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记忆传授人|The Giver

第四章 义工|Chapter 4

属类： 双语小说 【分类】魔幻小说 阅读：[13575]
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乔纳思骑得很慢，试着在各栋建筑物的停车棚里找亚瑟的自行车。他不常跟朋友一起当义工，因为亚瑟爱打闹，会增加工作的难度。不过，十二岁就快到了，义工的时间和次数即将结束，一起工作影响不大。

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能够自由选择当义工的地点，对乔纳思来说，是一天当中最棒的时光，因为其他的时间都被安排得满满当当。

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他还记得自己八岁时，面对自由选择的情形。莉莉很快也就会有这样的机会。八岁的孩子第一次当义工，心中难免紧张，喜欢咯咯笑着招朋引伴。结果大家几乎不约而同地选择到娱乐中心帮助年幼的孩子，因为在熟悉的地方比较自在。但是经过适当地引导，他们慢慢地培养出自信，个性也日益成熟，就会慢慢转向有兴趣和符合志向的工作。

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有一位名叫本杰明的十一岁男生，整整四年的义工时间就都投注在复健中心，帮助受伤的市民。据说他的技术跟复健中心的主管一样出色，他甚至还研发一些机器和手法来缩短复健时间。大家都相信本杰明一定会被指派到这个领域工作，说不定还可以获准跳过职前训练。

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乔纳思非常佩服本杰明的成就，他们相同年龄，互相认识，却从未提过对方的专长，免得难堪。因为即使你不是故意的，可是只要当面提及或讨论别人的成就，就有违反不可吹嘘规定的嫌疑。这属于小规矩，跟鲁莽类似，顶多被当面温和地纠正。但即使如此，最好还是自我控制，连小错都不要犯才好。

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住宅区已经落到身后去了，接下来是社区的主要建筑物，乔纳思希望可以在某个工厂或办公大楼外头看见亚瑟的自行车。他经过了莉莉下课后待的育儿中心旁边的游乐区，经过了中心广场和举行公共会议的大会堂，一路慢慢看着。

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乔纳思放慢速度，顺着育婴中心外头那一排整整齐齐的自行车，寻找上头的名牌。接着来到食品配送中心——帮忙配送食品是一件很有趣的工作，他希望可以在这儿找到朋友，这样他们就可以把一箱箱的补给品，送给社区里的每户人家。最后，他终于发现了亚瑟的自行车——跟平常一样，不是好好的停在停车位上，而是斜斜地靠着——就靠在养老院的门口。

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那里还有另一辆朋友的自行车，是费欧娜的，她今年也十一岁。乔纳思很喜欢费欧娜。她是个好学生，文静又有礼貌，为人也很风趣，因此他一点也不惊讶她会跟亚瑟一起工作。他把自行车紧挨着他们的车停好，然后走进建筑物里。

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“你好，乔纳思。”柜台的接待员说。她递给他一张签到单，并在他签名旁边盖上自己的图章。所有他担任义工的时间和次数，都仔细地登录在表格中，保存在开放档案大厅里。孩子们中间悄悄流传着这样一个传说：很久以前，一位十一岁的孩子在升级十二岁的典礼上，大会宣布他义工时间不足，无法获得指派工作，他觉得非常伤心。后来大会答应额外给他一个月时间，让他补足义工服务次数，再单独指派给他一份工作。他就这样既没有获得大家的掌声，也没有在开始工作时得到祝贺，这个污点伴随了他一生。

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“这里今天正缺人手。”接待员告诉他，“今天早上我们举行了一场解放庆典，耽搁了工作进度，现在得把落后的追回来。”她看着一张单子说：“亚瑟和费欧娜正在浴室里帮忙，干脆你也加入他们吧。你知道浴室在哪里，是不是？”

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乔纳思点点头，谢过她，沿着长长的通道走进去。他瞥了一眼两旁的房间，房里有些老人安静地坐着，有的在交谈，有的在做简单的工艺品，还有一些睡得正甜。每个房间都铺着厚厚的地毯，布置得很舒适。这里是这样宁静、悠闲，节奏跟忙忙碌碌的制造中心和配送中心截然不同。

