《葉子的故事》by 華州/板板

英文版，板板：

華州的MP3:
http://space.wenxuecity.com/media/1271150506.mp3
葉子的故事

葉子，在大地沉吟時生發，在金風繞樹時飄零。
葉子，黑白晶瑩的眼睛，月滿珠圓的臉蛋，齊整整的劉海和飄揚帶風的小辮。
飄揚帶風的小辮，讓你可以如此輕易地認出她，就算是隔得再遠……
真的好遠了，阿琅認識她的時候，隻有十歲。

那時阿琅家住在第九中學裏，每天到了傍晚，大大小小的孩子——大多是教師子弟，就從四麵匯集起來，在黑燈瞎火的操場和周圍的民居間玩“踢罐子”，葉子也常常來，她跑得很快。
阿琅認識葉子，可是從來沒有說過話。
玩踢罐子的人每天都在變，每年都在變，大概是年紀大的孩子不再來了，年紀小的孩子又不斷在補充。
阿琅喜歡玩踢罐子，所以他每天都去，葉子大概也一樣。
不知不覺，阿琅已經成了踢罐子的元老，他長大了，上了初一。在他走進教室的第一天，阿琅驚奇地發現，葉子竟然是自己的同桌。
葉子玩踢罐子常常會贏，葉子還很聰明，每門功課都很優秀，阿琅不服氣，為了不比她差，阿琅不得不“頭懸梁，錐刺股”。

阿琅好多年沒見過葉子了，直到那一天，他意外地在同學錄上看見葉子的婚訊，阿琅才想起來，應該給葉子打個電話了，其實阿琅常常會想起給葉子打電話，但，又常常忘記……大概，是忘記吧。
他們聊了很多，舊友新朋，如意失意，間中，阿琅調笑葉子：“這麽快就結婚了，也不等等我。”
葉子忽然沉默了，許久之後，才輕輕地說：“我等了你十五年了。”
阿琅的心裏忽然一陣刺痛，然後隱隱約約地，化作酸楚。
阿琅不知道怎麽結束了跟葉子的通話，也不知道自己呆坐了多久。天黑了，他打開了旅行箱，取出薄薄的三頁信箋。
那是葉子寫給他的情書，一九九三年。

一九九三年，阿琅是意氣風發，爭強好勝，卻懵然不知情為何物的毛頭小子。
阿琅收到葉子情書的時候，意外，緊張，不知所措，他找他的好朋友商量，那家夥卻很不厚道地把葉子的情書當眾念了出來，然後笑得前仰後合。
原來是那痞子，冒阿琅的名字先給葉子寫了一封情書，葉子她才……
葉子坐在角落裏，臉憋得紅紅的，淚水一直在眼眶裏打轉，但是，一滴也沒有流出來。
葉子是堅強的女孩，阿琅，卻是懦弱的男子，他不知道如何麵對這份感情，於是他逃避，他不敢跟她說話，甚至，不敢瞧她一眼。
同學們一直開他們的玩笑，直到初中畢業。


阿琅去了另一所中學上高中，見不到葉子的日子，他卻突然有了改變，他對女孩有了興趣，還鼓起勇氣向一個女孩表白，要她做自己的女朋友。
她跟葉子同一間學校。
放了學，阿琅常常騎自行車去接她，偶爾會碰見葉子。每次，葉子都會對他自然地笑笑。
阿琅的成績一落千丈，眼看高考在即，他不知是幡然悔悟，還是遷怒於人，跟女友提出了分手，她哭得很傷心，阿琅卻咬緊牙根，狠心離去。
事隔多年，阿琅仍然不知道，他當時的決定是對的還是錯的。

葉子又開始出現在阿琅的視線裏，她總是不知道從哪裏冒出來，手裏拿著一本習題集，問阿琅一些刁鑽的問題，數學，物理，外語，什麽古怪的問題都有。
阿琅可笑的自尊心又開始作祟，為了不在葉子麵前丟臉，為了顯得比葉子強，他再一次“頭懸梁，錐刺股。”
高考了，試卷上的題目跟葉子問阿琅的一樣刁鑽，然而，阿琅已經駕輕就熟。
阿琅收拾好行裝，春風得意地來到某重點大學，在同鄉會上，他赫然發現葉子坐在自己對麵的長椅。
他訝然，驚喜，跑過去興奮地說：“你也來了，我們還真是有緣。”
葉子淡然地笑著，“是啊，我們還真有緣。”
因為在不同的院係，阿琅跟葉子見麵的時間不多。不久以後，年少輕狂的他，又跟一個漂亮的女同學——雨，墜入了愛河。
那天夜裏，阿琅放肆地抱著雨在後山小道上瘋跑，迎麵碰上葉子，葉子的目光閃爍了一下，把左手藏在身後，伸出右手揮了揮，說：“嗨。”
阿琅有點不好意思，尷尬地應了一聲，匆匆逃去。

