年轻的故事 2 (Another Story)

他和她是同班同学。她坐在教室的第一排，他坐在她的身后。他长着一张孩子气的脸，十分清秀。她喜欢看他笑，所以会经常和他开玩笑。他笑的时候非常腼腆，有的时候被逗急了还会脸红。他非常聪明，虽然在上课时经常看他打瞌睡，可成绩却总是名列前茅。她喜欢理科，尤其是物理，可是他们中学的物理老师水平很差，经常答不出同学问的问题来。于是她的物理都是自学的，不懂的时候有时会回家问她的父亲，不过在大多数的情况下，她还是愿意去问他，他也总是很耐心的给她解答。慢慢的她不再开他的玩笑了，听他讲问题心里也会有些紧张，她想，自己是喜欢上他了，可是不知道他是否喜欢自己。

他虽然很聪明，可是却很懒，不愿意做家庭作业，尤其是英文作业，他觉得太麻烦，虽然他在当时TOFEL就已考到了600分。她的同桌是英文课代表，总是将自己的作业借给他抄，有时干脆会帮他完成。她知道她的同桌也很喜欢他，而她在当时只是一个丑小鸭，况且班主任又总是隔三差五的申明不可以在班级中有早恋出现，因此虽然喜欢他，她也不敢有所表示。有时看到他对她的同桌也很热情，心里会有些难受，可又不知道他到底是什么态度，只能默默祈祷他也喜欢自己。

一次快要上课之前，他从门外走进教室。她和她同桌的位置正好对着大门，她的同桌撒娇的叫着好冷啊，要让他把门关上。她听了心里很不是滋味，于是也不知哪来一股气，使她就想和她同桌对着干。于是她叫起来说太热，一定要让他把门开着，想试探一下他到底会听谁的。他好像愣了2秒，这2秒对她来说好像过了两个世纪，她只能听到自己扑通扑通飞快的心跳声。然后她看到他对她腼腆的笑了一下，把门打开了。她顿时觉得心情大大的爽朗起来，于是她也回给他一个大大的笑颜。她想，他也是喜欢她的。于是她开始主动找机会和他说话。有时碰到下雨天，她就会借口没有带伞要问他借。她家离学校很远，每天要坐公共汽车回家，而汽车站在他回家的路上。于是他会一路撑着伞送她到车站。虽然一路上两人也只是谈学业，可是她还是觉得很甜蜜。他家住得离车站很近，每次在她上车时，他就会把伞塞到她手里，然后自己淋雨跑回家。

高三的课程开始紧张起来，突然有一天他退学了，因为他决定去日本留学。她非常不解，想他TOFEL考这么好，为什么要去日本，而不是像她一样考一所全国一流大学，学业完成后去美国留学。可她并没有从他那里得到任何答案。高考结束后，她如愿以偿的拿到了那所全国重点大学的录取通知书，他打电话来向她祝贺，并通知她参加毕业班的晚会。整场毕业晚会，他们都没有怎么说过话。最后快散场时，同学们都纷纷拍照留念，于是他走过来到她身边坐下，说我们也照一张吧。有同学开始起哄，可是他却很自然的把手搭在了她的肩上。照片出来了，他对着镜头笑得很开心，而她的脸却是侧对着镜头，而且脸色通红。这是他们唯一一张合影。很快他就远赴日本了。他们之间还保持着通信联系，她向他诉说大学里的新鲜事，而他则是很艰辛的在日本靠打工挣大学学费。春节期间她出了一点小意外，她也写信告诉他了。突然有一天半夜，她接到他打来的一个电话，电话两头都又激动又紧张，她也知道这样的长途话费很大，不想消耗他辛苦打工挣的钱，于是只是寥寥几句，就挂了电话。挂完电话，才觉得好像什么重要的话都没有说，心里觉得很是遗憾。后来他们也一直有信来往，但并没有谈到任何有关感情的事。直到有一次，她写信告诉他在大学里一直有不少人在追求她，想看看他有什么反应。他回了一封信，信上写到上帝会知道我们的所作所为。她不明白，回信去问，可是没有得到任何解答。于是他们之间的通信越来越少，后来只有每年一张贺卡，直到最终完全失去联系。

