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标题: 娘，我的疯子娘 [打印本页]

作者: thesunlover 时间: 2007-9-20 11:02 标题: 娘，我的疯子娘

娘，我的疯子娘

序

23年前，有个年轻的女子流落到我们村，蓬头垢面，见人就傻笑，且毫不避讳地当众小便。因此，村里的媳妇们常对著那女子吐口水，有的媳妇还上前踹几脚，叫她“滚远些”。可她就是不走，依然傻笑着在村里转悠。

那时，我父亲已有35岁。他曾在石料场子干活被机器绞断了左手，又因家穷，一直没娶媳妇。奶奶见那女子还有几份姿色，就动了心思，决定收下她给我父亲做媳妇，等她给我家“续上香火”后，再把她撵走。父亲虽老大不情愿，但看着家里这番光景，咬咬牙还是答应了。结果，父亲一分未花，就当了新郎。

一.

娘生下我的时候，奶奶抱著我，瘪著没剩几颗牙的嘴，欣喜地说：“这疯婆娘，还给我生了个带把的孙子。”只是我一生下来，奶奶就把我抱走了，而且从不让娘靠近。

娘一直想抱抱我，多次在奶奶面前吃力地喊：“给，给我……”奶奶没理她。我那么小，像个肉嘟嘟，万一娘失手把我掉在地上怎么办？毕竟，娘是个疯子。每当娘有抱我的请求时，奶奶总瞪起眼睛训她：“你别想抱孩子，我不会给你的。要是我发现你偷抱了他，我就打死你。即使不打死，我也要把你撵走。”奶奶说这话时，没有半点儿含糊的意思。娘听懂了，满脸的惶恐，每次只是远远地看着我。尽管娘的奶胀得厉害，可我没能吃到娘的半口奶水，是奶奶一匙一匙把我喂大的。奶奶说娘的奶水里有“神经病”，要是传染给我就麻烦了。

那时，我家依然在贫困的泥潭里挣扎。特别是添了娘和我后，家里常常揭不开锅。奶奶决定把娘撵走，因为娘不但在家吃“闲饭”，时不时还惹是生非。

一天，奶奶煮了一大锅饭，亲手给娘添了一大碗，说：“媳妇儿，这个家太穷了，婆婆对不起你。你吃完这碗饭，就去找个富点儿的人家过日子，以后也不准来了，啊？”娘刚扒了一大团饭在口里，听了奶奶下的“逐客令”显得非常吃惊，一团饭就在嘴里凝滞了。娘望着奶奶怀中的我，口齿不清地哀叫：“不，不要……”奶奶猛地沉下脸，拿出威严的家长作风厉声吼到：“你这个疯婆娘，犟什么犟，犟下去没你的好果子吃。你本来就是到处流浪的，我收留了你两年了，你还要怎么样？吃完饭就走，听到没有？”说完奶奶从门后拿出一柄锄，像余太君的龙头杖似的往地上重重一磕，“咚”地发出一声响。娘吓了一大跳，怯怯地看着婆婆，又慢慢低下头去看面前的饭碗，有泪水落在白花花的米饭上。在逼视下，娘突然有个很奇怪的举动，她将碗中的饭分了一大半给另一只空碗，然后可怜巴巴地看着奶奶。

奶奶呆了，原来，娘是向奶奶表示，每餐只吃半碗饭，只求别赶她走。心彷佛被人狠狠揪了几把，奶奶也是女人，她的强硬态度也是装出来的。奶奶别过头，生生地将热泪憋了回去，然后重新板起了脸说：“快吃快吃，吃了快走。在我家你会饿死的。”娘似乎绝望了，连那半碗饭也没吃，朗朗跄跄地出了门，却长时间站在门前不走。奶奶硬著心肠说：“你走，你走，不要回头。天底下富裕人家多著呢！”娘反而走拢来，一双手伸向婆婆怀里，原来，娘想抱抱我。

奶奶犹豫了一下，还是将襁褓中的我递给了娘。娘第一次将我搂在怀里，咧开嘴笑了，笑得春风满面。奶奶却如临大敌，两手在我身下接著，生怕娘的疯劲一上来，将我像扔垃圾一样丢掉。娘抱我的时间不足三分钟，奶奶便迫不及待地将我夺了过去，然后转身进屋关上了门。

二.

