Mrs. Carmody's shop

卡莫迪太太太在街角的小店，是在东部小镇子上都能找到的那种，由寡妇所开。这儿那儿，你还能发现这种小店，可是卡莫迪太太开她那间，已经是三十四年前的事了。

那间小店卖《勇气与运气》杂志、土豆（几乎都是每次不超过半口就吃完了）、劳拉·吉恩·利比的长篇小说、“16-1”巧克力条、能在小孩的手背上印假刺青的贴画、用毛茸茸的绳子捆着的引火柴、克拉克牌丝光线、雪茄和烟草、哥本哈根鼻烟、少量的煤油、巧克力糖、《年轻而荒凉的西部》、《工作及赢取》以及天晓得还有别的什么东西。

《勇气与运气》、《年轻而荒凉的西部》和《工作及赢取》都是五分钱一本的杂志，每星期一期。卡莫迪太太那间小店的小小橱窗后面，横着拉了根绳子，这几种杂志就挂在上面，好让颜色鲜艳的封面能吸引街上的行人。

卡莫迪太太有两个孩子，约翰和比他安静一点的弟弟威廉。约翰马上要满九岁，他着迷的是《勇气与运气》和别的故事书。他把那些全读了，但是读的时候不能把杂志页裁开，那种杂志上方没有切边。一旦裁开，就成了二手的《勇气与运气》或者《年轻而荒凉的西部》或者别的不管什么杂志，那样就只值两分半。所以小约翰学会了一种少见的本事，就是拿着那些刊登长篇故事的杂志，把纸页拉得尽可能高，不用裁开，就那样一直读到杂志角落的地方，听上去好像对眼睛不好，可是对他的眼睛丝毫无损。

巧克力糖跟“16-1”一样，是一种糖。巧克力糖颜色深，样子像钮扣，里面有很多白色的点点；“16-1”很有可能来自几年前威廉·詹宁斯·布赖恩的竞选活动；奶油球，不是奶油做的，而是黄色的糖，一分钱四颗；甘草鞋带是一分钱两条；煎蛋是一分钱一个。煎蛋也不是真的煎蛋，而是在一个很小的锡制平底锅上有颗糖，那种糖的颜色和样子，都好像是平底锅里搁了个蛋。每个平底锅都配了把小勺子，聪明的小孩会意识到那把勺子的边缘很锐利。做勺子和平底锅的锡不是很重，你如果想握住平底锅的柄和勺子把糖从平底锅里舀出来，一次舀一点，柄或者整个勺子（或者两样都会）就会难看地弯掉。

有整整一个陈列柜里全是糖果。小约翰略微——这种情况很少——帮点忙“招呼顾客”，他知道每种糖果的价钱，但是偶尔会一分钱卖五颗黄油糖，而不是四颗，也许是四颗蒙得维的亚糖，如果他认识来买糖的小孩。当时，他一直对利润什么的没有清晰的概念，或者意识到在这间小店里，每次卖东西赚的钱有多么微薄。不管怎么样，他太粗心大意，不关心这些事，尽管卡莫迪太太试着跟他解释过，特别是什么时候买糖送袋子，什么时候不送。

“要是他们买一分钱或者两分钱或者三分钱，甚至或者四分钱的，”卡莫迪太太经常跟他说，“就只是把糖递到他们手里，当然要客气。要是他们买五分钱的或者更多，就用袋子。袋子是要花钱的，约翰，你要是不按照我说的去做，约翰，我们就会赔钱。”

约翰对这一点以及他妈妈跟他说的多数别的话都很少听得进去。卡莫迪太太自己在卖糖果方面是行家里手，她在“销售”方面有一些死规矩，就像如今在大商店里所称的。她的规矩之一，是只给一个小孩那么多时间，让他站在糖果柜前决定买什么。这种允许他犹豫不决的时间，是由卡莫迪太太脑子里的一个节拍器来记录的。规定时间结束后，她会一言不发走开，而那个小孩肯定很快就会做出决定，却要站在那里等一会儿，心急如焚地想买到糖果。

