Fiction (E-T) Discussion

Department of English

The translations given on this page are neither comprehensive nor definitive. They are here to give you an idea of the range of possibilities and to spark discussion. Suggestions and comments are welcome.

จงแปลเรื่องแต่งต่อไปนี้เป็นภาษาไทย

"Well, Heavens. Didn't you ever come down here to the station?" He pointed across to his magazine stand. "I've been there all the time. I own it. I've watched everybody that came up the stairs—"

She began to look a little pale. Pretty soon she looked over at the stairs and said in a weak voice, "I—I never came up the stairs before. You see, I went out of town yesterday on a short trip—Oh, Harry!" Then she threw her arms around his neck and really began to cry.

After a minute she backed away and pointed very stiffly toward the north end of the station. "Harry, for three years, for three solid years, I've been right over there—working right in this very station, typing, in the office of the stationmaster."

The wonderful thing to me is how the laws of probability worked so hard and so long until they finally got May to walk up those stairs of ours.

Translation 1

Translation 2

Wright, Gilbert. "Detour to Romance." (Word file; simplified version of the 1946 original)

Located in the check room in union station as I am, I see everybody that comes up the ramp.

Tony—who owned the magazine stand to my left—studied the laws of probability on account of his system with the horses. He claimed that he could calculate by Random Distribution that if I held my job one hundred and twelve years more I would know everybody in the world by sight.

And I came to the theory that if you wait long enough in a big union station you'll see everybody that travels.

I've told my theory to lots of people but nobody ever did anything about it but Harry. He came in a little over three years ago and waited at the head of the ramp for the passengers from the 9:05.

I remember seeing Harry that first evening. He wasn't much more than a slim, anxious kid then. He'd slicked himself up and I knew he was meeting his girl and that they would be married twenty minutes after she arrived. No use me trying to explain how I knew all this but when you've watched people waiting at the head of the ramp for eighteen years like I've done it comes easy.

Well, the passengers came up and I had to get busy. I didn't look toward the ramp again until nearly time for the 9:18 and I was very much surprised to see that the young fellow was still there.

She didn't come on the 9:18 either, nor the 9:40 and when the passengers from 10:02 had all scattered, Harry was looking pretty desperate. Pretty soon he came close to my window so I called out and asked him what she looked like.

You'd have thought I had her checked on the parcel rack the way he came over and half crawled through my window. "She's small and dark," he says, "and nineteen and very trim in the way she walks. She's got a sort of face," he says, thinking a minute "like she has lots of spirit. I mean she can get mad but she never gets sore. And her eyebrows hump up in the middle like little tents. She's got a brown fur, but maybe she isn't wearing it."

He showed me the wire he'd received: ARRIVE THURSDAY MEET ME DEPOT LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE—MAY. It was from Omaha.

"Well," I finally says, "why don't you phone to your home. She's likely called there if she got in ahead of you."

He gave me a sick look, "I've only been in town two days. We were going to meet and then drive down South where I've got a job promised. She—she hasn't any address for me." He touched the telegram. "I got this general delivery."

With that he walked off to the head of the ramp to look over the people from the 11:22.

When I came on duty next day he was still there and came over as soon as he saw me.

He nodded. "Typist. I wired her former boss. All they knew is that she quit her job to get married."

Well, that was how it began. Harry met every train for the next three or four days. Of course, the railroad lines made a routine check up and the police glanced at the case. But nobody was any real help. I could see they all figgered May had simply ducked out on him. But I never believed that, somehow.

One day, after about two weeks, Harry and I were talking and I told him about my theory. "If you'll just wait long enough," says I, "you'll see her coming up that ramp." He turned and looked at the ramp like he'd never seen it before, while I went on explaining about Tony's figures on Random Distribution.

Next day when I came to work there Harry was behind Tony's magazine stand. He looked at me kind of sheepish and says, "Well, I had to get a job, didn't I?"

So he clerked for Tony. We never spoke of May any more and neither of us ever mentioned my theory. But I noticed that Harry always saw every person who came up the ramp.

Toward the end of the year, Tony got himself killed in some gambling mix-up and the widow left Harry in complete charge of everything. And when she got married again Harry bought her out. He borrowed money and installed a soda fountain and pretty soon he had a very nice little business.

Then came yesterday. I heard a yell and a lot of stuff falling. The yell was from Harry and the stuff falling was a lot of dolls and nick-knacks he'd upset while he was jumping over his counter. He swooped across and grabbed a girl not ten feet from my window. She was little and dark and her brows humped in the middle.

For a while they just hung there to each other laughing and crying and making double talk. She'd say a few words like, "It was the bus depot I meant—" and he'd kiss her speechless and tell her the frantic things he'd done to find her. It seems that after she'd waited at the bus depot for days and had spent all her money trying to find him she'd got a job typing.

"Well, good gosh—didn't you never come down here to the station?" He pointed across to his stand. "I've been there all the time. I own it. I've watched everybody that came up the ramp—"

She began to sag, turning very pale. Pretty soon she looked over at the ramp and said in a lost voice, "I—I never came up it before....You see, I went out of town yesterday on an errand for my boss—Oh, Harry!" Then she threw her arms around his neck and really began to let loose.

After a minute she backed away and pointed very stiffly toward the north end of the station. "Harry—for three years—for three solid years I've been right over there—typing—for the—the station master."

The wonderful thing to me is how the Law of Random Distribution worked so hard and so long until it finally got May to walk up our ramp.