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乔纳思很高兴自己在过去几年选择了不同的地方担任义工，获得了各种不同的经验（虽然他很清楚，就是因为这样他才未能在某个领域有杰出的表现)。他完全没有头绪——就算想猜也无从猜起——自己会被指派什么工作。

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他微微一笑，再度想到典礼：乔纳思的未来是什么？随着日期的临近，他猜想他的朋友大都跟他一样心中无数。

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看护陪着一位老人家慢慢穿过厅堂，“乔纳思，你好！”

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穿制服的年轻人看见他，一边愉快地打招呼，一边小心地扶着身边老妇人的手臂。老人家弓着背，拖着缓慢的脚步往前走。她朝乔纳思的方向望过来，微微一笑，黝黑的眼睛里却空洞无神，乔纳思知道她瞎了。

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他走进浴室。里头洋溢着温暖的湿气和沐浴乳的芳香。

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他脱下外衣，小心地将它挂在墙壁的挂钩上，从柜子里拿出折叠得整整齐齐的义工罩衫穿上。

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“嗨，乔纳思！”亚瑟跪在一个浴盆旁边朝他大叫。乔纳思看见费欧娜在附近另一个浴盆边。她抬头对他一笑，双手继续轻柔地帮躺在温水中的老人洗澡。

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乔纳思跟大家打过招呼后，就走向等候区。那儿有一长排的斜背椅，供老人们坐着等候。他以前来过，知道该怎么做。

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“莱莉莎，该您啦。”他读着老妇人外袍上的铭牌说，“我先放水，再过来帮您。”他把空浴盆的按钮往下压，温水立即从两侧的水龙头流出来。浴盆会在一分钟后注满，之后自动停水。

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他扶着老妇人从椅子上站起来，脱掉她的外衣，并用手撑住她的臂膀，协助她稳稳地跨入浴盆，坐下身体。她缓缓地往后靠，愉悦地呼出一口气，将头枕在柔软的头垫上。

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“舒服吗？”他问。她点点头，闭上眼睛。乔纳思站在浴盆外，将清洁乳液挤在海绵上，开始清洗她衰弱的身体。

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昨天晚上，他观察过爸爸给小宝宝洗澡的情形。两者其实很接近：肌肤柔弱，需要无刺激性的水质、轻柔的手部动作以及湿滑的肥皂。老妇人脸上放松、祥和的笑容，让他想起加波洗澡的模样。

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社区规定不管是大人或小孩，都不可以看别人的裸体，例外的是新生儿或老人。乔纳思比较喜欢这种例外，不像比赛时更换衣服，一个不小心瞥见别人的身体就要道歉，那可真烦人！他始终不了解为什么要制定这条规定。

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他喜欢沉浸在浴室里这种温暖、安静和安全的感觉中；他喜欢看着老妇人毫无遮掩地躺在水中，面露信赖的神色。

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从眼角余光中，他看见费欧娜正协助一位老人站起来，用吸水性很强的毛巾，轻轻拍干他瘦弱、赤裸的身躯，再帮他穿上罩袍。

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乔纳思发现莱莉莎不知不觉进人梦乡了，很多老人都是这样的，所以他很小心地维持规律、轻柔的动作，以免惊醒她。当她闭着眼睛说话时，他着实吃了一惊。

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“今天早上，我们为罗伯特举行了一场解放庆典。”她告诉乔纳思，“整个过程太完美了。”

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“我认识罗伯特！”乔纳思说，“几个礼拜以前我来当义工的时候，还喂他吃东西。他是一位很有趣的人。”

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莱莉莎快乐地张开眼睛，“解放以前，委员会照例又介绍了一遍他的生平。不过，老实说，”她用一种调皮的表情说，“有些人的生平听起来挺无聊的。我就看过有些老人在听艾德娜的生平时睡着了。你认识艾德娜吗？”