当然，对小店里的这些规矩，从来没有宣布过或者任何形式广而告之，但事实上大家都清楚。顾客手里捧着四分钱买的糖果，或者如果买五分钱或者以上时，等着要袋子。

这间小店里大部分时候都忙。人们一开始是出于同情来这儿，之后是习惯了来，就继续连小东小西也来这儿买。卡莫迪太太的丈夫去世时，约翰才两岁，他的弟弟才几个月大。亲戚们凑了总共也许有两百美元，再加上葬礼之后人寿保险剩下的钱，用这些钱，他们帮这位寡妇开了这间小店。她和两个孩子住在小店后面。店门上方用绳子拴了个铃铛，有人进来就会响。卡莫迪太太在的话，会从后面住人的地方出来招呼顾客。过了段时间，她就把两个孩子照顾得很好，即使是靠着这个地方的薄利。

莫里斯·墨菲神父是固定顾客，他说卡莫迪太太把两个孩子照顾得太好了，说她在宠坏他们，特别是约翰。“你把两个孩子照顾得太好了，玛丽，”莫里斯神父经常跟卡莫迪太太说，“你为他们付出太多，把他们收拾得太干净，穿得太好，特别是当家的。”

“当家的”，指的是约翰。现在这一家里当父亲的不在了，约翰就被称为“当家的”，尽管他才快满九岁。在卡莫迪太太那个族裔的家庭里，他们总是像那样，使用“当家的”这个词，不管在美国还是在爱尔兰。这是个习惯，“当家的”就是一个家庭里最大的男性，家里什么最好，都是归“当家的”享用，他这辈子以后都给惯坏了。

例如在卡莫迪家，晚饭有土豆泥时，卡莫迪太太会把土豆泥在盘子上堆成一个小丘，在顶上弄一个凹处，然后把一大块黄油放在那里让它融化。等到她和两个孩子都坐到餐桌前时，她会先舀一大勺土豆泥，让融化了的黄油全沿着一侧往下淌，有黄油的美味的那部分总是给“当家的”吃，而弟弟则羡慕地看着。那个小弟弟肯定不乐意这种事发生一次又一次，但他不是家里年龄最大的男性，所以只能干着急。

约翰长到八岁时，偶尔允许他去烟草陈列柜那边招呼顾客。小店的那部分，也就是进门后右手边那一片更有男性特点。大致说来，小店里靠右边是男性的商品区，靠左边是女性的商品区。店里总共有五个陈列柜，每边两个，从前面接到后面，第五个挡在后面，也没挡完，可以说，成了个方方正正的“U”字形，开口处就是对着大街的店门。在右手边的男性商品区，第一个陈列柜里放的是烟草、雪茄和香烟，不过和现在的香烟种类数量比起来，那时只有现在的十分之一或者甚至二十分之一；右边第二个陈列柜里是给男孩玩的小玩具，比如陀螺、弹珠和印画。你进来后的左手边，第一个陈列柜里是蛋糕和馅饼，第二个里面有各种各样的缎带之类的女性用品。横着从这边快接到那边的陈列柜里是糖果。

允许约翰去招呼买烟草的顾客，可以说是培养他长大的一种做法。然而他的妈妈尽量不让他去卖香烟，因为当时，香烟仍然跟生活放纵联系在一起，反正卡莫迪太太的小店里香烟种类也不多，只有“可爱下士”和名叫“完美”牌的，另外还有些五分钱能买二十根的，例如“麦加”和“循环”牌。嚼烟当时很受欢迎，有个简单的装置来把嚼烟切成各种价钱的一条条，一角钱的，五分钱的。这个装置的刀片固定在一个架子上，然后还有扳手，来把嚼烟切断——“B.L.”和“黑德西克风琴手”牌或者不管什么牌子的。“黑德西克风琴手”是卖给更讲究的人，“B.L.”则更具有平民色彩。

