“贝丝，我爱你，一辈子。自从我在单杠上看到你的那天，你对我说要嫁给我开始，我就知道我爱上了你。没有你在我身边，我无法忍受独自度过哪怕一个夜晚。你使我的生命变得完整。贝丝，嫁给我，好吗？”
痛苦的眼泪涌出她蓝色的眼睛，她摇着头说：“我不能嫁给你，不能。”
母亲从床上起来，想去阻止她。但是贝丝关上了门。她躲在门后，希望有一天当她醒来后，癌症能够消失。她能和杰克共同享受幸福的生活，直到永远。但是，他怎么可能爱一个即将死于癌症的人呢？
一周过去了，一条条的信息，贝丝都没有回复。每次杰克打来电话都是母亲去接。杰克不知道怎么回事。他需要马上和贝丝谈谈，打电话已经解决不了任何问题。这无法填平他内心身处痛苦的峡谷。
他必须亲自见她，不论她喜欢与否。他要告诉她自己不在乎发生在她身上的任何事情。他仍然希望能与她在一起。他穿上了蓝色牛仔短裤，还有那件他最爱的白衬衣，她最喜欢看他穿这件衣服。然后，他上了车。
来到她的家门，他看了一下车道。她母亲的车不在。这次她必须要面对他，没法躲在母亲身后了。他敲了敲门。
“来啦，”贝丝说着，打开了门。她穿着一件红色的睡袍，上面绣着自己的名字。那是几年前，她祖母送给她的。
“请让我进去，我们需要谈谈。”
她不能粗鲁无礼。他们确实需要好好谈谈，谈谈他将如何看着自己惟一的爱人被癌症夺走。让他如何接受？她把门开大些，他慢慢走了进来。
“我不知道你为什么不和我谈。我不知道为什么我们不能在一起。难道你不知道我有多爱你吗？”他失落地把手插进棕色的头发里，继续说道：“你可以告诉我任何你要说的事情。我今天在这里，明天，永远都在这里。你是知道的。但是，现在出了什么问题？”
他轻轻地抱着她坐在沙发上。那一刻，她所有的恐惧、痛苦都消失了。世界上任何事情都无所谓，只要他们能够永远在一起。一行眼泪悄悄地从她的右脸颊上滴落，落在杰克的肩上。
她擦干泪水，说道：“我爱你，但这正是我让你离开我的原因。”杰克不愿意看到她如此消沉。她是一个意志坚强的人。她从未像现在这样失落，这使他产生了一种不祥的感觉。
“让我离开？天哪，到底为什么？”杰克更紧地拥着她，在她的脸颊上轻轻地吻了一下。
“我得了乳癌，我也是在几周前才知道。我不想嫁给你，因为我不想让你痛苦……”
他用男人最甜蜜的热吻打断了她的话。她所有的疑虑和恐惧像风一样慢慢散去。所有的一切都恢复了正常，他们又找回了曾经以为已经失去的爱情。
他们将永远生活在爱的港湾。
温暖亲情
A Father’s Touch
What day is it today？Is it Tuesday or Thursday？This thought raced through her mind as she sat back with her students going over the lesson that never seemed to end.Didn’t I just do this yesterday？Or was it a year ago？Hell，everything seemed to jumble together anymore.“Miss Smith can I go to the bathroom？”Jorge asked，as he proceeded to jump from one foot to another，holding himself.How many times have I heard this？She wondered as she abruptly said “Yes”and watched as he raced out of the room.
Sitting at the table she gazed at her students while thinking of what she would do after work.Maybe I’ll go to the gym or stop at the market for something to eat tonight.Mechanically she continued with her lesson on the short letter “a”with her students.“The letter ‘a’makes what sound？”“a，a，a”，the students sang together going through the empty motions.The clock dragged away the minutes teasing her with the tediousness of the day.
Won’t it end？She thought as the phone rang out its morse code for her room.Sighing she stood up and walked through the maze of students desks to get the phone.Picking up the receiver the other voice seemed a hundred miles away.Oh，how I wish I were anywhere but here.Here mind wandered to the hot exotic beach of Cabo，Mexico，where she had spent her last summer break.She still remembered the cool breezes that caressed her skin as she lay on the gritty sand.
