A Home coming of a Different Sort譯文

A Home coming of a Different Sort ---Vicki Viebrugge

Jeff and I had many conversations during the year, but I will always remember the time he told me about his family. His mother, a loving, caring woman, was the one who held the family together. She died shortly before Jeff graduated from high school. His father, a successful physician, cold and stern in Jeff's words, had firm beliefs that a person would never make a valuable contribution to the world unless they attended and graduated from college by the age of twenty-three. His father had even paved the way for Jeff to attend the same college from which he had graduated, and had offered to pay Jeff's entire tuition and living expenses. As an active Alumni Association member, he was excited that his son would someday follow in his footsteps.

Jeff was twenty-seven and a successful business planner at a Fortune 500 company—without a degree. His passion was skiing. When he graduated from high school he decided to decline his father' s offer and instead move to Colorado to work with a ski patrol. With pain in his eyes Jeff told me that he still remembered the day he told his father he was going to give up college and take a job at a ski resort. He remembered every word of the short conversation. He told his father of his passion for skiing and for the mountains and then of his plans. His father looked off into the distance; his face became red. Then came the words that still echoed in Jeff's mind: "You lazy kid. No son of mine is going to work on a ski patrol and not attend college. I should have known you'd never amount to anything. Don't come back in this house until you have enough self-respect to use the brains God gave you and go to school!" The two had not spoken since that conversation.

Jeff was not even sure that his father knew he was back in the area near where he grew up and he certainly did not want his father to know he was attending college. He was doing this for himself, not for his father. He said it over and over again.

Janice, Jeff's sister, had always remained supportive of Jeff's decisions. She stayed in contact with their father, but Jeff had made her promise that she would not share any information about his life with him.

Jeff's graduation ceremony that year was on a hot, sunny day in June. As I walked around talking to people before the ceremony, I noticed a man with a confused expression on his face.

"Excuse me, " he said as he politely approached me. "What is happening here today?"

"It's graduation day, " I replied, smiling.

"Well that's odd," he said, "my daughter asked me to meet her at this address." His eyes sparkled and he smiled. "Maybe she completed her associate' s degree and wanted to surprise me!"

I helped him find a seat and as he left me he said, "Thank you for helping me. By the way, my name's Dr. Holstrom."

I froze for a second. Jeff Holstrom. Dr. Holstrom. Could this be the same person I had heard about over the last year? The cold, stern man who demanded his son attend college or never enter his home again?

Soon the familiar music could be heard. I turned around in my chair to get a glimpse of Dr. Holstrom. He seemed to be looking for his daughter amongst the graduates on stage. Speeches were given, the graduates were congratulated, and the dean began to read the names of the graduates.

Jeff was the last person to cross the stage. I heard his name being announced "Jeff Holstrom." He crossed the stage, received his diploma from the college president, and, just as he started down the stairs from the stage, he turned toward the audience looking for his sister.

A lone figure stood up in the back of the audience—Dr. Holstrom. I'm not sure how Jeff even saw him in the crowd, but I could tell that their eyes met. Dr. Holstrom opened his arms, as if to embrace the air around him. He bowed his head, almost as if to apologize. For a moment it seemed as if time stood still, and as if they were the only two in the auditorium. Jeff came down the stairs with tears in his eyes.

"My father is here, " he whispered to me. I smiled.

"What are you going to do?" I asked him.

"Well, " he said, "I think I'm going home."

別樣的回家

那年傑夫我倆有過多次談話，但我始終記得那次，他跟我談起他的家庭。他的母親是一位慈愛、富有同情心的女人，是她把整個家庭凝聚在一起。傑夫剛剛高中畢業，她就去世了。他的父親是一位成功的醫生，按傑夫的話説，是個“冷酷、嚴厲”的人，堅信人只有上大學、並在23歲那年畢業，才能為社會做出重大貢獻。他的父親甚至為傑夫能夠進入自己所畢業的大學鋪平了道路，並提出為傑夫支付全部學費和生活費。作為一名活躍的校友會成員，他為兒子有一天能夠追隨自己的足跡而感到興奮。

傑夫二十七歲了，他是一位成功的商業規劃師，在一家500強企業工作---他沒有什麼學位。傑夫熱衷於滑雪，高中畢業後，他決定謝絕父親的好意，去科羅拉多一個滑雪巡邏隊工作。他痛苦的眼神告訴我，他仍記得那天，他告訴父親要放棄上大學，去一個滑雪勝地工作。他清楚地記得那次談話的每個字。他跟父親講了自己對滑雪的熱愛、對大山的熱愛和自己的規劃。父親看着遠方，他的臉紅了。然後，傑夫聽到了至今仍迴響在耳邊的那句話：“你這個懶傢伙！我的兒子絕不會去做滑雪巡邏隊員，絕不會不上大學。我早就應該知道，你不會有什麼出息的！不要再回到這個家，除非你有足夠的自尊心，把上帝給你的腦袋瓜用於學業！”從此兩人再也沒有説過話。

傑夫甚至不能確定，父親是否知道他已經回到出生地附近，他當然不想讓父親知道自己正在上大學。他這麼做是為了自己，不是為父親。他這樣一遍又一遍地告訴自己。

賈尼斯是傑夫的姐姐，她一直支持傑夫的決定，並一直與他們的父親保持聯繫，但是傑夫要她保證不要把自己的'情況告訴父親。

傑夫畢業典禮在六月，那天，天氣炎熱、陽光燦爛。我踱着步，向參加典禮的人羣講話，這時，我注意到一個男人，他臉上的表情很複雜。

“打擾下，”他問，並禮貌地走向我。“這裏今天有什麼事嗎？”

“今天是畢業日，”我微笑地回答。

“哦，有點奇怪，”他説，“我女兒希望這次講話中能見到我。”他微笑時眼睛中發出光芒。“可能是她完成了副學士學位，想給我一個驚喜！”

我幫他找到一個座位，坐過去之前，他感謝道，“謝謝你的幫助，順便説一下，我是Holstrom醫生。”

我吃驚了一下，Jeff Holstrom，Holstrom醫生。這是我去年聽到的那個人嗎？那個冷酷、嚴厲、要求兒子上大學否則不許進家門的父親嗎？

很快，熟悉的音樂響起。坐在椅子上，我環視一下，看了一眼Holstrom醫生。他似乎在台上的畢業生中找尋女兒。做完演講、向畢業生表示祝賀後，主任開始念畢業生名單。

傑夫是最後一個上講台的，我聽到他的名字“Jeff Holstrom”被宣讀。他走上講台，從學院院長手中接過畢業證書，就在將要走下講台台階時，他環顧聽眾席尋找姐姐。

觀眾席後面，一個孤單的身影站了起來--是Holstrom醫生。我甚至不知道傑夫是怎麼在人羣中看到他的，但我知道他們的目光相遇了。Holstrom醫生張開手臂，好像是要擁抱周圍的空氣。他鞠了一躬，差不多像是在道歉。那一刻時間似乎靜止了，禮堂裏似乎只有他們兩個人。傑夫走下台階，眼睛裏滿是淚水。

“我父親在這裏，”他低聲跟我説。我笑了笑。“你準備怎麼辦？”我問他。

“嗯，”他説，“我想我會回家。”