在烟草柜台那边，约翰有种危险的娱乐，是在卡莫迪太太去后面时他会玩的一种把戏。柜台的一头安了个切雪茄器，得上发条，因为里面有根反应很快的弹簧。你把雪茄的一头伸进小洞，刀片刷的一下掠过那个洞，就把雪茄封着的那头整整齐齐切下来。约翰玩的把戏，是把食指尖伸进那台机器，伸得能让弹簧反应，然后在被切到前抽回食指。那样做有危险，这种本领，只有被称为“当家的”的人才够胆尝试。

有一天，莫里斯神父正好看到他在那样做，但是没制止他，只是看着说：“嗬，这你也敢。”他好像有点赞成这种把戏。

莫里斯神父自己也玩小把戏，例如故意把两个孩子身上弄脏。就像他跟卡莫迪太太所说，他觉得她把他们收拾得太干净，不正常。他们身上总是一尘不染，让莫里斯神父看了着急。

就在小店后面横着放的柜台后面，还没到住人地方之前，有座小煤炉，可以用来泡杯茶，炉子旁边有个煤桶。要是莫里斯神父进来而卡莫迪太太在后面，他会让她不用出来，他会看着小店，然后叫两个孩子。“哎，”他会说，“把钱捡出来就是你们的。”他会把两三个一分钱硬币扔进煤桶。约翰和他弟弟就会在煤里挖，手和脸上很快都会脏乎乎的，他们的干净衣服也黑了。“现在你们看上去像是一般的小孩儿了。”莫里斯神父说，然后悄悄溜出小店。

经常是“当家的”捡到了那些一分钱硬币。两个孩子中所拥有第一项重要财产，也是他首先得到的，那是在他九岁生日那天，卡莫迪太太送给他一辆自行车。这件礼物很贵重，得用卡莫迪太太辛辛苦苦攒起来的钱购买，当然，她不得不早做计划。“当家的”老是在想从附近几个小孩中某个有自行车的小孩那里借来骑一段，她不喜欢那样，可他总是那样做。

为了让“当家的”有辆属于自己的自行车，一开始，卡莫迪太太得跟卖自行车的吉姆·贝里商量很久。要买的自行车得比标准的小一号，因为约翰才九岁，当时的自行车大部分都是为比他大一点孩子生产的，所以吉姆·贝里得提前很久订货。到货后，贝里在夜里送过来，是在约翰给打发去睡觉之后。那是辆红色的自行车，甚至有一个电石灯。贝里给卡莫迪太太看了灯怎么使用。那种化学品是灰色的，盛在一个容器里，固定在自行车上。打开一个开关，另外一个容器就往电石里注入水，那样就产生了气体，气体通过一条管子通到灯里，通到一个Y形出口，可以在那头点着。整个这一套很有科学味，也稍微有点危险。卡莫迪太太相信约翰会喜欢。卡莫迪太太给贝里先生付了一部分钱，还同意每两星期付给他一美元七角五分，直到付清。他们那天晚上把自行车藏在小店里。

第二天早上，约翰那天生日，他从小店后面出来叠报纸。那是他妈妈大清早要干的活，他通常也会帮点忙。他们会在开门前把报纸叠好，并把几种报纸分别摞在柜台上，好让忙着去上班的人可以冲进来，几乎看都不看地一把拿过他们喜欢的报纸，习惯做法是到了周末再结账。卡莫迪太太五点四十开门，晚上总是到十点就关门。那是漫长的一天，不过店里安静下来后有时间休息一下，她可以喝杯茶。

约翰开始叠报纸时，随便看了小店里面一眼。自行车在那儿，靠着一面柜台，他放下报纸跑了过去。

“是我的！今天是我生日！”他说着抓住了车把，感觉正好。“快点，妈妈！开门！”

他迫不急待想赶快把自行车弄到街上。他妈妈打开门，然后推着门让他把自行车弄出去时，一边的脚蹬有一阵子绊到了她的围裙。她低头看围裙有没有扯破时，他就骑着自行车到了街上。她根本没有看到他第一次骑上自行车——这件很不一般的礼物。围裙没破，卡莫迪太太又去自己叠报纸了。

