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That day he found two sacks, which he took to the rambling wooden factory and sold to the man in charge of packing nails.
那天，他找了兩條麻袋，拿到雜亂的木材廠，賣給為釘子裝袋的人。
The boy's hand tightly clutched the five-cent pieces as he ran the two kilometers home.
兩公里的路程他是一路跑著回的家，手里緊緊攥著兩個5分硬幣。
Near his house stood the ancient barn that housed the family's goats and chickens. Reuben found a rusty soda tin and dropped his coins inside. Then he climbed into the loft of the barn and hid the tin beneath a pile of sweet smelling hay.
他家旁邊有個頗有年頭的谷倉，里面圈著家里的山羊和雞。魯本在那里找到一個生銹的裝蘇打的鐵罐，把兩枚硬幣放了進去。然后，他爬上谷倉的閣樓，把鐵罐藏在一堆散發著甜香味的干草下面。
It was dinnertime when Reuben got home. His father sat at the big kitchen table, working on a fishing net. Dora was at the kitchen stove, ready to serve dinner as Reuben took his place at the table.
晚飯時分，魯本跨進家門。父親正坐在廚房大餐桌旁擺弄漁網，多拉在灶臺邊忙碌著，準備開飯。魯本就在桌邊坐下了。
He looked at his mother and smiled. Sunlight from the window gilded her shoulder-length blonde hair. Slim and beautiful, she was the center of the home, the glue that held it together.
他看著媽媽，笑了。窗戶透進的夕陽余暉將她棕褐的披肩發染成了金色。苗條、美麗的母親是這個家的中心，她像膠水一樣使這個家緊緊粘結在一起。
Her chores were never-ending. Sewing clothes for her family on the old Singer treadle machine, cooking meals and baking bread, planting and tending a vegetable garden, milking the goats and scrubbing soiled clothes on a washboard. But she was happy. Her family and their well-being were her highest priority.
母親的家務活永遠也沒個完。用老式的“勝家”縫紉機為一家人縫縫補補；要做飯、烤面包；要照料菜園；要擠羊奶；還要在洗衣板上搓洗臟衣服。可母親是快樂的，全家人的幸福、健康在她心中是最重要的。
Every day after chores and school, Reuben scoured the town, collecting the hessian nail bags. On the day the two-room school closed for the summer, no student was more delighted than Reuben. Now he would have more time for his mission.
每天放學，做完家務事后，魯本就在鎮上搜尋裝釘子的麻袋。只有兩間教室的學校開始放暑假的那天，沒人能比魯本更高興了。現在他有更多時間去完成他的使命。
All summer long, despite chores at home weeding and watering the garden, cutting wood and fetching water—Reuben kept to his secret task.
整整一個夏天，魯本除了干家務——給菜園鋤草、澆水，砍柴和打水外，始終進行著他的秘密任務。
Then all too soon the garden was harvested, the vegetables canned and stored, and the school reopened. Soon the leaves fell and the winds blew cold and gusty from the bay. Reuben wandered the streets, diligently searching for his hessian treasures.
轉眼菜園里該采收了，蔬菜被裝罐腌制后儲藏，學校也開學了。再不久，樹葉飄零，海灣吹起陣陣寒風。魯本在街頭徘徊，努力尋找著被他視為寶物的麻袋。
Often he was cold, tired and hungry, but the thought of the object in the shop window sustained him. Sometimes his mother would ask: “Reuben, where were you? We were waiting for you to have dinner.”
他經常是饑寒交迫，疲憊不堪，但是一想到商店櫥窗里的那樣東西，他就又有勁兒堅持下去了。有時媽媽會問：“魯本，你上哪兒啦?我們等你吃飯呢!”
“Playing, Mum. Sorry.”
“玩去啦，媽媽。對不起。”
Dora would look at his face and shake her head. Boys.
這時候，多拉總會瞧著他的臉，無奈地搖搖頭，心想：男孩就是男孩。
