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5年前，跟老公提議暑假去中歐。 那之前我們已經去過法國西班牙意大利希臘，都是美食大國。 老公一聽中歐卻老大不樂意。 他去過德國出差，對當地的食物失望透了，“除了香腸就是馬鈴薯，你叫我一個月就吃這些？” 不過最後我們還是去了，玩得超開心的，除了德國還在周邊幾個國家轉了一大圈，山水美得醉人，小鎮如童話般迷人，而且一路上也吃得很好，當然，香腸土豆沒少吃。
“The Invention of Curried Sausage” 是德國小說家Uwe Timm的一本中篇小說。 Curried Sausage咖喱香腸，好特別的組合，那是德國最受歡迎的路邊攤小吃。 咖喱香腸是怎麽發明的呢？
小說一開頭，香腸和主角Mrs. Brücker就出鏡了。 此時的Mrs. Brücker已經年近九旬，眼瞎體弱，但頭腦清晰，一邊織毛衣一邊向要揭秘咖喱香腸的‘我’娓娓道來一段塵封往事。
1945年四月，二戰已到尾聲，英軍兵臨城下（漢堡），男女主角（40歲的Mrs. Brücker和24歲的年青士兵）在電影院排隊時相遇，電影被空襲打斷，自然而然的，他們回到Mrs. Brücker的家，怕死的男主角成了逃兵，也成了Mrs. Brücker的情人。
Mrs. Brücker白天給德軍做飯，晚上給逃兵情人做飯。 雖然物資極度缺乏，但是她非常resourceful，能用芹菜做出山寨版蟹肉濃湯。
漢堡陷落了，可是Mrs. Brücker為了多留住情人，隱瞞了戰爭結束的消息。 情人越來越焦躁，而Mrs. Brücker隻有拖延，最後在一次爭吵中她脫口說出真相，情人不告而別。
戰後的德國千瘡百孔，失業的Mrs. Brücker為了要養活女兒外孫，頂下一個攤子。 靠著情人留下的一枚稀有勳章，跟一個英國少校換了木材，再把木材換成兩百張鬆鼠皮，毛皮又連夜趕製成皮大衣，再換成油、番茄醬、煙酒，煙酒再換成香腸。 誰知道油沒了，臨時換成了咖喱粉。 在搬回家的樓梯上，Mrs. Brücker想起了情人，想起他說起曾經在印度駐守時嚐到咖喱雞飯的美味。 百感交集，她不小心跌了一跤打翻了番茄醬，弄得一片狼藉。 沮喪至極的Mrs. Brücker痛哭起來，但舔了舔混合番茄醬和咖喱粉的手指，“it tasted, had a taste that made her laugh, pungent, but not only pungent, there was also something fruity-moist pungent about it.” 就這樣陰差陽錯的發明了咖喱香腸。
就像咖喱辛辣濃烈的滋味，這是一個關於愛欲、謊言、夢想、責任、善意、背叛的故事，喜怒哀樂都那麽真實，叫人笑淚交織。
Timm的文字簡淡，而意蘊深長，是我最欣賞的文風。 除了男女主角，也描述了鄰居、同事，戰後的德國市井小民的不同反應，有些悲傷，有些可怕，有些又令人忍俊不禁。 故事分為七章，精心鋪設架構，前後呼應，到結尾處，令人意想不到的溫馨叫我感動到鼻酸。 非常喜歡。
Quotes:
That even in the dark times there are bright moments, and that the darker the times are the brighter those moments seem.
She would tell me about essential and incidental events, who and what had been involved in the invention of curried sausage: a naval petty officer, a silver equestrian badge, two hundred squirrel skins, twenty-four cubic meters of lumber, a whiskey-drinking, female sausage-factory owner, a British military commissary, and an English beauty with red-gold hair, three bottles of ketchup, my father, chloroform, a laughing dream, and much more.
“The war in Hamburg was all over, but he still walked quietly around in his socks. There was no more fighting, and I had someone in my home who crept around in socks. Not that I made fun of him, but I found him comical. IF you find someone comical, it doesn’t mean you have to stop liking him, but you can’t go on taking him all that seriously.”
Then she picked up the ladle and poured that red sauce over the sausage slices. He could see— and that’s how I remember her too — that she repeated this movement day after day; it was a graceful, brief movement, light and effortless.
德國
