1/2號的球衣

Neil Gaiman

2009年3月9日星期一

A short story by him that I quite like.

"Amelia Earnshawe placed the slices of wholewheat bread in the toaster and pushed it down. She set the timer to dark brown, just as George liked it, Amelia preferred her toast barely singed. She liked white bread as well, even if it didn't have the vitamins. She hadn't eaten white bread for a decade now.

At the breakfast table, George read his paper. He did not look up. He never looked up.
I hate him, she thought, and simply putting the emotion into words surprised her. She said it again in her head. I hate him. It was like a song. I hate him for his toast and for his bald head, and for the way he chases the office crumpet - girls barely out of school who laugh at him behind his back, and for the way he ignores me whenever he doesn't want to be bothered with me, and for the way he says, "What, love?' when I ask him a simple question, as if he's long ago forgotten my name. As if he's forgotten that I even had a name.

'Scrambled or boiled?' she said aloud.

'What, love?'

George Earnshawe regarded his wife with a fond affection, and would have found her hatred of him astonishing. He thought of her in the same way, and with the same emotions, that he thought of anything that had been in the house for ten years and still worked well. The television, for example. Or the lawnmower. He thought it was love. 'You know, we ought to go on one of those marches,' he said, tapping the newspaper's editorial. 'Show we're committed. Eh, love?'

The toaster made a noise to show it was done. Only one dark brown slice had popped up. She took a knife and fished out the torn second slice with it. The toaster had been a wedding present from her Uncle John. Soon she'd have to buy another, or start cooking toast under the grill the way her mother had done.

"George? Do you want your eggs scrambled or boiled?' she asked, very quietly, and there was something in her voice that made him looked up.

'Any way you like it, love,' he said amiably, and would not for the life of him, as he told everyone in the office later that morning, understand why she simply stood there holding her slice of toast, or why she started to cry."

-Neil Gaiman-

5人爆肝回應

5 Comments:

result of people who don't communicate... so very sad... oh man, why you like such stories? they're so depressing... if the wife's so unhappy, why doesn;t she say so? stupid woman... sighz...

By 匿名, at 2009年3月10日上午8:51

I think it's the kind of gradual thing that slowly occur and you don't realise til it's too late. Heh. Humans are reatures of habit after all I guess.

It's a great story though, very well crafted I thought. The dynamics of a relationship in a very everyday setting and in very simple language. Love the ending heh.

By diese_tage, at 2009年3月10日晚上10:36

miscommunication is so apparent... the different definitions of the same situation. the man uses the word "love" as a form of affection, while the woman defines the same word as attributing to her a loss of her personal identity, ie. her name.

it's also the objectification that the woman dislikes. the term "love," relegating to her a role that is in relation to the man, and not to her as an individual. and the man contributes to this by thinking of her as an object that complements his life - like the tv and the lawnmower. geez!

i like the bit abt the toaster. it's well thought out. the toaster being a wedding present, and only one popped up, the other stuck and torn. and her holding her toast, and crying.

but it's always like this. ppl putting emotions and perceptions into inanimate objects. and through the way people handle them, you can get a sense of who they are/how they feel!

By huixian, at 2009年3月10日晚上11:08

haha, yes, i like the way he crafted the story too... very powerful... the way he uses simple words and actions to express such deep emotions...

haha, and the guy is such a subconscious mcp, and the wife hates that part but doesn't says so...

in addition, the wife is such a self-suffering fool... she likes white bread, she can jolly well make toast for husband and eat white herself... silly...

but hx ah, you really read deep man... i totally din see the toaster analogy till you mentioned it... and it's so befitting the story... =)

haha, all in all, i guess i really like the story too... just irritated with the wife ba.. =)

By 匿名, at 2009年3月11日上午9:03

Waaa I didn't notice the toaster analogy until HX pointed it out too heh

By diese_tage, at 2009年3月12日晚上11:40