John Blanchard stood up from the bench(长椅), watching the crowd of people walking through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl---he knew her heart, but didn’t know her face---the girl with the rose.
His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf, he found himself curious, not about the words of the book, but about the notes written by someone. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous(之前的) owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With some efforts he knew that she lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself, and the next day he was sent to the battlefield(战场) of World War II.
During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed(种子), maybe a romance was starting. Blanchard wanted a photograph, but she refused. She felt what one looked like wouldn’t be a mountain between soul mates(伙伴).
When the day finally came for him to return homeland, they planed their first meeting: 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. “You’ll recognize(认出) me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel(衣领).” So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen.
Mr. Blanchard himself will tell you what happened next: A young woman was coming toward me. Her blonde hair was like waterfall; her eyes were blue as flowers. In her green suit she was like springtime come alive. I stared at her, forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose.
Almost uncontrollably(情不自禁地) I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had gray hair under a worn hat. She was really like a huge rock, her thick-ankled(厚脚踝的) feet were into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split(撕裂) in two---I desired to follow the young girl, but I deeply longed to meet the woman with the rose, because her spirit could truly be close to me.
And there she stood. I walked to her. My hand held the small worn book with blue cover to help her find me.
This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something even better than love, a friendship which would be grateful for. I said”Hi” and held out the book to the woman, even though I felt a little disappointed. “Iˈm John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?"
The womanˈs face broadened into a big smile. "I donˈt know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you asked me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street."
Itˈs easy to understand and admire Miss Maynellˈs wisdom. The true nature(本性) of a person is seen in its response(反应) to the unattractive.