在Alex的父亲和弟弟看来，他是消失了四年以后又回到芝加哥。多年未见的兄弟俩拥抱在一起。但是父亲却只是杨了扬手就离开了。在酒吧里，Alex告诉弟弟Henry自己买了套湖边小屋，弟弟以为他赚到大钱。随后，他们一起来到Kate信中提到的新住址，可是呈现在Alex眼前的却是一片正在规划中的空地，而且要到18个月以后才能建成Kate所说的那幢楼。Alex似乎有些相信他们真是相隔了两年的时间……

Herry：l can't believe that thing's still running.

Alex：Yep.

Herry：You look like shit.

Alex：l missed you too.

Herry：Hey, forget about him.

Alex：Condos. Riviera Estates.

Herry：You're joking.

Alex：l don't believe this. l come back after four years and l get this in front of me.

Herry：What?

Alex：My brother thinking he's Frank Lloyd Whatever.

Herry：Oh, come on.

Alex：Dad keeps you hostage in that little myth making factory of his while you haven't built so much as a phone booth or a hamster cage.

Herry：That's funny you say that, actually. l have a hamster cage in mind. A development of them, actually. Prefab, no foundations. What do you think about that?

Alex：See, that's what l'm talking about. You have vision. Speaking of which l'd like you to know l bought a house.

Herry：Where?

Alex：On the lake.

Herry：You got a lake house. So you are making some money.

Alex：Well, it's a dump. Been abandoned for years, but--

Herry：Oh, so you got an abandoned, haunted lake hou... I guess... yeah, that's as good a reason as any for selling out and joining the flab by-developers guild.

Alex：How about this? l even got a dog.

Herry：You got a dog?

Alex：He just showed up at the house from out of nowhere.

Herry：What are we doing here?

Alex：l have to deliver a letter. lt should be here. 1620 North Racine.

Herry：But... there's nothing here. Are we meeting someone? Does some body live here? What?

Alex：Yeah. l thought so.

Herry：Should we ring the bell?

注释：

1. You look like shit. 这里可不是骂人的话，看看Alex的回答就知道了。意思是I miss you.

2. Condos：Condominium 分户出售公寓大厦。

3. hostage：人质。Alex似乎在职责父亲像扣押人质一样把弟弟放在自己身边。(这里我却以为Alex的父亲在一个儿子远离而去以后，不想失去另一个儿子。)

4. phone booth or a hamster cage：Alex意在说弟弟在父亲的建筑公司待了这么久却没有任何成就，甚至连个电话亭或者老鼠笼子都没有建成。

5. abandon：放弃，遗弃。本文是那栋湖边小屋荒废了很久。

6. show up：出现

文章来源网站：英语学习(e.3edu.net)，该站的Alexa排名：