感恩節大餐

感恩節大餐

Thanksgiving Dinner

*A* few years ago, right before Thanksgiving, I was dumped without warning by the man I thought I would marry. The next day, I was laid off from my administrative assistant job. The day after that I turned forty.

去年感恩節前幾天，我丟掉了工作，接著男朋友也提出分手。剛剛過完40歲生日，一夜之間我就成了大齡失業剩女。

I』d lived in New York City for ten years trying to make it as an actress. While I』d had some luck on stage, nothing had paid enough for me to make a living at it. I was single, broke and approaching middle age in a profession that worships youth and beauty.

為了當演員的夢想，我在紐約漂了10年。雖然也演了一些角色，但是收入遠遠不夠養活我自己。我現在獨身一人，身無分文，進入中年後還在和年輕人競爭。

The last thing I wanted was to go home to Florida for Thanksgiving and catch up with my younger, married and successful cousins. At least we would all meet at Brooks, my favorite restaurant back home and a family holiday tradition for twenty years.

一想到要回佛羅里達過聖誕節，就覺得頭疼。我的兄弟姐妹都事業有成，家庭幸福。每年感恩節我們都會去我家附近的布魯克斯飯店聚餐，過去20年都沒有變過。

The day before I flew to Florida, I got a terrible cold. I was lying in bed feeling very sorry for myself when the phone rang. It was my mother.

「Darling,」 she said. 「I have wonderful news!」

在我回佛羅里達前一天，我感冒了。我躺在床上，心裡很難過。這時候我媽電話來了，

「在嗎，我有好消息告訴你。「 媽媽說。

This made me cringe. Her last report of wonderful news was she had married a man she met online two weeks before. Now, recently divorced for the fourth time and living in a new apartment complex for 「active elders,」 I feared the worst.

我皺了一下眉頭，上次她告訴我有好消息，結果是她和一個網上認識不到兩周的男的結婚了。現在她已經離婚四次了，一個人住在老年公寓里，我想不出她有什麼好消息。

「What is it?」 I sniffled.

「Well...」 she replied, pausing for dramatic effect, 「you know how every year we have dinner at Brooks. This year, I』ve decided to make dinnerfor the family myself. Well, with your help, of course. Let』s see, we should have... twenty-five people, not including us. Won』t that be so much fun?」

「什麼消息？」我問她。

「嗯，」她停頓了一下，「以前感恩節都去布魯克斯飯店，這次我想親自給全家做一頓大餐。哦當然，需要你幫忙。我想想，會有25個人來，這多有意思。」

Could I have pretended she had the wrong number? Yes, if I hadn』t been so stoned on cold medicine and thinking clearly. Instead I mumbled 「Yeah... great... can』t wait」 and hung up, pulling the covers over my head before passing out.

The next day, I arrived at the Ft. Lauderdale airport looking and feeling absolutely miserable.

我真想告訴她打錯電話了，可是我剛吃完感冒藥，頭開始暈了，於是我說，「好吧，我馬上回去了。」然後掛上電話，鑽進被子睡著了。

第二天，我直奔機場，感覺糟透了。

I picked up my luggage from baggage claim and walked outside to look for my mother. A platinum blonde pulled up to the curb beside me and honked the horn. 「Do you like it?」 my mother exclaimed. She leaned out of the car window to toss her formerly salt-and-pepper curls, now flat-ironed and reaching her shoulders.

下飛機後我取了行李，然後走出機場，看到了我媽媽。她把車停在旁邊， 按了兩聲喇叭。「你覺得怎麼樣，」我媽媽說，從車窗里伸出頭來，她以前的捲髮現在拉直了，染成銀白色，垂在肩上。

「Who are you and why did you steal my mother』s car?」 I replied.

She laughed like a girl of sixteen. 「Silly! This is to celebrate mywonderful new life!」

「Oh. Wonderful,」 I said.

「你是誰，你為什麼要偷我媽媽的車？」我說。

她開心的笑了，像一個十六歲的

小女孩。「這是為了慶祝新的生活！」

I should have been happy for her, but at that point my mom looked and sounded ten years younger than me.

The next day was madness. I shopped and cooked more by noon than I had in years. At midnight, I was bent over the sink, elbow-deep in a

still-frozen turkey, trying to pull out the gizzards with both hands.

