She grew into a girl of eighteen, ruddy andwell-proportioned and as pretty as a willow. In色寧靜”的稀有天氣。空氣紋絲不動，好像所有的風都吹盡了，終止了。沙漠在寧靜中歇息，像熟睡的巨獸。太陽在東南沙漠邊上懸掛著，被一層白色的煙塵遮擋住，像一個焦糊的玉米麵圓餅，顯得黃而暗淡。
老沙頭眯縫著老沙眼，望了望東南那輪奇特而異樣的太陽，搖了搖頭，繼續低頭尋視起那一行足印。一叢灰白色的苦艾旁，沙地上留有一行清晰的野獸走過的痕跡。他又咳嗽起來，臉憋得通紅，一口痰粘在嗓眼半天咳不出來。他大口大口喘著氣。
“剛走過去，老夥計，你剛走過去……”他興奮了，把手裏提著的幾隻野鼠晃動起來。
“爸爸！”女兒喊他。她在旁邊的一片人工種植的沙打旺草地裏鋤草。
“哦哦，這堆屎又稀又青，可憐的家夥，看來好多天沒吃著野鼠了……”老頭兒沒聽見女兒的叫聲，兀自低語著，把那兒隻野鼠一一拴在這條野獸出沒的小徑上。
“爸，瞧你， 又是那隻老沙孤迷住你的神了‘，”沙柳撅著嘴，向他走過來，“爸，我們又半the last two years people had begun to contractland and be responsible for its output. Old Sandyand his daughter applied to contract the sanddunes the forestry center was giving up. "Do youwant to live by selling sand, Old Sandy?"
"If you live on a mountain, you live off themountain; if you live by the water, you live offthe water. I live on the sand, and I'll live off thesand." "Live off the sand? Ha ha ha!"
A rare "yellow quiet" ruled the dunes. Theair seemed to stand still, as if all the wind hadplayed itself out. The desert rested quietly like aslumbering animal. In the southeast, the sunhung on the edge of the desert behind a whitepall, as yellow and lack-luster as a burnt corncake.
Sandy squinted at the weird and extraordi-nary sun in the southeast, shook his head andbent down to resume his examination of foot-prints. Beside a bush of gray wormwood, thefootprints of an animal were clearly visible. Hecoughed again, his face red with the effort as he年多沒看見人了，我都忘了人是啥模樣，真的，咱們去一趟場部吧。”
“人？嗬嗬嗬，傻丫頭，瞧瞧你爹，不就看見人了！”
“你？不，爸爸，你我還能代表人嗎？現在，外邊的人備不住都長了翅膀多了一個腦袋！”沙柳的眼睛無限向往地向東方遙望著，輕輕歎了口氣，“真憋得慌嗬，這沙窩子裏透不過氣來，我真想去一趟場部，站在那家小電影院門口，看看那些湧出的人，再看一場電影過過癮……”
“唉。傻丫頭。”老沙頭無可奈何地搖了搖頭。大概他覺得無法解決女兒的苦惱，又低下頭去，忙活自己的事。“乖乖，聞到味你就會來的。唔，算起來四五個月沒見到你了，老夥計，你那一窩息子下了沒有？怪惦記的……”老沙頭拴完了野鼠， 又眯縫起眼睛長久地注視著那一行足印。
那年鬧野鼠真邪乎喲。佗子上到處是鼠洞，成群的野鼠在你腳邊亂竄，佗子上的好不容易培植起來的植物，都被這些可惡的泛濫的精靈啃了根，一片片地枯黃，死掉。真是個災難。野鼠tried to bring up the phlegm in his throat. Hepanted hoarsely.
"Just gone by, my beauty, just gone by. "He swung the rats in his hand excitedly.
"Dad!" his daughter called, weeding a plotof rue she had planted.
"Your droppings are green and thin. Youcan't have eaten any rats for days, poor thing. "He was oblivious to his daughter's voice as hewhispered to himself, spreading out the rats a-long the path of the animal.