An excerpt from an article the reader read in the newspaper.

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Lilacs in full bloom

The article is a bit messy to copy, please see the link on the webpage. .

Lilacs in full bloom (Reader, No.22, 2007)

It snowed a few hours before she gave birth. ` v2b＄Q6]L % k

#zdwT 1g4p After dinner, he made a fire. He boldly went into the snow and picked up the firewood piled next to the garage in autumn. The cold wind hit his cheek, and the snow in the driveway was as deep as his calf. He picked up the stone, shook off the soft white snow on it, and then walked back to the house with the stone in his arms. Sparks in the fireplace immediately ignited the raging fire. He sat cross-legged in front of the fireplace for a while, adding pieces of wood and watching the sparks jump. The flame is surrounded by a circle of blue light, which makes people sleepy. Outside, the snow continued to fall quietly in the dark. Snow is silvery white, deep and quiet, like a cone beam projected by a street lamp. When he got up and looked out of the window, their car had become a small white mountain on the corner, and the footprints previously printed on the driveway had been filled in and disappeared.

2g 1i{~5x`6`/v He swatted the dust off his hand and sat down on the sofa beside his wife. Her feet are on the headrest, her swollen ankles are on the plate, and a copy of Dr. Spock's Parenting Guide is on her stomach. She is so absorbed in reading that she licks her index finger unconsciously every time she turns the page. Her hands are slender, her fingers are short and strong, and she nibbles her lower lip carelessly when reading. He looked at her, filled with love and wonder: she is his wife, and their child is about to be born, with only three weeks left. This is their first child, and they have only been married for a year.

; L & ampU' # z9q: h 2h He lifted one of her feet, which was tender and swollen with light blue socks. He began to massage gently: the tarsal bone of her heel is strong, the soles of her feet and toes are hidden under the skin, and the closely overlapping muscles are like a fan that is about to unfold. The quiet room was filled with her breath, her feet warmed his hands, and his mind came up with the perfection, secrecy and symmetry of bones. In his eyes, she looks beautiful and fragile when she is pregnant, and tiny blue blood vessels are faintly visible on her pale skin. ; J"RqT \#s

The pregnancy process is very smooth, without any medical restrictions. However, he hasn't been with her for months. He found that he just wanted to protect her, carry her upstairs, tuck her in, help her make pudding and so on. "I am not a patient." She laughs and protests every time. "Not the chicken you found on the lawn." Even so, his concern actually made her very happy. Sometimes he wakes up and watches her sleep, his eyelashes blink gently, his chest rises and falls slowly and smoothly, and his hand reaches aside so small that he can hold it completely.

%K-s_@ `$Yf She is eleven years younger than him. Less than a year ago, he first met her. It was a Saturday in November and the weather was gloomy. He went to a department store downtown to buy a tie and happened to see her go upstairs by escalator. At the age of 33, he had just moved to Lexington, Kentucky. She stands out from the crowd as if she were beautiful. Her golden hair is tied in an elegant bun at the back of her head, and pearls shine on her neck and ears. She is wearing a dark green wool coat and has fair skin. He stepped on the escalator and pushed the crowd up, trying not to let her leave his sight. She walked to the underwear and stockings counter on the fourth floor, and he tried to follow her forward, passing through the rows of shelves full of underwear, bras and underwear, and the clothes exuded soft luster. A salesgirl in a white-collar sky-blue dress stopped him and asked her what she needed with a smile. He said that he wanted to find a pajamas, and kept looking on the shelves until he saw her blonde hair and dark green figure. She bowed her head slightly, revealing a beautiful white neckline. I want to buy a nightgown for my sister who lives in New Orleans. Of course, none of his sisters or any relatives he knows are still alive.

HiR)yD{c _/Z The salesgirl left and quickly brought three solid-color flannel nightgowns. He picked them up casually, and even picked up the top one without looking. The salesgirl said that there are three sizes, and there are more colors to choose from next month, but he has walked between the shelves, with a coral robe on his arm and shoes screeching on the floor tiles, and anxiously walked past other customers.

NV)nzC*~DX0~%T She is examining a pile of expensive stockings, whose delicate colors set off the smooth glass counter: grayish brown, sky blue, and red chestnuts as deep as pig blood. The sleeves of her green coat swept his cuffs, and he smelled her perfume, elegant but pervasive, like the thick white lilac petals outside his student apartment in Pittsburgh. At that time, he lived in the basement, and it was gloomy outside the low window, always covered with coal ash from the steel plant. But in spring, lilacs are in full bloom, white and lavender petals cling to the window, and the fragrance floats into the room like light.

6~*\3Q, jTKV he cleared his throat and could hardly breathe; He lifted his velvet robe, but the clerk behind the counter was telling a joke and didn't notice him. He cleared his throat again, then she gave him an impatient look and nodded to her customer, who was holding three thin stockings in his hand, which seemed to be a big playing card. ; D$Z，y 2n qi 0 I； a 1R

"Sorry, Miss Asher came first." The clerk said coldly and arrogantly.

V7~~5~ '？ Their eyes met again. Her eyes were as dark green as her coat. He was deeply shocked. She looked him up and down: straight tweed coat, clean beard, red cheeks, cold and manicured nails. She smiled with interest and pointed to the robe on his arm with a little pride. 3v#Q.E5SOQ km:Tv6U

"For your wife?" She asked. He noticed that she had an elegant Kentucky accent. These characteristics are very important in this city composed of gentry and aristocratic families. Although he has only lived here for six months, he already knows this. "Joan, that's all right," she said to the clerk. "Help him pay the bill first. The poor man is surrounded by piles of lace and must be at a loss. " ! ` 9mC@%v0p

"I bought it for my sister." He told her that he tried his best to reverse the bad impression he gave. He often makes mistakes here. He is either too direct or too frank and always offends people. The robe slipped from his arm to the ground, and he bent down to pick it up, blushing like a rose. Her gloves lay flat on the glass counter, and her bare hands were gently buckled beside her. His embarrassment seemed to soften her heart, because when he met her eyes again, there was a kind light in her eyes.

~7hs @}H3T He tried again. "Sorry, I don't seem to know what I'm doing. I am in a hurry. I am a doctor, and I will be late for the hospital. " Y 1n 3 } Y # F # e & amp； GB4~N

Her smile changed at once and became more and more serious. p.h e % K。 MW y

"I see," she said, turning to the clerk. "Joan, it really doesn't matter. Please help him pay the bill first. " W 1h/axZYh

She agreed to his invitation and wrote down her name and telephone number in Juanxiu's handwriting. She has learned to write a good hand since the third grade of primary school. The teacher in the class used to be a nun, teaching students the art of writing. She told everyone that every word has a shape, and the shape is unique and unparalleled in the world. Everyone must make it perfect. This eight-year-old thin and white girl will wear a green coat and become his wife. She holds a pen with tiny fingers and practices cursive writing alone in the room until she writes flowing handwriting. After hearing this story in the future, he imagined her head hanging under the lamp and her fingers holding the pen with great strength, and could not help but admire her persistence in beauty, her persistence in beauty and her trust in authoritative teachers. But he knew nothing about these past events that day. On that day, he put a small piece of paper in the pocket of a white hospital gown and toured one ward after another. He only remembers that the letters flowed smoothly in her pen and combined into her perfect name. He called her that night and invited her out for dinner the next night. Three months later, they got married.