Hills like white elephants
The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building. It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. It stopped at this junction for two minutes and went on to Madrid.
“What should we drink?” the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.
“It's pretty hot,” the man said.
"Let's drink beer."
“Dos cervezas,” the man said into the curtain.
“Big ones?” a woman asked from the doorway.
"Yes. Two big ones."
The woman-brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the beer glasses on the table and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.
“They look 1ike white elephants,” she said.
“I've never seen one,” the man drank his beer.
“No, you wouldn't have.”
“I might have,” the man said. “Just because you say I wouldn't have doesn't prove anything.”
The girl looked at the bead curtain. “They've painted something on it,” she said. “What does it say?”
“Anis del Того. It's a drink.”
“Could we try it?”
The man called "Listen" through the curtain. The woman came out from the bar.
“Four reales.”
“We want two Anis del Того.''
"With water?"
“Do you want it with water?”
“I don't know,” the girl said. “Is it good with water?”
“It’s all right.”
“You want them with water?” asked the woman.
''Yes, with water.”
“It tastes like licorice.” the girl said and put the glass down.
“That’s the way with everything.”
“Yes,” said the girl. “Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe."
"Oh, cut it out."
"You started it," the girl said. "I was being amused. I was having а fine time.''
"Well. Let's try and have a fine time."
"All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn't that bright?"
"That was bright."
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"I wanted to try this new drink. That's all we do, isn't it—look at things and try new drinks?"
"I guess so."
The girl looked across at the hills.
"They're lovely hills," she said. "They don't really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees."
"Should we have another drink?"
"All right."
The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table.
"The beer's nice and cool," the man said.
"It's lovely," the girl said.
"It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig," the man said. "It's not really an operation at all."
The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on.
"I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in."
The girl did not say anything.
"I'll go with you and I'll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it's all perfectly natural."
"Then what will we do afterward? "
"We'll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before."
"What makes you think so?"
"That's the only thing that bothers us. It's the only thing that's made us unhappy."
The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her hand out and took hold oftwo of the strings of beads.
"And you think then we'll be all right and be happy."
"I know we will. You don't have to be afraid. I've known lots of people that have done it."
"So have I," said the girl. "And afterward they were all so happy."
"Well," the man said. "If you don't want to you don't have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn't want to. But I know it's perfectly simple."
"And you really want to?"
"I think it's the best thing to do. But I don't want you to do it if you don’t really want to."
"And if I do it you'll be happy and things will be like they were and you'll love me?"
"I love you now. You know I love you."
"I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are likewhite elephants, and you'll like it?"
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"I'll love it. I love it now but I just can't think about it. You know how I get when I worry."
"If I do it you won't ever worry?"
''I won't worn about that because it's perfectly simple”
“Then I'll do it. Because I don't care about me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t care about me.”
“Well, I care about you.”
“Oh, yes. But I don't care about me. And I'll do it and then everything will be fine.”
"I don't want you to do it if you feel that way.”
The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved. Across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.
“And we could have all this," she said. "And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible."
“What did you say?”
“I said we could have everything."
"We can have everything."
'No, we can't."
“We can have the whole world."
“No, we can't.”
“We can go everywhere.”
“No, we can't. It isn't ours any more.”
“It's ours.”
''No, it isn't. And once they take it away, you never get it back."
“But they haven't taken it away."
“We’ll wait and see.”
“Come on back in the shade," he said. "You mustn't feel that way."
“I don't feel any way," the girl said. "I just know things."
“I don't want you to do anything that you don’t want to do——"
“Nor that isn't good for me." she said. "I know. Could we have another beer?"
''А11 right. But you've got to realize——”
"I realize," the girl said. "Can't we maybe stop talking?"
Theу sat down at the table and the girl looked across at the hills on the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.
“You’ve got to realize,” he said, "that I don't want you to do it if you don’t want to. I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if means anything." “Doesn't it mean anything to you? We could get alone.”
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“Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody but you.. I don't want any
one else. And I know it's perfectly simple''
“Yes, you know it's perfectly simple."
“It’s all right for you to say that, but I do know it.''