当我懵懵懂懂地晓事时，我才发现，除了我，别的小夥伴都有娘。我找父亲要，找奶奶要，他们说，你娘死了。可小夥伴却告诉我：“你娘是疯子，被你奶奶赶走了。”我便找奶奶扯皮，要她还我娘，还骂她是“狼外婆”，甚至将她端给我的饭菜泼了一地。那时我还没有“疯”的概念，只知道非常想念她，她长什么样？还活著吗？没想到，在我六岁那年，离家5年的娘居然回来了。

那天，几个小夥伴飞也似地跑来报信：“小树，快去看，你娘回来了，你的疯娘回来了。”我喜得屁颠屁颠的，撒腿就往外跑，父亲奶奶随著我也追了出来。这是我有记忆后第一次看到娘。她还是破衣烂衫，头发上还有些枯黄的碎草末，天知道是在那个草堆里过的夜。娘不敢进家门，却面对著我家，坐在村前稻场的石_上，手里还拿著个脏兮兮的气球。当我和一群小夥伴站在她面前时，她急切地从我们中间搜寻她的儿子。娘终于盯住我，死死地盯住我，裂著嘴叫我：“小树……球……球”她站起来，不停地扬着手中的气球，讨好地往我怀里塞。我却一个劲儿地往后退。我大失所望，没想到我日思夜想的娘居然是这样一副形象。一个小夥伴在一旁起哄说：“小树，你现在知道疯子是什么样了吧？就是你娘这样的。”

我气愤地对小夥伴说：“她是你娘！你娘才是疯子，你娘才是这个样子。”我扭头就跑了。这个疯娘我不要了。奶奶和父亲却把娘领进了门。当年，奶奶撵走娘后，她的良心受到了拷问，随著一天天衰老，她的心再也硬不起来，所以主动留下了娘，而我老大不乐意，因为娘丢了我的面子。

我从没给娘好脸色看，从没跟她主动说过话，更没有喊她一声“娘”，我们之间的交流是以我“吼”为主，娘是绝不敢顶嘴的。

三.

家里不能白养著娘，奶奶决定训练娘做些杂活。下地劳动时，奶奶就带著娘出去“观摩”，说不听话就要挨打。

过了些日子，奶奶以为娘已被自己训练得差不多了，就叫娘单独出去割猪草。没想到，娘只用了半小时就割了两筐“猪草”。奶奶一看，又急又慌，娘割的是人家田里正生浆拔穗的稻谷。奶奶气急败坏地骂她：“疯婆娘谷草不分……”奶奶正想著如何善后时，稻田的主人找来了，竟说是奶奶故意教唆的。奶奶火冒三丈，当著人家的面拿出根棒一下敲在娘的后腰上，说：“打死你这个疯婆娘，你给老娘滚远些……”娘虽疯，疼还是知道的，她一跳一跳地躲著棒槌，口里不停地发出“别、别……”的哀号。最后，人家看不过眼，主动说“算了，我们不追究了。以后把她看严点就是……”这场风波平息后，娘歪在地上抽泣著。我鄙夷地对她说：“草和稻子都分不清，你真是个猪。”话音刚落，我的后脑勺挨了一巴掌，是奶奶打的。奶奶瞪着眼骂我：“小兔崽子，你怎么说话的？再这么著，她也是你娘啊！”我不屑地嘴一撇：“我没有这样的傻疯娘！”

“呵，你真是越来越不像话了。看我不打你！”奶奶又举起巴掌，这时只见娘像弹簧一样从地上跳起，横在我和奶奶中间，娘指著自己的头，“打我、打我”地叫著。

我懂了，娘是叫奶奶打她，别打我。奶奶举在半空中的手颓然垂下，嘴里喃喃地说道：“这个疯婆娘，心里也知道疼爱自己的孩子啊！”我上学不久，父亲被邻村一位养鱼专业户请去守鱼池，每月能赚50元。娘仍然在奶奶的带领下出门干活，主要是打猪草，她没再惹什么大的乱子。

