I can imagine Isabel’s strong look. After all, she wants me to promise to see Isabel again. She will definitely say what she expected.

But it was nearly a year before I saw Isabel again. At that time, although I could tell her about Sophie and let her think about it carefully, in view of the situation at that time, I realized that I stayed in London until Christmas, and then I went straight back to the blue coast without stopping in Paris. I wrote a novel for several months and stayed in seclusion. Occasionally Eliot met him, but his health was getting worse, but he still held a party to show people. I was really worried about him. He was very dissatisfied with me at that time because I didn’t want to drive 30 miles to attend his regular banquet and thought I was too lucky to stay at home to write.
My old friend’s activities are particularly grand this year. He said that it is extremely important for you to keep yourself indoors and not participate in any activities. Besides, the blue coast is so big, you just choose a deserted area to live in. I can’t understand you even if I live to be 100 years old.
Eliot is poor and stupid. He will not live to this age.
In June, I finished the first draft of the novel, and thought I should take a good vacation and take a sloop. Every summer, I often take this sailboat to swim in the Firth of Firth and sail along the coast to Marseille. The sea breeze blows in waves, so the sailboat engine rattles along most of the time. I have spent the night in Saint-Maximsanali, Cannes, and finally arrived in Toulon. I have always had a soft spot for this harbor, and French ships have given it a romantic and pleasant atmosphere. I am not tired of visiting the local old streets, and I can stay at the pier for hours to watch it. Those sailors on shore leave hang out in groups or accompany their girlfriends, and the residents also go back and forth, as if everything needs to enjoy the warm sunshine. The bustling crowds take boats and yachts to various berths in this vast harbor. This place is like the end point of the world. Sitting in a coffee shop and looking at the shining sea, the sky is not dazzling. Imagine that you are leaving for the splendid Cape Tianya. Say that you are going to a coconut palm island surrounded by coral islands in the Pacific Ocean in a narrow boat, or you are going to Yangon pier, taking a gangway, taking a rickshaw or berthing in Taigang, watching the noise and gesturing desperately on the deck.
It was nearly noon when the sailboat arrived. I walked along the dock at two or three o’clock in the afternoon and observed the guests at the bottom of the canopy of the pedestrian cafe around me. Suddenly I saw Sophie, and she also found me. She smiled and said hello, and I stopped to shake her hand. She sat alone at a small table and set a glass.
Sit down and have a drink, she said
Then you have a drink, too. I said and sat down
Sophie wore a French sailor’s blue and white striped sports bright red trousers and stepped on a pair of sandals. Her thick toes were brightly polished. She didn’t wear a hat, her hair was short, her hair was light, her face was like silver, and she was back in Lapp Street. Judging from the tables and plates, she should have had a drink or two, but she was still awake and seemed to be very happy to see me.
How are everyone in Paris? she asked
It should be all right. I haven’t met them since dinner at the Ritz Hotel.
She laughed through her nostrils.
I still haven’t married Larry for a long time
Yeah, what?
Despite Larry’s Christian sentiment, I can’t be Mary Magdalene. I really can’t help it
How did you change your mind at the end?
Sophie looked at me with a smirk. She proudly held up her head, flattened her chest and narrow her waist. With this outfit, she looked like a naughty boy. However, compared with her wearing a red dress, she was fashionable, old-fashioned and had a bad temperament. I have to admit that she is much more attractive now. Her face and neck are all tanned, and her wheat-colored skin makes her cheeks look more abrupt. Although tacky, she is also attractive.
Do you want to listen to me?
I nodded and waited for my beer. She bubbled water. She lit another cigarette with embers of Kapoor.
At that time, I didn’t drink or smoke for three months. She was a little surprised to see me and couldn’t help laughing. It wasn’t that I didn’t smoke cigarettes or opium. It was really uncomfortable. When I was alone, I would scream and scream at my room and my mouth would collapse. I couldn’t make it. Larry was with me. The situation was not too bad, but he would be miserable if he left me.
I watched her while listening, and when I heard her talking about opium, I looked at her more carefully, only to find that her pupils were so small that she was still smoking opium, and her eyes were so green.