“Would you do something for me now?"
''I'd do anything for you."
“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?"
He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station.
There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.
“But I don't want you to." he said, "I don’t care anything about it."
“I’ll scream,” the girl said.
The woman came out through the curtains with two glasses of beer and put them down on the damp felt pads.
"The train comes in five minutes,” she said.
"What did she say?" asked the girl.
"That the train is coming in five minutes."
The girl smiled brightly at the woman, to thank her.
"I'd better take the bags over to the other side of the station," the mansaid. She smiled at him.
"All right. Then come back and we'll finish the beer."
He picked up the two heavy bags and carried them around the station to the other tracks. He looked up the tracks but could not see the train. Coming back, he walked through the barroom, where people waiting for the train were drinking. He drank an Anis at the bar and looked at the people. They were all waiting reasonably for the train. He went out through the bead curtains. She was sitting at the table and smiled at him.
"Do you feel better'" he asked.
"I feel fine," she said. "There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine."
(1927)
GLOSSARY
Ebro ("the valley of the Ebro")—a river in north-central Spain, about 150 miles north of Madrid.
a girl ("the American and the girl with him")—at the time this story was written, "girl" was commonly used to refer to any female who was not distinctly elderly.
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a white elephant ("Hills Like White Elephants")—an expression used to describe something that is useless and expensive to keep but seems too valuable to throw away.
a real ("Four reales.")—a Spanish coin.
Anis del Того ("We want two Anis del Того.")—a brand of Spanish liqueur flavored with anise seed, which has a slightly bitter, slightly sweet taste. Anise seed is also the flavoring inlicorice, a chewy black candy.
absinthe ("all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe")—a French liqueur also flavored with anise seed. Since 1915, it has been illegal to produce absinthe in France because another ingredient, wormwood, has been found to cause delirium, hallucinations, and ultimately death.
bright ("I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn't that bright?")—clever, original.
to cut (something) out ("Oh, cut it out.")— (idiom) to stop doing or saying (something that is annoying).
awfully ("an awfully simple operation")—very.
to let... in —("It's just to let the air in.")—to allow something to enter.
QUESTIONS
1. Early in the story, the young woman says, "That's all we do—look at things and try new drinks." Close to the end of the story, the young man looks at their suitcases, which had "labels from all the hotels where they had spent nights". What do the quoted words tell the reader about the nature of the couple's travels? In Spain, how might it make a difference to them that the young man speaks Spanish but Jig doesn't?
2. In the following exchange, what tone do you think each person uses? Is it a friendly or unfriendly exchange?
"They look like white elephants," she said.
"I've never seen one," the man drank his beer.
"No, you wouldn't have."
"I might have," the man said. "Just because you say I wouldn't havedoesn't prove anything."
3. "Everything tastes of licorice," the young woman says. "Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe'.
a. How does licorice taste?
b. What "things" beside tasting absinthe might she have been waiting to experience?
4. What is the "operation" that they keep referring to?
a. Why are they speaking about it so indirectly?
b. What is the basis for the man's certainly that the operation is "perfectly simple"?
c. Why does he think that she is hesitant to have it? Is he right? How do you know?
5. The action of the story turns when the young man starts to say that Jig must realize something and she interrupts him.
a. How did the young man intend to finish his sentence?
b. What has Jig realized?
6. What tone do you think each person uses in the exchange that begins with the young man resuming his thought and ends with Jig's dramatic string of "pleases"?
7. Whose point of view is reflected in the comment, "They were all waiting reasonably for the train"? From the same point of view, who, by implication, was acting unreasonably?
8. What answer does the young man expect to his final question? What does Jig suggest by her three-sentence response?
9. The title is a simile (a direct comparison) implying that a range of hills looks like a herd of white elephants.
a. What is the literal reference of the title? That is, where in the story are specific hills compared to white elephants?
b. What is the metaphorical sense (the implied or suggested comparison) of hills and white elephants? What besides the hills is white and rounded? What “white elephant” – a valuable but unwanted possession – do the young man and woman have?
