溫迪的禮物（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.\"

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 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 myself 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 so much. I' m afraid Iallowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance，please， accept my apologies.\"

\"Not at all. She's 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 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 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 a drawing in bright crayon hues -- a yellowbeach， a blue sea， and a brown bird. Underneathwas 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 nowand 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.

三個星期后，我在近乎慌亂的心境下直奔海灘。我甚至沒心情跟溫迪打招呼。看見她媽媽在走廊上，我有一種去命令她讓她的小孩待在家里的沖動。溫迪趕上了我，我氣呼呼地對她說：“要是你不介意，我今天想一個人待著。”

她的臉看上去異常蒼白，還有點喘不過氣來。

“為什么?”她問。

我轉身對她吼道：“因為我媽媽死了!”然后我又想：天啊，我為什么跟一個小孩講這些?

“哦，”她輕輕地說，“這么說今天是個糟糕的日子。”

“是，”我說，“昨天也是，前天也是——唉。你走開!”

“很難過嗎?”她問。

“什么?”我對她，對我自己都很惱火。

“她死的時候?”

“當然難過了!!!!”我怒氣沖沖地說，完全沉浸在自己的思緒中。我誤會了她的意思。我大步走開了。

大約一個月以后，我再次到海灘上去，她卻不在那兒。我感到自責和羞愧，同時也承認我有點想她了，于是就在散步之后走到那所房子前，敲了敲門。一個有著蜜色頭發、看上去很憔悴的年輕女人把門打開了。

“你好。”我說，“我是羅門特·皮特森。我很想念你的女兒，她在哪兒呢?”

“哦，是，皮特森先生，請進。溫迪經常說起你。

恐怕她給你添麻煩了。如果她打擾到了你，我向你道歉。”

“哪兒的話!她很可愛的。”我說著，突然意識到自己也真的是那么想的。“她在哪兒呢?”

“溫迪上周去世了，皮特森先生。她有白血病，可能她沒告訴你。”

我目瞪口呆，摸索著找了一把椅子，感覺自己透不過氣來。

“她喜歡這片海灘，所以當她請求我們到這兒來的時候，我們沒法說不。在這兒，她的情形好像改善了許多，她還說她過得很開心。但是上幾周，她的情況急劇惡化……”她的聲音顫抖起來。“她給你留了一樣東西。要是我能找到它就好了。你能稍等一下嗎?我這就去找。”

我呆呆地點點頭，心中急切地搜尋著此刻可以跟這位可愛的年輕女士講的詞句。她把一個字跡模糊的信封遞給了我。信封上“P先生”這幾個字用的是孩子氣的黑體字。信封里是一張用亮色蠟筆畫的畫——黃色的海灘，藍色的海，還有一只棕色的鳥。下方認真地寫著：鷸帶給你歡樂。

淚水涌上了我的眼睛，一顆幾乎已經忘記去愛的心洞開了。我擁抱了溫迪的母親，不停地小聲說道：“對不起，對不起，對不起!”我們都哭了。

我把這張寶貴的畫裱了框，掛在我的書房里。六個字，每一個字代表她生命里的一年。這六個字對我訴說著和諧、勇氣、無私的愛。這個禮物來自一個眼睛碧藍似海、發色如沙的小女孩，是她教給了我愛的意義。★

(完)

(李從涌摘自《英語沙龍》)