Linxi

This Street Light by Han Gao

Mom sat out there with me waiting for the Peggots to shine, and the sun to come up over the mountains that threw their shade on us. Living in a holler, the sun gets around to you late in the day, and leaves you early. Like much else you might want. In my years since, I've been amazed to see how much more daylight gets flung around in the flatter places. This and more still yet to be learned by an excited kid watching his pretty mom chain-smoke and listen to the birds sing. She tried to pass the time by asking the bird names, which I'd told her before. I only knew some few, Mr. Peg knew them all. Jenny wren, field canary, joree bird. If we'd splash our armpits and faces in the sink instead of a real shower, he'd say we were taking a joree bath. Which is what I did that morning, in my big hurry to leave Mom. It's all burned in my brain. How she kept thinking of things to remind me about: act decent, remember please and thank you, especially whenever they pay for stuff, and don't go poking around June's apartment. Things you'd need to tell a kid before he goes out of state. I told her to set the damn alarm clock. Which made her laugh because I'd already stuck a note on the refrigerator: SET THE DAM ALARM CLOCK. She said she loved me a whole lot and not to forget about her, which was weird. Mom was not usually all that emotional.

我妈就陪我坐那儿等佩叔他们来帮忙。太阳从山那头升起来，山的影子投在了我们身上。住在山里就是这样——要很晚才能看到太阳，然后很快就又看不到了，就像你想要的其他东西一样。之后的几年里，我总是很震惊，想不到更平坦的地儿竟然可以有那么久的日照！不单单这些，还有超多事儿等着我去了解：毕竟我当时只是一个听着鸟叫、看着漂亮妈妈一根又一根地抽着烟的、兴奋的小男孩儿。我妈问我这些鸟叫什么，估计她想打发时间。但其实我早就告诉过她了。我知道的不多，佩叔才是鸟类专家。珍妮鹪鹩，野金丝雀，红眼雀……如果我把胳肢窝和脸都泡在水池里而不是好好洗澡的话，佩叔就会说我在洗小雀儿澡。其实我今天早上就是这样洗澡的——因为我迫不及待地要离开我妈了！这件事让我的大脑超级亢奋。我真想不通她怎么能一直唠叨：要举止得体；要记得说“请”和“谢谢”，尤其在别人付钱的时候；还有别在朱阿姨的公寓里左瞄右瞟…总之就是所有妈妈对马上离家的小孩说的那些话。我提醒我妈：你他妈的记得定闹钟。然后她就开始笑我，因为我早就在冰箱上贴了纸条了：“也马的记得定闹钟！”她说她超级爱我，还让我千万记着她。太奇怪了。我妈可是很少这样表达自己情绪的。