UNIT 6
Joyce Carol Oates
Ladies and gentlemen:
Ladies and gentlemen: a belated but heartfelt welcome aboard our cruise ship S.S. Ariel; it's a true honor and a privilege for me, your captain, to greet you all on this lovely sun-warmed January day - as balmy, isn't it, as any June morning back north? I wish I could claim that we of the Ariel arranged personally for such splendid weather, as compensation of sorts for the, shall we say, somewhat rocky weather of the past several days. At any rate, it's a welcome omen indeed and bodes well for the remainder of the cruise and for this morning's excursion, ladies and gentlemen, to the island you see us rapidly approaching, a small but remarkably beautiful island the natives of these waters call the "Island of Tranquillity" — or, as some translators prefer, the "Island ofRepose." For those of you who've become virtual sailors with a keen eye for navigating, you'll want to log our longitude at 155 degrees east and our latitude at 5 degrees north, approximately 1,200 miles north and east of New Guinea. Yes, that's right!
We've come so far! And as this is a rather crucial morning, and your island adventure an important event not only on this cruise but in your lives, ladies and gentlemen, I hope you will quiet just a bit — just a bit! — and give me, your captain, your fullest attention. Just for a few minutes — I promise! Then you will disembark.
As to the problems some of you have experienced: Let me take this opportunity, as your captain, ladies and gentlemen, to apologize, or at least to explain. It's true, for instance, that certain of your staterooms are not precisely as the advertising brochures depicted them; the portholes are not quite so large, in some cases the portholes are not in evidence. This is not the fault of any of the Ariel staff; indeed, this has been a sore point with us for some years, a matter of misunderstandings and embarrassments out of our control, yet I, as your captain, ladies and gentlemen, offer my apologies and my profoundest sympathies. Though I am a bit your junior in age, I can well understand the special disappointment, the particular hurt, outrage, and dismay that attend one's sense of having been cheated on what, for some of you, is probably perceived as being the last time you'll be taking so prolonged and exotic a trip. Thus, my profoundest sympathies! As to the toilets that have been reported as malfunctioning, or out of order entirely, and the loud throbbing or "tremors" of the engines that have been keeping some of you awake, and the negligent or even rude service, the over or undercooked food; the high tariffs on mineral water, alcoholic beverages, and cigarettes, the reported sightings of rodents, cockroaches, and other vermin on board ship — perhaps I should explain, ladies and gentlemen, that this is the final voyage of the S.S. Ariel, and it was the owners' decision, and a justifiably pragmatic decision, to cut back on repairs, services, expenses, and the like. Ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry for your inconvenience, but the Ariel is an old ship, bound for dry dock in Manila and the fate of many a veteran seagoing vessel that has outlived her time. God bless her! We'll not see her likes again, ladies and gentlemen!
Ladies and gentlemen, may I have some quiet? Please? Just five minutes more, before the stewards help you prepare for your disembarkment? Thank you.
Yes, the Ariel is bound for Manila next. But have no fear: You won't be aboard.
Ladies and gentlemen, please. This murmuring and muttering begins to annoy. (Yet, as your captain, I'd like to note that, amid the usual whiners and complainers and the just plain bad-tempered, it's gratifying to see a number of warm, friendly, hopeful faces; and to know that there are men and women determined to enjoy life, not quibble and harbor suspicions. Thank you!)
Now to our business at hand: Ladies and gentlemen, do you know what you have in common?
You can't guess?
You can guess?
No? Yes?
Well — yes, sir; it's true that you are all aboard the S.S. Ariel; and yes, sir — excuse me, ma'am — it's certainly true that you are all of "retirement" age. (Though "retirement" has come to be a rather vague term in the past decade or so, hasn't it? For the youngest among you are in your late fifties — the result, I would guess, of especially generous early-retirement programs; and the eldest among you are in your mid-nineties. Quite a range of ages!)
