2-44

 

44.

It was hard seeing Chels at Willy’s wedding. There were loads of feelings still there, feelings I’dsuppressed, feelings I hadn’t suspected. I also felt a certain way about the hungry-looking mentrailing after her, circling her, nagging¹ her to dance.

Jealousy² got the better of me that night, and I told her so, which made me feel worse. And a bitpathetic.

I needed to move on, meet someone new. Time, as the doctor predicted, would fix my todger.

When would it work its magic on my heart?

Mates tried to help. They mentioned names, arranged meetings, dates.

Nothing ever panned out. So I was barely listening when they mentioned another name in thesummer of 2011. They told me a bit about her—brilliant, beautiful, cool—and mentioned herrelationship status. She’d just recently become single, they said. And she won’t be single long,Spike!

She’s free, man. You’re free.

Am I?

And you’re well matched! No doubt you two will hit it off.

I rolled my eyes. When does that prediction ever pan out?

But then, wonder of wonders, it did. We did. We sat at the bar, chatted and laughed, while thefriends with us melted away, along with the walls and the drinks and the barman. I suggested thewhole group go back to Clarence House for a nightcap.

We sat around talking, listened to music. Lively group. Merry group. When the party broke up,when everybody cleared out, I gave Florence a lift home. That was her name. Florence. Thougheveryone called her Flea³.

She lived in Notting Hill, she said. Quiet street. When we pulled up outside her flat she invitedme up for a cup of tea. Sure, I said.

I asked my bodyguard⁴ to drive around the block a few hundred times.

Was it that night or another that Flea told me about her distant ancestor? Actually, it wasprobably neither. A mate told me later, I think. In any event, he’d led the Charge of the LightBrigade, the doomed⁵ advance on Russian guns in Crimea. Incompetent⁶, possibly mad, he’d causedthe deaths of a hundred men. A shameful⁷ chapter, the polar opposite of Rorke’s Drift, and now Iwas taking a page from his book, bullishly charging full steam ahead. Over that first cup of EarlGrey, I was asking myself: Could she be my person?

The connection was that strong.

But I was also that mad. And I could see she knew it, read it all over my non–poker face. Ihoped she found it charming.

Apparently⁸ she did. The weeks that followed were idyllic⁹. We saw each other often, laughed alot, and no one knew.

Hope got the better of me.

Then the press found out and down came the curtain on our idyll.

Flea phoned me in tears. There were eight paps outside her flat. They’d chased her halfwayacross London.

She’d just seen herself described by one paper as “an underwear model.” Based on aphotoshoot done years and years before! Her life boiled down to one photo, she said. It was soreductive, so degrading.

Yes, I said quietly. I know what that feels like.

They were digging, digging, ringing up everyone she’d ever known. They were already afterher family. They were giving her the full Caroline Flack treatment, while still giving it to Carolineas well.

Flea just kept saying: I can’t do this.

She said she was under twenty-four-hour surveillance. Like some kind of criminal. I couldhear sirens in the background.

She was upset, crying, and I felt like crying, but of course I didn’t.

She said one last time: I can’t do this anymore, Harry¹⁰.

I had the phone on speaker. I was on the second floor of Clarence House, standing¹¹ by thewindow, surrounded by beautiful furnishings. Lovely room. The lamps were low, the rug at myfeet was a work of art. I pressed my face against the window’s cold polished glass and asked Fleato see me one last time, at least talk it over.

Soldiers went marching past the house. Changing of the guard.

No.

She was firm.

Weeks later I got a call from one of the friends who’d set us up at the bar. Didja hear? Flea’sgot back with the old boyfriend!

Has she?

Wasn’t meant to be, I guess.

Right.

The friend told me he’d heard that it was Flea’s mother who told her to end things, whowarned her that the press would destroy her life. They’ll hound you to the gates of Hell, her mothersaid.

Yeah, I told the friend. Mums do know best.

 

1 nagging   

adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责

参考例句：

• Stop nagging—I'll do it as soon as I can. 别唠叨了—我会尽快做的。
• I've got a nagging pain in my lower back. 我后背下方老是疼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

3 flea   

n.跳蚤

参考例句：

• I'll put a flea in his ear if he bothers me once more.如果他再来打扰的话，我就要对他不客气了。
• Hunter has an interest in prowling around a flea market.亨特对逛跳蚤市场很感兴趣。

4 bodyguard   

n.护卫，保镖

参考例句：

• She has to have an armed bodyguard wherever she goes.她不管到哪儿都得有带武器的保镖跟从。
• The big guy standing at his side may be his bodyguard.站在他身旁的那个大个子可能是他的保镖。

5 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

6 incompetent   

adj.无能力的，不能胜任的

参考例句：

• He is utterly incompetent at his job.他完全不能胜任他的工作。
• He is incompetent at working with his hands.他动手能力不行。

7 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

9 idyllic   

adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的

参考例句：

• These scenes had an idyllic air.这种情景多少有点田园气氛。
• Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

10 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。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。