当时是暑假，不用上学，所以约翰骑了一上午自行车。他根本不想吃早饭，他骑车经过小店时扭头扯着嗓子说过了。中午时候，他妈妈非让他吃了点东西，那是他再次经过小店门口时，他妈妈大声要他进来。

他把自行车一直推到店后面他们住的那一部分。他吃了几口他妈妈放在饭桌上的东西，中间又抽空把窗帘拉上，那样没能让里面漆黑一片，不过也够黑的了，让他可以打开自行车上的电石灯开关，然后把灯点亮。那种气味弥漫在整个那里，可是没有谁来阻止他。他不想把灯灭掉，可是他再次把自行车推到阳光下之前，还是把灯灭掉了。

那天他骑不够那辆自行车，觉得永远也到不了天黑，好让他使用灯。他把附近地方骑了个遍，骑到了陌生的地方，他以前走路就算去过那里，也是很少。他总是兜回小店，然后又骑走。

四点钟左右，约翰骑着自行车在抄一条近道，他潇洒地站在脚蹬上，一条小路穿过了一片空地。很突然，他不得不停了下来，因为正好有两个妇女挡在他前面，占了整条小路。他不想冒险骑着自行车从她们旁边兜过去，因为路边草丛里，可能有玻璃碴而他看不到。他动作夸张地下了自行车，然后走路推自行车。那两个妇女没怎么注意他，她们只是扫了一眼，看到不知道谁家的孩子推着一辆自行车，她们继续聊着。

“哎，那位卡莫迪太太，可真是个吝啬鬼！”一个妇女对另外一个说。

约翰听到她这样说，自行车摇晃了一下，那是前轮碰到一块石头颠了一下。约翰脸上感到刺痛，他几乎握不住车把。

“瞧我得这样把糖拿回家！”那个妇女又说，“我刚好只有四分钱，就买那么多，带回家给孩子们。”

“是啊，是啊。”另外一个妇女点着头说。

“卡莫迪太太会不会给我一个袋子装着？她可不会！这位不会！怪不得她有很多很多钱。要说有谁是个吝啬鬼，那就数卡莫迪太太了。”

约翰马上担心那个妇女会扭头认出是他，他浑身颤抖，在咽口水。他很费劲地把自行车掉了个头，走回那段近路的起始处，面对小店。他走路不稳，感到恶心。他知道自己听到了那段话，可是他不敢相信竟会有人那样说。

他在空地的一头骑上自行车时，身上还在发抖。他以最快速度骑到小店时，吹来的风让他脸上没那么发烫了。到了小店外面，他急急忙忙想把自行车靠在马路边，一只脚蹬支在路沿上。他很快支起来，但是支得很不好，自行车开始倒下，可是他及时扶住了，把脚蹬稳稳支好后跑进小店。

还有两步就到门前时，他像是控制住了自己，三步并作两步走到柜台后面他妈妈跟前。

“妈妈！妈妈！”他说，“谢谢你给我买了自行车，太谢谢你了。”

