August 13, 2005

燉奶下午

endofsummer

功課未寫完,工作已開始。

上班幾天都好天氣。下午如一瓷碗剛煮好的燉奶,和暖,簡單,且好脾氣。太陽曬下一層薄薄的米白衣膜,覆在上頭,底下的人事物半凝固了,都懶動,不知不覺打了呼嚕,醒來,一切還暖嫩著。

打工的首飾店賣訂婚及結婚戒指。準夫婦雙雙對對進來,合襯的,俗氣的,滿有默契的,嘴角都帶笑,牽著的手為了試婚戒,才不情不願的分開。我在一旁細細解釋金、銀、白金和鉑的分別,想像自己在過山車車軌的最高處搭一個高臺站崗,他們雙雙攀上來,稍停,笑著跟我打個照面,嗨,你好!然後便呼嘯往前衝去。之後的高低起伏,千迴百轉,我是看不到的。歐洲的離婚比率高,不知道那些脫下來的戒指到哪裡去了?再婚的也多,但總不能把舊的回收再用吧?到老了點算一下,又收起了多少枚?是以這店子的生意還不錯。打這樣的工心情也好。

小休半小時,帶一份三文治到店附近的小公園吃中飯。大樹下挑一張長板椅坐,樹蔭的另一邊是售古董舊物的短巷,這邊靜靜的咬麵包,那邊有熱鬧風景看。斜對面的老伯早旽著了,手裡的熱狗吃剩一半,芥茉醬沾在肚皮上隨呼嚕活了過來,彷彿乘他睡下時偷走一點生命。

日光下,我的眼皮也直往下墜。忽然前頭噠啦噠啦的響,一抬頭,黑馬黑車黑衣人,一列葬儀隊伍駛過。寶馬香車花滿路,算是風光大殮。棺木放在馬車拖的玻璃車廂裡,我看著有點突兀,再細看,心頭一緊:呀,棺木小小的,裡頭睡的是個小孩。小王子讓蛇咬了一口,回他的小星球看日落去了。

呆半晌,我揚一揚衣襟,麵包屑徐徐落下。看腕錶,還有十分鐘。想想同一時間,外太空可能有星體正在爆炸,一些國家正在開戰,頭頂的樹葉在進行光合作用,身體內的細胞在分裂⋯⋯然而我是不理的,在這一瓷碗燉奶時份,快樂是那層薄薄的米白衣膜,誰也不捨得戳破。我窩在裡頭,和暖,簡單,且好脾氣地啖著那微小小的滋味。

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6 comments:

MissLee said...

um...i am really thinkin....have you gained weight?

208/209 said...

208: good guess...miss lee...

209: very unfortunately, we have...

Anonymous said...

you are allowed to work?
pls take good care.
i am thinking of working int he library this semester, just (US)$7 per hr though.

in a way, gaining weigth is good sign when studying aboard. :-)

oh... btw, i have redesigned my blog. pls visit and give me comments.

thanks!!!

208/209 said...

208: 晨,謝謝。妳已回到LA了嗎?希望一切安好。

209: 這裡的條例是學生可合法打工每星期不多於40小時。畢業後要申請工作證,屆時再算。

Anonymous said...

then, UK is really a lot better than US. in a way, americans think everyone wants to "rush" to US to get benefits (well...).

we can't work outside school, only on campus. and we have to get a job BEFORE we can apply for a working permit. also, we need almost 1-3 months (after 911) to get a social security number. so many jobs are grabbed by local students as for most of the employers, they don't want to wait for us for so long.

after graduation, if you can't find work in 6 months, you have to leave the country.

pretty crazy!

208/209 said...

208: 晨,英國其實也好不到那裡去。自貝理雅連任後改了移民和入境條例,申請工作證更加困難。

209: 年底簽證到期後能否獲發工作證,還是未知之數,還是那句,屆時再算。