阿琅回到寢室的時候，桌上多了罐東西，是葉子給他的。
阿琅好奇地扒開塑料袋，裏麵裝的是他最愛吃的家鄉辣椒。

次一年的三月，櫻花如雪，阿琅的高中同桌慕名而來，他問阿琅：“葉子呢？”
阿琅很奇怪，“你也認識葉子？”
同桌笑說：“認識，怎麽不認識，那時她天天來纏著我，打聽你填報了哪所學校，還千叮萬囑，別讓你知道。”

阿琅默默無語，他一直以為，葉子隻是跟他有緣。他伸出手，等了很久，想看看會不會有一片無心飄落的花瓣落入自己的掌心。
他沒有等到。

雨，總是說來就來，說去就去，雨，也一樣。
阿琅跟雨分手了，心裏堵得難受，加上不小心染上了感冒，內憂外患，病得他有氣無力。
阿琅以為自己就快死了，朦朧中卻有葉子來看他，她給阿琅帶了好多藥來，還用酒精爐幫他熬了稀粥。

那天，外麵漫天風雨，葉子的傘掛在門邊，水珠滑落，一滴又一滴，靜靜地，堅定地，敲打著門前的頑石。

阿琅懂得葉子的心。
阿琅假裝不懂葉子的心。

雨要跟阿琅複合，阿琅曖昧著，猶豫著，沒有表態。他不知道為什麽，也許，是那片飄在他肩頭的葉子太輕，輕得他感覺不到，又或者，是她太重，重得他承擔不起。
大學畢業，阿琅決定出國留學，他沒有帶走雨的任何東西，卻帶走了葉子的三頁信箋。其實這些年來，無論阿琅走到哪裏，他總帶著那三頁信箋。他從來沒有想過為什麽，直到今天他才忽然明白，有了它們，自己心裏才踏實，什麽也不怕。
葉子，在初春迎風招展，在盛夏翹首以盼，然而，阿琅卻忘了四季有秋天，卻忘了那摧心斷腸的歲月風刃……
葉子結婚了，阿琅把三頁信箋疊成紙鶴，掛在窗前。阿琅會永遠帶著它們，因為在它們的翅膀上，葉子曾說，會為他永遠守候。

English

Leaflets, sprout when the mother earth awakens, fades when the autumn winds wind around the tree.

Leaflet, the little girl, she has sparkling bright eyes, a cute round face, an even hair bang and a ponytail that fluttered with the wind.

You could recognize her immediately by that ponytail, no matter how far away she was.

It was truly a long, long time ago, when Lang met Leaflet, when he was only 10 years old.

At that time, Lang lived at the No. 9 High School. At dusk, all the kids, most of whose parents were teachers at the school, would gather. In the dimming sunlight, the kids would be playing in the playground and all over the neighbourhood; the game was called kicking the can. Leaflet joined them all the time, she ran the fastest.

Lang knew Leaflet, but they never really talked.

Every day, and every year, different groups of kids played the same game – ‘kicking the can’. The older kids moved on, while younger new comers would come along.

Lang enjoyed the game so much that he went every single day; same did Leaflet.

Before he knew it, Lang became the oldest kid of the group. He grew up, he went to middle school. When he walked into the class room, to his surprise, Leaflet was his deskmate.

Leaflet was the best in the kicking the can game and she won all time. Leaflet was also very smart, she got straight As. Lang wanted to beat Leaflet, he wanted to do even better, for which he worked extremely hard.

A long long time later after high school, during which Lang hadn’t seen Leaflet for years, one day, to his surprise, he found out that Leaflet was getting married. Lang thought, maybe I should give her a buzz. Actually, he did think of calling her from time to time in the past, but then he always forgot… yeah, he just forgot.

This time he called. They talked and talked, they talked about their old friends, new friends, good days, bad days…. Lang made a joke and said ‘Hey you, why the rush getting married, why not waiting for me?’

There was a silence, for a long long while. After which, Leaflet said ‘I waited for you, for 15 years.’

Now, there was a sharp pain to Lang’s heart, later, vaguely, the pain became a sore.


Lang couldn’t remember how they finished the phone call, neither could he recall how long he just sat there, doing nothing. It turned dark, he opened his suitcase to find a letter, written in three pages.

That was a love letter to him from Leaflet, that was 1993.

In 1993, Lang was young and wild, extremely competitive, yet he had no idea what love was.

