诺言
劳伦M.格瑞格莉 著
杨伟莉 译
我和老伴儿一起逛街，路过一家体育用品商店时，正逢店里打折促销，一向勤俭持家的我心里痒痒的，跟老伴儿提出来进去看看。“不用了，我们啥也不买。再说这就是骗人的把戏，天下哪有赔本的买卖？”老伴儿不耐烦地催我离开。“可是，这是体育用品店呀。我们可以给孙儿们买点儿什么。还有，你不是一直想要渔艇和渔具吗？”我不甘心地坚持着。“你不知道吗？”老伴儿瞪着我说，“我想要的是品质最好的渔艇，等我攒够6000元，我会从厂家订货，这里哪会有这个，我才懒得进去呢！”“你这人真无聊！”我生气道，“你不愿意我愿意，我跟你保证只看不买。你去喝咖啡好了，半小时后在这儿会合。”“老太婆，明知做不到，瞎保证有什么用？”老伴儿呵呵地笑了，他脸上那幅自鸣得意、等着看笑话的样子，让我心头火起。这还不算，他还没完了，“我保证你会买的，就像以前一样。”“够了！别再说了！”我大声道，他太伤我的自尊心了，我自认为是个精打细算、会过日子的人，他竟如此嘲笑我！走着瞧，我下定了决心，无论如何也不掏钱。老伴儿呀，到时候看你怎么说。我抱着坚决不买的的决心挤进人头攒动的商店。货架上摆满曲棍球、乒乓球、高尔夫、健身用品、渔具、男孩子玩具等等，所有商品上的特价标签十分醒目：特价2折，恕不退货。我满心欢喜地观赏着琳琅满目的商品，心中赞叹不已。在一些特别喜欢的商品前面，我踌躇许久，还是恋恋不舍地离开。突然，我眼前一亮，最里面摆放的渔艇一下子吸引了我，那不正是老伴儿日思夜想的渔艇吗？只见里面还装有专业的救生衣、划桨和渔具。我仔细端详着，心跳不由得加快了，我从人群里好不容易挤过去，几乎跌倒，我费力地找到它的价格标签 ，上面写着：厂家建议零售价6750 元（税后价），现特价：750元，恕不退货。我不敢相信自己的眼睛，一下子便宜掉6000元，这不可能吧？我抓住他的衣袖，“马修，告诉我，这渔艇有什么问题吗？为什么只卖750元？”“这渔艇是新的，没有任何问题。现在包括救生衣、划桨、渔具在内一起处理。如果您想知道原因的话，我去给您问一下。”几分钟后，马修回来了，“对不起，夫人，我刚问了我父亲，他负责处理这些物品，他说价格标错了，渔艇和里面所有的东西总共是4750元，不过，原价要8000多元呢，现在买真的很划算。”我的心情瞬间跌落至谷底，“那算了，”我失望地说，“我刚看见那价格时，以为是在梦中呢。这渔艇多好啊，我老伴儿做梦都想买啊！这个星期五是他62岁生日。因为身体不好，现在他已经退休了，我们靠退休金度日，老伴儿为了买渔艇，每星期都节省下10元，可这要攒好多年哪！这个老顽固整天念叨着坐渔艇去钓鱼呢……” 我喉咙发堵，说不下去了，赶紧转身离开。当我到了门口时，马修追上了我，“夫人，我跟我父亲说了您家的情况，我父亲很同情您，他说您只需付750元，再加25元的运费和少许的税费，就可以得到它。”“那好，星期五上午10点左右，您和您先生就在家等着，我父亲和我会把它送过去，我们还要祝您先生生日快乐！”这时，马修神情悲伤地对我说：“夫人，我想让您知道，这家店是我爷爷开的，他苦心经营了30多年，他总说不再管了，好好休息休息，他说他想坐渔艇去钓鱼，去年还亲自订购了这艘渔艇，可是晚了，”马修抽泣起来，“我爷爷去世了，上星期他突然走了。他才68岁……如果您先生能拥有它,我想我爷爷会高兴的，我父亲也是这样想的，您只需保证让它不闲在家就行，保证？”我递给马修面巾纸擦眼泪，我俩站在人来人往的店门口，沉浸在悲伤的思绪当中。
原文
Broken Promises
Lorraine M. Gregoire
"Sheesh! Give me a few points for self control!" I snapped at my cranky husband.I wanted to stop at a sporting goods store "Going Out of Business" sale we passed in the mall. "There's nothing we need", his usual grumpy male comment."It's all overpriced junk. If they had anything good they wouldn't be going out of business.""But, it's sporting goods", I wheedled "Could be some good deals for the grandkids. And, you like boats and fishing stuff. I've put up with that photo of your "dream-canoe " stuck on the bathroom mirror for years now. Maybe you'd enjoy just looking around?""Are you crazy" his eyes got funny and he said something like. "The boat I want is the Supremo Numero-Uno blah-blah.Soon as I finish saving up 6,000 bucks for that baby I'm going to order right from the manufacturer. Custom . In silver . Yesiree. This loser store wouldn't carry something like THAT. And I'm sure not going near those sucker crowds.""You're so darn and boring!" I retorted. "I happen to like crowds. They make me feel like I'm part of something. I promise I won't buy anything but I'm going to look around for fun anyways. You go for coffee and I'll meet you back here in half an hour.""Don't make promises you can't keep, old girl." He chuckled in that self-satisfied "I'll believe it when I see it" way that always gets me riled."I know you're going to come out of there with useless junk. You always do."His words made me mad. How dare he accuse me of being frivolous ! I prided myself on being a wise shopper. I had a darn good nose for bargains and stretched our old age pensions like nobody's business. Now I had a mad on, that's for sure. "Boy, I'll show him." I promised myself I would not buy a darn thing, no matter what.Ha! I wouldn't give Mr. Know-It-All smarty-pants reason to gloatI squaredmy chin and marched into the crowded store. Aisles and aisles of hockey equipment, basketballs, golf clubs, exercise equipment, fishing gear , boy toys galore a were strung with huge blaringsigns. CLOSING OUT SALE - Up to 80% OFF. NO