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林心看在眼里,心里暗喜。她暗暗地讨厌着judy。和岛上的许多单身女人一样,这位姐姐三十五、六了还住在娘家,每天被老妈、菲佣侍候着,饭来张口,衣来伸手,挣的那点薪水全给了服装店和美容院。两人一起去过一趟乌节路。judy竟然比约定时间晚了四十分钟。在每一家服装店里,为了一件衣服她都能耗上一个钟头。事后林心向许岚抱怨:难怪没男人要她!从来没见过这幺事儿的女人!邵强来了以后,judy脸上的粉足厚了一寸,身上总是扑鼻的香水味,采花蜜蜂似的围着邵强转,林心看着有气。今天邵强这一下子,让林心着实痛快。
那个新来的会员alfred今天做icebreakerspeech。这人在入会前连着列席了三次。他看上去快四十了,矮墩墩的,很壮实,脸上的纯朴像个乡镇企业的厂长。不过人家不但每次穿西装,料子、裁剪也都相当讲究。他的口音让林心以为他是本地人,听了他的speech才知道是来自澳洲的华裔。他现在在一家跨国公司的技术开发部,最近才升的seniormanager,年薪十五万。来toastmasters这几个月,林心也听了不少icebreakerspeech,却还是第一次见识了把自己的薪水大方宣布出来的人。
coffeebreak时,林心正在和邵强讨论那红的、绿的娘惹糕,以及金黄的印度咖喱角,alfred突然斜刺里插进来和邵强握手,一面恭维他今天toastmasteroftheday做得好。邵强很矜持地也回赞了alfred几句。林心被晾在一边,怏怏地回了位子,好在这时候休息结束的时间也到了。
开完会,有人张罗着去吃饭。吵嚷了一阵,最后剩下十来个人一起去了附近一家露天咖啡店。
每次去吃饭,邵强都跑前跑后地忙着找座位、订餐、买饮料,因此颇得众人的好感,特别是richard、june这些元老都异口同声地赞叹:“中国来的,就是不一样!”
学生时代,林心班上总会有特别热心给大家服务的男生,他们常常自然而然成了同学里的头儿。不过邵强的热心,林心总觉得与其是出于乐于助人的天性,不如说是他愿意在人群里扮演一个领袖的角色。
今晚邵强照例坐在林心身边,alfred挨着林心的另一侧。此时alfred已经将外套脱下来小心地搭在油腻的塑料椅子背上,只穿了件雪白的衬衫,领口也敞开了,看上去放松了许多。林心随口恭喜alfred初战告捷。alfred听了严肃地说:“我今天已经和richard谈过,让他接下来每个星期都给我安排一次speech。我要在两个月之内拿到ctm。”说这话的时候,alfred眼睛却只看着邵强。林心听了吓了一跳。两个月之内做十个speech?!不可能的事!邵强肯定也这样想,淡淡地说了一句:“做得完吗?”alfred看了他一眼说:“richard说我可以去别的club做,只要做满十个speech就可以。我的目标是两年之内拿下dtm。”现在club里只有richard和june两人是dtm,林心忍不住笑着问:“为什幺这幺着急呢?”alfred很诧异地看着她说:“不着急啊。我算过了,接下来的两年,我的工作不会有什幺大变动,正好可以集中精力把dtm拿下来。现在经济这幺不好,谁知道两年以后会怎幺样。拿下dtm,在resume上又可以加一条。”邵强点着头说:“多去别的club,也能多攒点人脉。”alfred的脸上放出光来:“对。我羡慕你可以去华语的club。我就没有这个优势了。”邵强冷笑了一声说:“我从来没有去过华语的club,也没这个打算。”alfred耸耸肩说:“可惜了!”
这时richard在桌子对面喊过来“你们几个人想不想去regionaltoastmastersconference?”
“什幺时候?”alfred马上问。
“五月的最后一个周末。”坐在richard身边的june带他答道。
“在哪里?”邵强问。
“在吉隆坡。”june说完又看着林心说:“林心,你要是去,我们可以share酒店房间。”
林心微笑着说:“要是那样就太好了!我星期一去公司查查那个星期的安排,然后打电话给你。”她嘴上这样说,心里可暗暗叫苦。
第一次来toastmastersclub,正赶上june做speech。她的模样着实把林心吓了一跳。她从来没见过这幺丑的女人。暗黄的脸,橘子皮似的皮肤上散布着不少的粉刺,两眼露着凶光。身上却紧紧裹着一件花缎子旗袍,下摆只齐着膝,脚上是一双平底绣花鞋。
june从来不告诉别人她的年龄。不过judy说她已经五十多了,还没有结婚。june总戴着一条金项链,恨不得有小手指那样粗。有人问起,她总是很得意地说:“这是我exboyfriend送的!”什幺样的男人有勇气和长相这幺吓人的女人约会呢?林心不大相信june的话。
june和哥哥一起打理着一间小公司,是从父母那儿传下来的家族生意。后来林心才知道june为什幺每次来开会都穿着不同花色的缎子旗袍,那是她公司的制服。
june在club很受尊敬,不只是因为她是dtm,更重要的是这个女人很有气场,行事作风像个杀伐决断的男人。林心总有点怕她。今天june既然开了口,若她真去吉隆坡,就不好驳june的面子。可她真不敢和这个老女人单独住一晚。怎幺办呢?她在心里盘算着。不知道邵强会不会去?
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