Mrs. Carmody's Corner Shop, the kind you find in small towns in the east, was run by widows. Here and there you could still find such little shops, but it had been thirty-four or three years since Mrs. Carmody had opened hers. That Little Shop sold courage and l potatoes (almost always eaten in less than half a bite at a time) , Jin Libby's novel, "16-1" chocolate bars, stickers that could print fake tattoos on the backs of children's hands, kindling tied with fuzzy twine, Clark threads, cigars and tobacco, Copenhagen snuff, a dash of kerosene, chocolate candy, "the young and desolate west,""work and win" and God knows what else. "courage and l""the young and wild west," and "work and win" were all five-cent magazines, one issue a week. Behind the small window of Mrs. Carmody's Little Shop, a rope was stretched across it, and the magazines hung there, so that the brightly colored covers would attract people on the street. Mrs. Carmody had two children, John Johan and his quieter brother, William. John Johan, who will soon be nine, is fascinated by courage and land other storybooks. He read them all, but he could not read them by cutting out the pages of the magazines, which had no cut at the top. Once cut, it's a used copy of courage and lor the young and wild west or whatever, and it's only worth two and a half minutes. So John Little learned the rare skill of holding the long story magazines as high as possible, without cutting them open, and reading them all the way to the corner, it sounds bad for his eyes, but it doesn't hurt his eyes at all. Chocolate, like 16-1, is a sugar. The candy was dark and button-shaped, with lots of white dots inside; "16-1" was probably from William Jennings Bryan's campaign a few years ago; and the Butterball was not made of cream, it's yellow sugar, four for a penny; licorice shoelaces, two for a penny; eggs, one for a penny. The omelette was not an actual omelette, but a small tin pan with a piece of sugar on it, the color and shape of which looked like an egg in the pan. Each pan comes with a small spoon, and the smart child will realize that the edge of the spoon is sharp. The tin used to make spoons and pans is not very heavy, and if you try to scoop the sugar out of the pan by holding the handle and spoon of the pan, a little at a time, the handle or the whole spoon (or both) will bend ghtly. There's a whole display case full of candy. John Little, who knew the price of each kind of candy, but occasionally sold five candies for a penny instead of four, maybe a Montevideo, if he knew the kid who bought it. At the time, he had no clear idea of what a profit would be, or how little money he would make in each sale in the store. In any case, he was too careless to care, though Mrs. Carmody tried to explain to him, especially when it came to the bag and when it didn't. "if they buy a penny or two or three or four," Mrs. Carmody often told him, "just put the sugar in their hands and be polite. If they buy nickels or more, use a bag. Bags cost money, John Johan, and if you don't do what I say, John Johan, we'll lose money." John Johan rarely listened to that and most of the other things his mother told him. Mrs. Carmody herself was an expert in selling candy, and she had some rigid rules about "selling," as they now call it in big stores. One of her rules is to give a child that much time to stand in front of the candy counter and decide what to buy. The time that allowed him to dither was recorded by a metronome in Mrs. Carmody's mind. When the allotted time was up, she would go away without a word, and the child, who was sure to make a quick decision, would stand there for a while, desperate for candy. Of co, the rules of the shop had never been announced or announced in any way, but in fact they were well known. A customer is holding a quarter of a candy bar in his hand, or if he ba nickel or more, waiting for a bag. The store is busy most of the time. People came here first out of pity, then out of habit, and continued to buy from Kotō Konishi. John Johan was only two years old when Mrs. Carmody's husband died, and his younger brother was only a few months old. Relatives put together perhaps two hundred dollars, plus the money left over from life insurance after the funeral, and with that money, they helped the widow open the shop. She lives in the back of the store with her two kids. There's a bell on a rope above the door that rings when someone comes in. If Mrs. Carmody were here, she would come out of the back of the house to greet the customers. After a while, she took good care of her two children, even on the meager income from the place. Father Maurice Murphy, a regular customer, said Mrs. Carmody took such good care of the children that she spoiled them, especially John Johan. "you take such good care of them, Mary," father Maurice used to say to Mrs. Carmody, "you do too much for them, you clean them up too well, you dress them too well, especially the ones who are in charge," he said, referring to John Johan. Now that the father is gone, John Johan is called "the man of the house," even though he is barely