The Door’s Sudden Swing- 適合中級的英語短篇故事

Lily braced both arms against the warped garden-shed door and pulled. The swollen wood clung to its frame while a gust, rising from the valley below, pressed the opposite way. She needed the wheelbarrow inside, already filled with nourishing soil for new seedlings, yet the latch refused to yield. An intrepid beetle crawled across the plank near her elbow, ignoring the shaking board. Warm afternoon light mixed with the faint scent of damp straw under the roof, and the wooden boards had darkened after many winters. Lily pushed harder; the wind answered with a louder roar, and the door stayed shut.

She paused, noticing how the canvas flap on a nearby sack snapped outward each time the wind surged. A short rope lay coiled by her boot. She looped it through the outside handle, stepped aside, and let the rope hang across the hinge like a loose rein. The next burst of air shoved the door open in the opposite direction, swinging it wide and slamming it against a fearless arc of stacked planks. The collision toppled the pile, and two boards slid downhill, knocking over a water trough that Lily had planned to explore for forgotten tools. Water rushed across the path, carrying leaves, twigs, and the beetle on a tiny raft of bark. The wheelbarrow remained behind the doorway, untouched. Lily dropped the rope, walked toward the rolling boards, and watched sunlight flash on the moving water instead.

莉莉用雙臂撐住變形的園具小屋門板，用力一拉。脹大的木頭緊貼門框，同時山谷吹來的陣風從反方向推壓。她需要拿到裡面那台已裝滿滋養土壤的手推車，然而門閂就是不肯讓步。一隻無畏的甲蟲從她手肘旁的木板上爬過，對晃動的門板毫不在意。午後溫暖的光線混著潮濕稻草的氣味瀰漫屋內，已經歷多個冬天的木板顯得又黑又舊。莉莉更用力推，而風呼嘯得更響，門依舊關著。

她停下來，注意到旁邊麻袋的帆布罩每逢風起就向外鼓脹。腳邊正好盤著一條短繩。她把繩子穿過外側把手，退到一旁，讓繩子像鬆垂的韁繩掛在鉸鏈上。下一陣風把門往相反方向猛地掀開，門撞上一道大膽拱起的木板堆。碰撞推倒了木板，兩塊板子順坡滑下，撞翻了她原本想去翻找舊工具的水槽。水流湧過小徑，捲走落葉、枯枝，還有那隻搭著樹皮小筏的甲蟲。手推車依舊在門後原地未動。莉莉把繩子扔下，走向滾動的木板，目光轉向水面上閃動的陽光。