介绍:
作者：美国作家斯蒂芬妮·梅尔（Stephanie Meyer）
My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It wasseventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I waswearing my favorite shirt — sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearingit as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.
In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small townnamed Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains onthis inconsequential town more than any other place in the United Statesof America. It was from this town and its gloomy, omnipresent shade thatmy mother escaped with me when I was only a few months old. It was inthis town that I&`&d been compelled to spend a month every summer until Iwas fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these pastthree summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for twoweeks instead.
It was to Forks that I now exiled myself— an action that I took withgreat horror. I detested Forks.
I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved thevigorous, sprawling city.
"Bella," my mom said to me — the last of a thousand times — before I goton the plane. "You don&`&t have to do this."
My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt aspasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leavemy loving, erratic, harebrained mother to fend for herself? Of course shehad Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be foodin the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she gotlost, but still…"I want to go," I lied. I&`&d always been a bad liar, but I&`&d been sayingthis lie so frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now.
"Tell Charlie I said hi.""I will.""I&`&ll see you soon," she insisted. "You can come home whenever you want —I&`&ll come right back as soon as you need me."
But I could see the sacrifice in her eyes behind the promise.
"Don&`&t worry about me," I urged. "It&`&ll be great. I love you, Mom."She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and shewas gone.
It&`&s a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a smallplane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks.
Flying doesn&`&t bother me; the hour in the car with Charlie, though, I wasa little worried about.
Charlie had really been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemedgenuinely pleased that I was coming to live with him for the first timewith any degree of permanence. He&`&d already gotten me registered for highschool and was going to help me get a car.
But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of us was what anyonewould call verbose, and I didn&`&t know what there was to say regardless. Iknew he was more than a little confused by my decision — like my motherbefore me, I hadn&`&t made a secret of my distaste for Forks.
When I landed in Port Angeles, it was raining. I didn&`&t see it as an omen— just unavoidable. I&`&d already said my goodbyes to the sun.
Charlie was waiting for me with the cruiser. This I was expecting, too.
Charlie is Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. My primarymotivation behind buying a car, despite the scarcity of my funds, wasthat I refused to be driven around town in a car with red and blue lightson top. Nothing slows down traffic like a cop.
Charlie gave me an awkward, one-armed hug when I stumbled my way off theplane.
"It&`&s good to see you, Bells," he said, smiling as he automaticallycaught and steadied me. "You haven&`&t changed much. How&`&s Renée?""Mom&`&s fine. It&`&s good to see you, too, Dad." I wasn&`&t allowed to callhim Charlie to his face.
I had only a few bags. Most of my Arizona clothes were too permeable forWashington. My mom and I had pooled our resources to supplement my winterwardrobe, but it was still scanty. It all fit easily into the trunk ofthe cruiser.
"I found a good car for you, really cheap," he announced when we werestrapped in.
"What kind of car?" I was suspicious of the way he said "good car foryou" as opposed to just "good car.""Well, it&`&s a truck actually, a Chevy.""Where did you find it?""Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push?" La Push is the tiny Indianreservation on the coast.
"No.""He used to go fishing with us during the summer," Charlie prompted.
That would explain why I didn&`&t remember him. I do a good job of blockingpainful, unnecessary things from my memory.
"He&`&s in a wheelchair now," Charlie continued when I didn&`&t respond, "sohe can&`&t drive anymore, and he offered to sell me his truck cheap.""What year is it?" I could see from his change of expression that thiswas the question he was hoping I wouldn&`&t ask.
"Well, Billy&`&s done a lot of work on the engine — it&`&s only a few yearsold, really."I hoped he didn&`&t think so little of me as to believe I would give upthat easily. "When did he buy it?""He bought it in 1984, I think.""Did he buy it new?""Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties — or late fifties atthe earliest," he admitted sheepishly.
"Ch — Dad, I don&`&t really know anything about cars. I wouldn&`&t be able tofix it if anything went wrong, and I couldn&`&t afford a mechanic…""Really, Bella, the thing runs great. They don&`&t build them like thatanymore."The thing, I thought to myself… it had possibilities — as a nickname, atthe very least.
"How cheap is cheap?" After all, that was the part I couldn&`&t compromiseon.
"Well, honey, I kind of already bought it for you. As a homecoming gift."Charlie peeked sideways at me with a hopeful expression.
Wow. Free.
"You didn&`&t need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car." "I don&`&t mind. I want you to be happy here." He was looking ahead at theroad when he said this. Charlie wasn&`&t comfortable with expressing hisemotions out loud. I inherited that from him. So I was looking straightahead as I responded.
"That&`&s really nice, Dad. Thanks. I really appreciate it." No need to addthat my being happy in Forks is an impossibility. He didn&`&t need tosuffer along with me. And I never looked a free truck in the mouth — orengine.