记得我读小学三年级饿一个冬日，天空突然下起了雨，奶奶让娘给我送雨伞。娘可能一路摔了好几跤，浑身像个泥猴似的，她站在教室的窗户旁望着我傻笑，口里还叫：“树……伞……”一些同学嘻嘻地笑，我如坐针毡，对娘恨得牙痒痒，恨她不识相，恨她给我丢人，更恨带头起哄的范嘉喜。当他还在夸张地模仿时，我抓起面前的文具盒，猛地向他砸过去，却被范嘉喜躲过了，他冲上前来掐住我的脖子，我俩撕打起来。我个子小，根本不是他的对手，被他轻易压在地上。这时，只听教室外传来“嗷”的一声长啸，娘像个大侠似地飞跑进来，一把抓起范嘉喜，拖到了屋外。都说疯子力气大，真是不假。娘双手将欺负我的范嘉喜举向半空，他吓得哭爹喊娘，一双胖乎乎的小腿在空中乱踢蹬。娘毫不理会，居然将他丢到了学校门口的水塘里，然后一脸漠然地走开了。

娘为我闯了大祸，她却像没事似的。在我面前，娘又恢复了一副怯怯的神态，讨好地看着我。我明白这就是母爱，即使神志不清，母爱也是清醒的，因为她的儿子遭到了别人的欺负。当时我情不自禁地叫了声：“娘！”这是我会说话以来第一次喊她。娘浑身一震，久久地看着我，然后像个孩子似的羞红了脸，咧了咧嘴，傻傻地笑了。那天，我们母子俩第一次共撑一把伞回家。我把这事跟奶奶说了，奶奶吓得跌倒在椅子上，连忙请人去把爸爸叫了回来。爸爸刚进屋，一群拿著刀棒的壮年男人闯进我家，不分青红皂白，先将锅碗瓢盆砸了个稀巴烂，家里像发生了九级地震。这都是范嘉喜家请来的人，范父恶狠狠地指著爸爸的鼻子说：“我儿子吓出了神经病，现在卫生院躺著。你家要不拿出1000块钱的医药费，我他妈一把火烧了你家的房子。”

1000块？爸爸每月才50块钱啊！看着杀气腾腾的范家人，爸爸的眼睛慢慢烧红了，他用非常恐怖的目光盯著娘，一只手飞快地解下腰间的皮带，劈头盖脸地向娘打去。一下又一下，娘像只惶惶偷生的老鼠，又像一只跑进死胡同的猎物，无助地跳着、躲着，她发出的凄厉声以及皮带抽在她身上发出的那种清脆的声响，我一辈子都忘不了。最后还是派出所所长赶来制止了爸爸施暴的手。派出所的调解结果是，双方互有损失，两不亏欠。谁再闹就抓谁！一帮人走后，爸看看满屋狼籍的锅碗碎片，又看看伤痕累累的娘，他突然将娘搂在怀里痛哭起来，说：“疯婆娘，不是我硬要打你，我要不打你，这事下不了地，咱们没钱赔人家啊。这都是家穷惹的祸！”爸又看着我说：“树儿，你一定要好好读书考大学。要不，咱们就这样被人欺负一辈子啊！”我懂事地点点头。

四.

