最近在泡書壇，看到至少兩個牛人用英語寫文，信手拈來，這是我一直向往的境界，但是前路依然漫漫，我試著用英文寫過小說，那叫一個搜刮肚腸啊，哈哈。

去年我在網上找了個創意寫作(Creative Writing)課，沒上完，就又換回中文寫小說了。第一個作業是從下麵的詞中選6個以上的詞，運用到一個虛構的故事情節了，而且是每隔一個句子，我絞盡腦汁，勉強把它們湊成一篇，還看錯了一個詞——aboard看成abroad：

trick, memory, aboard, tiger, pretend, carrot, appliance, cage, rings, crow, filthy, explode

獻個醜：

A Caged Bird

Lu had always craved owning a LV purse, but can only imagine what it feels like to actually carry it as a temporary receptionist in a small nonprofit organization.

“All crows are black.” An ancient Chinese proverb repeated by her mom for years after her dad cheated and left them. They had a mired life ever since, and Lu did not have the money nor time to have a post-secondary education. She hated that filthy bastard whom she called “Dad” whenever money was tight, which was often.

Paul, a once successful entrepreneur and now a philanthropist to several causes from abroad, took interest in her organization. She was appointed to be his guide in touring the organization as they thought she had a warming smile. He took her out for a fancy 9-course dinner and where she had the most delicious carrot cake she has ever had in her entire life. Not soon after that, she had received the very first Louis Vutton purse that she had been craving for in her 34-year-old life. However, to everyone’s surprise, she returned the purse to the generous philanthropist and pretended she was not interested in such a gift because she is sure Paul had done this with many other women in his romantic ventures, why would she be any different? Soon, more gifts flew her way: a Rolex watch, a Harry Winston necklace, a high-end downtown apartment lease and so on. The only downside is that Paul cannot be here all the time because…he is already someone’s husband.

“You live like a bird locked in a cage.” Her mom said.

“A luxury one, though.” She said back.

籠中鳥

璐總渴望有一個LV包，可惜作為一個小型非營利機構的臨時前台，她也隻能在腦中幻想著自己背著它的樣子。

“天下老鴰一般黑。”在爸爸出軌並且拋棄了她們之後，媽總時不時重複著這句中國古代的諺語。

自那以後，母女倆就過著貧苦拮據的生活，璐沒有錢也沒有閑去完成大學教育。每當她捉襟見肘的時候，她就痛恨起那個被她叫作“爸”的混蛋，這樣的時刻常常都會有。

最近，一位給幾個海外不同的慈善活動捐過善款大慈善家對她所在的機構感興趣起來。他叫保羅，曾是位非常成功的生意人。她被派去給他做向導，介紹一下機構裏的一些大致情況，因為領導覺得她有一個令人暖心的微笑。事畢，他邀請她去吃了一頓九道菜的晚餐，上甜點時，她吃到了這輩子吃到過的最美味的胡蘿卜蛋糕。不久，她便收到了她三十四年的生命裏的第一個LV包。然而，令所有人大跌眼鏡的是，她把這個包退還給那個慷慨的慈善家，裝出一副隊這類禮物毫不動心的樣子，因為她相信保羅的生命裏一定出現過不少這樣被他打動的女人。如果她收了，那麽她又怎能從那些女人中脫穎而出呢？很快，更多的禮物魚貫而入：一隻勞力士手表，一條哈利溫斯頓的項鏈，還有市中心租金付清的高檔公寓等等。唯一的不足之處就是，保羅並不能總是陪伴在她左右，因為…他早已是別人的丈夫。

“你現在完全是一隻被鎖在籠子裏的鳥。”她母親說。

“一隻奢華的鳥。”她滿不在乎。

後記：

此前，我對英文小說創作的概念，還是看嚴歌苓的文章學來的（她是哥倫比亞大學創意寫作係的碩士），她的文裏介紹英文小說要多用動詞，少用副詞，盡量用短句子。我個人覺得在中文小說中也一樣適用。

寫完這個小短篇後，我的感想就是小說創作，不論哪種語言，即便要選用最簡潔的詞匯，也是要在儲備了大量的閱讀和詞匯的基礎上，淡定地刪繁就簡，腹有詩書氣自閑！

我覺得我要真打算寫英文小說，要做到這份“閑”，還得起碼5-10年的磨礪。