2015-04-19

【Aiden in English】

        There are just some experiences in life that are etched into your memory like when a nail went into my knee or when I went on Space Mountain in Disney World. I can never forget these images, and another image was about to be included.

        Green Lane Park is just about as peaceful as any other quiet, peaceful, and old-people-sitting-on-bench parks. That was until the Guang Hua Chinese School crashed the grand party today. We brought Chinese food, folk music, mandarin, bikes, dodge balls, ropes, square dance, and so on. Carnival games were hosted as you had Chinese parents running them. “Awww, c’mon! You should’ve had that!” “Really, I thought I told you to throw it harder!” “What is X when Y is 14X + 7?” Absolutely encouraging. So when I arrived, my friends and I met up. We went to the place where all old people went and did what old people did. We went fishing.

        After two hours, we caught something. Ahhh, I got you there, didn’t I? You were sitting on the edge of your seat going like “wow”! Aiden’s a fisherman? Well, we technically caught something. Yep, Aiden’s seaweed, the freshest you would ever see. Not only that, but the fishing rod got tangled up at least 5 times. So that idea became a big no-no. 

        Next thing was biking. For some time, I’ve been reluctant to try biking. What was about to happen just made me want to burn my bike, but also sparked a little excitement. My friend Andrew stole my bike for a little while. Once he had enough falling over more than once and knocking some sense into himself, he returned it back to me. I went riding off with my other friend Kevin.  So we went on a little, rocky path off road and ended up at the steepest road I’d seen in a while. Now considering how stupid my friend was and that I kind of thought that he did (creepy!), I suddenly had a very bad feeling. Yeah, we were riding down this hill. 

        So we went around the base of the “mountain” and picked through some areas to see whatever, then finally the moment of truth came. Right before, however, I decided to take a bathroom break, just to feel the sensation one last time before …… you know. As I made my way up that hill, panting like a…. whatever that panted loudly, I knew it was going to be the highlight of the day. No, month.

        I couldn’t see the bottom. At the peak of the hill, and all I could see was the road ahead, not the slope. Heart in my throat, hands gripping the brakes tightly, mind pleading that I had life insurance; all the way through, I was thinking about suing Kevin who dragged me into this mess. Then, I pedaled. The all too horrifying feeling when the vehicle you’re riding on tipped forward to whatever lay at the bottom came upon me. I began picking up speed, wind blowing. At the very moment, I noticed. Down the slope, at the bottom, where the max speed would surely be, there’re a number of potholes. Now I’m not exactly a scientist, but I know what would happen if I were to hit a pothole at twentyish miles an hour on a bike. The speed was starting to reach its peak, wind whooshing past; every bump seemed like an earthquake. The potholes, which looked like holes to he-uhh… the boiler-room itself, approached ever so slowly. I learned right to avoid it first, steering clear, veered back left to dodge a crack. Later, I slammed the front wheel brake slightly to control the pace. I was aiming at an opening between two potholes, a pretty wide gap of solid concrete. In a flash, I passed through along with all the other holes. Only then did I notice the small side trail that both of us were going to take rush towards me. I squeezed to brakes so hard that my front knuckles turned white. I skidded, back wheel still spinning, onto the trail. Turning around, I saw a girl with rollerblades on top of the hill.

        This memory is a memory filed into my brain, and it isn’t exactly placed in the “happy” section. But not all memorable memories are happy or exciting, because when being scared half to death tends to be engraved into your mind.

【紅霞譯文】

        世上不少經歷讓人終生難忘，譬如說膝蓋打了鉚釘或者去迪士尼樂園太空山乘坐飛車，由此留下的記憶會刻骨銘心，眼下又將增添一幅嶄新的畫面。

        綠蔭公園與其它寧靜祥和大叔大嬸閒逛的公園沒什麼兩樣，直到今天光華中文學校到此舉行盛大的春遊聚會才使它煥然一新。我們帶來了中餐、民樂、國語、自行車、追身球、跳繩、廣場舞等，由華人父母親自主辦的狂歡遊藝甭提有多熱鬧。“噢，動手吧！你應會玩那個！”“真的，記得我曾經對你說過要多使點勁！”“如果Y等於十四乘於X加上7，那麼Y是多少呢？”絕對令人振奮。當我抵達公園，旋即與朋友會合，咱哥們一塊來到大叔大嬸去的地方，干起大叔大嬸樂衷的事情——釣魚。

        兩小時過後，我們好歹有點收穫。唉喲，我可逮到這個傢伙，是不是？“哇塞！”當時你碰巧坐在凳邊，肯定不無驚訝。莫非兒歌真是漁民不成？確實，憑咱十八般手藝釣點東西豈不小菜一碟。沒錯，這是兒歌的河草，恐怕你有生以來從未鑑賞過如此新鮮的淡水產品，更何況你正有幸目睹魚線纏竿，而且少說五次以上，趁早打住吧。

        接着，大夥打算千里走單騎，起初我並非情願蹬腳踏車出遊，下面即將發生的事情更叫我恨不得燒毀這輛車子，但轉眼發覺自己又有點蠢蠢欲動。朋友安頔搶先偷走了我的自行車，等他摔得腿破血流之後才想起把車子還了回來，我隨即跟在另一位朋友藝博後面上了路。我倆沿一條高低不平的林間小道前行，想不到一下子來到久違了坡度最為陡峭的山腳下，都怪這位老兄只顧悶頭騎車不抬頭看路，結果害得我要面對這麼可怕的路段，心中一種不祥的感覺油然而生，媽呀，還要沿這條山路狂飈而下。

        我們圍着山麓繞來繞去，試圖看清遠處山路，終於到了接受考驗的時刻。就在這個節骨眼上，我決定先去一趟廁所做好臨……前最後的準備，你知道我要表達的意思。待好不容易爬上山坡，我已像……反正出氣聲音最大的那種動物呼嗤帶喘，這下可要成為當日頭版頭條；不，應該是本月新聞。

        我人在山巔卻一眼望不到山下，唯一能看到的不是腳下懸崖峭壁而是前方窮途末路。這時，心都要蹦到嗓子眼，我雙手緊緊緊攥住車剎，暗自念叨事先該上人壽保險，整個一路我始終考慮如何起訴藝博，怪他讓自己走往深淵；然後，我腳踩踏板，只要自行車順勢向下移動，眼前就會閃現出令人發毛的恐怖畫面。我開始加速，一溜風似地飛馳而去，此刻我突然注意到，自坡上至山底車速加到最大的地方出現很多地坑，雖說我不是科學家，但卻十分清楚一旦以每小時廿多英里/卅多公里的速度衝鋒陷陣，後果不堪設想。速度最快的時候，疾風呼嘯驚天，路面顛簸得如同地震一般強烈，而這些地坑又大如地洞乃至跟“地”有關的……地下室鍋爐房，一個接一個沒完沒了。我得先學會躲閃，握住車把，迂迴躲避地面裂縫，然後再輕剎前閘，控制車速，看準兩個地坑之間水泥地大塊空隙，說時遲那時快，我飛身一躍跨過所有障礙，方才意識到車子飛速駛向路邊小徑。我使勁按住手閘，因為用力過猛，指關節變得煞白，車速降了下來，可後輪繼續朝野地方向滑動，待轉身掉過頭來，我看到山頂上正有位小姑娘腳上竟然穿的是旱冰鞋。

        這種經歷實在觸目驚心，雖然並未真正給我帶來“快樂”，但世上不是所有記憶都讓人愉快興奮，因為當被某件事情嚇得半死，人是不會輕易忘掉它的。