【赫临译笔】林中漫步 - 心云驛站

我迷惑不解，这位老太太为什么会对这样一片对谁都毫无用途的老灌木大做文章呢？她给当地报社写信，甚至给国家级报社写信，抗议已经拟定的修一条小路通向她的村子。看看地图，这条路离她所住的地方一点也不近，那儿的风光好像也并不迷人。我更加疑惑，甚至产生了好奇心。

很快就要进行对这条入村的新路的勘察。我想了解她的动机，因此，不知不觉就敲开了一家农舍的门。玛丽·史密斯接待了我，随后她带我去林间散步。

“我一直很爱这个地方，”她说：“这里有我，也有别人许多记忆。我们都在使用这个地方。他们称之为“情侣路”。它并不像条小路，也不通向什么重要地方，但正因为如此，我们才都来这里。远离人群，只有我们自己。”她接着说。

那天的确很怡人，百鸟和鸣，松鼠在枝头张望，动作很大胆。很明显，这里人迹罕至，它们无所畏惧。我想到小路修成后车辆经过这片树林的喧嚣声，觉得她很可能有几分道理。但我坚信整个社区的需要还是要远远高于她个人的观点。我什么也没说。这个村子因为交通不便，是个危险的地方，尤其对老人和孩子，更是如此。他们的安全远比一个老太太的心血来潮重要。

“以这棵树为例，”她稍停片刻，接着说：“对于你来说，它只是一棵树。和许多其它的树没什么两样。”她轻轻地抚摸着树皮。“瞧这儿，这根树枝下，你能看到什么？”

我又看了一眼，这次仔细多了。那颗心还在那儿，似乎有一把箭穿心而过。心一侧的字母已模糊不清，但另一侧的“R”却清晰可辨，后面的字母好像是“T”。“这是一段初恋罗曼史吧？”我问：“你知道他们是谁吗？”

我感到有点莫测高深了，渴望离开这里，离开这个老太太，回到自己的办公室，舒舒服服地捧着一杯茶。

她继续说：“他有一把带穗的小刀，是用来剔除马掌上的石子的，我帮他刻上我名字的首字母。我们很相爱，但他离开了，无法得知他在部队里做了什么，我当然猜到了。那是我们在一起的最后一晚，因为第二天他就离开了，回到了部队。”

玛丽沉默了一会儿，然后啜泣起来。他母亲让我看了这封电报。“福尔摩斯军士……在入侵法国的行动中阵亡。”

“我曾希望有一天我的罗宾会结婚，”她说：“他是我的独子，我曾憧憬过要当奶奶，他们会是如此可爱的孩子们。她就是这样的！”

“两年后她也去世了，医生说‘是肺炎，因胸部风寒所致’。但我认为这是典型的伤心过度。如果有一个孩子会帮助我俩度过难关。”

又沉默了一会儿，玛丽轻轻抚摸着那棵刻有刀痕的树，就像抚摸着他一样。“现在他们想把我们的树夺走。”又一阵无声的啜泣，然后她转向我说：“那时的我年轻漂亮，什么样的人都找得到。并不像你看到的这样一直是个老太婆，我有过人生中想要的一切，一个可爱的人，健康的身体，和可展望的未来。”

她又停了下来，环视着周围。一阵微风吹过树叶，树叶沙沙响犹如声声叹息。“当然，还有别人，可他们丝毫也比不上我的罗宾！”她坚定地说：“现在，除了这棵树所保留的记忆，我已一无所有。如果我能找到那个可恶的家伙就好了。他签署了这样一份文件，要在我们此刻站的地方修一条路，我要和他说：你从没有爱过吗？你从没有生活过吗？你懂什么叫记忆吗？你知道，来这里的并不只有我俩，我依然能见到其他人来这里，像当年的我和罗宾一样。是的，我会告诉他的。”

I was puzzled! Why was this old woman making such a fuss about an old copse which was of no use toanybody? She had written letters to the local paper, even to a national,protesting about a projected by-pass to her village, and, looking at a map, theroute was nowhere near where she lived and it wasn't as if the area wasattractive. I was more than puzzled, I was intrigued.

The enquiry intothe route of the new by-pass to the village was due to take place shortly, andI wanted to know what it was that motivated her. So it was that I found myselfknocking on a cottage door, being received by Mary Smith and then being takenfor a walk to the woods.

"I've alwaysloved this place", she said, "it has a lot of memories for me, andfor others. We all used it. They called it 'Lovers lane'. It's not much of alane, and it doesn't go anywhere important, but that's why we all came here. Tobe away from people, to be by ourselves " she added.

　　It was indeed pleasant that day and thesongs of many birds could be heard. Squirrels gazed from the branches, quitebold in their movements, obviously few people passed this way and they hadnothing to fear. I could imagine the noise of vehicles passing through thesepeaceful woods when the by-pass was built, so I felt that she probably hadsomething there but as I hold strong opinions about the needs of the communityover-riding the opinions of private individuals, I said nothing. The villagewas quite a dangerous place because of the traffic especially for old peopleand children, their safety was more important to me than an old woman's whims.

"Take thistree", she said pausing after a short while. "To you it is just that,a tree. Not unlike many others here". She gently touched the bark."Look here, under this branch, what can you see?"

I looked again,this time more carefully. The heart was still there and there was a suggestionof an arrow through it. The letters on one side were indistinct, but on theother an 'R' was clearly visible with what looked like an 'I' after it."Some budding romance?" I asked, "did you know who theywere?"

I realised that Icould be getting out of my depth, and longed to be in my office, away from hereand this old lady, snug, and with a mug of tea in my hand.

She went on…"He had a penknife with a spike for getting stones from a horse's hoof,and I helped him to carve my initials. We were very much in love, but he wasgoing away, and could not tell me what he was involved in the army. I hadguessed of course. It was the last evening we ever spent together，because he went away the next day, back to his Unit."

Mary Smith wasquiet for a while, then she sobbed. "His mother showed me the telegram.'Sergeant R Holmes ….. Killed in action in the invasion of France'".

"'I had hopedthat you and Robin would one day get married" she said, "He was myonly child, and I would have loved to be a Granny, they would have been suchlovely babies'- she was like that! "

"Two yearslater she too was dead. 'Pneumonia, following a chill on the chest' was whatthe doctor said, but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A childwould have helped both of us."

There was a furtherpause. Mary Smith gently caressed the wounded tree, just as she would havecaressed him. "And now they want to take our tree away from me."Another quiet sob, then she turned to me. "I was young and pretty then, Icould have had anybody, I wasn't always the old woman you see here now. I hadeverything I wanted in life, a lovely man, health and a future to look forwardsto".

She paused againand looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighingsound. "There were others, of course, but not a patch on my Robin!"she said strongly. "And now I have nothing - except the memories this treeholds. If only I could get my hands on that awful man who writes in the paperabout the value of the road they are going to build where we are standing now,I would tell him. Has he never loved, has he never lived, does he not knowanything about memories? We were not the only ones, you know, I still meet somewho came here as Robin and I did. Yes, I would tell him!"