No Country for Old Men 精彩片段：
IX
I HAD TO TAKE HER at her word. Not a lot else you could do. I never saw her again. I wanted to tell her that the way they had it in the papers wasnt right. About him and that girl. It turned out she was a runaway. Fifteen years old. I dont believe that he had anything to do with her and I hate it that she thought that. Which you know she did. I called her a number of times but shed hang up on me and I cant blame her. Then when they called me from Odessa and told me what had happened I couldnt hardly believe it.
It didnt make no sense. I drove up there but there wasnt nothin to be done. Her grandmother had just died too. I tried to see if I could get his fingerprints off the FBI database but they just drew a blank. Wanted to know what his name was and what hed done and all such as that. You end up lookin like a fool. Hes a ghost. But hes out there.
You wouldnt think it would be possible to just come and go thataway. I keep waitin to hear somethin else. Maybe I will yet. Or maybe not. Its easy to fool yourself. Tell yourself what you want to hear. You wake up in the night and you think about things. I aint sure anymore what it is I do want to hear. You tell yourself that maybe this business is over. But you know it aint. You can wish all you want.
My daddy always told me to just do the best you knew how and tell the truth. He said there was nothin to set a mans mind at ease like wakin up in the morning and not havin to decide who you were. And if you done somethin wrong just stand up and say you done it and say youre sorry and get on with it. Dont haul stuff around with you. I guess all that sounds pretty simple today. Even to me. All the more reason to think about it.
He didnt say a lot so I tend to remember what he did say. And I dont remember that he had a lot of patience with havin to say things twice so I learned to listen the first time. I might of strayed from all of that some as a younger man but when I got back on that road I pretty much decided not to quit it again and I didnt. I think the truth is always simple. It has pretty much got to be. It needs to be simple enough for a child to understand. Otherwise itd be too late. By the time you figured it out it would be too late.
CHIGURH STOOD AT THE receptionists desk dressed in suit and tie. He set the case in the floor at his feet and looked around the office.
How do you spell that? she said.
He told her.
Is he expecting you?
No. Hes not. But hes going to be glad to see me.
Just a minute.
She buzzed the inner office. There was a silence. Then she hung the phone up. Go right in, she said.
He opened the door and walked in and a man at the desk stood up and looked at him. He came around the desk and held out his hand. I know that name, he said.
They sat on a sofa in the corner of the office and Chigurh set the case on the coffeetable and nodded at it. Thats yours, he said.