My wedding dress was given by Isabel. I don’t know where it was beautiful. We agreed that I would pick her up first and then go to Morinaud together. I really admire Isabel. After I got to the apartment, the housekeeper said that she took Jon to the dentist in a hurry and left a message for me. I went into the living room table and put a coffee pot cup on it. The coffee was my only spiritual food. The housekeeper said that she would take the coffee pot cup away for me and leave a bottle of wine on the plate. I looked and found that it was you who said Polish wine at the Ritz Hotel.
Polish vodka. I remember Eliot said he would send some bottles to Isabel.
At that time, you always praised how delicious the wine was, so I was very curious. I broke the cork and smelled it. You were right. The wine tasted really good. A few minutes later, I lit a cigarette and the housekeeper brought the coffee in. The coffee was also delicious. Everyone always said that French coffee was good. Whatever they say, I was still American coffee. This was the only thing I missed in France, but Isabel’s coffee was really good. I felt much better after drinking coffee. I stared at the bottle of wine on the table, which was really tempting, but I thought to my mother. I definitely don’t drink, and then I lit a cigarette. Isabel will be back soon, but there is no one left and right. I feel anxious. After all, I hate waiting. Besides, there is nothing to rummage through the house so that I can walk around and look at the wall painting, but my eyes can’t leave the damn bottle of wine. I want to pour a glass and enjoy the color of the wine.
ondine
Yes, it’s strange, isn’t it? The color of the wine is as strange as the taste. It seems that you will see that kind of green in the white rose core. I have to try the taste. It should make me plan to take a sip. At this moment, I heard the sound outside. Isabel came back and drank all the wine in one gulp, but it wasn’t Isabel. Wow, I’ve never felt so good since I quit drinking. At that time, Isabel came back. Now I’m married. I don’t know what it will be like.
Didn’t she come back?
No, the more I think about it, the angrier I get at her. Who is she? She made me wait like this. Later, I saw that there was wine in the glass. It must be a good intention, but believe it or not, I don’t remember picking up the bottle and pouring it back, but it wasn’t stupid. I drank another glass of wine. It was really delicious. I seem to be a different person. I have never felt this way before for three months. Didn’t the old lady say that he saw a big cup of wine in Poland but his face didn’t change color? I thought that the old drinker wouldn’ Just pour the leftover coffee into the fireplace and fill the glass with wine. It’s bullshit to say that breast milk is the best to drink at the end of the day. I remembered it later, but after I was satisfied, there were not many drops left in the bottle. Then I thought that I had to get married before Isabel entered the door. I almost got hit by her. As soon as I walked in the front door, I heard Jon’s voice running to the apartment stairs and waiting for their door, then I stopped a car rental. I told the driver to desperately ask me where I was going. I suddenly laughed at him and felt like I was flying.
Did you go back to the apartment? I know why.
You and I are fucking idiots. I know Larry will come to me. I dare not go to Hakim’s place where I used to go, so Larry will never find it. Besides, I want to smoke some opium
Hakim
Hakim is from Arria. If you can afford the money, he can help you get opium. He is a very good friend. What do you want? Boys, men, women or niggers are fixed. Six or seven Arria people are on call. I stayed with him for three days. I don’t know how many men she has had. She giggled. Men of all colors have made up for three months at a time, but I am afraid that I will feel uneasy in Paris and Larry will find me. I am afraid that those king eggs will not come back to the apartment until I have spent all the money with you. I will give a hundred francs to the administrator, saying that
Didn’t you go anywhere else?
No, I’m not going to leave. How much opium here is brought back by sailors from the East, not the inferior goods sold in Paris. I rented a room in the hotel, that is, the naval merchant hotel. The corridor was full of opium. She sucked her nose greedily, which was really fragrant and pungent. The guests smoked in their own rooms, just like at home. They didn’t care who I brought back to sleep. At five o’clock in the morning, they knocked on the door and asked the sailors to return to the boat, so I could go back to sleep. Then she suddenly said, I saw you writing in a shop at the pier
When I passed by the store, I stopped to look at the window to show the new discovery. The French translation of one of my novels happened recently.
You shouldn’t be interested. I said
How do you know I’m not illiterate?
Surely you can write it, too.
She gave me a quick glance and burst out laughing.
Yes, when I was a child, I used to write poems. I think it must be terrible, but it was a good achievement. Larry told you, she hesitated for a long time, but life was like living in hell, but she didn’t enjoy it. That was a big fool. She stubbornly raised her head and I bought it. Would you write a few words?