正文
開始我跟Peter的故事之前，我就曾經提到過在我這裏住了三個月的房客Lisa，Lisa 二月初回國不久，就被醫生查出左下巴有一塊腫瘤，原來她一直認為在加拿大除了上課也沒啥其他事情做，所以人長胖了就出現了雙下巴，為此她還整天去樓底下的gym運動，得此機會認識了老Peter，從而還引發了我跟Peter的故事，她二月中旬在廣州一家有名的醫院做了腫瘤切除手術，並告訴我和Peter她恢複的很好，腫瘤是良性。可前幾天Lisa給我來了一封Email，說她做過手術的地方又鼓起來了，長得跟原來差不多大，醫生從刀口處抽出很多液體，她很害怕，很難過，從醫院回到家裏後大哭了一場，我把這事情跟老Peter講了，沒曾想到的是老Peter竟然大發人生感慨，給我來了一封長長的信，讓我看了以後啞口無言……
Dearest Sweet Sherry,
I phoned a friend of mine here in Mississauga who is a qualified doctor. She's from India and doesn't work as a doctor any more due to Canadian red tape.I talked to her about Lisa's tumor when I first heard about it, on her return to China. My friend assured me that a tumor in the neck which could be felt by the hand had a 90% chance of being okay. Of being benign. Of not being attached to any important organ. Of being easilly removed by surgery. And that's what we all thought had happened; it had been easilly removed by surgery! And now this. My doctor friend says this new development is very dangerous. Her tumor, if benign, should not have grown back to be bigger than it originally was in this amount of time. Only a malignant tumor does that and a malignant tumor in the neck is very, very bad.
Sherry, I told you on Sunday that I have no fear. I've forgotton what the exact context was but that's a pretty accurate statement, normally.Well......
I am frightened now. I'm terrified.
Lisa is a very special person.Part of me thinks of her as our daughter!!!! First of all, you told me she was 21 years old. I was not the only one to be "inaccurate" about age!!! And I believed you. She seemed to me much more like a 21-year-old than a 36-year-old, if that in fact is her correct age!! Of course her lack of English played a part in that. I developed a kind of "baby-talk" basic English by which we could communicate verbally. And I was her teacher and I felt, and I think she felt, that it was almost like a father/daughter thing.And I was aware of your relationship with Lisa. You were the experienced Canadian, another teacher. And you were a little older. I always figured you were about 39 so, if Lisa really was 36 that still would have given you seniority. And she worshipped you! You were sophisticated, western, chic and beautiful and you were her role model.
The first night I came to your home for dinner, Lisa sat quietly at her corner of the table and just watched us as we talked. And it was clear to me that she adored you. Despite the closeness of your ages, you were like a mother to her.And that night, as you pumped me for information on how to date western guys, it first hit me that Lisa was sitting there thinking of us as Mum and Dad. And that's why she tried so hard to bring us together.
The Irish are a very spiritual and mystical people. Our culture is one of the oldest in Europe, going back as long as China's.Our culture is ten times as old as the English culture, for example.A part of me thinks that Lisa was an angel, not a human being at all. And she had been given human form with the mission of bringing Peter and Sherry together. Because God had tried! He'd brought them to the same city! He'd even engineered things so that they ended up in the same building together. But they still didn't get it! And God thought they were both pretty special people who belonged together and so in frustration, he had to assign one of his favorite angels to go down to earth and make it happen. And that favorite angel was Lisa. And she did make it happen. And now that her work is done, God wants her back.That's a difficult thing for us to take. But angels live forever and in that context one short human life is like a snap of the fingers. And she has probably lived a hundred human lives already, making things happen for God! If she is our daughter, she will come back to us. All will be well.If she is an angel who God wants back, we will have to wait until we are both in heaven to see her again.
I want to hold you in my arms very tightly. I want to rest my head on your shoulders and feel your head resting on mine.I feel we should comfort each other right now.
P.
