(4)

Melony出走时并没有一个明确的方向, 她只知道Homer跟着那对年轻情侣去了海边, 去了一个叫Ocean View的苹果园. 于是她沿着海岸线, 大海捞针般地, 逐个逐个苹果园找着. 为了生存, 为了赚路费, 为了向那些常在不同苹果园里干活的人询问Homer的下落, Melony时常停下来, 留在某个果园干活. 她吃尽了苦头, 男人们总试图欺负她, 女人们也都不喜欢她, 觉得她背景太神秘. 这一切Melony都不在乎, 她掉了门牙, 她独自睡在肮脏不堪, 老鼠成群的房间里. 在她安顿下来的第一个晚上, 她躺在床上闻着满屋的苹果醋味, 脚边躺着一只死老鼠, 她仍继续读她的Jane Eyre.

“She reread, twice, that passage near the end of Chapter Twenty-seven that concludes: ‘ Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.’

With that she closed the book and turned out the light. Melony lay bravely on her back, her broad nostrils full of the sharp cider vinegar air --- the same air Homer Wells is smelling, she thought. Just before she fell asleep, she whispered --- although there were only the mice to hear her --- ‘Good night, Sunshine.’” (John Irving, The Cider House Rules. New York: Ballantine, 2001)