Yes, it's true you are all Americans. You have expensive cameras, even, in some cases, video equipment for recording this South Seas adventure; you have all sorts of tropical-cruiseparaphernalia, including some extremely attractive bleached-straw hats; some of you have quite a supply of sun-protective lotions; and most of you have a considerable quantity, and variety, of pharmacological supplies. And quite a store of paperbacks, magazines, cards, games, and crossword puzzles. Yet there is one primary thing you have in common, ladies and gentlemen, which has determined your presence here this morning, at longitude 155 degrees east and latitude. 5 degrees north; your fate, as it were. Can't you guess?
Ladies and gentlemen: your children.
Yes, you have in common the fact that this cruise on the S.S. Ariel was originally your children's idea; and that they arranged for it, if you'll recall. (Though you have probably paid for your own passages, which weren't cheap.) Your children, who are "children" only technically, for of course they are fully growns; a good number of them parents themselves (having made you proud grandparents — yes, haven't you been proud!); these sons and daughters, who, if I may speak frankly, are very tired of waiting for their inheritances.
Yes, and very impatient, some of them, very angry, waiting to come into control of what they believe is their due.
Ladies and gentlemen, please! — I'm asking for quiet, and I'm asking for respect. As captain of the Ariel, I am not accustomed to being interrupted.
I believe you did hear me correctly, sir. And you too, sir.
Yes, and you, ma'am. And you. Most of you aren't nearly so deaf as you pretend!
Let me speak candidly. While your children are in many or at least in some cases genuinely fond of you, they are simply impatient with the prospect of waiting for your "natural" deaths. Ten years, fifteen? Twenty? With today's medical technology, who knows, you might outlive them!
Of course it's a surprise to you, ladies and gentlemen. It's a shock. Thus you, sir, are shaking your head in disbelief, and you, sir, are muttering just a little too loudly, "Who does that fool think he is, making such bad jokes!" and you, ladies, are giggling like teenage girls, not knowing what to think. But remember: Your children have been living lives of their own, in a very difficult, very competitive corporate America; they are, on the face of it, "well-to-do," even affluent; yet they want, in some cases desperately need, your estates — not in a dozen years but now.
That is to say, as soon as your wills can be probated, following our "act of God" in these tropical seas.
For, however your sons and daughters appear in the eyes of their neighbors, friends, and business colleagues, even in the eyes of their own offspring, you can be sure that they have not enough money. You can be sure that they suffer keenly certain financial jealousies and yearnings. And who dares calibrate another's suffering? Who dares peer into another's heart? Without betraying anyone's confidence, I can say that there are several youngish men, beloved sons of couples in your midst, ladies and gentlemen, who are nearly bankrupt; men of integrity and "success" whose worlds are about to come tumbling about their heads — unless they get money, or find themselves in the position of being able to borrow money against their parents' estates, fast. Investment bankers, lawyers, a college professor or two — some of them already in debt. Thus, they decided to take severe measures.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's pointless to protest. As captain of the Ariel, I merely expedite orders.
And you must know that it's pointless to express disbelief or incredulity; to roll your eyes, as if I of all people were a bit cracked; to call out questions or demands; to shout, weep, sob, beg, rant and rave, and mutter, "If this is a joke it isn't a very funny joke!" "As if my son/daughter would ever do such a thing to me/us!" — in short, it's pointless to express any and all of the reactions you're expressing and also those that have been expressed by other ladies and gentlemen on past Ariel voyages to the South Seas.
Yes, it's the best thing to cooperate. Yes, in an orderly fashion. It's wisest not to provoke the stewards, whose nerves are a bit ragged these days — the crew is only human, after all — into using force.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are lovely azure waters, exactly as the brochures promised! But shark-infested, so take care.
Ah, yes, those dorsal fins slicing the waves, just beyond the surf — observe them closely.
No, we're leaving no picnic baskets with you today. Nor any bottles of mineral water, Perrier water, champagne.
For, why delay what's inevitable? Why cruelly protract anguish?