REFUNDS.Up and down the aisles I strolled. ducked and dodged, humming to myself and enjoying the frenetic energy and excitement of a sale.All of a sudden, there, at the back of the store, in gleaming silver, full of lifejacketsn., paddles and fishing stuff, sat the exact canoe of my husband's picture.I gasped and blinkedn. three times. Yup. It was still there. The Supremo Numero-Uno blah , blah. My heart beat wildly. I elbowed my way through the crowds, scrambled over junk in the aisles and darned near fell into the canoe looking for the price tag.There it was - a little tattered, with the manufacturer's suggested retail price at $6,750 plus tax crossed out and a handwritten TO CLEAR $750 AS IS. NO RETURNS. Must be a mistake. $6000 off? Salesman. I had to talk to a salesman.I spotted a young fellow with a "Hi. I'm Mathew" tag trying to hide out from the mob of bargain hunters. I clutched his sleeve."Mathew. Tell me about this El Supremo canoe. What's wrong with it? Why is it only $750?""Oh. There's nothing wrong with it. It's brand new. We're closing the store is all. It's on clearance like everything else. I think that includes lifejackets, paddles and a bunch of fishing gear, too. I'll go check." A few minutes later he came back and said, "I'm sorry ma'am. Someone made a mistake on the sale tag. It's supposed to be $4,750 for the whole packageI just talked to my Dad who is running the close-out. He said it was worth more than $8,000 regular price so it's still a real good deal."I felt tears well up in my eyes."Oh well", I said sadly. "Of course, it was too good to be true. This is exactly like my husband's dreamboat. I guess I started to dream myself when I saw that price tag. He's going to be 62 years old Friday. Had to retire early for his health. It's been hard on just the pension but the stubborn old fool has been saving $10 every week for years to buy one just like this. Just an old man's silly dream, you know. Always said he wanted to spend his retirement out fishing in a canoe," my voice trailed off and I turned and walked away.I was already at the mall door when Mathew caught up with me. "Do you have $750 plus $25 for delivery and a bit more for tax, ma'am?" I gasped. "Yes. Yes. That's about all I have," I said as I thought fleetingly about the cataract surgery I was saving up for."Well then, you just have your husband sitting on the front porch n.on Friday morning around 10 o'clock so's he can be there when my Dad and I come to unloadhis new boat. We'll even put a bowI started to cry. My old hand shook and I had to squint as I wrote out my cheque. Mathew swallowed hard. "Ma'am. There's something you should know. This store was my Grampa's. He ran it for more than 30 years. He always promised to retire one day. Said he wanted to spend time relaxing and out fishing in a canoe. He ordered this one, custom, for himself last year but, well, just never took the time off to use it."He swallowed even harder."My Grampa died, sudden-like, just last week. He was only 68 years old. I think he'd be mighty happy that your husband will get this here canoe. My Dad thinks so too. You just have to make sure he uses it a lot, okay? Promise?"I handed Mathew a Kleenex n.and we stood there together, quietly lost in our own thoughts for a moment, blowing our noses."I promise," I said as I dashedoff to look for my dear sweet husband.
杨伟莉，郑州市作家协会会员，新密市文化馆副馆长，副研究馆员，热爱文学翻译，有多篇译著在国家级刊物《译林》《英语文摘》《小小说选刊》发表。“文学百苑·改稿荐稿”群启事
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