By Shannon Fisher 艾湄选注

　　一个类似卖火柴小女孩的故事：最简单不过的一个愿望，却是那么可望而不可及……

　　It was nearly noon. The heat was intense, as it had been all day, but now the sun stood perpendicular to the earth. <注1> The fierce temperature had long since completely dried the soil, and the little grass that remained was a scorched dirty brown. The only sound was the rustling of brittle shrubs. <注2> It was as if the sun had drained each branch of all its moisture until, finally, the little twigs cracked and broke off. <注3>

　　Lisa began walking up the steep hill leading from thesgroupsof shacks <注4>swheresshe lived. She wore a small, faded green hat with a rim big enough to shade her eyes from the sun. Looking down, she saw the powdery soil scatter with each of her steps. Every time she stopped, the dust would settle in a thin mist over her dark, bare feet. <注5> She reached the top of the hill and stopped to rest on a big rock by the side of the path. She bent over and watched the perspiration drop from her face onto her dusty feet. Lifting her head, she looked down the hill at the mass of old shacks. She picked out <注6> hers—the third one in the first row. In her mind she could just hear some outsider saying: "But how can you tell which one is yours, girl? They all look so much alike."

　　"Well," she'd reply, "ours has a glass window in the front instead of just a door. And it's not all gray. It's got some white, too! It was painted once, you see." While sitting there, acting out this scene in her mind, <注7> she saw her mother come out and stand on the small porch. She was a big woman—not like Lisa, who was small and thin. Lisa took after her father who had also been small, or so her mother said. <注8> Lisa didn't remember her father well enough to recall what he looked like. He left after Lisa's fifth sister was born. He had not counted on such a large family. <注9>

　　Lisa looked down again and saw her mother turn in her direction, her hands resting on her hips.

　　"What you doin' just sittin' there?" Lisa could imagine her saying. "Girl, don't you know I'm waitin' for them things from the store?"

　　"Come on now, stupid. Get up," she told herself. "She's really gonna be mad if you don't get going quick!"

　　She walked on hurriedly, over the hill. The store was on the other side of town—past the big development of sturdy brick houses. <注10> The dirt path that she had been walking on there turnedsintosa proper pavement<注11> with a sidewalk running along each side.

　　Every time Lisa walked through town she never knew whether she should walk in the road or on the sidewalk. She didn't want to be noticed. When walking down the clean, tree-shaded street she would always realize she had no shoes on and that she wore a faded dress and hat. Now she stopped and tried brushing some of the dust from her clothes. Seeing that this had no effect on the dull and dirty color of the dress, she gave a sigh and again started to walk. She glanced to her right at a tall three-story house with a big screened-in porch. <注12> It didn't have just one glass window in the front, but eight or ten. Here the grass was not brown, but green and short, and it was being watered by the spray of a sprinkler. <注13> Looking around, she saw no one and decided to wash herself in the water. Slowly she left the hot sidewalk and walkedsintosthe cool grass. A chill rose through her as she felt the dampness on her sunbaked <注14> feet. She reached the sprinkler, but as her toes touched the spray of water she heard a dog barking behind the house. Lisa ran to the sidewalk and started down the street. Glancing back, she saw the trail of her wet footprints on the sidewalk.

　　She walked another ten minutes before she reached the store. Lisa stepped inside and felt the air conditioning all around her.

　　"Wonder if they'd mind me spending the night here?" she thought, and then laughed. "Let's see—bread, sausage, lettuce. I guess that's all."

　　As she reached the cashier, <注15> she suddenly wondered, "Oh, no! Do I have enough money?"

　　"Seventy-two cents.'

　　She sighed and handed the man three quarters.

　　"Seventy-two out of seventy-five. Here you go—three cents."

　　"Thank you."

　　As she turned to leave the store, a bright poster drew her attention. It read: "Has the heat got you down? Try an ice-cream bar. Only 15 cents."

　　Lisa walked over to the display and stared at the frozen chocolate and vanilla <注16> bars. Her smudged <注17> hand held only three cents. She looked up at the sign again, then down at the wrapped ice-cream. She looked up at the sign again, then down at the freezer and pulled one out, just as another customer walked around the corner. Lisa looked up and saw him watching her. She hurried down the aisle, glancing back to see if he was following. He continued walking up the aisle. She ran to the door and pushed it open fast as the man called out: "Wait! Hey, wait! You didn't pay for that!" He turned to the cashier. "Hey, that girl—she didn't pay."

　　The cashier turned and looked at Lisa who was now running down the road. "Huh? Ah—they come in here and do that all the time. Never been taught any better, I suppose. Oh, let her go."

　　Lisa ran fast down the black pavement. Her feet burned as they slapped the hard road. She held on tightly to the groceries and to her ice-cream and kept running. The houses with eight or ten windows rushed past her. She kept running until finally her feet felt the hot rough dirt again. She stopped when she reached that rock and sat on it. Her lungs ached from the run, and the perspiration ran down her chin. The groceries slid through her arm onto the ground, but she continued to hold the ice-cream. With her free hand she slowly removed the wrapper. The ice-cream bar, soft from the heat, fell off the stick and onto the ground. The dust scattered and settled instantly like a film over the chocolate coating. <注18>Lisa looked down at the soft melting mass. She sat very still and stared at the dry ground.

　　From below a voice called to her.

　　"Lisa? Come over here! I’ve been waiting for ya. Come on! Girl!" But Lisa didn't move.