Ladies and gentlemen, maybe it's a simple thing, maybe it's a self-evident thing, but consider: You are the kind of civilized men and women who brought babies into the world not by crude, primitive, anachronistic chance but by systematic deliberation. You planned your futures, you planned, as the expression goes, your parenthood. You are all of that American economic class called upper-middle; you are educated, you are cultured, you are stable; nearly without exception, you showered love upon your sons and daughters, who knew themselves, practically in the cradle, to be privileged. The very best, the most exclusive nursery schools, private schools, colleges, universities. Expensive toys and gifts of all kinds, closets of clothing, ski equipment, stereo equipment; racing bicycles, tennis lessons, riding lessons,snorkeling lessons, private tutoring, trips to the Caribbean, to Mexico, to Tangier, to Tokyo, to Switzerland, junior years abroad in Paris, in Rome, in London. Yes, and their teeth were perfect, or were made to be; yes, and they had cosmetic surgery if necessary or nearly necessary; yes, and you gladly paid for their abortions or their tuition for law school, medical school, business school; yes, and you paid for their weddings; yes, and you loaned them money "to get started," certainly you helped them with their mortgages, or their second cars, or their children's orthodontist bills. Nothing was too good or too expensive for them, for what, ladies and gentlemen, would it have been?
And, always, the more you gave your sons and daughters the more you seemed to be holding in reserve; the more generous you displayed yourself the more generous you were hinting you might be, in the future. But so far into the future — when your wills might be probated, after your deaths!
Ladies and gentlemen, you rarely stopped to consider your children as other than your children — as men and women growing into maturity, distinct from you. Rarely did you pause to see how patiently they were waiting to inherit their due — and then, by degrees, how impatiently. What anxieties besieged them, what nightmare speculations? For what if you squandered your money on medical bills? Nursing-home bills? The melancholic impedimenta of age in America? What if — worse yet! — addle-brained, suffering from Alzheimer's disease (about which they'd been reading suddenly, it seemed, everywhere), you turned against them? Disinherited them? Remarried someone younger, healthier, more cunning than they? Rewrote your wills, as elderly fools are always doing?
Ladies and gentlemen, your children declare that they want only what's theirs.
They say, laughingly, they aren't going to live forever.
(Well, yes: I'll confide in you, off-the-cuff, in several instances it was an in-law who looked into the possibility of a cruise on the S.S. Ariel; your own son or daughter merely cooperated, after the fact, as it were. Of course, that isn't the same thing!)
Ladies and gentlemen, as your captain, about to bid you farewell, let me say: I am sympathetic with your plight.
Your stunned expressions, your staggering-swaying gait, your damp eyes, working mouths — "This is a bad joke!" "This is intolerable!" "This is a nightmare!" "No child of mine could be so cruel, inhuman, monstrous," etc. — all this is touching, wrenching to the heart, altogether natural. One might almost say traditional. Countless others, whose bones you may discover, should you have the energy and spirit to explore the "Island of Tranquillity" (or "Repose"), reacted in more or less the same way.
Thus, do not despair, ladies and gentlemen, for your emotions, however painful, are time-honored; but do not squander the few precious remaining hours of your life, for such emotions are futile.
Ladies and gentlemen: The "Island of Tranquillity" upon which you now stand shivering in the steamy morning heat is approximately six kilometers in circumference, ovoid in shape, with a curious archipelago of giant metamorphic rocks trailing off to the north, a pounding hallucinatory surf, and horizon, vague, dreamy, and distant, on all sides. Its soil is an admixture of volcanic ash, sand, rock, and peat; its jungle interior is pocked with treacherous bogs of quicksand.
It is a truly exotic island! But most of you will quickly become habituated to the ceaseless winds that ease across the island from several directions simultaneously, air as intimate and warmly stale as exhaled breaths, caressing, narcotic. You'll become habituated to the ubiquitous sand fleas, the glittering dragonflies with their eighteen-inch iridescent wings, the numerous species of snakes (the small quicksilver orange-speckled baja snake is the most venomous, you'll want to know); the red-beaked carnivorous macaw and its ear-piercing shriek; bullfrogs the size of North American jackrabbits; 200-pound tortoises with pouched, thoughtful eyes; spider monkeys as playful as children; tapir; tarantulas; most colorful of all, the comical cassowary birds with their bony heads, gaily hued wattles, stunted wings — these ungainly birds whom millions of years of evolution, on an island lacking mammal-predators, have rendered flightless.
