《American short story masterpieces》课件17--Viewfinder.docVIP

Passage Seventeen Viewfinder A man without hands came to the door to sell me a photograph of my house. Except for the chrome （鉻） hooks, he was an ordinary-looking man of fifty or so. “How did you lose your hands?” I asked after he’d said what he wanted. “That’s another story,” he said. “You want this picture or not?” “Come in,” I said. “I just made coffee.” I’d just made some Jell-O, too. But I didn’t tell the man I did. “I might use your toilet,” the man with no hands said. I wanted to see how he would hold a cup. I knew how he held the camera. It was an old Polaroid, big and black. He had it fastened to straps that looped over his shoulders and went around his back, and it was this that secured the camera to his chest. He would stand on the sidewalk in front of your house, locate your house in the viewfinder, push down the lever with one of his hooks, and out would pop your picture. I’d been watching from the window, you see. “Where did you say the toilet was?” “Down there, turn right.” Bending, hunching (moving forward), he let himself out of the straps. He put the camera on the sofa and straightened his jacket. “You can look at this while I’m gone.” I took the picture from him. There was a little rectangle of lawn, the driveway, the carport （简陋的汽车棚）, front steps, bay window (凸窗), and the window I’d been watching from in the kitchen. So why would I want a photograph of this tragedy? I looked a little closer and saw my head, my head, in there inside the kitchen window. It made me think, seeing myself like that. I can tell you, it makes a man think. I heard the toilet flush. He came down the hall, zipping and smiling, one hook holding his belt, the other tucking in his shirt. “What do you think?” he said. “All right? Personally, I think it turned out fine. Don’t I know what I’m doing? Let’s face it, it takes a professional.” He plucked at （took hold of） his crotch （裤裆）. “Here’s coffee,” I said. He said, “You’re alone, right?” He looked at the living room. He shook