A father's love

7 父愛

Daddy just didn’t know how to show love. It was Mom who held the family
together. He just went to work every day and came home; she’d have a list of
sins we’d committed and he’d scold us about them.

爸爸根本不知道怎樣表達愛。把這個家維係在一起的人是媽媽。爸爸天天去上班，回家，然後是媽媽向他數落我們所做的一連串錯事，爸爸再為了這些事把我們罵一頓。

Once when I stole a candy bar, he made me take it back and tell the man I
stole it and that I’d pay for it. But it was Mom who understood I was just a
kid.

有一次我偷了一根棒棒糖。爸爸硬是要我送回去，還要我告訴賣糖的人是我偷了糖，並說我願意幫他拆箱開包作為賠償。但媽媽卻理解我，她知道我隻不過是個孩子。

I broke my leg once on the playground swing and it was Mom who held me in her
arms all the way to the hospital. Dad pulled the car right up to the door of the
emergency room and when they asked him to move it saying the space was reserved
for emergency vehicles, He shouted, “What do you think this is? A tour
bus?”

再有一次，我在操場蕩秋千摔壞了腿，一路抱著我到醫院的人是媽媽。爸爸將車正好停在急診室門口。因為那兒是專供急救車停靠的，醫院裏的人就叫我爸爸把車開走。爸爸大聲吼叫起來：“你以為這是什麼車？難道是旅遊車嗎？”

At my birthday parties, Dad always seemed sort of out of place, He just
busied himself blowing up balloons, setting up tables, and running errands, it
was Mom who carried the cake with the candles on it for me to blow
out.

在我的生日聚會上，爸爸總顯得有點不得其所。他不是忙於吹氣球，就是擺桌子，或做些跑腿的活兒。將插著蠟燭的生日蛋糕捧進來讓我吹滅的人總是媽媽。

When I leaf through picture albums, people always ask, “What does your Dad
took like?” “Who knows? He was always fiddling around with the camera taking
everyone else’s picture. I must have a zillion pictures of Mom and me smiling
together.”

我隨便翻閱相冊時，別人總會問“你爸爸長什麼模樣？”這還真說不出。他總是擺弄著相機為別人拍照。我和媽媽在一起微笑的照片一定多得都數不清了。

I remember when Mom told him to teach me how to ride a bicycle. I told him
not to let it go, but he said it was time. I fell and Mom ran to pick me up, but
he waved her off. I was so mad that I showed him, got right back on that bike
and rode it myself. He didn’t even feel embarrassed and just smiled.

我還記得有一次媽媽叫爸爸教我騎自行車。我叫他扶著車子別鬆手，他卻說是時候了。我摔了下來，媽媽跑來扶我，他卻揮手讓媽媽開走。我真是氣得發瘋，決心非要讓他看看我的本事不可。我馬上騎上車，竟能一個人騎了。爸爸卻一點也不尷尬，隻是笑笑。

When I went to college, Mom did all the writing. He just sent checks and a
little note about how great his lawn looked now that I wasn’t playing football
on it.

我上大學了，給我的信總是媽媽寫的。爸爸隻知道寄錢，頂多附上一張便條，告訴我他的草坪現在修整得多麼好，而如今我卻不能在上麵踢球。

Whenever I called home, he acted like he wanted to talk, but he always said,
“I’ll get your mother.”When I got married, it was Mom who cried. He just blew
his nose loudly and left the room. All my life he said, “Where are you going?
What time are you coming home? No, you cannot go.”

每次我打電話回家，爸爸總像是有話要說，但結果他總是說“我把你媽叫來接”。我結婚的時候，媽媽哭了，爸爸隻是大聲打著鼻響，離走出了房間。在我一生中，他總是說：“你去哪兒？你什麼時候回家？不，你不能去。”

Daddy just didn’t know how to show love, unless…

爸爸就是不知道怎樣表達愛，隻會這樣……

Is it possible he showed it and didn’t recognize it ?

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　　n your aerials are down, and your

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　　bout our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.

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　　time have been to sift out the

再看看別人怎麼說的。

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　　ears may wrinkl