And orchids: Some of you have already noticed the lovely, bountiful orchids growing everywhere, dozens of species, every imaginable color, some the size of grapes and others the size of a man's head, unfortunately inedible.
And the island's smells — are they fragrances or odors? Is it rampant fresh-budding life or jungle-rancid decay? Is there a difference?
By night (and the hardiest among you should survive numerous nights, if past history prevails) you'll contemplate the tropical moon, so different from our North American moon, hanging heavy and luminous in the sky like an overripe fruit; you'll be moved to smile at the sport of fiery-phosphorescent fishfrolicking in the waves; you'll be lulled to sleep by the din of insects, the cries of nocturnal birds, your own prayers perhaps.
Some of you will cling together, like terrified herd animals; some of you will wander off alone, dazed, refusing to be touched, even comforted by a spouse of fifty years.
Ladies and gentlemen, I, your captain, speaking for the crew of the S.S. Ariel, bid you farewell.
Ladies and gentlemen, your children have asked me to assure you that they do love you — but circumstances have intervened.
Ladies and gentlemen, your children have asked me to recall to you those years when they were, in fact, children — wholly innocent as you imagined them, adoring you as gods.
Ladies and gentlemen, I now bid farewell to you as children do, waving good-bye not once but numerous times, solemn, reverential — good-bye, good-bye, good-bye.
GLOSSARY
balm – warm and pleasant weather
to bode – to give a good sign for the future
tranquillity – pleasantly calm and peaceful state
repose – a state of comfortable rest
negligent – not careful enough
vermin – insects that bite people/animal and dreink blood
paraohenalia – things connected with a certain activity
probated – legal process of deciding that someone’s will is proper
to calibrate – to measure
to expedite – to make a process happen more quickly
cracked – crazy
rant and rave – complain in a loud, excited way due to strong feelings
snorkeling – swimming under water with a special breathing
morgages – financing large purchases through bank loans
to squander – to spend money carelessly
impedimenta – bags and supplies taken on a journey, which may slow you down
hallucinatory surf – waves crasging on the shore that seem like they are not really there
rancid – oil ar fatty food that is old and smell/tasts bad
din – a long, unpleasant, continuing noise
QUESTIONS
1. What generation (the parents or children) does the captain belong to? Is he responsible for what will happen to his passengers? Is his advice cold-hearted or realistic?
2. Discuss how the author/captain reveals the truth in a step-by-step revelation.
3. What does the story tell us about the passengers and their reactions to the announcement?
4. Is this story believable? Shocking? Tragi-comedy? How do you think Oates feels, or wants her readers to feel? Is Oats pessimistic about human character?
5. A winter cruise in the Pacific to a tropical island seems an unlikely setting for tragedy. Does this add to the final effect?
6. Make up a comparative analysis of the two types of setting created in the story. Complete the table:
| Distinguishing features of theS.S. Ariel | Distinguishing features if the “Island of Repose” |
| 1. | 1. |
| 2. | 2. |
| 3. | 3. |
| 4. | 4. |
| 5. | 5. |
7. What does this contemporary American short story say about American life? Does the author let you draw your own conclusions?
8. There are few wealthy older Russians today, but in another generation, this scenario could occur here. How important is love, gratitude, and sacrifice in family life and society?
9. Are there stylistic and literary techniques in the story which make it highly readable, enjoyable, or difficult?
11. Discuss the effect produced by dramatic irony in the following examples:
a) For those of you who've become virtual sailors with a keen eye for navigating….
b) And as this is a rather crucial morning, and your island adventure an important event not only on this cruise but in your lives, ladies and gentlemen….
c) Ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry for your inconvenience, but the Ariel is an old ship, bound for dry dock in Manila and the fate of many a veteran seagoing vessel that has outlived her time. God bless her! We'll not see her likes again, ladies and gentlemen!
d) Yes, the Ariel is bound for Manila next. But have no fear: You won't be aboard.
e) Now to our business at hand: Ladies and gentlemen, do you know what you have in common?
f) For, why delay what's inevitable? Why cruelly protract anguish?
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