美國人喜歡拿星期五說事，諸如著名的紐約“星期五餐廳”(Friday's)，其全稱源於“感謝周末光臨”(TGIF, aka Thank God/Goodness. It's Friday.)；“黑色星期五”(Black Friday)特指每年十一月感恩節過後第一個星期五，人們瘋狂血拼降價物品；《十三號星期五》(Friday The 13th)暗示晦氣不吉利，好像世界末日隨時都有可能到來；便服日(Dress-down/Casual Friday)星期五，公司職員可以隨便着裝，不必西服革履穿戴嚴謹；受難日(Good Friday)這一天，舉國上下各地大中小學全天放假，用以紀念耶穌被羅馬統治者釘死在耶路撒冷的十字架上；牛仔日(Country and Western Friday)常常局限於中西部地區，民眾喜歡選擇這個特定的星期五，將自己打扮成牛仔的模樣。

      近年來，逍遙星期五(Fat Friday)悄然流行開來，我任職的公司為了迎合國際新興市場的需求，甚至推行夏時作息制度，即從周一至周四每天只要工作9個小時，星期五下午便可提早下班，放假半天。

      我家童少與時俱進，也有自己的逍遙星期五，不過其慶祝方式迥異，但結果皆大歡喜，令人心花怒放。

【譯文】

      每年捷門堂夏令營都要慶祝“逍遙星期五”，即開營後第一個星期五，而每次它都含有特定的主題。這回，我們給它冠上“超級英雄日”。除我而外，所有的戲劇營營員都分別打扮成哈利•波特中雷文克勞巫師、造福於人類的超人、伸張正義的蝙蝠俠、見義勇為的蜘蛛俠、狂暴好怒的綠巨人浩克、宇宙間充當惡勢力的洛基、神盾局特工尼克•福瑞、正義聯盟成員紅箭客；我則身着“颶風”美式橄欖球卡通隊服，與眾不同。正因為“逍遙星期五”，今天我們取消了排練，就是要好好玩上一通遊戲。

      我們先來“抓人捉迷藏”。遊戲規則是，如果你被抓人者觸摸了身體任何一個部位，你將變成他/她的一部分，並與他/她一起共同去抓其他人，唯一沒有被碰到的人終將獲勝。四輪遊戲下來，我只贏了一輪。

      接下來，我們又玩“黑手黨”。遊戲中解說員需要根據人數任命黑手黨成員、警官和天使。每一位遊戲手都應閉上眼睛，由解說員秘密指定三種角色，彼此之間互不知道對方是誰。黑手黨可以濫殺無辜；警官負責所有百姓生命安全；天使則要預測誰有可能成為黑手黨的目標，並妥善加以保護。遊戲開始時，當解說員公布黑手黨如何殺人之後，警官應該憑藉自己的判斷力指證誰是黑手黨。如果說對的話，黑手黨將終生監禁，遊戲結束；如果說錯的話，百姓因含冤入獄而被淘汰出局。

      後來，我們又跳“凍結舞蹈”。音樂一響，我們馬上跟着節拍跳舞；音樂一停，我們必須立刻停下來並保持最後的舞姿不動。如果音樂停下來的時候你卻沒有停下來，那麼你將被淘汰出局；如果音樂繼續你沒有繼續，那麼你也被淘汰出局。堅持到最後的那位才是真正的贏家。

      “逍遙星期五”結束前，我們不僅人手一冊劇本，而且還可以海吃4根棒冰。棒冰對於華氏100度/攝氏37.8度的天氣而言，猶如久旱逢甘雨一般。媽媽來接我的時候，恰巧見我兩隻手各握一根棒冰，她異想天開，以為其中一根是我給她留的，豈不自做多情！我喜歡粉色口味的那種，吃起來帶有檸檬的味道。綠色的酸橙味，深紅色的櫻桃味，藍色的藍木莓味，同樣叫人回味無窮，這是我夏令營以來最開心的時刻。

【原文】

      Every year, we celebrate an events called Fat Friday that is the first Friday in Germantown Academy Summer Camp. We have special themes for it. This time, the theme was Super Heroes. In theater camp, everyone except me wore a costume like Wizard in Ravenclaw of Harry Potter, Superman, Batman, Hulk, Spiderman, Loki, Nick Fury, Red Arrow. I tried on Tornadoes which is a cartoon logo represented as a youth American football team. We did not have a rehearsal today because it was Fat Friday. Instead, we played games all day along.

      First, we played Blob Tag. The rules are if you are tagged by a tagger, then you have to hold hands with the tagger. The only way to win is to be the last one NOT tagged. I won one time out of four rounds.

      Next we played Mafia. There is a narrator in this game. He/she picks a number of mafias  including a sheriff and an angel depending on the numbers of players. Everyone closes his/her eyes every round. The narrator is going to call out one by one and mafia(s), the sheriff, and the angel secretly. The mafia(s) will choose someone to kill. The sheriff is supposed to protect someone from being accused by the mafia. The angel will try to predict who is the mafia's next victim and save him/her. After everyone has been picked, the narrator tells a story about the person who the mafias kill and how they die. If the sheriff guesses the right person for being mafia, the mafia is sent to a prison for his/her life. If the angel saves the person who is meant to die, the person continues playing. The only way to win is to kill all of mafias.

      Later on, we played Freeze Dance. When the music starts, you have to dance. When it stops, you will freeze. If you move when the music is stopped, you're out. If you don't dance when the music is on, you are also out. The last person left in the game is a winner.

      At the end of the day, we got not only our play script, but flavor ices like popsicles. Everybody could have as many as 4. They were perfect for a day at 100oF/37.8oC. My mom thought that one was for her when she came to pick me up and saw me holding 2. My favorite one was pink. It tasted a sort of lemonade. The green one I had was definitely lime. The dark red flavored always like cherry. The blue one was blue raspberry. This is going to be the most remembered day in theater camp by far.

(二O一二年六月廿九日)