2000年夏，我以优异成绩考上了高中。积劳成疾的奶奶不幸去世，家里的日子更难了。恩施洲的民政局将我家列为特困家庭，每月补助40元钱，我所在的高中也适当减免了我的学杂费，我这才得以继续读下去。

由于是住读，学习又抓得紧，我很少回家。父亲依旧在为50元打工，为我送菜的担子就责无旁贷地落在娘身上。每次总是隔壁的婶婶帮忙为我抄好咸菜，然后交给娘送来。20公里的羊肠山路亏娘牢牢地记了下来，风雨无阻。也真是奇迹，凡是为儿子做□漕①A娘一点儿也不疯。除了母爱，我无法解释这种现象在医学上应该怎么破译。

2003年4月27日，又是一个星期天，娘来了，不但为我送来了菜，还带来了十几个野鲜桃。我拿起一个，咬了一口，笑着问她：“挺甜的，哪来的？”娘说：“我……我摘的……”没想到娘还会摘野桃，我由衷地表扬她：“娘，您真是越来越能干了。”娘嘿嘿地笑了。

娘临走前，我照列叮嘱她注意安全，娘哦哦地应著。送走娘，我又扎进了高考前最后的复习中。第二天，我正在上课，婶婶匆匆地赶来学校，让老师将我喊出教室。婶婶问我娘送菜来没有，我说送了，她昨天就回去了。婶婶说：“没有，她到现在还没回家。”我心一紧，娘该不会走错道吧？可这条路她走了三年，照理不会错啊。婶婶问：“你娘没说什么？”我说没有，她给我带了十几个野鲜桃哩。婶婶两手一拍：“坏了坏了，可能就坏在这野鲜桃上。”婶婶替我请了假，我们沿著山路往回找，回家的路上确有几棵野桃树，桃树上稀稀拉拉地挂著几个桃子，因为长在峭壁上才得以保存下来。我们同时发现一棵桃树有枝丫折断的痕迹，树下是百丈深渊。婶婶看了看我说，“我们到峭壁底下去看看吧！”我说，“婶婶你别吓我……”婶婶不由分说，拉著我就往山谷里走……

娘静静地躺在谷底，周边是一些散落的桃子，她手里还紧紧攥著一个，身上的血早就凝固成了沉重的黑色。我悲痛得五脏俱裂，紧紧地抱住娘，说：“娘啊，我的苦命娘啊，儿悔不该说这桃子甜啊，是儿子要了你的命……娘啊，您活著没享一天福啊……”我将头贴在娘冰凉的脸上，哭得漫山遍野的石头都陪著我落泪……

五.

2003年8月7日，在娘下葬后的第100天，湖北大学烫金的录取通知书穿过娘所走过的路，穿过那几株野桃树，穿过村前的稻场，径直“飞”进了我的家门。我把这份迟到的书信插在娘冷寂的坟头：“娘，儿出息了，您听到了吗？您可以含笑九泉了！”

【转自多家网站，文章起始来源及作者不详。特此致谢！】

作者: weili 时间: 2007-9-20 11:50
是真事？惨啊！

作者: 三川 时间: 2007-9-23 12:46
提

作者: tukeli 时间: 2007-9-23 13:27
This is so touching. Liao Kang has translated it into English.

My Mad Mother

Anonymous from Internet, translated by Kang Liao

Twenty-three years ago a young woman with a disheveled hair and mud-covered face wandered to our village. She smirked at everyone she met and peed in the public without any shame. The women in the village spat on her, and some even kicked her and told her to go away, but she would not leave. She just wandered around with a smirk on her face.

At that time my father was 35 years old. His right hand was cut off in an accident when he was working at a quarry and also, because he was poor, he was unable to get married. When my grandmother saw that woman, who was not bad looking, she decided to take her to be my father's wife. Her plan was to use her for propagation. Once a child was born, she would be driven away. My father was unwilling to have her, but under the circumstances, he finally gave in to my grandmother. So, father got married without costing the family a cent.

When I was born, grandmother held me and exclaimed with glee, "This mad woman, she even gave me a grandson!" But grandmother took me away from Mother and never let her near me.

Mother wanted to hold me, and many times she tried hard to say to my grandmother, "Give, give me…" Grandmother just ignored her. The baby was so small, just a little meatball; what if she dropped it? After all, she was a mad woman. Whenever Mother wanted to hold me, grandmother would stare at her and say in a stern voice, "Don't even think of it. I'll never let you hold the baby. If you dare to do so when I am not watching, I will beat you to death or drive you away." Grandmother was so serious that Mother understood her. She would just look at me from a distance with a look of fear and pity. Although her breasts were filled with milk, I never had any at all. Grandmother fed me with rice soup. She said my mother's milk carried madness. What if it infected the baby?

