“Mom, there are other dates on the headboard. May I come over and talk to you about them?” I sensed the headboard was full of stories. I couldn’t just strip and sand them away.

Over lunch, Mom told me about January 14, 1951, the day she lost her purse at a department store. 

Three days later, the purse arrived in the mail. A letter from a woman named Amy said: “I took five dollars from your wallet to mail the purse to you. I hope you will understand.” There was no return address, so Mom couldn’t thank her, and there was nothing missing except the five dollars.

“妈妈,床头上还有一些日期,我过来跟您谈谈好吗?”我意识到这个床头上充满了故事,因此不忍心用砂纸打磨掉。午饭期间,妈妈首先讲述了1951年元月14日的故事。那天,她在一家百货商店丢了钱包,三天后,钱包被一个叫艾米的妇女邮回,同时还写了一封信。“我从钱包中取了五元付了邮资,希望你能理解。”信中无回信地址,所以妈妈永远也无法感谢她,除了五元外,里面什幺都完整无缺。

Then there was George. On December 15, 1967, George shot a rattlesnake poised to strike my brother Dominick. On September 18, 1971, my parents celebrated their silver wedding anniversary and renewed their vows. I learned about a nurse named Janet who stayed by my mother and prayed with her after my sister Patricia’s near-fatal fall from a swing. There was a stranger who broke up the attempted mugging of my father but left without giving his name. 

接下来是乔治。1967年12月15日,他射杀了一条正欲攻击我哥哥多米尼克的响尾蛇。1971年9月18日,父母庆祝了他们的银婚纪念日,并重新起誓。

我还了解到了一位名叫珍尼特的护士。当我姐姐帕特里夏从秋千上摔下来差一点丧了命时,是她一直陪伴着妈妈做祈祷。还有一位陌生人,在一次有预谋的袭击事件中救了我爸爸,而他临走时连姓名都没留下。

“Who is Ralph?” I asked. 

“On February 18, 1966, Ralph saved your brother’s life in Da Nang. Ralph was killed two years later on his second tour of duty.”

My brother never spoke about the Vietnam War. The memories were deeply buried. My nephew’s name is Ralph. Now I knew why.

“I almost stripped away these remarkable stories,” I said. “How could you give this headboard to me?” 

“Your dad and I carved our first date on the headboard the night we married. From then on, it was a diary of our life together. When Dad died, our life together was over. But the memories never die.”

“谁是拉尔夫?”我问。

“1966年2月18日,拉尔夫在岘港(越南中部城市)救了你哥哥的性命,而他在两年后执行一次任务时牺牲。”

我哥哥从未提过越南战争,那些岁月已被永久地封存在他的记忆之中。我侄女的名字就叫拉尔夫,直到此时我才明白了这其中的秘密。

“我差一点刮掉了这些十分珍贵的故事,”我说,“那您又为何将这张床送给了我?”

“你爸爸和我在我们的新婚之夜将我们的结婚纪念日刻在了床头,从那时起,它就成了我们两人生活中共同的日记,而记忆则永远不会死亡。”她答非所问。

When I told my husband about the headboard, he said, “There’s room for a lot more stories.”

We moved the bed with the story-book headboard into our room. My husband and I have already carved in three dates and names: Barbara and Greg and Jackson. Someday, we’ll tell Melanie the stories from her grandparents’ lives and the stories from her parents’ lives. And someday, the bed will pass on to her.

当我把床头上的故事讲给我丈夫时,他说:“那上面还有许多空间可以贮藏记忆。”

我们把那张床和满是故事的床头搬进屋子。我的丈夫已经刻了三个日期和名字:芭芭拉、格雷格、杰克逊。将来有一天,我会告诉梅莱恩她外公外婆以及父母的生活故事;将来有一天,这张床将要传给她。

责任编辑：admin