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I met a man who came to Tampa for his father's funeral. Father and son hadn't seen each other in years. In fact, according to the son, his father had left when he was a boy, and they had had little contact until about a year ago, when his father had sent him a birthday card with a note saying he'd like to see his son again.
我遇到一个到达坦帕市参加为他父亲的葬礼的男人。他和父亲好多年都没见了。事实上，据儿子所说，他的父亲在他还是个孩子的时候就离开他了，他们几乎没有任何联系，直到一年前，他的父亲寄给他一张生日卡，里面有一张便签，写着他希望再见到他的儿子。
After discussing a trip to Florida with his wife and children and consulting his busy schedule at his office, the son tentatively set a date to visit his father two months later. He would drive his family down when school was out for vacation. He scribbled a note and with mixed emotions, dropped it in the mail.
跟妻子和小孩商量了佛罗里达之旅，并安排好了繁忙的办公日程后，儿子将看望父亲的日期暂定于两个月后。当学校放假时他会载着他的家人去佛罗里达州。他潦草地写了个便条，怀着复杂的心情，将它投入了邮箱。
He heard back immediately. Written on lined paper torn from a spiral notebook, such as a schoolboy would use, were words of excitement penned in a legible scrawl. Misspelled words, poor grammar and incorrect punctuation bounced off the page. The man was embarrassed for his father. He thought twice about the upcoming visit.
很快他收到了回复。在一张就像是从小学生用的活环笔记本上撕下来的有横格的纸上，父亲乱涂了些措辞激动的话，但还很好辨认。其中错误的拼写、差劲的语法和不正确的标点跃然纸上。儿子为这样的父亲感到尴尬。他再次斟酌了即将到来的拜访。
It just so happened that the man's daughter made the cheerleading squad at her school and had to go to a camp conducted for cheering techniques. Coincidentally, it started the week after school was out. The trip to Florida would have to be postponed.
这个男人的女儿在学校成立了一个拉拉队领导小组，必须去露营学习加油的技术。碰巧的是露营时间从学校放假后一周开始。佛罗里达之旅不得不被延期。
His father said he understood, but the son didn't hear from him again for some time. A note here or there, an occasional call. They didn't say much-muttered sentences, comments about "your mother", a couple of stories about the man's childhood-but it was enough to put together a few of the missing pieces.
他的父亲说他能够理解，但接下来一段时间儿子再没有听到任何关于他的消息。时不时有一张便条或偶尔一次电话。他们没有说多少的话，父亲只是低声地抱怨和评价“你的母亲”，几个关于这个男人儿时的故事——但它足以将一些失去的记忆一片片拼凑出来。
In November the son received a call from his father's neighbor. His father had been taken to the hospital with heart problems. The son spoke with the charge nurse, who assured him his father was doing well following a heart attack. The doctor could provide details. His father said, "I'm fine. You don't have to make a trip out here. The doctor says there was minor damage, and I can go home day after tomorrow."
11月儿子收到他父亲邻居打来的电话。他的父亲已经因心脏病被送进医院。儿子与收费的护士交谈，护士向他保证他的父亲在心脏病发作后表现很棒。医生提供了一些细节。他的父亲说：“我很好。你不必专程过来这儿看我。医生说只是一点点损害，我后天就可以回家。”
He called his father every few days after that. They chatted and laughed and talked about getting together “soon”. He sent money for Christmas. His father sent small gifts for his children and a pen and pencil set for his son. It was a cheap set, probably purchased at a discount pharmacy or variety-type store, and the kids tossed their tokens from Grandpa aside without much notice. But his wife received a precious music box made of crystal. Overwhelmed, she expressed her gratitude to the old man when they called him on Christmas Day. “It was my mother's,” the old man explained.“I want you to have it.”
从那天以后，他每隔几天就会给父亲打个电话。他们聊天、谈笑，讨论关于“尽快”团聚的事。他在圣诞节寄了钱去。他的父亲寄来小礼物给他的孩子们，还有一支钢笔和笔座送给他的儿子。那是一个便宜的笔座，很可能是从一家折扣店或杂货店买来的，小孩子们把爷爷送的礼物扔在一边，看都不怎么看。但他的妻子收到了一个珍贵的水晶制成的音乐盒。妻子大受震动，在圣诞当天打电话给这位老人表示了她的感谢。“那是我母亲的，”老人解释到，“我希望你能拥有它。”
The man's wife told her husband that they should have invited the old man for the holidays. As an excuse for not having done so, she added, “But it probably would be too cold for him here, anyway.”
这男人的妻子告诉她的丈夫他们本应该邀请这位老人来度假的。为了给没有这样做找一个借口，她补充到：“但不管怎么说，这儿对他来说恐怕太冷了。”
In February, the man decided to visit his father. As luck would have it, however, his boss's wife had to have an operation, and the man had to fill in and work a few extra hours. He called his father to tell him he'd probably get to Florida in March or April.
