴恩一樣，除非得到確切的線索，否則絕不透露任何消息，但八年來他始終沒有得到可靠的證據。有天深夜，一名地獄天使（Hell's Angel）幫派的重型機車騎士洛夫．西契逖和霍爾閒聊，此人不但說自己曾經坐過牢，還說他懷疑他家的房客謀殺了他母親。霍爾問了一些他經常問的問題，例如這名房客的身高、體重、嗜好等等，洛夫說這人不叫喬治．哈維，但這不表示此人不是哈維先生。比較奇怪的是，洛夫的母親和其他受害者不同，蘇菲．西契逖是個四十九歲的中年婦女，她在自己家裡遭到謀殺，凶手用一個粗鈍的東西把她打死，然後把屍體丟到附近河裡，屍體被人發現時依然完好，這幾點都不符合喬治．哈維的作案手法。霍爾讀了不少犯罪小說，他從書中得知凶手的作案手法通常有固定模式，這些特定的手法經常是破案的關鍵。既然洛夫提到的案子不符合喬治．哈維的作案模式，霍爾也不再多問，他一邊修理洛夫破舊的哈雷機車，一邊和洛夫聊些其他事情，聊著聊著，洛夫忽然提起一件事，霍爾聽了全身毛骨悚然。 那個傢伙蓋洋娃娃屋。洛夫說。 霍爾馬上打電話給賴恩。 隨著時光飛逝，我家後院的樹木愈長愈高。這些年來，我一直留心家人、朋友、及鄰居的動靜，我也時常看著那些曾經教過我的老師、我想上他們課的老師、以及我一直想上的高中。我坐在天堂廣場的大陽台，時常假裝自己還在家裡後院的大樹下，在我的想像中，一切都和以前一樣，巴克利仍然和奈特在樹下捉迷藏，玩到後來不小心吞下了一截小樹枝。有時我來到紐約市的一角，在某個樓梯間等露絲，我和雷一起用功，也跟媽媽一起開車經過濱海公路，母女兩人共享溫暖鹹濕的海風。但無論跑到哪裡，晚上我一定回到書房陪爸爸。 我緊跟著大家，也仔細觀察每個人的成長。我知道大家都記得我，也知道每個人都因為我的死而有所不同。或許我的死只帶來微小的變化，沒有人猜得出變化有多大，但我珍惜這些小小的改變，把它們偷偷地藏在心裡。我始終覺得只要一直跟在旁邊觀看，我就不會失去我所愛的人。 有大晚禱時，哈莉吹著薩克斯風，貝賽兒．厄特邁爾太太像往常一樣跟著合奏，忽然間，我看到哈樂弟了！牠就在我眼前，飛快地衝過一隻毛茸茸的大白狗。哈樂弟晚年在凡間過得很好，媽媽離開之後，牠每晚睡在爸爸腳邊，一刻都不讓爸爸離開牠的視線。牠陪巴克利蓋城堡，琳西和塞謬爾在後院陽台親熱時，只有牠可以在場。在牠壽終正寢的前幾年，外婆每個星期天早晨都幫牠做個花生鬆餅，外婆把像圓鍋一樣大的鬆餅放在地上，哈樂弟就想用鼻子把鬆餅頂起來，外婆百看不厭，每次看了都開懷大笑。 我等哈樂弟過來嗅嗅我，我真擔心牠上了天堂就不認得我了。牠還記得我就是那個和他一起睡覺的小女孩嗎？我沒有等太久，牠一看到我就高興地衝過來，一把把我撞倒在地上。