"What's for dinner?" he asked warily. My mother was an imaginative cook,
and her experiments weren't always edible. I was surprised, and sad, that
he seemed to remember that far back.

"Steak and potatoes," I answered, and he looked relieved.

He seemed to feel awkward standing in the kitchen doing nothing; he
lumbered into the living room to watch TV while I worked. We were both
more comfortable that way. I made a salad while the steaks cooked, and
set the table.

I called him in when dinner was ready, and he sniffed appreciatively as
he walked into the room.

"Smells good, Bell."

"Thanks."

We ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. Neither of

us was bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for
living together.

    "So, how did you like school? Have you made any friends?" he asked as he
was taking seconds.

"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. I sit with her
friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly.
Everybody seems pretty nice." With one outstanding exception.

"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid — nice family. His dad owns the
sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all
the backpackers who come through here."

"Do you know the Cullen family?" I asked hesitantly.

"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."

"They… the kids… are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very
well at school."

Charlie surprised me by looking angry.

"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon
who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the
salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have
him — lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset
to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I
had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted
teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're
all very mature — I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them.
That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived
in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family
should — camping trips every other weekend… Just because they're
newcomers, people have to talk."

打开的书（4）

    "晚饭吃什么？"他警惕地问道。我母亲是个想象力丰富的厨子，而她试出来的饭菜并不总是容易下咽的。我感到惊讶，也感到难过，都这么长时间了，他似乎对此还记忆犹新。

    "土豆加牛排，"我回答说，他看上去宽心了。

    他似乎觉得什么也不做，就那么傻站在厨房里，看着我忙前忙后有些不好意思，于是笨重地到起居室看电视去了。这样，我们都更自在。烤牛排的时候，我拌了一碗沙拉，摆好了桌子。

    饭做好以后，我叫他进来，进来的时候，他拿鼻子闻了闻，看来很欣赏的样子。

    "很香嘛，贝拉。"

    "谢谢。"

    我们默默地吃了几分钟，没有觉得不自在。我们谁都不会因为安静而心烦。从某些方面来说，我们很适合住在一起。

    "哦，对了，你觉得学校怎样？交到了朋友没有？"他添菜的时候问道。

    "噢，我和一个叫杰西卡的女孩有几门课同班。我和她的朋友们一块儿吃的午饭。还有一个男生，迈克，很友好。每个人似乎都非常不错。"只有一个，特别例外。

    "肯定是迈克·牛顿。不错的孩子——家庭也不错。他爸爸开有一家体育用品商店，就在城外。靠着那些过往的背着背包徒步旅行的人，他可挣了不少钱啦。"

    "您认识卡伦家的人吗？"我犹豫地问道。

    "卡伦大夫的家人？当然认识。卡伦大夫是个很了不起的人。"

    "他们……他家的那些孩子……有点儿不一样。他们在学校好像跟大家不太融洽。"

    查理显得很生气，令我大吃了一惊。

    "这个镇上的人啦，"他咕哝道，"卡伦大夫是个杰出的外科医生，可以到世界上任何一家医院去工作的，可以挣他在这儿拿的那点儿工资的十倍，"他继续说道，声音更大了，"有他这样的大夫是我们的福气，幸亏他太太想住在小城镇。他是社会的宝贵财富，而且那些孩子个个都循规蹈矩，很懂礼貌。他们刚搬来的时候，我也像对所有那些被人收养的十几岁的孩子一样，对他们产生过种种怀疑，满以为会给我们带来不少麻烦的。可是他们都非常成熟懂事——我还没看见他们中的任何一个惹过一点点麻烦。有些几辈人都生活在这个镇上的人家的孩子，跟他们简直没法比。而且他们很团结，就像一家人应该的那样——每两个周末就进行一次露营旅行。……就因为他们是新来的，所以人们免不了嚼舌头。"