二月份，这个男人决定去看望他的父亲。不幸的是他老板的妻子要做手术，这个男人不得不每天加班几小时。他打电话告诉父亲他很可能在3月或4月份到佛罗里达。
I met the man on Friday. He had finally come to Tampa. He was here to bury his father.
我周五的时候遇见了这个男人。他最终来到了坦帕市。但他来是为了埋葬他的父亲。
He was waiting when I arrived to open the door that morning. He sat in the chapel next to his father's body, which had been dresses in a handsome, new, navy blue suit and lay out in a dark blue metal casket. "Going Home" was scripted inside the lid.
那天早晨他一直等我来开门。他坐在小礼拜堂里紧邻着父亲遗体的位置，父亲被穿上了一件新的、帅气的、海军蓝的西装，安置在一个深蓝色的金属棺材里。“回家”是用手写的放在盖子里。
I offered the man a glass of water. He cried. I put my arm around his shoulder and he collapsed in my arms, sobbing.“I should have come sooner. He shouldn't have had to die alone.” We sat together until late afternoon. He asked if I had something else to do that day. I told him no.
我给这个男人倒了一杯水。他哭了。我把手臂放在他的肩上，他倒在我的臂弯里抽泣起来。“我应该早些来的。他就不会孤独的死去了。”我们坐在一起直到接近傍晚。他问我那天是否有其他事要做。我说没有。
I didn't choose the act, but I knew it was kind. No one else came to honor the life of the man's father, not even the neighbor he spoke of. It cost nothing but a few hours of my time. I told him I was a student and that I wanted to be a professional golfer, and that my parents owned the funeral home. He was an attorney and lived in Denver. He plays golf whenever he can. He told me about his father.
我没有选择去假装什么，但我知道那样做是出于善意。没有其他人前来悼念他的父亲，甚至他曾提到过的邻居也没有来。这次葬礼没有花费我的任何东西除了几小时的时间而已。我告诉他我是一个学生，我的梦想是成为一个职业高尔夫球手，而且我的父母拥有殡仪馆。他是一名代理员，住在丹佛。无论什么时候只要可以他都会玩高尔夫。他给我讲述了关于他父亲的事。
That night, I asked my dad to play golf with me the next day. And before I went to bed, I told him, "I love you, dad."
那天夜里，我要求我的爸爸第二天陪我去玩高尔夫。在我入睡前，我对他说，“我爱你，爸爸。”
我遇到一个到达坦帕市参加为他父亲的葬礼的男人。他和父亲好多年都没见了。事实上，据儿子所说，他的父亲在他还是个孩子的时候就离开他了，他们几乎没有任何联系，直到一年前，他的父亲寄给他一张生日卡，里面有一张便签，写着他希望再见到他的儿子。
After discussing a trip to Florida with his wife and children and consulting his busy schedule at his office, the son tentatively set a date to visit his father two months later. He would drive his family down when school was out for vacation. He scribbled a note and with mixed emotions, dropped it in the mail.
跟妻子和小孩商量了佛罗里达之旅，并安排好了繁忙的办公日程后，儿子将看望父亲的日期暂定于两个月后。当学校放假时他会载着他的家人去佛罗里达州。他潦草地写了个便条，怀着复杂的心情，将它投入了邮箱。
He heard back immediately. Written on lined paper torn from a spiral notebook, such as a schoolboy would use, were words of excitement penned in a legible scrawl. Misspelled words, poor grammar and incorrect punctuation bounced off the page. The man was embarrassed for his father. He thought twice about the upcoming visit.
很快他收到了回复。在一张就像是从小学生用的活环笔记本上撕下来的有横格的纸上，父亲乱涂了些措辞激动的话，但还很好辨认。其中错误的拼写、差劲的语法和不正确的标点跃然纸上。儿子为这样的父亲感到尴尬。他再次斟酌了即将到来的拜访。
It just so happened that the man's daughter made the cheerleading squad at her school and had to go to a camp conducted for cheering techniques. Coincidentally, it started the week after school was out. The trip to Florida would have to be postponed.
这个男人的女儿在学校成立了一个拉拉队领导小组，必须去露营学习加油的技术。碰巧的是露营时间从学校放假后一周开始。佛罗里达之旅不得不被延期。
His father said he understood, but the son didn't hear from him again for some time. A note here or there, an occasional call. They didn't say much-muttered sentences, comments about "your mother", a couple of stories about the man's childhood-but it was enough to put together a few of the missing pieces.
