I Was Engaged to Be Married. Nine Days Later, I Wed a Different Man. Here’s Why.
订婚九天后，我嫁给了另一个男人。
In 1964, I was working in New York City as the rental agent for a luxury apartment house in the Gramercy Park area.
One afternoon, a young man named Lee walked into my office. During a brief interview, I learned he was recently back from Vietnam and had just been promoted to be the news writer at WABC radio. He left, toured the model apartments, and returned to my office to tell me that he didn’t like any of them but that he was going to marry me.
I was engaged to someone else at the time, but he stopped by each afternoon to ask me for a date. After several visits, I decided not to turn him down again since he really was appealing. We decided to spend Saturday exploring New Jersey and places I had heard of but never visited. I gave him the keys to my 1959 red-and-white Corvette, and off we went to the Hunterdon County courthouse, where the Lindberg baby trial was held, and a few other places. We’d burned a full tank of gas and then some by the time we returned to where I lived in Queens late at night.
I didn’t want him using public transportation at that hour, so I gave him my car keys again. After he left, I realized I didn’t know his last name or his address, but there was something about him.
He showed up at my office the next morning, Sunday, with the car keys. On Monday, I was speaking with the person who ran credit checks on prospective tenants, and she asked me how I’d spent the weekend. I told her I’d had a date with some idiot who said he was going to marry me.
On Wednesday, he took me to get our marriage license. On Friday, at the last minute, we ran to the jewelry district in Midtown Manhattan to get our rings. On Sunday afternoon, we married right after he finished his shift at WABC and I finished my work at the rental agency.
On Monday, I was speaking with the person who ran credit checks again, and when she asked me how I’d spent the weekend, I told her I married the idiot.
- Corvette（科尔维特）：美国国宝级的超级跑车，通用旗下最高端的超级跑车品牌。雪佛兰Corvette系列诞生于1953年，特别能体现美国人对于超级跑车的追求：狂野大气，不拘小节，最惊人的还是永不止境的中后段加速力，在比赛中常常让对手措手不及，和兰博基尼，法拉利，布加迪不同的是Corvette超级跑车不仅拥有强大的直线加速能力，还有强悍的赛道能力。Corvette在中国的知名度虽然比不上法拉利和保时捷，在北美，欧洲等西方国家，Corvette绝对是个家喻户晓的名字，堪称国宝的超级跑车，代表着美国的历史、文化、精神，还有最高端的汽车技术。
- Lindberg baby trial（林德伯格绑架案）：1932年3月1日晚，绑匪从第一个飞越大西洋的著名美国飞行员林德伯格豪宅中绑走他20个月大的儿子，并索赎金五万美元。付出了赎金，绑匪依然撕票。两年后，警方终于发现了一名犯罪嫌疑人纽约木匠豪普曼，他是一名非法移民，犯有前科，并且还有若干不利证据指向他，尤其是在他家车库发现了部分被记下号码的赎金。在法庭上，证据被一一出示，七个笔迹专家认为豪普曼的笔迹与勒索赎金纸条上的笔迹相符；绑匪用来爬上婴儿室窗口的梯子上的木料有的来自豪普曼家附近一棵松树，有的来自他家的地板；另外还有人看到他在绑架案发生的当天出现在林德伯格家附近；据交付赎金的中间人指认，豪普曼就是收赎金的那个有德国口音的人；当然，最有力的证据是那些赎金本身，事实上，豪普曼就是因为使用这些钱才被发现的，而且尽管他没有固定的工作，在大萧条时期却过着与其收入不符的优越生活。在联邦调查局的历史上，林德伯格绑架案具有里程碑式的意义。它是调查局第一次获得对地方案件的办理权——国会通过了以林德伯格名字命名的“林德伯格法案”。法案规定：若绑架案在一周后还未获侦破，那么就推定绑架犯已经越过了州的边界，联邦调查局自动对该案享有管辖权。《东方快车谋杀案》小说也是基于本事创作。
