执子之手，与子偕老A Gentle Caress（1/2）

达芙娜·勒南/Daphna Renan

Michael and I hardly noticed when the waitress hange was lively, if not profound.We ughed about the ovie that we had seen the night before and disagreed about the ahe text we had jt fished for our literature sear.He toldabout the ont when he had taken the drastic step to aturity by beg Michael ao respond to“Mickey.”Had he been elve or fourteen? He uldn’t reber, but he did recall that his other had cried and said he was grog up too quickly.As we bit to our beberry bltzes, I told hi about the beberries that y sister and I ed to pick when we went to visit our sthe untry.I recalled that I always fished e before we got back to the hoe, and y aunt would warnthat I was gog to get a very bad stoachache.Of urse, I never did.

As our sweet ion ntued, y eyes gnced across the restaurant, spg at the sall rner booth where an elderly uple sat.Her floral-prt dress seed as faded as theon which she had rested her worn handbag, Theof his head was as shy as the soft- boiled egg on which he very slowly nibbled.

She also ate her oatal at a slow, alost tedio pace.

But what drew y thoughts to the was their undisturbed sile seed tothat a ncholy eptess perated their little rner.

As the exge beeen Michael andfctuated fro ughs to whispers, nfessions to assessnts, this uple’s poignant stillness called to .How sad, I thought, not to have any thg left to say.Wasn’t there any page that they hadn’t yet turnedeach other’s stories? What if that happeo ?

Michael and I paid our sall tab and got up to leave the restaurant.As we walked by the rner where the old uple sat, I aidentally dropped y wallet.Bendg over to pick it up, I noticed that uhe table, each of their free hands was gently cradledthe other’s.They had been holdg hands all this ti!

I stood up a hubled by the siple yet profound act of ion I had jt been privileged to withis an’s gentle caress of his wife’s tired fgers filled not only what I had previoly perceived as aionally epty rner, but also y heart.Theirs was not the unfortable silence whose threat one always feels jt behd the punch le or at the end of ae on the first date.No, theirs was a fortable, rexed ease, a gentle love that k did not always need words to express itself.

They had probably shared this hour of thewith each other for a long ti, and aybe today wasn’t that different fro yesterday, but they were at peace with that, and with each other.

Maybe, I thought as Michael and I walked out, it wouldn’t be so bad if soday that was .Maybe, it would be kd of nice.

我和迈克尔坐在离纽约市繁华的第三大道的一家小熟食店里，当服务员把盘子端到了我们桌上，我们几乎没注意到。

也许我们的交流算不上深刻，但却很生动。我们笑谈前晚看过的电影，对文学讨论课上文章中所表达的内在含义提出异议。他对我说，当他从少年步入成年之后，便拒绝别人再叫他“米奇”，成为真正的迈克尔时，是12岁还是14岁，他记不清了，但他的确记得母亲曾嚷着嫌他长得太快。我们开始吃蓝莓薄饼卷时，我把我和妹妹去乡下看表姐妹时摘蓝莓的故事讲给他听。记得我总是在回家前把我摘的那些都吃光，而姑姑总告诫我说，那样会肚子疼。当然，我肚子从来都没疼过。

我们的畅谈仍在继续，我环顾了一下餐馆，一对老年夫妇吸引了我的目光，他们坐在一个靠墙角的小餐桌旁。她的那条花裙子和她身后的椅垫一样褪了色，而她的旧手提包就放在椅垫上。老头有着光泽的头顶，就和他正细嚼慢咽的糖心蛋一样闪闪发亮。

她不紧不慢地喝着麦片粥，让人感到单调乏味。

他们不受外界干扰的静默吸引了我的注意。在我眼里，他们那个小小的角落被一种令人忧郁的空虚浸透了。

我和迈克尔继续交谈着，时而欢笑，时而低语，时而表白，时而品评，而我却被这对老夫妇透彻的静寂深深触动了。太可悲了，我想，难道真的无话可说了，难道彼此的故事里再也没有未敞开的新篇章了吗？倘若我们遇到这样的情景又会怎样呢？

我和迈克尔埋单后起身离开餐馆。我们经过老夫妇就坐的角落时，我的钱包刚好掉到地上。我弯下身去捡钱包，却发现他们的另一只手温柔地在餐桌下握在一起。他们的手始终这样握着！

我站起身，亲眼目睹的朴素而真挚的相依之情，不禁让我感到自惭形秽。老人温柔地爱抚妻子那疲惫的手指时所流露出的柔情，不仅填补了我曾以为是情感空白的角落，也充溢着我的内心。他们的静默并非那种初次约会时一句妙语或一段趣闻之后那种沉默。他们的沉默反而令人感到很惬意，是一种无需语言表达的温柔之爱。

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