I`ll think about something else. I`ll just sit quietly. If I could sit still. If I could sit still. Maybe I could read. Oh, all the books are about people who love each other, truly and sweetly. What do they want to write about that for? Don`t they know it isn`t true? Don`t they know it`s a lie, it`s a God damned lie? What do they have to tell about that for, when they know how it hurts? Damn them, damn them, damn them.
I won`t. I`ll be quiet. This is nothing to get excited about. Look. Suppose he were someone I didn`t know very well. Suppose he were another girl. Then I`d just telephone and say, "Well, for goodness` sake, what happened to you?" That`s what I`d do, and I`d never even think about it. Why can`t I be casual and natural, just because I love him? I can be. Honestly, I can be. I`ll call him up, and be so easy and pleasant. You see if I won`t, God. Oh, don`t let me call him. Don`t, don`t, don`t.
God, aren`t You really going to let him call me? Are You sure, God? Couldn`t You please relent? Couldn`t You? I don`t even ask You to let him telephone me this minute, God; only let him do it in a little while. I`ll count five hundred by fives. I`ll do it so slowly and so fairly. If he hasn`t telephoned then, I`ll call him. I will. Oh, please, dear God, dear kind God, my blessed Father in Heaven, let him call before then. Please, God. Please.
Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five....
注： 这是曾获“欧·亨利纪念奖”（The O. Henry Awards, 1918年开始设立， 专门用以奖励每年度的最佳短篇小说）的美国女诗人、短篇小说家帕克（Dorothy Parker 1893-1967）的代表作之一。作者以细腻的手法，意识流的叙事方式，展现给读者一位饱受爱情折磨的女性的心理独白。其实，作为一个坚定的社会主义者，帕克又何尝不是在告诫女性：女性不能坐等爱的出现，应该学会主宰自己的命运。