The Thirteenth Tale 精彩片段：
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
I went home.
To the bookshop.
‘Miss Winter is dead,“ I told my father.
‘And you? How are you?“ he asked.
‘Alive.“
He smiled.
‘Tell me about Mum,“ I said to him. ”Why is she the way she is?“
He told me. “She was very ill when you were born. She never saw you before you were taken away. She never saw your sister. She nearly died. By the time she came around, your operation had already taken place and your sister…”
‘My sister had died.“
‘Yes. There was no knowing how it would go with you. I went from her bedside to yours… I thought I was going to lose all three of you. I prayed to every God I had ever heard of to save you. And my prayers were answered. In part. You survived. Your mother never really came back.“
There was one other thing I needed to know.
‘Why didn’t you tell me? About being a twin?“
The face he turned to me was devastated. He swallowed, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse. “The story of your birth is a sad one Your mother thought it too heavy for a child to bear. At least that’s what your mother said. I would have borne it for you, Margaret, if I could. I would have done anything to spare you.”
We sat in silence. I thought of all the other questions I might have asked, but now that the moment had come I didn’t need to.