我應該為她感到高興，但那時她看起來比我還要年輕10歲。

第二天忙死了，我去採購，然後準備晚餐。這一天做的菜比我過去一年都多。

我趴在廚房下水池上，然後用力把火雞清理乾淨。

Even though the activity helped take my mind off my troubles, I still felt sad about my life and worried about what I would do when I got back to New York.

Thanksgiving Day, we woke up at 6:00 AM to finish cooking. I never thought we would pull it off, but somehow, we managed to prepare everything, clean the house, fit four card tables next to the dining room table in a one-bedroom apartment, polish the silverware, find

matching plates and even create four miniature pumpkin centerpieces.

雖然我忙的沒時間想那些傷心事，我還是隱約擔心自己的未來，想著回到紐約後怎麼辦。

感恩節那天，我們早上六點就起床了，開始準備全家人的晚餐。雖然一直沒信心，但我們最終還是準備好了一切，打掃了房子，鋪好桌子，擦亮了盤子和刀叉，甚至還做了四個南瓜燈。

We put out our casseroles and hot dishes on the buffet, checked the turkey, and just had time to change clothes before the first guests arrived. Soon the house was overrun with family. No one asked about my boyfriend or if I had gotten any acting work lately. They all just oohed and ahhed over the table. They couldn』t believe we did it all ourselves.

我們把熱氣騰騰的菜放在自助架子上，檢查了一遍火雞，換好了衣服就等客人來了。很快屋子裡就充滿了歡聲笑語，大家圍在桌邊互相問候。他們都不敢相信這些都是我們自己做的。

Before we ate, we said grace and went around the table to say what we were thankful for. I』ve always loved doing this each year but now, even though I was proud of helping my mom and glad to see everyone, I didn』treally feel like contributing.

吃飯前我們做了禱告，每個人輪流說出自己最感謝的人。這是我每年最開心的時候，但是今年我什麼也不想說。

Mother』s turn came before mine. She said, 「I am thankful for my health, my family and my friends. I am especially thankful to my daughter Alyssa who taught me the meaning of gratitude on a Thanksgiving thirty-nine years ago.」

I looked up from my plate. What did she mean by that?

輪到我媽媽了，她說，「我感謝家裡所有人，還有我的朋友。尤其感謝我的女兒，是她讓我在39年前懂得了感恩節的意義。」

我停下來看著她，她到底想說什麼？

She continued. 「Alyssa』s father Ed had just gotten out of the Army. I was a new wife and mother of a one-year-old. We left Ft. Polk in

Louisiana for Pittsburgh because that』s where Ed found work. Well, the Army lost all our furniture in the move and we had no money to buy more. We also couldn』t afford to go home for Thanksgiving.

「I went out and bought one baby food jar of strained turkey and one of strained carrots for Alyssa and two turkey sandwiches for us. We sat on the floor in our empty apartment and cried over our misfortune. Then we heard Alyssa laughing.」

她接著說，「艾麗莎的爸爸那會兒剛從部隊回來，我剛結婚，艾麗莎才一歲。我們從路易斯安那搬到匹茲堡，她爸爸剛在那兒找到工作。從部隊搬家時候，所有傢具都丟了，我們沒錢買新的，也沒錢回家過感恩節。」

「我出去買了一小罐火雞罐頭，還有胡蘿蔔，給艾麗莎吃。我們做了兩個火雞三明治。我們坐在空蕩蕩的公寓里，忍不住哭了起來。這時候我們聽見艾麗莎的笑聲。」

My mother looked over at me with tears in her eyes. 「You were so happy.

You were singing and having such a good time playing with your food in

that cold empty apartment. I pray that you will always find happiness in

every living moment, my darling daughter.」

I was stunned. I had asked myself how a woman of sixty-five who lived alone on a fixed income decided to become a hot blonde and make

Thanksgiving dinner for almost thirty people.

我媽媽轉過臉看著我，眼裡含著淚水。「你那會兒顯得很高興，一邊吃還一邊唱著歌。我希望你生活的每一天都那麼高興。」

我不知道該說什麼，我一直想問她六十五歲了為什麼要染髮，還要為差不多30人做感恩節大餐。

Now I had my answer. She was just following the example I had set solong ago and had forgotten.

When I returned to New York, I had a new sense of purpose andthankfulness for life.

I also went blond.

現在我知道答案了。她只是在學習我很久以前樹立的榜樣。

等我回到紐約的時候，我的人生有了新的意義和方向。

而且我也染髮了。

原文選自《紐約時報》，Randy/譯（首發wx號：PakistanChina）

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