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乔纳思摇摇头，想不起有谁叫做艾德娜。

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“嗯，他们想要让她的生平听起来有意义一点。当然喽，”她加强语气说，“所有的生命都是有意义的，我无意批评别人。但是，艾德娜，我的老天，她只是一名孕母，生完孩子后就到食品制造厂工作，最后才来这里。她甚至没有成立家庭呢。”

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莱莉莎抬起头张望了一下，确定没有其他人听到，才又继续吐露：“我觉得艾德娜不是很聪明。”

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乔纳思笑了笑，冲冲她的左手臂，放入水中，开始洗她的脚。当他用海绵轻轻搓摩时，她不禁发出舒服的呢喃声。

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“但是，罗伯特的人生就很精彩。”莱莉莎继续说，“他曾经担任十一岁的老师——你知道，这是多么重要的工作一一他也在企划委员会任过职。而且，真不知他哪来那么多时间，还把两个小孩教养得很好，并且设计了中央广场的景观。当然，他不用亲自动手做。”

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“现在要洗背了，身子请往前倾，我会帮您坐起来的。”

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乔纳思用手臂环住她，协助她坐好。他用海绵搓洗她瘦骨嶙峋的背部：“庆典都做些什么？”

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“一开始是介绍他的生平，然后举杯祝贺。我们全举起酒杯，欢呼干杯。接着唱赞美诗，然后他发表了一篇感人的告别演说。我们当中也有人发言，祝福他一切顺利。不过，我没有讲。我不喜欢在众人面前讲话。

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他很激动，当委员会让他离开的时候，你应该瞧瞧他脸上的表情。”

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乔纳思抚背的动作慢了下来，陷入沉思：“莱莉莎，解放到底是怎么一回事？罗伯特到哪里去了？”

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她轻耸了一下肩膀：“我也不知道。除了委员会，应该没人知道。他只是对我们鞠个躬，然后就走了出去，跟以往那些人一样，穿过那道特殊的门，进入解放室。但是，你应该看看他的表情，在我来看，那才是真正的幸福和快乐。”

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乔纳思微微一笑：“真希望我也在场。”

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莱莉莎皱皱眉头：“我不懂他们为什么不让孩子参加。

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可能是场地不够大吧！他们应该扩建解放室。”

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“我们可以跟委员会建议啊，也许他们会考虑的。”乔纳思顽皮地说，莱莉莎听了咯咯大笑。

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“没错！”她朗声说着，乔纳思帮她跨出浴盆。

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Jonas rode at a leisurely pace, glancing at the bike ports beside the buildings to see if he could spot Asher’s. He didn’t often do his volunteer hours with his friend because Asher frequently fooled around and made serious work a little difficult. But now, with Twelve coming so soon and the volunteer hours ending, it didn’t seem to matter.

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The freedom to choose where to spend those hours had always seemed a wonderful luxury to Jonas; other hours of the day were so carefully regulated.

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He remembered when he had become an Eight, as Lily would do shortly, and had been faced with that freedom of choice. The Eights always set out on their first volunteer hour a little nervously , giggling and staying in groups of friends. They almost invariably did their hours on Recreation Duty first, helping with the younger ones in a place where they still felt comfortable. But with guidance, as they developed self-confidence and maturity , they moved on to other jobs, gravitating toward those that would suit their own interests and skills.

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A male Eleven named Benjamin had done his entire nearly-Four years in the Rehabilitation Center, working with citizens who had been injured. It was rumored that he was as skilled now as the Rehabilitation Directors themselves, and that he had even developed some machines and methods to hasten rehabilitation. There was no doubt that Benjamin would receive his Assignment to that field and would probably be permitted to bypass most of the training.

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Jonas was impressed by the things Benjamin had achieved. He knew him, of course, since they had always been group mates but they had never talked about the boy’s accomplishments because such a conversation would have been awkward for Benjamin. There was never any comfortable way to mention or discuss one’s successes without breaking the rule against bragging , even if one didn’t mean to. It was a minor rule, rather like rudeness, punishable only by gentle chastisement . But still. Better to steer clear of an occasion governed by a rule which would be so easy to break.

