A Kindness Returned 友好的報答
A Kindness Returned 友好的報答
◎ Virginia Hall Graves
At the time my son was born in 1956, I shared a hospital room with a young woman who bore a son on the same day. Partly because my parents owned a flower shop, the room was soon filled with the lovely smell of roses.
1956年，兒子出生時，我與一位年輕女人共住一間病房，那天，她也同樣生了一個兒子。也許是我父母擁有一家花店的緣故，我們的病房很快就充滿了可愛的玫瑰馨香。
However, when the seventh bunch of flowers was brought in, I was beginning to feel uncomfortable, for no flowers had arrived for my roommate, Ann. She sat on her bed, admiring the latest flowers in my vase. She was a pretty young woman, yet there was something about her large, brown eyes that made me think she had known too much struggling, too much sadness for one so young. I had the feeling that she had always had to admire someone else’s flowers.
然而，當(dāng)我第七次收到花束時，我開始不安起來，因為我的室友——安從沒收到過。她坐在床邊，身子向前傾，欣賞著剛剛送來的鮮花。她是個漂亮的少婦，但是，那雙棕色的大眼睛里總閃爍著憂傷，讓我覺得她經(jīng)歷了太多的人生苦難，如此年輕的生命有著太多憂傷。我覺得她似乎總是只能欣賞別人的花。
“I’m enjoying every minute of this,” she said as though she had read my thoughts. “Wasn’t I the lucky one to get you for a roommate?”
“我在這里一直很愉快，”她似乎讀懂了我的心思，說道，“我能和你共處一室，不是很幸運嗎？”
I still felt uncomfortable, however. If only there were some magic button I could push to take away the sadness in her eyes. Well, I thought, at least I could see that she had some flowers. When my parents came to see me that day, I asked them to send her some.
不過，我仍覺得有些不安。如果能有一種神奇的按鈕，一按就能消除她眼中的悲傷就好了。好吧，我想，至少我能讓她擁有一些鮮花。當(dāng)我的父母再來看望我時，我便要他們那天也送安一些花。
The flowers arrived just as Ann and I were finishing supper.
我和安剛吃完晚飯，鮮花就送來了。
“Another bunch for you.” she said, laughing.
“又一束送你的鮮花。”她笑著說。
“No, not this time.” I said, looking at the card.
“不，這次不是。”我看著那張卡片，說道。
Ann stared at the flowers for a long time, not saying anything.
良久，安默默地凝視著鮮花，一言不發(fā)。
“How can I ever thank you?” she said, laughing.
然后微笑著說道，“我該怎么感謝你呢？”
The son born to my husband and me that day in 1956 turned out to be our only child. For nearly 21 years he filled our lives with love and laughter, making us feel complete. But on Easter morning, in April 1977, after a long, painful battle with cancer, he died quietly in our arms.
1956年出生的兒子成了我們夫婦的獨生子。近21年來，他讓我們的生活充滿了愛和歡笑，讓我們感到心滿意足。但是，1977年4月，復(fù)活節(jié)的那個早晨，在與癌癥進(jìn)行了漫長而痛苦的搏斗后，他靜靜地死在我們懷里。
At the funeral home I was alone with my son in a room filled with the smell of roses, when a man brought in a small vase with some flowers in it. I didn’t read the card until later, as we rode to the cemetery. “To W. John Graves,” the card said, “From the boy who was born with you at Memorial Hospital, and his mother.”
殯儀館內(nèi)，我單獨與兒子待在一間彌漫著玫瑰花香的屋里。一個人送來了一小束鮮花，直到后來，我們乘車去墓地的路上，我才看到卡片：“獻(xiàn)給約翰·格雷夫斯——與你同天出生在紀(jì)念醫(yī)院的孩子和他的母親謹(jǐn)上。”
Only then did I recognize the vase I had given to a young woman so many years ago, now once again filled with roses, Ann and I had lost touch for a long time. She had never known our son, nor his illness. She must have read about his funeral in a newspaper. I passed the card on to my mother sitting beside me. She, too, remembered.
直到那時，我才認(rèn)出這個靴形瓷瓶是很多年前我送給一位憂郁的年輕女子的。如今它再一次插滿了玫瑰。我和安很早以前就失去了聯(lián)系。她根本不認(rèn)識我們的兒子，也不知道他得了病。她一定是在報紙上看到訃告了。媽媽坐在我身邊，我把卡片遞給她，她也想起來了。
“A kindness returned.” mother said.
“這是一種友好的報答。”媽媽說。
A few days later, my husband and I, with several members of our family, went to clear John’s grave. The vase with roses in it stood at its foot.
幾天后，我和丈夫以及家人去公墓給約翰掃墓。那瓶玫瑰還在高高的花圈和枝丫上佇立著。
“How strange that someone would send something like that to a funeral,” someone said. “It seemed better for a birth.”
“真奇怪，誰會送這些東西作為葬禮，”有人說道，“它看起來更像是祝賀新生的。”
“There was a birth,” said my husband quietly, “John was born to Heaven.” I looked at him with surprise, knowing those words were difficult for a man who had never spoken openly about such matter.
“它是祝賀新生的，”丈夫靜靜地說，“約翰誕生在永恒的國度了。”我驚訝地看著他，我知道，他從不坦率地談及此事，說出這話來該有多么不容易。
He emptied the vase and handed it to me. I held it, just as Ann had done, thinking of all the messages it contained: friendship, thanks, and the hope that John was born to Heaven, which comforts us now.
他拿出鮮花，遞給我那個靴形瓷瓶。我捧著它，就像當(dāng)年安所做的那樣，撫摸著它，思索著它所蘊涵的所有意義：友誼，感激之情，還有新生的希望——正是這些在慰藉著我們的心靈。