“Miss Smith，did you hear me？”the secretary annoyingly asked her.“Oh，sorry.What did you say？”“Can you send Carla to the office？”the secretary impatiently asked.“Oh，of course”she replied as she hung up the phone.She turned from the phone and yelled out Carla’s name.Carla，who was one of the many who always seemed so needy that were in her class this year.Carla looked up from her desk，her hair hanging like a matted displaced doll.Her face was lined with dirt that gave her the appearance of one of those munchkins from the Wizard of Oz.“You need to go to the office”，she said while Carla slowly rose from her desk.“Why do I have to go？”whined Carla.“It’s between you and the office—just go up”she hastily turned her back as Carla walked out of the room.Like having free school uniforms is the answer.It would be nice if just once someone called saying something nice or thanking me for all the endless crap I have to deal with.With a sigh she walked back to her other students who were clustered at the back table patiently waiting her return.
The rest of the afternoon blurred into one long endless repetition.Finally the bell rang as a relief.As she led her students out the door they walked behind her as baby chicks returning to their fold.She noticed that their mother hens clucked to them behind the iron gate.As she proceeded to walk down the corridor，the air，which rose with the musical tingle of Spanish coloring everything that touched it，greeted her.She watched with a touch of envy as the children left her to return to those homes that probably were filled with laughter and warmth while she would once again return to the same endless march of boredom.
“Senora，un momento por favor.”She turned her head and noticed the small shriveled man，his brown face lined with a map to places only he knew.“Thanks for helping my son Julio to read，”the gentleman said in his faltering broken English.She immediately thought of Julio，who once as unreachable as a hardened walnut，slowly cracked opened to reveal the eager child inside.She thought of the inner struggle Julio must have had as he tried to make sense of the foreign letters and the sudden joy when he had unbroken the mysterious code.Was the father the same？She looked up at this elderly gentleman，probably his father，and quickly recognized the sameness of the two.“Gracias Senora”a weathered hand came out and firmly grasped hers with warmth that radiated from his soul to hers.Just as abruptly he removed his hand and left her.As he walked away she thought of that exotic sun and realized maybe it was closer to her than she thought.
与一位父亲的接触
今天是星期几？星期二还是星期四？她和学生进行那似乎永无休止的复习，课间休息时，这个念头在她脑子里转了好几圈。我是不是昨天才做完？或者那已是去年的事了？该死，好像什么事都搅到一块儿来了。“史密斯小姐，我可以去一下洗手间吗？”乔治正要迈腿，又停下问道。我是第几次听到这个了？她想着这个问题，随即说道：“去吧”，看着他跑出了教室。
她坐在桌边，眼睛盯着学生，脑子里却在想下了班该去哪里。也许该去健身，或者去市场买点东西晚上吃。她机械地上着课，给学生讲字母“a”。“‘a’怎么念？”“a，a，a”学生们齐声干巴巴地念着。时钟一分分过去，似乎在嘲笑她这沉闷的一天。
该结束了吧？她正想着，教室的电话响了。她叹了一口气，站起身来，穿过学生的课桌去接电话。拿起话筒，那一端的声音似乎从100英里以外传来。天，要是身处异地该多好！她神游到了充满异国情调的墨西哥卡波海滩，去年暑假她就是在那儿度过的。她仍记得慵懒地躺在沙滩上，任习习凉风亲吻自己的肌肤。
“史密斯小姐，你在听我说话吗？”秘书有点生气地问道。“哦，对不起，你刚才说什么？”“叫卡拉到我办公室来一下。”秘书更不耐烦了。“哦，好的。”她边说边挂了电话。她转过身来叫着卡拉的名字。卡拉是今年她班上许多贫困学生之一。卡拉抬起头，松散的头发像一篷乱草。满脸泥垢的她看起来像《绿野仙踪》里的芒虚金。“你去一趟办公室。”当卡拉慢慢站起来的时候。她说道。“为什么要我去？”卡拉嗫嚅道。“去了就知道。快去吧。”她随即转过身，卡拉出去了。她是去领免费的校服的。如果能有人打电话来，说些好听的话或者感谢我做的这些讨厌的工作就好了。她叹了口气，回到后排那一群正耐心等着她的学生。
整个下午都在不断重复着这不尽的单调。最后，救命的钟声终于敲响了。她带着学生走出了教室，就像母鸡带着小鸡回窝似的。她看到学生的妈妈们正在铁门后热切等待着他们。当她穿过走廊的时候，那带着西班牙音乐气息的空气迎面扑来。她羡慕地看着孩子们离开她，回到充满欢笑和温暖的家，而自己却不得不再次回到这无尽的单调与无聊之中。
