遇見流浪貓鮑勃

由于父母離異，與家里關系疏遠，加上在學校受到了欺凌，年少叛逆的詹姆斯·鮑恩離開了與母親共住的澳大利亞，回到倫敦寄住在他同父異母的姐姐家，但不久后就被趕了出來，驕傲倔強的他不愿向家人求助，落得露宿街頭，還沾上了毒癮，靠著在街頭彈唱的微薄收入過著朝不保夕的生活，人生變得一塌糊涂。然后有一天，他遇上了人生的救贖——流浪貓鮑勃。有了鮑勃后，詹姆斯開始一步一步地回到正常的人生軌道。他不再依靠賣唱為生，開始自力更生，當上了《大志》（The Big Issue）的銷售員，還下決心徹底戒掉毒癮，與家人修復關系。

鮑勃是一只很有靈性，人見人愛的貓，它會跟著詹姆斯出去街頭賣唱和兜售雜志。有人拍下關于它的短片傳到了Youtube上，獲得超高點擊率，鮑勃意外地成為了很有名氣的貓。后來，一家出版社得知詹姆斯和鮑勃的故事，表示愿意出版一本關于他們的書，這本書就是《遇見流浪貓鮑勃》（A Street Cat Named Bob）。這本書一經面世就俘虜了萬千讀者的心，高居暢銷書榜首。現在，詹姆斯和鮑勃的故事依然在繼續著……

It was a cold and wet autumn that year. On one particular morning， as Bob and I left the block of flats and set off for the bus stop， the sun was once more nowhere to be seen and a light， fine drizzle was falling.

Bob wasn’t a big fan of the rain， so at first I assumed it was to blame for the 1）lethargic way in which he began padding his way along the path. He seemed to be taking each step at a time， almost walking in slow motion. As I cast an eye up to the sky， a giant bank of steely， grey clouds were hovering over north London like some vast， alien spaceship. Maybe Bob was right and we should turn around， I thought for a second. But then I remembered the weekend was coming and we didn’t have enough money to get through it. Beggars can’t be choosers—even if they have been cleared of all charges， I said to myself， trying to make light of the 2）predicament.

“Come on， mate， climb aboard，” I said， turning around and ushering him up into his normal position.

He 3）draped himself on my shoulder and we trudged off towards Tottenham High Road and the bus. But as we settled into our bus journey I realised there was more to his low spirits than just the weather.

The ride was normally one of his favourite parts of the day. Bob was a curious cat. No matter how often we did it， he would never tire of pressing himself against the glass. But today he wasn’t even bothered about taking the window seat. Instead he curled up on my lap. He seemed tired. Looking at his eyes he seemed a bit drowsy， as if he was half asleep. He was definitely not his normal， alert self.

As we walked down Neal Street I was suddenly aware that Bob was behaving oddly on my shoulder. Rather than sitting there 4）impassively as normal， he was twitching and rocking around.

“You all right there， mate？” I said， slowing down.

All of a sudden he began moving in a really agitated way， making weird 5）retching noises as if he was choking or trying to clear his throat. I was convinced he was going to jump or fall off so I placed him down on the street to see what was wrong. But before I could even kneel down he began to vomit. It was nothing solid， just 6）bile. But it just kept coming.

I knew that all the retching and the fact that he no longer had any liquid to bring up meant that he was getting dehydrated. I decided that some food and， more importantly， some water， would be a good idea. So I scraped him up and held him in my arms as we walked to a general store I knew nearby. I didn’t have much cash on me at all， but I cobbled together enough to buy a liquidised chicken meal that Bob usually loved and some good， mineral water.

I carried him to Covent Garden and placed it down on the pavement near our normal pitch. I got out Bob’s bowl and spooned the chicken into it.

Ordinarily he would have pounced immediately and guzzled down a bowl of food at a rate of knots， but not today. He only ate the jelly. He didn’t touch a bit of the meat. Again， it set the alarm bells ringing. This wasn’t the Bob I knew and loved. Something was definitely wrong.

I half-heartedly set myself up to start selling the magazine. We needed some money to get us through the next few days， especially if I was going to have to take Bob to a vet and pay for some drugs. But my heart really wasn’t in it. I cut the day short after less than two hours.

When we got home Bob just headed straight for the radiator where he just curled up and went straight to sleep. He stayed there for hours. That night I didn’t sleep much， worrying about him. I’d creep up in the gloom and listen for the sound of his breathing. I couldn’t believe how relieved I was when I found he was purring gently.

The next day I decided to stay home until late in the afternoon to give Bob a good chance to rest. He slept like a log， curled up in his favourite spot. He seemed OK， so I decided to leave him for three or four hours and try and squeeze in some selling. I didn’t have much option.

When I got to Covent Garden all everyone could ask was“Where’s Bob？” When I told people that he was ill they were all really concerned.

It was then that an idea struck me. I had come across a vet nurse called Rosemary. Her boyfriend， Steve， worked at a comic-book shop near where we sometimes set up. Bob and I would pop in there every now and again and we had become friends.

I decided to stick my head in there to see if either of them was around. Luckily Steve was there and gave me a phone number for Rosemary.

When I spoke to Rosemary she asked me a load of questions.

“What does he eat？ Does he ever eat anything else when he’s out and about？”

“Well， he 7）rummages around in the bins，” I said.

I could hear it in her voice； it was as if a light bulb had been switched on.

“Hmmm，” she said. “That might explain it.”

She prescribed some probiotic medication， some antibiotics and some special liquid to settle the stomach.

“What’s your address？” she said. “I’ll get it biked over to you.”

I was 8）taken aback.

“Oh， I’m not sure that I can afford that， Rosemary，” I said.

“No， don’t worry， it won’t cost you anything.” she said. “This evening OK？”

“Yes， great，” I said.

I was overwhelmed. Such spontaneous acts of generosity hadn’t exactly been a part of my life in the past few years. Random acts of violence， yes； kindness， no. It was one of the biggest changes that Bob had brought with him. Thanks to him I’d rediscovered the good side of human nature.

Rosemary was as good as her word. I had no doubt she would be. The bike arrived early that evening and I administered the first doses of the medicine straight away.

The medicine had an almost immediate impact. That night he slept soundly and was a lot friskier the following morning.

Seeing Bob sick had a profound effect on me. He had seemed to be such an indestructible cat. I’d never imagined him getting ill. Discovering that he was mortal really shook me.

It underlined the feeling that had been building inside me for a while now. It was time for me to get myself clean.

I was fed up with my lifestyle. I was tired of the mind-numbing routine of having to go to the 9）DDU unit every fornight and the chemist every day. I was tired of feeling like I could slip back into addiction at any time.

So the next time I went to see my counsellor I asked him about coming off methadone and taking the final step towards becoming completely clean. We’d talked about it before， but I don’t think he’d ever really taken me at my word. Today， he could tell I was serious.

“Won’t be easy， James，” he said.

“Yeah， I know that.”

“You’ll need to take a drug called Subutex. We can then slowly decrease the dosage of that so that you don’t need to take anything，” he said.

“OK，” I said

“The transition can be hard， you can have quite severe withdrawal symptoms，” he said， leaning forward.

“That’s my problem，” I said. “But I want to do it. I want to do it for myself and for Bob.”

“OK， well， I will get things moving and we will look at beginning the process in a few weeks’ time.”

For the first time in years， I felt like I could see the tiniest light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

那年秋天，天氣寒冷潮濕。一天早上，當我和鮑勃離開公寓，前往巴士站時，太陽仍然不見蹤影，天空下起了蒙蒙細雨。

鮑勃不太喜歡下雨，所以我剛開始以為它走起路來昏昏沉沉的樣子是因為天氣所致。它似乎是一步一個腳印，近乎以慢動作行走著。我抬頭望向天空，一大片烏黑冰冷的烏云正盤旋在倫敦北部的上空，仿佛一艘巨大的外星飛船。