In those days, my family was still very poor. With Mother and me, two more mouths to feed, we often had nothing to cook with. Grandmother decided to drive my mother away because Mother was idle at home and from time to time even caused trouble. One day grandmother cooked a big pot of rice, gave Mother a full bowl of it, and said, "Daughter, this family is too poor. As head of the family, I apologize to you. After eating this bowl of rice, you go and find yourself a better home. Don't ever come back, OK?" Mother heard this when she  had just taken a mouthful of rice. She was shocked and could not swallow the rice, which was like a stone in her mouth. Mother looked at me in my grandmother's arms and wailed vaguely, "No, don't…" Grandmother's face hardened, and she yelled with a matriarch's authority, "You mad woman, don't be stubborn. Nothing good will ever come of your stubbornness. You were a vagrant. I took you in under my care for two years. What else do you want? Eat your rice and leave. You hear me?" Then she took out a hoe from behind a door and pounded it on the ground making a loud noise. Mother was terrified. She looked at my grandmother with fear and then lowered her head. Tears dropped onto the white rice. Under my grandmother's stare, she did something strange --- she put half of the rice in her bowl into another which was empty, and then she looked at my grandmother with pity.

Grandmother was surprised. She realized that Mother was expressing the willingness to eat only half a bowl if she was not to be driven away. Grandmother's heart sank as if somebody had pulled it hard. She was a woman after all. Her toughness was no more than a mask she put on. She turned her face around and with great difficulty held her tears back. Then her face hardened again and she said, "Eat your rice, quickly. Then leave. You would die of hunger anyway in this house." Mother was in despair. She did not even touch that half bowl of rice but staggered out, but kept standing in front of the door for a long time. Grandmother toughened her attitude and said, "Go, go! Don't come back. There're many rich people in this world." Mother, however, got closer and stretched her hands towards my grandmother. She was pleading with her to hold me. Grandma hesitated and then handed me to her. For the first time Mother held me in her arms. She laughed. At the same time, grandmother was very nervous. Her hands were stretched out under Mother's, in case Mother would drop me if madness should come over her. Mother held me for no more than three minutes when grandmother took me back. She closed the door behind her.

When I grew big enough, I realized that I was the only child who did not have a mother. I asked Daddy and Grandma for Mommy. They said that my mother was dead. But my friends told me that my mother was mad and had been driven away by my grandmother. I went to grandmother again and asked her to return my mother and even called her "Grandma Wolf" and threw the rice and dish that she served me onto the ground. At that time, I had no idea what "mad" meant; I just wanted Mother. Was she still alive? How did she look? To my surprise, after five years' absence, Mother did come back when I was six. That day my friends ran to me with the news, "Hsiao Shu, go and see, your mother's back. Your mad mother's back." I was overjoyed and ran out. Father and grandmother followed me. This  was my first sight of Mother that I remember. She was in rags; her hair covered with dry, yellow, broken leaves of grass. Heaven  knows in which haystack she had spent the night before! Mother did not dare to come in, but  remained sitting in front of our house, holding a dirty balloon in her hand. When I got near her with a group of kids, she searched for me with her eyes eagerly. Finally, her eyes stopped at me. Staring , she opened her mouth, "Hsiao Shu, ball…ball…" She stood up, shaking the balloon in her hand, trying to please me and give the balloon to me. I backed up with disappointment and shame. I never imagined that the mother I was expecting day and night would look so shabby. A kid jeered, "Hsiao Shu, that's your mother. Now you know what a mad woman looks like."

I replied in anger, "She's your mother! Your mother is mad. Your mother looks like that." I turned around and ran away. I did not want this mad woman to be my mother. Grandma and Dad, however, took my mother home. Grandma had been  suffering with her conscience since she drove Mother away that year. As she was getting on in years, she could no longer  harden her heart, so she took Mother in herself. But I was unhappy, for Mother made me lose face.

