“Northern Boulevard at 248th Street, Little Neck, Queens, New York, 2008 (40°46'0.30"N, 73°44'21.11"W)”

 

1980年7月11日星期五，簽證還剩九天，25歲的林涪穎給她上海手錶廠的領導寫了封信，說因為突然有事脫不開身，還要再請假半年。她下午一點多把信投入郵筒，心裏很清楚不被開除是不太可能的。在親戚家的半地下室裏學著英語，有件事讓她一直心煩到第二天下午一點：她本該沿北方大道多走兩條橫街，把信投進郵局門前的郵箱，就能趕上早一點的收信。

 

        林涪穎現在住在北達科他州的威榭克。

 

July 11, 1980, Friday, nine days before the expiration of her visa, Fuying Lin, 25, wrote to the wristwatch factory she belonged to in China to explain that she was detained by something unexpected and there would be a delay of an extra six months. When she dropped the letter into the mailbox shortly after 1 p.m., she was quite sure that there was little chance for her to avoid being expelled. What bothered her until 1 p.m. the next day as she studied English in the walk-in basement of her relatives was the thought that she should have walked the extra two blocks along Northern Boulevard for the mailbox in front of the post office to catch the earlier collection.

 

        Fuying Lin now lives in Wishek, North Dakota.

 

 

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