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The area of dwellings behind him, Jonas rode past the community structures, hoping to spot Asher’s bicycle parked beside one of the small factories or office buildings. He passed the Childcare Center where Lily stayed after school, and the play areas surrounding it. He rode through the Central Plaza and the large Auditorium where public meetings were held.

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Jonas slowed and looked at the nametags on the bicycles lined up outside the Nurturing Center. Then he checked those outside Food Distribution; it was always fun to help with the deliveries, and he hoped he would find his friend there so that they could go together on the daily rounds, carrying the cartons of supplies into the dwellings of the community. But he finally found Asher’s bicycle — leaning, as usual, instead of upright in its port, as it should have been — at the House of the Old.

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There was only one other child’s bicycle there, that of a female Eleven named Fiona. Jonas liked Fiona. She was a good student, quiet and polite, but she had a sense of fun as well, and it didn’t surprise him that she was working with Asher today. He parked his bicycle neatly in the port beside theirs and entered the building.

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"Hello, Jonas," the attendant at the front desk said. She handed him the sign-up sheet and stamped her own official seal beside his signature. All of his volunteer hours would be carefully tabulated at the Hall of Open Records. Once, long ago, it was whispered among the children, an Eleven had arrived at the Ceremony of Twelve only to hear a public announcement that he had not completed the required number of volunteer hours and would not, therefore, be given his Assignment. He had been permitted an additional month in which to complete the hours, and then given his Assignment privately , with no applause, no celebration: a disgrace that had clouded his entire future.

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"It’s good to have some volunteers here today," the attendant told him. "We celebrated a release this morning, and that always throws the schedule off a little, so things get backed up." She looked at a printed sheet. "Let’s see. Asher and Fiona are helping in the bathing room. Why don’t you join them there? You know where it is, don’t you?"

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Jonas nodded, thanked her, and walked down the long hallway. He glanced into the rooms on either side. The Old were sitting quietly, some visiting and talking with one another, others doing handwork and simple crafts. A few were asleep. Each room was comfortably furnished, the floors covered with thick carpeting. It was a serene and slow-paced place, unlike the busy centers of manufacture and distribution where the daily work of the community occurred.

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Jonas was glad that he had, over the years, chosen to do his hours in a variety of places so that he could experience the differences. He realized, though, that not focusing on one area meant he was left with not the slightest idea — not even a guess — of what his Assignment would be.

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He laughed softly. Thinking about the Ceremony again, Jonas? he teased himself. But he suspected that with the date so near, probably all of his friends were, too.

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He passed a Caretaker walking slowly with one of the Old in the hall. "Hello, Jonas," the young uniformed man said, smiling pleasantly. The woman beside him, whose arm he held, was hunched over as she shuffled along in her soft slippers . She looked toward Jonas and smiled, but her dark eyes were clouded and blank. He realized she was blind.

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He entered the bathing room with its warm moist air and scent of cleansing lotions

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. He removed his tunic , hung it carefully on a wall hook, and put on the volunteer’s smock that was folded on a shelf.

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"Hi, Jonas!" Asher called from the corner where he was kneeling beside a tub. Jonas saw Fiona nearby, at a different tub. She looked up and smiled at him, but she was busy, gently washing a man who lay in the warm water.

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Jonas greeted them and the caretaking attendants at work nearby. Then he went to the row of padded lounging chairs where others of the Old were waiting. He had worked here before; he knew what to do.

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"Your turn, Larissa," he said, reading the nametag on the woman’s robe. "I’ll just start the water and then help you up." He pressed the button on a nearby empty tub and watched as the warm water flowed in through the many small openings on the sides. The tub would be filled in a minute and the water flow would stop automatically.