I never smiled at Mother, never talked to her of my own accord, and never called her "Mother." The communication between us was mostly my yelling at her. Mother never responded in anger.

Since we could not afford to let Mother stay in the house and do nothing, grandmother decided to train her to do some work. Grandmother took her to the field to observe others  working and told her she would receive a beating if she did not learn. Some days later, grandmother thought that Mother was well trained and let her go to cut grass on her own. Never did grandmother expect her to cut two basketfuls of grass within only half an hour. Taking a closer look at the "grass for feeding pigs," grandmother saw that it was actually green paddy! Grandmother was all flustered and exasperated. "You crazy woman, you can't tell grass from paddy…" Grandmother was yelling at her and trying to figure out what she could do to right the wrong when the owner of the paddy field came. He blamed my grandmother for training her to do it on purpose. Grandmother was  furious; she picked up a stick and hit Mother on the back in front of the owner, saying, "I'll kill you, crazy woman. You have made me lose face…"

Mad as Mother was, she could feel pain. She staggered around to dodge the beating and cried , "don'…don'…" In the end, the owner could not bear it any more and said, "Alright, we'll let it pass. Just watch her real close from now on." Thus, the matter was settled. Mother was still lying on the ground sobbing, and I said to her contemptuously, "Can't even tell grass from paddy, you pig!" Hardly had I finished the remark  when grandmother gave me a slap on the back of my head. She stared at me and reproached me, "You son of a rabbit, how dare you say something like this? No matter what, she is your mother!" I replied in disdain, "I don't have such a mad mother!"

"Well,  you’ve gone too far. I'll teach you a lesson!" Grandmother raised her hand again, when Mother sprang up from the ground and threw herself between my grandmother and me. Pointing at her head, Mother said, "Hit me, hit me."

Grandmother's hand froze in the air and fell down, and she murmured, "This crazy woman, she knows how to love her son, too."

After I started school, Father was hired to watch over a fishpond in a neighboring village, and he could make 50 yuan a month. Mother worked under grandmother's severe surveillance, cutting grass most of the time, and she did not cause any serious trouble again.

One winter day when I was in the third grade, it started to rain, and grandmother asked Mother to take an umbrella and fetch me from the school.  Mother probably tumbled several times on the way, for she was covered with mud. She was smirking at me through the window of the classroom and uttering, "Hsian Shu…Um-brella…" Some classmates chuckled, and I felt as if I had been sitting on pins and needles. I hated my mother, who behaved so inappropriately and made me lose face. I also hated Jiahsi, the boy who  led the sneering. He was mimicking my mother , exaggerating while doing so, when I grasped my pencil box and threw it at him. He dodged it and ran to me and seized me by the throat. I was much smaller and was no match for him. He was sitting on me when a loud shout was heard from outside. Mother jumped in like a mountain lion; she grasped Jiahsi and dragged him out.  People say that a mad person  is incredibly strong. It  is true. Mother lifted Jiahsi, who was now crying like a girl and kicking in the air like a hare. Despite all this, Mother threw him into the pond by the  school gate, and then she left as if nothing had happened.

With me Mother was meek again. She tried everything to please me. I realized that this was mother love. Even though she was insane, her mother love was sane when she saw her son being bullied. I could not help but call her "Mother." This was the first time I called her that since I had learned how to speak. Mother shuddered and gazed at me for a long time. Then she flushed like a little girl and smirked or, rather, smiled in intoxication. That day we went home under one umbrella for the first time.

I told grandmother what had happened. She was so scared that she fell off the chair. Immediately she sent for Father. As soon as Father came in, a group of men with knives and clubs arrived and broke into our house. They smashed everything. These people came upon the call of Jiahsi's family. His father pointed at my father's nose and said, "My son was scared out of his wits. He's lying in the clinic. You pay me 1000 yuan for the treatment, or I'll burn down your damned house."

