A Life in Waiting 等爱一生

After a while she climbed the stairs to her bedroom. She opened the trunk that sat gathering dust on the landing. She had dreamed that this moment would be one of great joy, so now the disappointment was all the more acute.  

 Suddenly the air was filled with the unmistakeable scent of George for the trunk contained 5)remnants of their life together, now over fifty years ago, when they had been engaged to be married. There was always hope and while there was hope the contents of the trunk were left to ferment.

With her faithful Smart lying beside her she began to go through every single item. First she picked up a faded ivory envelope which contained the stiff invitation to Michelle’s twenty-first birthday party in London. Michelle was herfirst cousin and it was she who had introduced Rose to George. They had been best friends at school and were then at university together. Rose had fallen in love with George on sight. 

Rose was wrenched back to the present moment and to the painful reminder that George had always been in love with someone else for the next item she pulled out of the trunk was a small photograph of the three of them together in Provence: herself, George and Michelle. She hadn’t been aware that theirs was a friendship with which she could never compete. How love had blinded her to the true nature of her cousin’s friendship with her fiancé.

过了一会儿，她爬上通往卧室的楼梯，打开放在楼梯平台上那积满灰尘的箱子。她曾经梦想过这个时刻会是一大欢乐时刻，因而，现在失望来得更加强烈了。

突然间，空气里毋庸置疑地满是乔治的味道，因为箱子里装着的是他们共同生活的记忆残片，那是50多年前，他们刚刚订婚的时候。生活总存在着希望，而因为希望的存在，箱子里的东西搁在时间的角落里发酵着。

忠心的斯玛特陪伴在旁，罗斯开始仔细查看里面的每一样物品。首先，她拿起一个褪色的象牙色信封，里面装着米歇尔在伦敦举行21岁生日派对时的邀请卡，卡片如今已经变硬了。米歇尔是她的堂姐妹，是她将罗斯介绍给乔治认识的。他们在中学时已是好友，然后就读同一所大学。罗斯见到乔治的第一眼便爱上了他。

她接着从箱子里拿出一张他们三人在普罗旺斯的小合照：她，乔治和米歇尔。这张照片把罗斯“扳回”眼前的时刻，触物伤情，想到乔治一直爱的是别人。 那时的她并没有意识到，他们之间的友谊是一种她无法角逐的友谊。爱情蒙蔽了她，使她看不清米歇尔跟自己未婚夫之间那份友谊的真正本质。