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He helped the woman from the chair, led her to the tub, removed her robe, and steadied her with his hand on her arm as she stepped in and lowered herself. She leaned back and sighed with pleasure, her head on a soft cushioned headrest.

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"Comfortable?" he asked, and she nodded, her eyes closed. Jonas squeezed cleansing lotion onto the clean sponge at the edge of the tub and began to wash her frail body.

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Last night he had watched as his father bathed the new-child. This was much the same: the fragile skin, the soothing water, the gentle motion of his hand, slippery with soap. The relaxed, peaceful smile on the woman’s face reminded him of Gabriel being bathed.

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And the nakedness, too. It was against the rules for children or adults to look at another’s nakedness; but the rule did not apply to new children or the Old. Jonas was glad. It was a nuisance to keep oneself covered while changing for games, and the required apology if one had by mistake glimpsed another’s body was always awkward. He couldn’t see why it was necessary. He liked the feeling of safety here in this warm and quiet room; he liked the expression of trust on the woman’s face as she lay in the water unprotected, exposed, and free.

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From the corner of his eye he could see his friend Fiona help the old man from the tub and tenderly pat his thin, naked body dry with an absorbant cloth. She helped him into his robe.

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Jonas thought Larissa had drifted into sleep, as the Old often did, and he was careful to keep his motions steady and gentle so he wouldn’t wake her. He was surprised when she spoke , her eyes still closed.

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"This morning we celebrated the release of Roberto," she told him. "It was wonderful."

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"I knew Roberto!" Jonas said. "I helped with his feeding the last time I was here, just a few weeks ago. He was a very interesting man."

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Larissa opened her eyes happily. "They told his whole life before they released him," she said. "They always do. But to be honest," she whispered with a mischievous look, "some of the tellings are a little boring. I’ve even seen some of the Old fall asleep during tellings — when they released Edna recently. Did you know Edna?"

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Jonas shook his head. He couldn’t recall anyone named Edna.

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"Well, they tried to make her life sound meaningful. And of course," she added primly , "all lives are meaningful, I don’t mean that they aren’t. But Edna. My goodness. She was a Birthmother, and then she worked in Food Production for years, until she came here. She never even had a family unit."

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Larissa lifted her head and looked around to make sure no one else was listening. Then she confided , "I don’t think Edna was very smart."

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Jonas laughed. He rinsed her left arm, laid it back into the water, and began to wash her feet. She murmured with pleasure as he massaged her feet with the sponge.

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"But Roberto’s life was wonderful," Larissa went on, after a moment. "He had been an Instructor of Elevens — you know how important that is — and he’d been on the Planning Committee. And — goodness, I don’t know how he found the time — he also raised two very successful children, and he was also the one who did the landscaping design for the Central Plaza. He didn’t do the actual labor , of course."

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"Now your back. Lean forward and I’ll help you sit up." Jonas put his arm around her and supported her as she sat. He squeezed the sponge against her back and began to rub her sharp-boned shoulders. "Tell me about the celebration."

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"Well, there was the telling of his life. That is always first. Then the toast. We all raised our glasses and cheered. We chanted the anthem . He made a lovely good-bye speech. And several of us made little speeches wishing him well. I didn’t, though. I’ve never been fond of public speaking.

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"He was thrilled. You should have seen the look on his face when they let him go."

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Jonas slowed the strokes of his hand on her back thoughtfully. "Larissa," he asked, "what happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go?"

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She lifted her bare wet shoulders in a small shrug . "I don’t know. I don’t think anybody does, except the committee. He just bowed to all of us and then walked, like they all do, through the special door in the Releasing Room. But you should have seen his look. Pure happiness, I’d call it."

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Jonas grinned. "I wish I’d been there to see it."

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Larissa frowned. "I don’t know why they don’t let children come. Not enough room, I guess. They should enlarge the Releasing Room."

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"We’ll have to suggest that to the committee. Maybe they’d study it," Jonas said slyly, and Larissa chortled with laughter.

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"Right!" she hooted , and Jonas helped her from the tub.

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