我說不清楚看了這個email後內心的感受，總之，覺得老Peter也太言過其詞了，尤其不喜歡他把我跟他比喻成了Lisa的父母，扯不扯啊，依你老Peter的年齡可不是做Lisa的老爸夠格了，幹嗎也把我扯進去？再說了，Lisa也不是一個小孩子，不就是英文說的不夠溜嗎，你老Peter還竟把人家當成小孩子了。那天晚上老Peter電話給我的時候，我毫不猶豫地說他的比喻極端得荒唐可笑，因為他無法跟Lisa用英文溝通，對Lisa也完全不了解，所以希望他不要亂發揮想象力，把我和他相提並論地提升做了一把Lisa的父母，盡管是比喻，讓我感覺很不好，其實，我是在想你老Peter那麽大年齡，怎麽好意思把我也放在跟你一個年齡段裏了呢？切，不要自我感覺太好了吧？
Dearest Sweet Sherry,
I phoned a friend of mine here in Mississauga who is a qualified doctor. She's from India and doesn't work as a doctor any more due to Canadian red tape.I talked to her about Lisa's tumor when I first heard about it, on her return to China. My friend assured me that a tumor in the neck which could be felt by the hand had a 90% chance of being okay. Of being benign. Of not being attached to any important organ. Of being easilly removed by surgery. And that's what we all thought had happened; it had been easilly removed by surgery! And now this. My doctor friend says this new development is very dangerous. Her tumor, if benign, should not have grown back to be bigger than it originally was in this amount of time. Only a malignant tumor does that and a malignant tumor in the neck is very, very bad.
Sherry, I told you on Sunday that I have no fear. I've forgotton what the exact context was but that's a pretty accurate statement, normally.Well......
I am frightened now. I'm terrified.
Lisa is a very special person.Part of me thinks of her as our daughter!!!! First of all, you told me she was 21 years old. I was not the only one to be "inaccurate" about age!!! And I believed you. She seemed to me much more like a 21-year-old than a 36-year-old, if that in fact is her correct age!! Of course her lack of English played a part in that. I developed a kind of "baby-talk" basic English by which we could communicate verbally. And I was her teacher and I felt, and I think she felt, that it was almost like a father/daughter thing.And I was aware of your relationship with Lisa. You were the experienced Canadian, another teacher. And you were a little older. I always figured you were about 39 so, if Lisa really was 36 that still would have given you seniority. And she worshipped you! You were sophisticated, western, chic and beautiful and you were her role model.
The first night I came to your home for dinner, Lisa sat quietly at her corner of the table and just watched us as we talked. And it was clear to me that she adored you. Despite the closeness of your ages, you were like a mother to her.And that night, as you pumped me for information on how to date western guys, it first hit me that Lisa was sitting there thinking of us as Mum and Dad. And that's why she tried so hard to bring us together.
The Irish are a very spiritual and mystical people. Our culture is one of the oldest in Europe, going back as long as China's.Our culture is ten times as old as the English culture, for example.A part of me thinks that Lisa was an angel, not a human being at all. And she had been given human form with the mission of bringing Peter and Sherry together. Because God had tried! He'd brought them to the same city! He'd even engineered things so that they ended up in the same building together. But they still didn't get it! And God thought they were both pretty special people who belonged together and so in frustration, he had to assign one of his favorite angels to go down to earth and make it happen. And that favorite angel was Lisa. And she did make it happen. And now that her work is done, God wants her back.That's a difficult thing for us to take. But angels live forever and in that context one short human life is like a snap of the fingers. And she has probably lived a hundred human lives already, making things happen for God! If she is our daughter, she will come back to us. All will be well.If she is an angel who God wants back, we will have to wait until we are both in heaven to see her again.
I want to hold you in my arms very tightly. I want to rest my head on your shoulders and feel your head resting on mine.I feel we should comfort each other right now.
P.
我說不清楚看了這個email後內心的感受，總之，覺得老Peter也太言過其詞了，尤其不喜歡他把我跟他比喻成了Lisa的父母，扯不扯啊，依你老Peter的年齡可不是做Lisa的老爸夠格了，幹嗎也把我扯進去？再說了，Lisa也不是一個小孩子，不就是英文說的不夠溜嗎，你老Peter還竟把人家當成小孩子了。那天晚上老Peter電話給我的時候，我毫不猶豫地說他的比喻極端得荒唐可笑，因為他無法跟Lisa用英文溝通，對Lisa也完全不了解，所以希望他不要亂發揮想象力，把我和他相提並論地提升做了一把Lisa的父母，盡管是比喻，讓我感覺很不好，其實，我是在想你老Peter那麽大年齡，怎麽好意思把我也放在跟你一個年齡段裏了呢？切，不要自我感覺太好了吧？
希望看到你更多的作品。
祝願你早日找到如意的愛情。