"Love it."
"Me too. Settled then?" he asked and smiled his soft smile.
It didn't surprise me that I nodded.
After the reading and the curry dinner, I went into Malcolm's sitting room where there were more books than I'd ever seen on anyone's shelves. I began to read the titles.
"Help yourself," said Malcolm.
"Thanks. But if I read a book, I have add it to my collection."
"Strange, same here." He waved his arms towards the shelves. "But look where it's got me."
"I'd hate to be without books. They're ... friends."
"That sounds like lonely," said Malcolm.
I turned and pulled out a book.
"Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Lonely?"
I shrugged.
"Not really."
"Not really but what?"
My voice came from a distance as I tried to answer him.
"I'm choosy about my friends. Don't have a great many."
"I'm listening," said Malcolm and sat down, indicating the armchair opposite him.
"My childhood was ... I mean, my mother loved moving around. She had no trouble putting down roots all over the place. I hated it! Books were the constant things, so I buried myself in them."
"Hell, sounds familiar."
I sat down in the armchair.
"I had very academic parents," said Malcolm. "Was an afterthought, perhaps a mistake even. They loved me in their vague intellectual way but left me alone to get on with growing up. Hence the books."
"That's lonely, too," I said.
When I left, I took along a couple of Malcolm's books.
My friendship with Malcolm grew but my curiousity remained. Who did I remind him of? My mother? If so, could he be my father? Although Mom had never bothered with books, our physical similarities, apart from my tallness, were undeniable. She had never told me much about the man who had fathered me. Clever, was all she had usually said. Once though, when I had been ill with chicken pox, and hot and scratchy, she had relented.
"What was he like?"
"Skinniest man you ever saw."
"Where'd you meet him?"
"In a park. I was catching a suntan and these papers started blowin' in my face. I was a bit cheesed off at them blowin' all over me and then this man comes runnin'. He grabbed and grabbed but couldn't catch them all. So he jus' stood still, a helpless look on his face. It was so funny, I started laughin'."
山东菏泽牡丹第21中上第一次月考英语题
2018-2019广西柳州鹿寨中学高二下第三次月考英语试题
2019安徽涡阳新兴中心校八上英语月考题
2018-2019上海嘉定二中高二上第一次质量检测英语试卷
2018-2019上海浦东外国语高二下3月月考英语试卷
浙江嵊州崇仁中八十月月考英语试题
枣庄台儿庄第一次阶段检测五校联考题
2018-2019黑龙江宾县一中高二下第一次月考英语试题
邛崃高埂中上英语单元练习题unit1-unit 2()
2018-2019山西大同灵丘豪洋中学高二下3月月考英语试题答案
2018-2019上海三林中学高二上第一次月考英语试卷
江苏南京育英外校八第一学期第一次月考卷
2018-2019云南陆良联办高级中学高二上11月月考英语试卷答案
江苏盐城阜宁上海路实验秋第一次月考卷
自贡富顺北湖实验上英语月考试卷答案
2018-2019广西柳州鹿寨中学高二下第三次月考英语试题答案
2018-2019上海嘉定二中高二上第一次质量检测英语试卷答案
枣庄薛城奚仲中第一学期人教新目标九月月考题
2018-2019山西大同灵丘豪洋中学高二下3月月考英语试题
安徽涡阳高炉八上第二次月考英语试题答案
2018-2019山西高平一中高二下第三次月考英语试题答案
2019-2020辽宁葫芦岛六中八年级上第一次月考英语试卷
2018-2019黑龙江哈尔滨三中高二下第一模块英语试卷
2019楚水实验学校高二期中联考英语试题答案
山东济南高新东城逸家中八上十月月考题
2019-2020上海兴陇中学七年级上第一次月考英语试卷
2018-2019山西高平一中高二下第三次月考英语试题
山东枣庄薛城奚仲中八上第一次月考题
自贡富顺北湖实验上英语月考试卷
2018-2019上海三林中学高二上第一次月考英语试卷答案
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |