The Secrt to a Good Night ' s Sleep

The Secrt to a Good Night ' s Sleep

"A few weeks back, I saw a guy sleeping on the train."

"I see that all the time."

"Yeah, but this guy was sleeping on a girl's shoulder."

I'd seen this, too.

"And she was looking at her phone," he said, "probably playing Puzzle & Dragons or something, while the guy slept. Gentle breaths, in and out. That awkward posture of a person sleeping in a cramped①cramped 英 ［kr?mpt］ 美 ［kr?mpt］ adj. 狹窄的；難懂的；難辨的space."

He took a swig②swig 英 ［sw?ɡ］ 美 ［sw?ɡ］ vi. 牛飲；大喝特喝 n. 痛飲，大喝；牛飲vt.牛飲；大喝特喝，豪飲eg. He took a swig of whisky from his hip flask. 他猛灌了一口扁酒瓶中的威士忌。of his beer. Watched memories swirl③swirl 英 ［sw??l］ 美 ［sw?l］ vi. 盤繞；打旋；眩暈；大口喝酒 vt. 使成旋渦 n.旋渦；打旋；渦狀near the bottom of the mug. Continued.

"I looked at her, and I looked at him, and I figured they were together. I remember thinking how nice it must be to sometimes have a shoulder to sleep on."

"Instead of just sitting there with your head back and your mouth wide open, looking like an idiot?"

"Right, right. But then the train stopped at Ikebukuro, and the guy woke up. He turned to the girl, muttered④muttered mutter的過去式 英 ［'m?t?］ 美 ［'m?t?］ vt. 咕噥；抱怨地說；低聲含糊地說vi. 咕噥；喃喃自語 n. 咕噥；喃喃低語an apology, sumimasen, and then he was out the door. She nodded, watched for a moment, and then just went back to her phone."

"They weren't together?"

He shook his head.

"They weren't together."

"In that moment," he said, "I thought, damn, here's an opportunity I've been missing out on⑤miss out on sth 失去……的機會eg. If you shut yourself off from love， you'll miss out on that woman， and thehappiest times of your life.如果你把自己關在愛的門外，你就會錯過這個女子，和你生命中最快樂的時光。for the six years I've been in Tokyo."

"This isn't going where I think it's going, is it?"

He shrugged.

"So over the next week I tried it out. I sat next to friendly looking people, and as the train rolled from the platform, I yawned and pretended to fall asleep. I swayed⑥swayed sway的過去式 英［swe?］ 美［swe］ vt.影響；統治；使搖動 vi.影響；搖擺 n.影響；搖擺；統治to the rumble⑦rumble 英 ［'r?mb（?）l］ 美 ［'r?mbl］ n. 隆隆聲；抱怨聲 vt.使隆隆響；低沉地說 vi. 隆隆作響of the train, and slowly let my head fall on the shoulder of the person next to me."

"And?"

"And most of the time, it worked. Most people will sit there and let you do it. I don't know if it's a Japan thing, but more often than not⑧more often than not 通常、多半, they shift slightly to accommodate⑨accommodate 英 ［?'k?m?de?t］ 美 ［?'kɑm?det］ vt. 容納；使適應；供應；調解 vi. 適應；調解the weight, and go back to their books, or their phones, or their newspapers."

I thought of the times I'd seen people asleep on the train. Imagined them swaying towards my shoulder. What I'd do. What I'd say.

I weighed the effort of saying something against just letting it go.

Came up blank.

"What was your success rate?"

"A little over sixty percent, I'd guess. But even then, when you fail, people simply nudge⑩nudge 美 ［n?d?］ vt. 推進；用肘輕推；向……不停地嘮叨you in the opposite direction. One day, I went from one shoulder straight to another. It was wonderful."

"Kindness abounds?abounds abound的單三形式 abound 英 ［?'ba?nd］ 美［?'ba?nd］ vi. 富于；充滿in the darkness of the subway."

"On the shoulders of its commuters."

"But why'd you keep doing it?"

"I don't get out much, man. You know? I don't have a girlfriend. Haven't had one in a while. I don't make friends easy. I work from home, and I'm always alone. I guess I wanted contact. Affection. This was a warmth I could steal. No baggage. No consequences. Just a little relationship that starts at one station and ends at another. No break-up, no goodbye, just a single moment of shared warmth."

The words echoed in a way that enticed?enticed entice的過去分詞形式 entice 英 ［?n'ta?s; en-］ 美 ［?n'ta?s］ vt.誘使；慫恿. Tempted. They made sense, and yet the environment felt wrong. Like fixing the colors in a painting that was already upside down and inside out.

The problem here was deeper than the palette selection.

"After a while though," he said, "I really started falling asleep. I closed my eyes, hit a person's shoulder, and dozed off?dozed doze的過去式 doze off 打瞌睡；困倦."