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32.

I don’t remember how we got the stuff. One of my mates, I expect. Or maybe several. Wheneverwe found ourselves in possession, we’d commandeer a tiny upstairs bathroom, wherein we’dimplement a surprisingly thoughtful, orderly assembly line. Smoker¹ straddled the loo beside thewindow, second boy leaned against the basin, third and fourth boys sat in the empty bath, legsdangling over, waiting their turns. You’d take a hit or two, blow the smoke out of the window,then move on to the next station, in rotation², until the spliff was gone. Then we’d all head to one ofour rooms and giggle³ ourselves sick over an episode or two of a new show. Family Guy. I felt aninexplicable bond with Stewie, prophet without honor.

I knew this was bad behavior. I knew it was wrong. My mates knew too. We talked about itoften, while stoned, how stupid we were to be wasting an Eton education. Once, we even made apact. At the start of exam period, called Trials, we vowed⁵ to quit cold turkey, until after the finalTrial. But the very next night, lying in bed, I heard my mates in the hall, cackling, whispering.

Headed to the loo. Bloody⁶ hell, they’re already breaking the pact⁴! I got out of bed, joined them.

As the assembly line cranked up, bath to basin to loo, as the weed began to take effect, we shookour heads.

What idiots we were, thinking we could change.

Pass the spliff, mate.

One night, straddling the loo, I took a big hit and gazed up at the moon, then down at theschool grounds. I watched several Thames Valley police officers marching back and forth⁷. Theywere stationed out there because of me. But they didn’t make me feel safe. They made me feelcaged.

Beyond them, however, that was where safety lay. All was peaceful and still out there. Ithought: How beautiful. So much peace in the wider world…for some. For those free to search forit.

Just then I saw something dart⁸ across the quad⁹. It froze under one of the orange streetlights. Ifroze too, and leaned out of the window.

A fox! Staring straight at me! Look!

What, mate?

Nothing.

I whispered to the fox: Hello, mate. How’s it going?

What are you on about?

Nothing, nothing.

Maybe it was the weed—undoubtedly it was the weed—but I felt a piercing and powerfulkinship with that fox. I felt more connected to that fox than I did to the boys in the bathroom, theother boys at Eton—even the Windsors in the distant castle. In fact, this little fox, like the leopardin Botswana, seemed like a messenger, sent to me from some other realm. Or perhaps from thefuture.

If only I knew who sent it.

And what the message was.

 

1 smoker   

n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室

参考例句：

• His wife dislikes him to be a smoker.他妻子不喜欢他当烟民。
• He is a moderate smoker.他是一个有节制的烟民。

2 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

3 giggle   

n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说

参考例句：

• Both girls began to giggle.两个女孩都咯咯地笑了起来。
• All that giggle and whisper is too much for me.我受不了那些咯咯的笑声和交头接耳的样子。

4 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

5 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

6 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

9 quad   

n.四方院；四胞胎之一；v.在…填补空铅

参考例句：

• His rooms were on the left-hand side of the quad.他的房间位于四方院的左侧。
• She is a 34-year-old mother of quads.她是个生了四胞胎的34岁的母亲。