1、1温迪的礼物（二）Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach ina state of near panic. I was in no mood to evengreet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on theporch and felt like demanding she keep her childat home. “Look, if you don t mind,“ I saidcrossly when Wendy caught up with me, “I drather be alone today.“
2、She seemed unusually pale and out ofbreath. “Why?“ she asked. I turned to her and shouted, “Because mymother died!“ and thought, my God, why was Isaying this to a litter child? “Oh,“ she said quietly, “then this is a badday.“ “Yes,“ I said, “and yesterday and the daybefore and-oh, go away!“ “Did it
3、hurt?“ she inquired. “Did what hurt?“ I was exasperated withher, with myself. “When she died?“ “Of course it hurt!“ I snapped,misunderstanding, wrapped up in myself. I strodeoff. A month or so after that, when I next wentto the beach, she wasn t there. Feeling guilty,ashamed and admitting to 2myself
4、 I missed her, Iwent up to the cottage after my walk and knockedat the door. A drawn looking young woman withhoney-colored hair opened the door. “Hello,“ I said. “I m Robert Peterson. Imissed your little girl today and wondered whereshe was.“ “Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in.Wendy spoke of you
5、so much. I m afraid Iallowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance,please, accept my apologies.“ “Not at all. Shes a delightful child,“ I said,suddenly realizing that I meant it. “Where isshe?“ “Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. Shehad leukemia. Maybe she didn t tell you.“ Struck dumb, I groped
6、 for a chair. Mybreath caught. “She loved this beach; so when she askedto come, we couldn t say no. she seemedso much better here and had a lot of what shecalled happy days. But the last few weeks, shedeclined rapidly.“ Her voice faltered. “She leftsomething for you. If only I can find it. Couldyou
7、wait a moment while I look?“ I nodded stupidly, my mind racing forsomething, anything, to say to this lovely youngwoman. She handed me a smeared envelope,with MR.P printed in bold, childish letters. Insidewas 3a drawing in bright crayon hues - a yellowbeach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneathw
8、as carefully printed: A SANDPIPER TOBRING YOU JOY. Tears welled up in my eyes, and a heart thathad almost forgotten to love opened wide. I tookWendy s mother in my arms. “I m so sorry,I m so sorry, I m so sorry,“ I muttered overand over, and we wept together. The precious little picture is framed no
9、wand hangs in my study. Six words - one foreach year of her life - that speak to me ofharmony, courage, undemanding love. A giftfrom a child with seablue eyes and hair the colorof sand - who taught me the gift of love. 三个星期后，我在近乎慌乱的心境下直奔海滩。我甚至没心情跟温迪打招呼。看见她妈妈在走廊上，我有一种去命令她让她的小孩待在家里的冲动。温迪赶上了我，我气呼呼地对她说：
10、“要是你不介意，我今天想一个人待着。 ” 她的脸看上去异常苍白，还有点喘不过气来。 “为什么?”她问。 我转身对她吼道：“因为我妈妈死了!”然后我又想：天啊，我为什么跟一个小孩讲这些? “哦， ”她轻轻地说， “这么说今天是个糟糕的日子。 ” “是， ”我说， “昨天也是，前天也是唉。你走开!” 4“很难过吗?”她问。 “什么?”我对她，对我自己都很恼火。 “她死的时候?” “当然难过了!”我怒气冲冲地说，完全沉浸在自己的思绪中。我误会了她的意思。我大步走开了。 大约一个月以后，我再次到海滩上去，她却不在那儿。我感到自责和羞愧，同时也承认我有点想她了，于是就在散步之后走到那所房子前，敲了敲门。
11、一个有着蜜色头发、看上去很憔悴的年轻女人把门打开了。 “你好。 ”我说， “我是罗门特?皮特森。我很想念你的女儿，她在哪儿呢?” “哦，是，皮特森先生，请进。温迪经常说起你。 恐怕她给你添麻烦了。如果她打扰到了你，我向你道歉。 ” “哪儿的话!她很可爱的。 ”我说着，突然意识到自己也真的是那么想的。 “她在哪儿呢?” “温迪上周去世了，皮特森先生。她有白血病，可能她没告诉你。 ” 我目瞪口呆，摸索着找了一把椅子，感觉自己透不过气来。 “她喜欢这片海滩，所以当她请求我们到这儿来的时候，我们没法说不。在这儿，她的情形好像改善了许多，她还说她过得很开心。但是上几周，她的情况急剧恶化”她的声音颤抖起来
12、。 “她给你留了一样东西。要是我能找到它就好了。你能稍等一下吗?我这就去找。 ” 我呆呆地点点头，心中急切地搜寻着此刻可以跟这位可爱的年轻女士讲的词句。她把一个字迹模糊的信封递给了我。信封上“P 先生”这几5个字用的是孩子气的黑体字。信封里是一张用亮色蜡笔画的画黄色的海滩，蓝色的海，还有一只棕色的鸟。下方认真地写着：鹬带给你欢乐。 泪水涌上了我的眼睛，一颗几乎已经忘记去爱的心洞开了。我拥抱了温迪的母亲，不停地小声说道：“对不起，对不起，对不起!”我们都哭了。 我把这张宝贵的画裱了框，挂在我的书房里。六个字，每一个字代表她生命里的一年。这六个字对我诉说着和谐、勇气、无私的爱。这个礼物来自一个眼睛碧蓝似海、发色如沙的小女孩，是她教给了我爱的意义。 (完) (李从涌摘自英语沙龙)