nine years old. In Mrs. Carmody's ethnic family, they always used the word "in charge" like that, whether in the United States or Ireland. This is a habit, "head of" is a family of the largest male, home what is the best, are the "head of" to enjoy, he will be spoiled for life. At Carmody's, for example, when mashed potatoes were served for dinner, Mrs. Carmody would pile them on a plate into a mound, make a dent in the top, and then leave a big lump of butter there to melt. When she and her two children were seated at the table, she would scoop out a big spoonful of mashed potatoes and let the melted butter flow down one side, the buttery part being always eaten by the "master", the younger brother looked on enviously. The younger brother would not have liked it to happen again and again, but he was not the oldest male in the family, so he had to hurry. When John Johan was eight years old, he was occasionally allowed to serve customers at the tobacco display case. The part of the shop, which is on the right side of the door, is more masculine. Roughly speaking, the right side of the store is the men's section and the left side is the women's section. There are five display cases, two on each side, from the front to the back, the fifth block in the back, also did not block, can be said to have become a square "U" shape, the opening is facing the street shop door. On the right-hand side of the men's section, the first cabinet held tobacco, cigars and cigarettes, but compared with today's number of cigarettes, that was one-tenth or even one-twentieth; In the second cabinet on the right are small toys for boys, such as tops, marbles and prints. On your left when you come in, the first cabinet is filled with cakes and pies, and the second one is filled with all sorts of feminine things like ribbons. Across, from here to there. In the display case, candy. Allowing John Johan to serve customers who bought tobacco was, so to speak, a way of raising him. His mother, however, tried to discourage him from selling cigarettes, which were still associated with indulgence, since there weren't many cigarettes in Mrs. Carmody's shop anyway, only corporal cute and the perfect, and some nickels for 20, like Mecca and the circle. Chewing tobacco was very popular at that time, and there was a simple device to cut chewing tobacco into strips at various prices, a dime, a nickel. The blades of the device are attached to a shelf, and then there are wrenches to cut through the chewing tobacco -- "B.L." and "Hedsheik organist" or whatever. The "Hedsheik organist" was sold to the more sophisticated, and "B. L." was more of a plebeian. At the tobacco counter, John Johan had a dangerous pastime, a trick he played when Mrs. Carmody went behind. At one end of the counter was a cigar cutter that had to be wound because there was a quick-acting spring inside. Yoick one end of the cigar into a small hole, and with a quick brush of the blade across the hole, you neatly cut the closed end of the cigar. John Johan's trick is to insert the tip of his index finger into the machine so that it springs, then pull it back before it is cut. It was a dangerous thing to do, a skill only a man known as the head of the household would dare to try. One day father Maurice happened to see him doing it, but instead of stopping him, he just looked at him and said, "Oh, don't you dare." He seemed to approve of the trick. Father Maurice himself played tricks, such as getting the children dirty on purpose. As he had told Mrs. Carmody, he felt that she had made them too clean and unnatural. They were always immaculate, Father Maurice observed anxiously. There was a small coal stove for making a cup of tea right behind the counter that lay across the back of the shop, and there was a coal keg next to it. If father Maurice came in and Mrs. Carmody was in the back, he would keep her there, he would watch the shop and call the children. "well," he would say, "pick up the money and it's yo" He would throw two or three pennies into the coal bt. John Johan and his brother would dig in the coal, their hands and faces would soon be dirty, and their clean clothes black. "Now you look like regular kids," father Maurice said, and slipped out of the store. It is often the "man in charge" who picks up the pennies. The first important possession of the children, and the first he had, was a bicycle given to him by Mrs. Carmody on his ninth birthday. The gift was so expensive that it had to be purchased with the money Mrs. Carmody had worked so hard to save, and of co she had to plan ahead. The Man in charge always wanted to borrow a ride from one of the children nearby who had a bicycle. She didn't like it, but he did it all the time. At first, Mrs. Carmody had to consult with Jim Berry, the bicycle salesman, in order for the owner to have a bicycle of his own. The bike had to be a size smaller than the standard size, because John Johan was nine years old, and most of the bikes were made for older children, so Jim had to order them a long time in advance. When it arrived, Berry delivered it at night, after John Johan had sent