过了几年，她去参加中学同学的聚会，听到昔日的班长讲起他的状况，说他打工挣足了学费，在日本一所知名大学学物理。后来，她又听说，他结婚了，娶了一位日本太太，长得很像她。

Kid -- White Sands National Monument

New Mexico -- Albuquerque & Santa Fe

July 7th, 2005

Albuquerque is the capital of New Mexico. But there is really not much to visit. We had a long drive the day before, both of us got pretty tired. So we just rested in the hotel until noon. Then we went to Albuquerque old town for lunch, and found a very decent Mexican restaurant. We sat down, ordered some food, listened to the music, and had some margarita, very casual and relaxing.

Around the old town plaza, many people are selling crafts. I bought a set of necklace, bracelet and ankle-let for myself. They are made of turquoise, which looks very nice. Those people who sell the crafts are so hard to bargain with, or I'm too bad at bargaining. Anyway, I didn't even get one cent off from the original price. :(

Albuquerque Old Town Plaza


BL found another way to drive to Santa Fe from Albuquerque -- turquoise drive, which was part of the famous Route 66. It's said in the tourist guide that there is amazingly beautiful view along the road. So we just headed our way to Santa Fe after lunch. As long as we got onto highway, there was this big truck in front us, and suddenly I heard a sharp noise coming from our car windshield -- a rock hit on the windshield. I looked at the window, I didn't see anything. Then we kept driving. Suddenly Bill screamed, "S***, look at the crackle!" I was frozen on my seat; shoot, there was this index finger long crackle on the windshield. It must be from that rock. And we didn't buy any car insurance this time. :( I felt so unfair, I buy car insurance every time except for this ONE time. And there was nothing ever happened for all those times! Soooo unlucky this time! :(

We kept driving, and the crackle went from finger long to palm long, then to forearm long by the time we got to Santa Fe. And our topic on the car went from what we should visit in Santa Fe to how we are going to deal with the crackle. Since I was the one who rented the car, BL said that I should contact my credit card company to see whether they would cover this kind of situation. If they don't, we'll have to go with plan B -- fix it before we returned the car.

(I really wanted to write something about the beautiful scenery along the drive, but I can't remember how the scenery is like at all. Either the scenery is not that impressive or I spend most of the time staring at the crackle.)

Unfortunately my credit card company doesn't cover this kind of situation. So BL called several car windshield companies for quotes. Luckily, there is a window company right next to our hotel. So we decided to check it out early next morning.

Even though we were pretty upset, we still didn't want to waste our vacation. So I took a shower, changed into some nice clothes, and put on the necklace, bracelet and ankle-let which I bought from Albuquerque. Then we went to Santa Fe plaza. It’s funny that every city we’ve been to has a plaza – Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. And the plaza is getting better and better. Santa Fe plaza is very nice. We got there around sunset time. St Francis Cathedral stands at the end of the plaza, covered in a golden coat. It looks so beautiful and stately. I left BL rest on the bench, and walked around by myself to take pictures before sun fully set down. The buildings in Santa Fe are Adobe-style, which looks simple, but very artistic. I really like it, especially the color. Usually it has the golden wall with blue window frame or door, with red flowers by the window and door, bright and colorful, very vivid. Lots of artists move to Santa Fe to live there so that they can paint or take pictures. There are many galleries and museums around Santa Fe plaza, as well as restaurants, bars, and all kinds of shops. I was wandering around and enjoying the Adobe structure, art craft ..., and suddenly I found my new bracelet was lost! :( I have only worn it for like 30 minutes. What a day!


Santa Fe Plaza -- St Francis Cathedral