“What you don't learn from your mother, you learn from the world” is a saying I once heard from the Masai tribe in Kenya. By the fall of 1960, my world was expanding and so were my political sensibilities. John E Kennedy won the presidential election, to my father's consternation. He supported Vice President Richard M. Nixon, and my eighthgrade social studies teacher, Mr. Kenvin, did too. Mr. Kenvin came to school the day after the election and showed us bruises3 he claimed he had gotten when he tried to question the activities of the Democratic machine's poll watchers at his voting precinct in Chicago on Election Day. Betsy Johnson and I were outraged by his stories, which reinforced my father's belief that Mayor Richard J. Daley's creative vote counting had won the election for President-Elect Kennedy.
“母親沒教的，世界會教給你。”這是肯尼亞馬薩伊部落的諺語。1960年秋，我的世界逐漸擴大，政治嗅覺也比以往敏銳。肯尼迪當選總統，令支持尼克松的父親大為驚恐，我八年級的社會課老師凱文也是如此。選舉的第二天，凱文先生到學校后露出身上的淤斑給我們看，說他在芝加哥的選區投票所因為質疑民主黨籍監票員的行為被打。貝琪和我聽了義憤填膺，這也讓我對父親的說法深信不疑。父親認為芝加哥市長理查德·戴利發明的計票方法為肯尼迪贏得了總統寶座。
A few days later, Betsy heard about a group of Republicans asking for volunteers to check voter lists against addresses to uncover vote fraud. Betsy and I decided to participate.We knew our parents would never give us permission, so we didn't ask. The turnout must have been less than expected. We were each handed a stack of voter registration lists and assigned to different teams who, we were told, would drive us to our destinations, drop us off and pick us up a few hours later.
數日后，貝琪聽說一群共和黨人正在招募志愿人員，以核對選民名冊與居住地址，希望揭露選舉舞弊。我和貝琪決定加入。我們知道父母絕對不會同意，所以沒有跟他們講。參加的人數顯然低于預期，因此我和貝琪各拿到一大堆選民名冊。我們倆被分配到不同的小組，由各組負責送我們到目的地，數小時后再接回來。
Betsy and I separated and went off with total strangers. I ended up with a couple who drove me to the South Side, dropped me off in a poor neighborhood and told me to knock on doors and ask people their names so I could compare them with registration lists to find evidence to overturn the election. Off I went, fearless and stupid. I did find a vacant lot that was listed as the address for about a dozen alleged voters. I woke up a lot of people who stumbled to the door or yelled at me to go away.
貝琪和我分別后，就跟完全不認識的人出發了。我和一對夫婦同組，他們載我到南城，要我負責一個落后街區的核對工作，指示我先敲門，詢問住戶的姓名，查核是否和選民名冊相符，以便找出能推翻選舉結果的證據。我就這么走進社區，一副天不怕地不怕的愚蠢相。我的確發現了一座空房子，卻登記了十多位選民。我攪了不少人的清夢，他們跌跌撞撞走到門口，開了門對我咆哮，叫我滾蛋。
When I finished, I stood on the corner waiting to be picked up, happy that I'd ferreted out proof of my father's contention that “Daley stole the election for Kennedy”unquot.
事情做完后，我站在街角等著車子帶我回去，我很興奮，因為我為父親的“戴利幫肯尼迪偷到了總統”的說法找到了證據。
Of course, when I returned home and told my father where I had been, he went nuts. It was bad enough to go downtown without an adult, but to go to the South Side alone sent him into a yelling fit. And besides, he said, Kennedy was going to be President whether we liked it or not.
當然，回到家告訴父親我的所作所為后，他狠狠地罵了我一頓。沒有大人帶著就自己跑到市區已是犯了大錯，更糟的是還孤身一人跑到南城，這讓他氣得暴跳如雷。他說，無論我們接不接受，肯尼迪已當定了總統。
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