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part 1 out of the night that covers me

1.

There were always stories.

People would whisper now and then about folks who hadn’t fared well at Balmoral. The long-ago Queen, for instance. Mad with grief, she’d locked herself inside Balmoral Castle and vowednever to come out. And the very proper former prime minister: he’d called the place “surreal” and“utterly freaky.”

Still, I don’t think I heard those stories until much later. Or maybe I heard them and theydidn’t register. To me Balmoral was always simply Paradise. A cross between Disney World andsome sacred Druid grove¹. I was always too busy fishing, shooting, running up and down “the hill”

to notice anything off about the feng shui of the old castle.

What I’m trying to say is, I was happy there.

In fact, it’s possible that I was never happier than that one golden summer day at Balmoral:

August 30, 1997.

We’d been at the castle for one week. The plan was to stay for another. Same as the previousyear, same as the year before that. Balmoral was its own micro-season, a two-week interlude in theScottish Highlands to mark the turn from high summer to early autumn.

Granny was there too. Naturally. She spent most of every summer at Balmoral. And Grandpa.

And Willy. And Pa. The whole family, with the exception of Mummy, because Mummy was nolonger part of the family. She’d either bolted or been thrown out, depending on whom you asked,though I never asked anyone. Either way, she was having her own holiday elsewhere. Greece,someone said. No, Sardinia, someone said. No, no, someone chimed in, your mother’s in Paris!

Maybe it was Mummy herself who said that. When she phoned earlier that day for a chat? Alas,the memory lies, with a million others, on the other side of a high mental wall. Such a horrid,tantalizing feeling, to know they’re over there, just on the other side, mere² inches away—but thewall is always too high, too thick. Unscalable.

Not unlike the turrets³ of Balmoral.

Wherever Mummy was, I understood that she was with her new friend. That was the wordeveryone used. Not boyfriend, not lover. Friend. Nice enough bloke, I thought. Willy and I hadjust met him. Actually, we’d been with Mummy weeks earlier when she first met him, in St.

Tropez. We were having a grand time, just the three of us, staying at some old gent’s villa⁴. Therewas much laughter, horseplay, the norm whenever Mummy and Willy and I were together, thougheven more so on that holiday. Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven. The weatherwas sublime⁵, the food was tasty, Mummy was smiling.

Best of all, there were jet skis.

Whose were they? Don’t know. But I vividly⁶ remember Willy and me riding them out to thedeepest part of the channel, circling while waiting for the big ferries to come. We used theirmassive wakes as ramps⁷ to get airborne. I’m not sure how we weren’t killed.

Was it after we got back from that jet-ski misadventure that Mummy’s friend first appeared?

No, more likely it was just before. Hello there, you must be Harry⁸. Raven⁹ hair, leathery tan, bone-white smile. How are you today? My name is blah blah. He chatted us up, chatted Mummy up.

Specifically Mummy. Pointedly¹⁰ Mummy. His eyes plumping into red hearts.

He was cheeky, no doubt. But, again, nice enough. He gave Mummy a present. Diamondbracelet. She seemed to like it. She wore it a lot. Then he faded from my consciousness.

As long as Mummy’s happy, I told Willy, who said he felt the same.

1 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

2 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

3 turrets   

（六角）转台( turret的名词复数 )； （战舰和坦克等上的）转动炮塔； （摄影机等上的）镜头转台； （旧时攻城用的）塔车

参考例句：

• The Northampton's three turrets thundered out white smoke and pale fire. “诺思安普敦号”三座炮塔轰隆隆地冒出白烟和淡淡的火光。
• If I can get to the gun turrets, I'll have a chance. 如果我能走到炮塔那里，我就会赢得脱险的机会。

4 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

5 sublime   

adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的

参考例句：

• We should take some time to enjoy the sublime beauty of nature.我们应该花些时间去欣赏大自然的壮丽景象。
• Olympic games play as an important arena to exhibit the sublime idea.奥运会，就是展示此崇高理念的重要舞台。

6 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

7 ramps   

resources allocation and multiproject scheduling 资源分配和多项目的行程安排

参考例句：

• Ramps should be provided for wheelchair users. 应该给轮椅使用者提供坡道。
• He has the upper floor and ramps are fitted everywhere for his convenience. 他住在上面一层，为了他的方便着想，到处设有坡道。

8 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

9 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

10 pointedly   

adv.尖地，明显地

参考例句：

• She yawned and looked pointedly at her watch. 她打了个哈欠，又刻意地看了看手表。
• The demand for an apology was pointedly refused. 让对方道歉的要求遭到了断然拒绝。 来自《简明英汉词典》