She was dancing. My crippled grandmother was dancing. I stood in the living room doorway absolutely stunned. I glanced at the kitchen table and sure enough-right under a small, framed drawing on the wall-was a freshly baked peach pie.
I heard her sing when I opened the door but did not want to interrupt the beautiful song by yelling I had arrived, so I just tiptoed to the living room. I looked at how her still-lean body bent beautifully, her arms greeting the sunlight that was
pouring through the window. And her legs… Those legs that had stiffly walked, aided with a cane, insensible shoes as long as I could remember. Now she was wearing beautiful dancing shoes and her legs obeyed her perfectly. No limping. No stiffness. Just beautiful, fluid motion. She was the pet of the dancing world. And then she’d had her accident and it was all over. I had read that in an old newspaper clipping.
She turned around in a slow pirouette and saw me standing in the doorway. Her song ended, and her beautiful movements with it, so abruptly that it felt like being shaken awake from a beautiful dream. The sudden silence rang in my ears. Grandma looked so much like a kid caught with her hand in a cookie jar that I couldn’t help myself, and a slightly nervous laughter escaped. Grandma sighed and turned towards the kitchen. I followed her, not believing my eyes. She was walking with no difficulties in her beautiful shoes. We sat down by the table and cut ourselves big pieces of her delicious peach pie.
“So…” I blurted, “How did your leg heal?”
“To tell you the truth—my legs have been well all my life,” she said.
“But I don’t understand!” I said, “Your dancing career… I mean… You pretended all these years?
“Very much so,” Grandmother closed her eyes and savored the peach pie, “And for a very good reason.”
“What reason?”
“Your grandfather.”
“You mean he told you not to dance?”
“No, this was my choice. I am sure I would have lost him if I had continued dancing. I weighed fame and love against each other and love won.”
翻译
她在跳舞。我那身有残疾的祖母居然在跳舞。我站在客厅的门口，被彻底惊呆了。我扫了一眼厨房的餐桌，果不其然，在餐桌上——墙上那幅小小的镶框画像的正下方——有一块新鲜出炉的烤蜜桃派。
当我推门进屋的时候，我听到了她在唱歌，但我不想大喊自己回来了，不想打断那美妙的歌声，于是我踮着脚尖走到客厅。我看着她那依然消瘦的身体优雅地弯下，她的手臂迎向从窗口倾泻而入的阳光。而她的腿……自我能记事以来，她总是拄着拐杖，穿着便鞋，走起路来腿脚僵硬。可现在，她正穿着美丽的舞鞋，而她的双腿完全听从着她的支配。不再蹒跚，不再僵硬。只有优美、流畅的动作。她曾是舞蹈界的宠儿。可是后来她遭遇了一场意外，舞蹈生涯因此而结束。我是从一张老旧的剪报中读到这个的。
她缓缓地转身做了一个足尖旋转，见到我站在门口。她的歌声嘎然而止，还有她那优美的动作，一切停止得如此突然，感觉像是从一场美梦中被人摇醒了。突如其来的寂静冲击着我的耳朵。祖母看起来很像是一个伸手从饼干罐里偷吃却被抓了个正着的小孩，我不禁发出了一阵略带一丝紧张的大笑。祖母叹了口气，转身走向厨房。我跟在她身后，还是不敢相信自己的眼睛。她穿着那双美丽的舞鞋，行走自如。我们坐在了桌边，从她那美味的蜜桃派中切出了大大的几块，俩人一起吃。
“那么……”我脱口而出道，“你的腿是怎么好了的？”
“跟你说实话吧——我的腿一直都挺好的，”她说。
“可是我不明白！”我说，“你的舞蹈事业……我是说……难道这些年来你一直在假装？”
“的确如此，”祖母闭上眼睛，品尝着蜜桃派，“而且是因为一个非常好的理由。”
“什么理由？”
“你的祖父。”
“你是说，他让你不要再跳舞了？”
“不，这是我自己的选择。我确信如果我再继续跳舞的话，我就会失去他了。我权衡名利和爱情孰轻孰重之后，选择了爱情。”
