“Oliver, meet Vimini, literally our next-door neighbor.”
She offered him her hand and he shook it.
“Vimini and I have the same birthday, but she is ten years old. Vimini is also a genius. Isn’t it true you’re a genius, Vimini?”
“So they say. But it seems to me that I may not be.”
“Why is that?” Oliver inquired, trying not to sound too patronizing.
“It would be in rather bad taste for nature to have made me a genius.”
Oliver looked more startled than ever: “Come again?”
“He doesn’t know, does he?” she was asking me in front of him.
I shook my head.
“They say I may not live long.”
“Why do you say that?” He looked totally stunned. “How do you know?”
“Everyone knows. Because I have leukemia.”
“But you’re so beautiful, so healthy-looking, and so smart,” he protested.
“As I said, a bad joke.”
Oliver, who was now kneeling on the grass, had literally dropped his book on the ground.
“Maybe you can come over one day and read to me,” she said. “I’m really very nice—and you look very nice too. Well, goodbye.”
She climbed over the wall. “And sorry if I spooked you—well—”
You could almost watch her trying to withdraw the ill-chosen metaphor.
 
“奥利弗，认识一下薇米妮，我们真正的隔壁邻居。”
她伸出手来，奥利弗跟她握了握手。
“薇米妮的生日和我同一天，不过她才十岁。薇米妮也是个天才。对不对，你是个天才吧，薇米妮？”
“他们是这么说没错。但在我看来可能不是。”
“为什么？”奥利弗问，语气尽量不显得太屈尊俯就。
“如果老天把我造就成天才，品味也未免太差了点。”
奥利弗看起来吃惊得不得了。“你说什么？”
“他不知道吧？”她当着奥利弗的面问我。
我摇摇头。
“他们说我可能活不久。”
“你为什么这么说？”他看起来震惊极了。“你怎么知道？”
“大家都知道。因为我有白血病。”
“可是你这么漂亮，看起来这么健康，而且又这么聪明。”他反驳。
“我说啦，一个冷笑话而已。”
跪在草地上的奥利弗这下愣是把手里的书掉在了地上。
“说不定你哪天可以来读书给我听。我人真的很好——你看起来也很好。那么，再见喽。”
她翻过墙。“如果我吓着你了，对不起，嗯……”
你几乎能看见她想要收回那不恰当的隐喻。