他的父亲说他能够理解，但接下来一段时间儿子再没有听到任何关于他的消息。时不时有一张便条或偶尔一次电话。他们没有说多少的话，父亲只是低声地抱怨和评价“你的母亲”，几个关于这个男人儿时的故事——但它足以将一些失去的记忆一片片拼凑出来。
In November the son received a call from his father's neighbor. His father had been taken to the hospital with heart problems. The son spoke with the charge nurse, who assured him his father was doing well following a heart attack. The doctor could provide details. His father said, "I'm fine. You don't have to make a trip out here. The doctor says there was minor damage, and I can go home day after tomorrow."
11月儿子收到他父亲邻居打来的电话。他的父亲已经因心脏病被送进医院。儿子与收费的护士交谈，护士向他保证他的父亲在心脏病发作后表现很棒。医生提供了一些细节。他的父亲说：“我很好。你不必专程过来这儿看我。医生说只是一点点损害，我后天就可以回家。”
He called his father every few days after that. They chatted and laughed and talked about getting together “soon”. He sent money for Christmas. His father sent small gifts for his children and a pen and pencil set for his son. It was a cheap set, probably purchased at a discount pharmacy or variety-type store, and the kids tossed their tokens from Grandpa aside without much notice. But his wife received a precious music box made of crystal. Overwhelmed, she expressed her gratitude to the old man when they called him on Christmas Day. “It was my mother's,” the old man explained.“I want you to have it.”
从那天以后，他每隔几天就会给父亲打个电话。他们聊天、谈笑，讨论关于“尽快”团聚的事。他在圣诞节寄了钱去。他的父亲寄来小礼物给他的孩子们，还有一支钢笔和笔座送给他的儿子。那是一个便宜的笔座，很可能是从一家折扣店或杂货店买来的，小孩子们把爷爷送的礼物扔在一边，看都不怎么看。但他的妻子收到了一个珍贵的水晶制成的音乐盒。妻子大受震动，在圣诞当天打电话给这位老人表示了她的感谢。“那是我母亲的，”老人解释到，“我希望你能拥有它。”
The man's wife told her husband that they should have invited the old man for the holidays. As an excuse for not having done so, she added, “But it probably would be too cold for him here, anyway.”
这男人的妻子告诉她的丈夫他们本应该邀请这位老人来度假的。为了给没有这样做找一个借口，她补充到：“但不管怎么说，这儿对他来说恐怕太冷了。”
In February, the man decided to visit his father. As luck would have it, however, his boss's wife had to have an operation, and the man had to fill in and work a few extra hours. He called his father to tell him he'd probably get to Florida in March or April.
二月份，这个男人决定去看望他的父亲。不幸的是他老板的妻子要做手术，这个男人不得不每天加班几小时。他打电话告诉父亲他很可能在3月或4月份到佛罗里达。
I met the man on Friday. He had finally come to Tampa. He was here to bury his father.
我周五的时候遇见了这个男人。他最终来到了坦帕市。但他来是为了埋葬他的父亲。
He was waiting when I arrived to open the door that morning. He sat in the chapel next to his father's body, which had been dresses in a handsome, new, navy blue suit and lay out in a dark blue metal casket. "Going Home" was scripted inside the lid.
那天早晨他一直等我来开门。他坐在小礼拜堂里紧邻着父亲遗体的位置，父亲被穿上了一件新的、帅气的、海军蓝的西装，安置在一个深蓝色的金属棺材里。“回家”是用手写的放在盖子里。
I offered the man a glass of water. He cried. I put my arm around his shoulder and he collapsed in my arms, sobbing.“I should have come sooner. He shouldn't have had to die alone.” We sat together until late afternoon. He asked if I had something else to do that day. I told him no.
我给这个男人倒了一杯水。他哭了。我把手臂放在他的肩上，他倒在我的臂弯里抽泣起来。“我应该早些来的。他就不会孤独的死去了。”我们坐在一起直到接近傍晚。他问我那天是否有其他事要做。我说没有。
I didn't choose the act, but I knew it was kind. No one else came to honor the life of the man's father, not even the neighbor he spoke of. It cost nothing but a few hours of my time. I told him I was a student and that I wanted to be a professional golfer, and that my parents owned the funeral home. He was an attorney and lived in Denver. He plays golf whenever he can. He told me about his father.
我没有选择去假装什么，但我知道那样做是出于善意。没有其他人前来悼念他的父亲，甚至他曾提到过的邻居也没有来。这次葬礼没有花费我的任何东西除了几小时的时间而已。我告诉他我是一个学生，我的梦想是成为一个职业高尔夫球手，而且我的父母拥有殡仪馆。他是一名代理员，住在丹佛。无论什么时候只要可以他都会玩高尔夫。他给我讲述了关于他父亲的事。
That night, I asked my dad to play golf with me the next day. And before I went to bed, I told him, "I love you, dad."
那天夜里，我要求我的爸爸第二天陪我去玩高尔夫。在我入睡前，我对他说，“我爱你，爸爸。”