A thousand yuan? Father was making only 50 yuan a month! Looking at these angry men, Father's eyes were burning red. He turned his irate gaze on Mother. His hand took off his belt and whipped Mother’s head and face, one blow after another. Mother was like a scared mouse, dodging the blows and running around. The mixed noise of the blows and her miserable whimpering was a sound that I would never forget. At last the constable came and stopped Father's hand that was inflicting the violence. The constable settled the matter. Since both parties had suffered losses, neither owed the other anything. Who dared to make trouble again would be arrested! After they had left, looking at the mess in the house and Mother, whose body was black and blue, Father, all of sudden, took Mother in his arms and cried bitterly, "Crazy woman, I did not want to hit you, but if I had not hit you, they would never have let us go. We had no money to pay them. It's all because we are poor!" Father then looked at me and said, "Hsiao Shu, you must study hard and go to college. Otherwise, [delete comma] we  will be bullied forever." I nodded withprofound understanding.

In the summer of 2002 I was admitted into a high school for my excellent academic achievements. Unfortunately, grandma broke down from constant overwork and passed away. Our lives became even harder. Considering our difficulties, the local government deemed my family to be beneath the poverty line and subsidized us by 40 yuan a month. The high school also exempted me from the activity fees, so I was able to continue to study there.

It was a kind of boarding school, and I worked so hard on my studies that I seldom went home. Father was still working for 50 yuan a month, so Mother took up the task of taking food to me. It was our neighbor who cooked my food, and Mother would walk 12 miles along the narrow mountainous road, rain or shine, to take it to me. It was a miracle that, mad as she was, she remembered the road and never failed. Why was she not insane at all when she was doing things for her son? It must have been mother love. I cannot explain it medically.

On Sunday, April 27, 2003, Mother came again, not only with my food, but she also brought a dozen or so ripe peaches. I picked up one and sank my teeth into it, and asked her with a big smile, "So sweet! Where did you get them?" Mother replied, "I…I picked…" Never expecting she would be able to pick wild peaches, I praised her from the bottom of my heart, "Mother, you are becoming more and more able." Mother laughed.

Before she left, I told her, as usual, to take care of herself. Mother nodded in agreement. As soon as I had seen her out, I threw myself into the preparation for the college entrance examination. The next day, while I was still in class, the neighbor came in a great hurry, and the teacher took me out. The neighbor asked me if my mother had been here with my food. I told her yes and asked why. The neighbor said, "But she has not come home yet." My heart sank. Did Mother get lost on her way back? Not likely, for she had been walking back and forth on this road for three years. The neighbor asked, "Did your mother say anything out of the ordinary?" I answered, "No, but Mother brought me some wild peaches." The neighbor exclaimed, "That must be it. She probably went to get more peaches."

I asked for leave to go and look for Mother with the neighbor. On the road there were a couple of peach trees, which bore a few peaches here and there. They  had not all been picked because the trees grew on the cliff. Then we spotted a broken branch in a tree, beneath which was a deep valley. The neighbor looked at me and suggested, "Let's go down." I said, "I am so scared…" Without another word, she took my hand and led me down…

Mother was lying at the bottom of the valley. Around her body some peaches lay scattered, and she was still holding one in her hand. Her blood had coagulated black. I felt as if all my internal organs had been ripped apart. Holding Mother tight, I cried, "Mother, Oh, my poor Mother! How I regret  saying the peach was sweet! I caused your death… Mother, you never lived a day in ease and comfort… Oh, my poor Mother!" My face upon Mother's cold face, I cried and sobbed and wept, and I felt all the stones in the valley were shedding tears…

On August 7, 2003, a hundred days after Mother had been buried, a  gilt-edged Notice of Admission from Hubei University arrived on my doorstep after having traveled through the mountainous road and through the wild peach trees and through the paddy field of our village. I put the notice on  top of Mother's cold grave and cried, "Mother, I made it. Do you know? You can rest in peace now."

作者: 三川 时间: 2007-9-23 15:02
谢谢土兄译成英文了，学习了。

作者: 况也 时间: 2007-9-23 23:33
speechless.

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