第一章 初见
我母亲开车载我去机场，车窗开着。七十五华氏度，凤凰城，天空是澄澈的，不带一丝云影的湛蓝。我穿着我最喜欢的衬衫——无袖，带着白色的网眼蕾丝。我穿着它，作为一种告别的仪式。我随身携带的物品只是一件皮夹克。
在华盛顿州西北部的奥林匹亚山脉，有个永远笼罩在阴霾里的名叫福克斯的小镇。这里的雨水多得不可思议，比美利坚合众国的其他任何地方都要多。就是从这个小镇，我母亲带着我逃出来，逃离那里充斥着的压抑的阴霾，那时我才几个月大。就在这个小镇，每个夏天我都被逼着去那里过上一个月，直到我十四岁那年。那年我终于坚定表明了我并不想去。而后的几个夏天，我的父亲，查理，只好带我去加利福尼亚度过两周的假期作为替代。
现在，我把自己放逐到了福克斯——这是一个我自认为十分崇高的举动。我讨厌福克斯。
我热爱凤凰城。我热爱这里的阳光和热浪。我热爱这个生气勃勃，不断扩张着的城市。
“贝拉，”在我上飞机前，我母亲第一千遍地对我说，“你真的不必这样做。”
我母亲和我长得很像，除了短短的头发和笑纹。当我注视着她大大的，孩童般的双眼时，我感到一阵突如其来的痉挛。我怎能离开我挚爱的、稳定性极差的、粗心大意的母亲，让她自己照顾自己呢？当然现在她有菲尔，账单有人付，冰箱有人补充食物，车有人加油，当她迷路时也有可打电话求助的人，但是……
“我真的想去。”我撒谎道。我通常是个蹩脚的说谎者，但我如此频繁地重复这个谎言，以至于它现在听起来很有说服力。
“替我向查理问好。”
“我会的。”
“我很快就会来看你的，”她强调。“不管任何时候，只要你想回家，你就只管回来——只要你需要，我会立刻赶过来。”
但我能从她的双眼里看出她会为此作出的牺牲。
“不用担心我，”我竭力劝说。“一切都会顺利的。我爱你，妈妈。”
她紧紧地拥抱了我一分钟，然后我上飞机，她离去。
从凤凰城飞到西雅图要四个小时，然后转到一架小飞机飞一个小时到天使港，最后还要开一个小时车才能到达福克斯。飞行对我没什么影响，但我却有些害怕和查理待在一辆车里的那一个小时。
查理对整件事相当的接受。他真的很高兴，因为这是我第一次，也几乎是永久性的搬来和他住在一起。他甚至为我办好了高中入学手续，还打算帮我弄辆车。
但和查理相处仍毫无疑问地是件尴尬事。我们都不擅长谈话，我也不知道有什么事情可以让我们毫无顾忌地谈论。我知道他对我的决定仍有些困惑，就像我母亲在我面前表现的那样，因为我从未掩饰过我对福克斯的厌恶。
当我抵达天使港时，天下着雨。我不打算把这视为某种征兆——这只是不可避免的现实。我已经和阳光作别了。
查理在一辆巡逻车旁等着我，这也是我预料之中的事。查理是福克斯镇的良好市民的史温警长。我虽然囊中羞涩也要买辆车的主要动机，就是不想坐着顶上有红蓝色灯的车在镇里乱晃。警察可是造成交通堵塞的万恶之首。
我跌跌绊绊地从飞机上下来以后，查理只伸出一只手有些尴尬地拥抱了我一下。
“很高兴见到你，贝拉。”他微笑着说，不假思索地抓住我让我稳住。“你没多大变化。蕾妮好吗？”
“妈妈很好。我也很高兴见到你，爸爸。”他们不让我当面叫他查理。
我只带了几袋行李，我在亚利桑那州的大部分衣物对华盛顿州的气候来说都太薄了。我母亲和我把钱凑起来给我添置了一些冬装，但这仍远远不够。这几袋行李很容易就塞进了巡逻车的后备箱。
“我弄了辆适合你的好车，相当便宜。”当我们系上安全带时，他宣布道。
“什么样的车？”我对他放着简简单单的“好车”不说，却故意说是“适合你的好车”这点很是怀疑。
“嗯，确切地说是辆卡车，一辆雪佛兰。”
“你在哪儿弄到的？”
“你还记得拉普什的黑仔比利吧？”拉普什是在海岸线上的一个小小的印第安人保留区。
“不记得。”
“夏天时他曾经跟我们一起去钓鱼。”查理提示我。
这解释了我为什么不记得他。把那些充满痛苦的，不必要的回忆抹去是我的拿手好戏。
“他现在坐轮椅了，”我不作声，查理只得继续说道：“所以他再也不能开车了，他主动把他的卡车便宜卖我了。”
“哪年的车？”我可以从他骤变的神色看出，这是一个他不希望我提起的问题。
“嗯，比利在引擎上下了不少力气——才几年的车，真的。”
我希望他不要这样小看我，认为我会轻易放弃。“他哪年买的？”
“我想，他是在1984年买的。”
“他买的时候是辆新车吗？”
“嗯，不，我想它是六十年代早期的车——最早也是五十年代的。”他爽快地承认了。
“查——爸爸，我对汽车一无所知。如果它坏了我没办法自己去修理它，我也没有钱请个修理工……”
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