it to bed. It was a red bicycle, and it even had a carbide lamp. Berry showed Mrs. Carmody how the Lights worked. The chemical was gray, contained in a container, attached to the bike. A switch is turned on, and a second container is filled with water, which creates a gas, which goes through a tube into the lamp, into a y-shaped exit, which can be lit at that end. The whole thing is scientific and slightly dangerous. Mrs. Carmody was sure John Johan would like it. Mrs. Carmody paid Mr. Berry a portion of the money and agreed to pay him $1.75 every two weeks until it was paid off. They hid the bike in the shop that night. The next morning, on John Johan's birthday, he came out from behind the store to fold the newspaper. It's his mom's early-morning job, and he usually helps out. They would fold the papers before they opened the door and stack them on the counter so busy people could rush in and grab their favorite newspaper almost without reading it, it's customary to wait until the end of the week to settle up. Mrs. Carmody opens at 5:40 and always closes at 10:00 at night. It was a long day, but there was time to rest when it was quiet and she could have a cup of tea. When John Johan started folding the newspaper, he took a quick look inside the store. The bike was there, next to a counter, and he put down the newspaper and ran over. "It's mine! It's my birthday!" He said, catching the handlebars and feeling just right. "come on, Mom! Open the door!" He couldn't wait to get his bike out on the street. When his mother opened the door and pushed it open for him to get the bike out, one of her pedals for a moment tripped over her apron. When she looked down to see if her apron was torn, he rode his bicycle out into the street. She never saw him ride his bike for the first time -- an unusual gift. The apron wasn't torn, and Mrs. Carmody had gone to fold her own newspaper. It was summer vacation and there was no school, so John Johan rode his bike all morning. He didn't want any breakfast at all, he said, turning his head and raising his voice as he cycled past the shop. At noon, his mother made him eat something, it was when he passed the door of the store again, his mother loudly asked him to come in. He pushed the bike all the way to the back of the store where they lived. He took a few mouthfof what his mother had put on the table, and in the middle made time to close the curtains. That didn't make it dark inside, but it was dark enough that he could turn on the calcium carbide light switch on his bicycle, and turn on the lights. The smell was all over the place, but there was no one to stop him. He didn't want to turn off the lights, but he turned them off before he pushed his bike into the sun again. That day he could not get enough of the bike and thought it would never be dark enough for him to use the light. He cycled through the neighbourhood and into strange places, where he had seldom, if ever, walked. He used to circle back to the store and ride away. Around four o'clock, John Johan was taking a short cut on his bicycle, standing smartly on his pedals, and a path cut across a clearing. Suddenly he had to stop because two women were in front of him and occupied the path. He didn't want to risk riding his bike past them, because there might be glass in the grass that he couldn't see. He dramatically got off his bike and walked to push it. The two women did not pay much attention to him. They just glanced at the child pushing a bicycle. They continued to talk. "Oh, that Mrs. Carmody, what a Miser!" Said one woman to another. John Johan heard her say this, and the bike wobbled, its front wheel bumping against a rock. John Johan's face tingled and he could barely hold the handlebars. "look how I have to take the sugar home!" Said the woman again, "I only had four cents, so I bought it and took it home to my children.""Yes, yes," said another woman, nodding her head. "would Mrs. Carmody give me a bag to put it in? Not her! Not this one! No wonder she has so much money. If anyone was a miser, it was Mrs. Carmody." John Johan was immediately worried that the woman would turn around and recognize him, he was shaking and swallowing. With great difficulty he turned the bike around and walked back to the beginning of the shortcut, facing the shop. He walked erratically and felt nauseous. He knew he had heard the words, but he couldn't believe that anyone had said them. He was still shaking when he got on his bike at one end of the clearing. As he rode as fast as he could to the store, the wind blew off the heat from his face. Ode, he tried to lean his bike against the side of the road, one pedal resting on the curb. He quickly got up, but it was badly propped up. The bike began to fall down, but he caught it in time and ran into the shop after pedaling steadily. Two steps closer to the door, he seemed to control himself, and three and two steps closer to his mother behind the counter. "Mom! Mom!" He said. "thank you for the bike. Thank yo much." 标题: 卡莫迪太太的小店
作者: 约翰·麦克纳尔蒂
字数: 5029
简介: 卡莫迪太太太在街角的小店，是在东部小镇子上都能找到的那种，由寡妇所开。这儿那儿，你还能发现这种小店，可是卡莫迪太太开她那间，已经是三十四年前