3-18

18.

I flew to Toronto. End of October 2016. Meg was excited to show me her life, her dogs—her little

house, which she adored. And I was eager to see it all, to know every last detail about her.

(Though I’d snuck into Canada once before, briefly¹, this would be my first proper visit.) We

walked the dogs in big, open ravines and parks. We explored the sparsely² populated nooks and

crannies of her neighborhood. Toronto wasn’t London, but it also wasn’t Botswana. So, be ever

cautious, we said. Maintain the bubble. Keep wearing disguises.

Speaking of disguises. We invited Euge and Jack³ to join us for Halloween. And Meg’s best

friend Markus. Toronto’s Soho House was having a big party and the theme was “Apocalypse.”

Dress accordingly.

I mumbled⁴ to Meg that I’d not had great luck with themed fancy-dress parties, but I’d give it

another go. For help with my costume, I’d turned to a friend, the actor Tom Hardy⁵, before I left

home. I’d phoned him to ask if I could borrow his costume from Mad Max.

The whole thing?

Yes, please, mate! The whole kit⁶.

He’d given it all to me before I left Britain, and now I tried it on in Meg’s little bathroom.

When I came out, she roared with laughter.

It was funny. And a little scary. But the main thing was: I was unrecognizable.

Meg, meanwhile, wore torn black shorts, a camo top, fishnet stockings. If that’s the

Apocalypse, I thought, bring on the end of the world.

The party was loud, dark, drunk—ideal. Several people did double-takes as Meg passed

through the rooms, but no one looked twice at her dystopian date. I wished I could wear this

disguise every day. I wished I could reuse it the next day and visit her on the set of Suits.

Then again, maybe not. I’d made the mistake of googling and watching some of her love

scenes online. I’d witnessed her and a castmate mauling each other in some sort of office or

conference room…It would take electric-shock therapy to get those images out of my head. I

didn’t need to see such things live. Still, the point was moot⁷: the next day was Sunday, so she

wasn’t working.

And then everything was rendered moot, everything was changed forever, because the next

day was when news of our relationship broke wide open.

Well, we said, staring anxiously at our phones, it was going to happen eventually.

In fact, we’d had a heads-up that it was likely to happen that day. We’d been tipped, before

heading off to the Halloween Apocalypse, that another apocalypse might be coming. More proof

that the universe had a wicked sense of humor.

Meg, you ready for what’s headed our way?

Kinda. Are you?

Yes.

We were sitting on her sofa, moments before I left for the airport.

Are you scared?

Yes. No. Maybe.

We’re going to be hunted. No two ways about it.

I’ll just treat it as if we’re in the bush.

She reminded me of what I’d said in Botswana, when the lions were roaring.

Trust me. I’ll keep you safe.

She’d believed me then, she said. She believed me now.

By the time I touched down at Heathrow, the story had…fizzled?

It was all unconfirmed, and there were no photos, so there was nothing to fuel it.

A moment’s reprieve⁸? Maybe, I thought, all will be well.

Nah. Calm before the shit storm.

 

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 sparsely   

adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地

参考例句：

• Relative to the size, the city is sparsely populated. 与其面积相比，这个城市的人口是稀少的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The ground was sparsely covered with grass. 地面上稀疏地覆盖草丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

5 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

6 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

7 moot   

v.提出；adj.未决议的；n.大会；辩论会

参考例句：

• The question mooted in the board meeting is still a moot point.那个在董事会上提出讨论的问题仍未决的。
• The oil versus nuclear equation is largely moot.石油和核能之间的关系还很有争议。

8 reprieve   

n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解

参考例句：

• He was saved from the gallows by a lastminute reprieve.最后一刻的缓刑令把他从绞架上解救了下来。
• The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.本应停运的铁路线获准多运行6 个月。