For Lucy, who called them "ghost houses".
Someone was always leaving Scenic Routeand never coming back.The wooden houses wait like old wivesalong this road; they are everywhereabandoned, leaning, turning gray.
Someone always tradedthe lonely beautyof hemlock and stony lakeshorefor survival, packed up his lifeand drove off to the city.In the yards, the apple treeskeep hanging on, but the fruitgrows smaller year by year.
When we come this way again,the trees will have gone wild,the houses collapsed, not even worththe human act of breaking in.Fields will have taken over.
What we will recognizeis the wind, the same fierce windwhich has no history.
致称它们为“鬼屋”的露西 。
有人总是离开，且不再回来。一栋栋木屋像年老的妻子，等候在这路边；它们随处可见，被荒弃，倾斜，渐显灰朽。
有人总是为了生计，放弃铁杉和石砌的湖岸那孤独的美，打点好人生的行李包，驱车前往城市。院子里的苹果树一直都有结果，只是果子一年比一年小。
当我们再次踏上这条路，树木早已疯长，房子坍塌了，甚至不值得人们破门而入。田野会取而代之。
我们将认出的是风，同样狂野的风，它没有过去。