金句

John Updike 寫台詞好機靈。短篇小說 The Persistence of Desire 裡面，男人回到童年的小鎮診所看醫生，巧遇初戀情人，雖然男女雙方都各自婚嫁，男主角不免以一種緬懷、同情的心態，以俯視的角度，帶著一種悲憫的心，想要探尋對方的心意，尋求羅曼史來救贖對方的可能性。

因此，男人的談話便充滿懷舊、假設、戲劇性，而女人的回話就十分的務實、簡短。

"I'm trying to remember," he admitted, "the last time we saw each other.  I can't remember how we broke up."

"I can't either," she said. "It happened so often."

女人只淡淡的回應，我也記不清了，當年我們老是吵架鬧分手啊。

男人懷疑她是否試圖以這種諷刺的語調，使他追悔，於是他再接再厲。

"I can't tell you," he said, "how much, of all the people in this town, you were the one I wanted to see."

"Why?"

"Well. hell.  Any number of reasons.  I wanted to say something."

"What?"

"Well, that if I hurt you, it was stupidity, because I was young. I've often wondered since if I did, because it seems now that you were the only person outside of my family who ever, actually, liked me."

"Did I?"

"If you think by doing nothing but asking monosyllabic questions you're making an effect, you're wrong."

男人一再闡述自己對過去的追悔，以及對她的滿腔好意，女人只簡短的回應：「蛤？」「喔？」「是嗎？」男人終於獨角戲唱不下去，變色大怒，說：「如果你以為你用單音字回應，可以製造出什麼戲劇效果，那你就錯了」女人 was like, what the heck, 「你才老是在製造效果呢」

最後，雙方各自進了診間，男人抓了個空，潛入女人的診間，正好捕捉到女人嘴巴叼著細尾梳，雙手綁頭髮的片刻。

He said, "Janet, are you happy?"  然後他挽起她頸後的頭髮，笨拙的將嘴唇印上去。

"Don't you love your wife?" she asked.

"Incredibly much," he murmured into the fine neck-down.

她避開了，留下他區著身子，形狀奇怪。她在鏡前把頭髮撫平，垂下耳際。

"Why do you hate me?" he asked.
"Shh.  I don't hate you now."
"But you did once."
"No, I did not once.  Clyde what is this bother?  What are you after?"
"Son of a bitch, so I'm a bother.  I knew it.  You've just forgotten, all the time I've been remembering; you're so damn dense.  I come in here a bundle of pain to tell you I'm sorry and I want you to be happy, and all I get is the back of your neck."
"Clyde, I thought you were successful.  I thought you had beautiful children.  Aren't you happy?"
"I am, I am; but" -the rest was so purely inspired its utterance only grazed his lips-"happiness isn't everything."

被女人拒絕後，男人問妳為什麼恨我，女人說我沒恨你，現在沒恨，以前也不恨啊。男人惱怒，去死吧，妳什麼都忘了，我可是全記得，我乾巴巴的進來要跟妳講我很抱歉，希望妳過的好，沒想到唯一得到的只有妳的後頸！

女人說，克萊德，我以為你事業家庭兩得意呢，你到底怎麼回事，你難道不快樂嗎？

男人直接的反應就是接：我快樂啊，我快樂啊，只是，（突然有個靈感，自以為奧妙的屁話就脫口而出）快樂並非一切。

這種對話實在太強大了！

我親愛的葛林也有不少警句，出自「權力與榮耀」

1.
她說：「我真希望死掉算了。」
「啊，」他說，「當然囉，那是不用說的，但我們還是必須活下去。」

2.
他的手沈重又愉快，渴望恢復信心的撫慰著床單下的身體：
「生命並沒有這麼糟糕，是不是，崔克絲？沒這麼糟吧？」
她掀開床單，說：「太燠熱、太燠熱了。」