That love letter from Leaflet surprised him and freaked him out. Not knowing what to do, Lang asked for advice from his best buddy. That guy, without mercy, read the letter out loud to everyone in the class, then he laughed and laughed.

What really happened, was that this very same guy faked a love letter to Leaflet from Lang earlier, which was exactly why Leaflet wrote her letter as a reply.

Poor little Leaflet, sat in the corner, her face all flushed and her eyes watered, but she didn’t shed even one single drop of tear.

Leaflet was a tough girl, but Lang was not a tough boy. Lang was not ready for her love, so he ran away. He wouldn’t talk to her, he wouldn’t even look at her.

Others kept joking about them, until they finished middle school.

Afterwards, Lang went to a different high school. In days without Leaflet, Lang changed from boy to man. He began to want girls, and he asked a girl out to be his girlfriend.

This girl was a schoolmate of Leaflet.

After school, Lang would bike to pick up the girlfriend. Sometimes he would run into Leaflet. Each time, Leaflet just gave him a smile, nice and easy.

Lang’s grades went downhill to disastrous. Now he was about to take the entrance exam for college. Maybe he realized that he should have focused on his study, or, maybe he thought his downfall was because of the young love, he broke up with the girlfriend. The girl cried her heart out, but Lang heartlessly left.

Many years later, Lang still didn’t know if he did the right thing.

Now Leaflet seemed to reappear in Lang’s life. Out of nowhere she would bring a booklet of study questions. These questions covered all subjects such as math, physics, English and what not, and they were real tough.

Lang’s dignity was acting out again. He wanted to do better than Leaflet, and again, like when he was younger, he worked extremely hard.

Then came the exam. The real questions were as tough as the ones Leaflet asked him, but now, Lang answered all without a sweat.

Lang got admitted to a top university. To his yet another surprise, he found Leaflet sitting next to him on the school opening day.

What a pleasant surprise! He ran to Leaflet ‘Hey you are here too? That’s fate.’

Leaflet just smiled ‘yeah, that’s fate.’

Because they were in different departments, Lang hardly saw Leaflet. Not too much later, still young and wild, Lang fell in love with a pretty girl, Rain.

One evening, when Lang was running with Rain in his arms, Leaflet came across. There was a sparkle in Leaflet’s eyes. Leaflet quickly waved hi to Lang with her right hand, while hiding her left hand behind her back.

Lang felt embarrassed; he said hi and ran away.

When he got back to the dorm, he found that Leaflet just left him something.

It was his favorite, a can of hot peppers from their home town.

Next March, the oriental cherry trees blossomed in full bloom, beautiful like the winter snow fall. Lang’s high school deskmate came to visit, he asked Lang ‘where is Leaflet?’

Lang was surprised, ‘You know Leaflet too?’

‘Of course I know her. Back then, Leaflet used to come to me everyday just to ask me which school you picked for college. She told me not tell you.’

Lang was speechless. He always thought it was fate that brought Leaflet to him.
He opened his palms and waited for a long time; he was waiting to see if a pedal the cherry flowers would fall into his hands.

But nothing happened.

Rain, comes and goes, as always. The same was the pretty girl, Rain.

Lang and Rain broke up. His heart suffocated, and meanwhile he caught a cold. Everything was against him, he was very ill.

Lang thought he was about to die. Sick and drowsy, he saw Leaflet come to visit him. Leaflet brought medications, and cooked congee for him with an alcohol oven.

It was raining hard that day. Leaflet’s umbrella was hung on the door, with water dripping down against the floor. Each and every drop hit the ground, silent but strong.

Lang knew what was in Leaflet’s heart.

But he pretended he did not know.

Rain wanted to get back together with Lang. Lang hesitated and hesitated, he said nothing. He didn’t know why. Maybe, it was because of the very lightness of the little leaflet on his shoulders, which was too light to feel. Or, maybe, it was because of the heaviness of that same leaflet, which was too heavy to afford.

After graduation, Lang decided to study abroad. He brought nothing from Rain with him, but he carried the three paged love letter from Leaflet. Actually, for all these years, he has been carrying them wherever he goes. He didn’t know why, but today, he realized, these pages makes him feel home, feel safe, feel fearless.

The leaflet, standing in the spring wind, holding on in the summer sunshine. However, Lang didn’t realize autumn always comes afterwards, and he forgot that the flying of time breaks our hearts.

Leaflet got married. Lang folded the three pages of the love letter into Origami cranes, and put them on his window. Lang will always carry them, because on their wings, Leaflet said, she would be right there waiting for him, forever and ever.

[李一]

謝謝無墨。：）

[無墨]

好！大頂好文好朗誦，嗬嗬！