看着凝視我的臉Staring Me In The Face
"A bit rough on the old chap though."
I was Mark who told me more about him. He had gone over to scrounge a cigarette. By the time he came back to the table, I had my head stuck into the news-paper.
"Interesting chap. Sub-editor. Been all over the world," said Mark.
I decided to find the newspaper more interesting and finally Mark shut up and finished smoking.
"Asked your name," he said.
"He what?"
"Yeah."
"What'd you say?"
"Leanna, of course."
I folded the newspaper.
"I've loads of work this afternoon."
"Said you look familiar," said Mark. "Like someone he knew."
"Someone he knew?"
"Yeah. Could be strategy. Maybe he fancies you."
"Fancies me? But he's old."
"Only old enough to be your father."
I grabbed my tray and left the table.
I didn't do much work that afternoon. I kept wishing Mark hadn't said what he had said. Old enough to be your following week I took along a book to read during lunchtime. When I got into the lift on my floor, he was already inside. He greeted me so I had to reply but I didn't smile. We were alone and that worried me. I wondered whether I should get out at the next floor and walk up the stairs to the canteen. Don't panic, I thought. Just because he's stared at you for ages doesn't mean he's going to do anything.
" Well, I suppose one of us should press the button or we'll be here all day, won't we?"
I'd been so busy wondering what he was going to do and expecting him to do something, that I'd completely forgotten to do anything myself. I felt like an idiot and this made me smile and I hadn't wanted to. He smiled back, his blue eyes crinkling right up to the grey hair at his ears and making him look ... nice. Then there was a slap. My book hit the floor. I bent down and so did he, and we bashed heads. At that moment, the lift shuddered to a stop and the doors seemed to fling themselves wide open. I was so embarrassed, I marched out of the lift, straight towards the queue at the counter. I ordered without looking at the menu and took my tray to a table where there was only one empty seat. I breathed a sigh of relief and began to eat. But the salad stuck in my throat when I noticed that everyone else at the table had already finished lunch and they were getting up to go. I glanced over at the counter. He was paying and in a second, his eyes would scan the room to find me. I ducked my head. Waited. Any minute now he'd sit down with his tray.
Short Stories from Australasia. My book appeared in front of my eyes. His fingers were the longest I'd seen and his nails were manicured. I hadn't thought he'd bother.
"You left it in the lift," he said. "May I sit down?"
His voice was soft. Cultivated. What could I say? The tables were all pretty full so I nodded. He said bon app
托盤不只是擊中地面。它墜毀，粉碎了午餐成碎片。服務好你該死的權利，我想。你是盯着了。
他站在股票仍然望着食物了。我突然站起來，向他提出。我本來不打算，也沒有想幫助他。我打電話到櫃檯後面的女人。她閉上了嘴，帶來了布收拾殘局。我拿起餐具，放在托盤。有一個關於他的褲子纏綿染色，並通過它，你可以看到他的膝蓋骨是如何進行。像他的其餘部分。所有的骨骼，以及搖搖欲墜的夾克和褲子掛。彎腰的肩膀和一英里長的手臂。然後他向我微笑。一個奇妙的微笑，他的穿着creased臉，完全讓我吃驚。
“謝謝你。”
我推倒在他托盤，回到我的桌子。
我曾在一家大型出版公司，吃在食堂吃午飯。我也注意到他，因爲他在盯着我。他很奇怪的前瞻性。他的頭髮被嚴重削減，他的衣服古代和沉悶，太短暫燈芯絨，在膝蓋和顏色無毛衣與絨毛點綴，鬆鬆垮垮。他常常獨自坐着，只是在他的食物中選出的。或者，他閱讀和草草記下的down.A幾天後墜毀的東西，他停在桌上，我與馬克分享校對，並問他是否可以坐下。我說的席位，並繼續採取了吃。他道歉，並把他的盤子了別處。
“什麼是你的問題，利安娜？”問馬克。
“沒問題。這只是我喜歡選擇誰與我分享我的用餐時間。”
“有點粗糙，但在舊章。”
我是馬克誰告訴我更多關於他。他已經到攢夠了一支菸。等他回來的表，我有我的頭到新聞紙張卡住了。
：“有趣的第一章。小組主編。世界各地了，”馬克說。
我決定找報紙更有趣，馬克最後閉嘴和成品吸菸。
“問你的名字，”他說。
“他什麼？”
“是啊。”
“你說什麼？”
“利安娜，當然。”
我摺疊的報紙。
“我今天下午的工作負荷。”
“說你看起來很熟悉，”馬克說。 “喜歡一個人，他知道。”
“有人知道他？”
“是啊。可能的策略。也許他幻想你。”
“意幻想我嗎？但他已經老了。”
“只有老得足以做你的父親。”
我抓起我的托盤，離開了桌子。
我沒有做大量的工作，下午。我一直希望馬克沒有說什麼，他說。長大後成爲您星期，我一直讀了一本書在午餐時間。當我把我的樓電梯時，他已經在裏面。他招呼我，使我不得不回答，但我沒有笑。我們孤獨，擔心我。我不知道我是否應該退出在最近的樓層，走樓梯到了食堂。不要驚慌，我想。就因爲他的凝視很久並不意味着他會在你做任何事情。
“嗯，我想，我們應該共同按下按鈕，否則我們將在這裏一整天，將不是嗎？”
我一直這麼忙，一時不知怎麼他會做，希望他做一些事情，我願意做任何事情完全忘記了自己。我覺得自己像個白癡，這使我微笑，我還沒有想。他微笑，他的藍眼睛起皺直到灰色的頭髮在他的耳朵，使他看起來...好的。然後是一記耳光。我的書擊中了地板上。我彎下身子，他也一樣，我們男孩子頭。在那一刻，電梯戰慄到停止，門似乎甩自己敞開的。我是如此尷尬，我走出了電梯，直走向櫃檯排隊。我命令在菜單上沒有的目光，把我的托盤一表，其中只有一個空座位。我吹了一口氣，開始吃。但是，沙拉停留在我的喉嚨時，我注意到，大家在飯桌其他已經用完午餐，他們都拿到了去。我瀏覽了櫃檯。他還支付在第二，他的眼睛會掃描室找我。我躲開了我的頭。等待着。現在，任何一分鐘，他會坐下來與他的托盤。
來自大洋洲的短篇小說。我的書出現在我眼前。他的手指是我見過和他的指甲被修剪的時間最長。我沒有想到他會打擾。
“你留在電梯，”他說。 “我可以坐下嗎？”
他的聲音很柔和。耕地。我能說什麼呢？這些表都非常充分，所以我點點頭。他說盂蘭盆應用
