"A few years ago my middle son who was around seven years old at the time, had cycled away from home without telling anyone.
“幾年前,七歲左右的兒子一聲不吭地騎車離開了家。
It was a mild summer evening and there were many children playing in their gardens.
那是一個夏季的傍晚,天氣怡人,許多孩子在院子里玩耍。
Our new house was in a family friendly estate and despite trying to keep calm for the 40 minutes that we couldn't find him,
我們所處的小區氛圍友好,每家每戶都其樂融融。在尋找兒子下落的40分鐘里我還能故作鎮定,
I felt as if my life had stopped. There seemed to be no past and no future just a desperate present filled with every possible what if.
可當沒找著他時,我感覺我的生命停止了。沒有過去,也沒有未來,只有充滿著各種可能的絕望的當下。
He came back cheerfully on his bike having made some new friends and completely oblivious to the desperate panic at home.
結交了幾個新朋友后,兒子歡天喜地的騎著車回到家,完全沒有察覺家中絕望恐慌的氣氛。
40 minutes may have seemed like a lifetime to me but I was lucky because some people really do spend a lifetime living with the disappearance of their child.
這40分鐘對我而言像一生一般漫長,但我還算幸運,因為有些人真的一生都生活在失去孩子的痛苦中。
Winnie Johnson, the mother of Keith Bennett who was murdered by Ian Brady in 1964 died this weekend. She died at the age of 78,
維妮·約翰遜于本周末逝世,享年78歲。她的孩子基思·班尼特在1964年被伊恩·布拉迪殺害,
and 47 of those years had been spent looking for her son's body, the remains of which may still be somewhere on Saddleworth Moor.
47年里,維妮·約翰遜一直在尋找孩子的遺體。遺體被藏匿在沙德伍茲沼澤一帶,至今下落不明。
I grew up in West Yorkshire and would often pass the sign for Saddleworth as we drove along the motorway.
我在西約克郡長大,駕車時總會在高速公路上經過指向沙德伍茲的路標。
They are bleak and rolling moors but like many I came to associate this place only with the tragic murders of innocent young lives.
荒涼的沼澤地勢崎嶇,但和許多人一樣,我只能由它想起幾個無辜的年輕人被人謀殺的悲劇。
Most of us can't even begin to imagine Winnie Johnson's torment. The letters she wrote to Ian Brady with her pleas that perhaps he might in a moment of remorse tell her where Keith's body lay,
多數人都無法想像維妮·約翰遜所遭受的痛苦。她給伊恩·布拉迪寫信,懇求他能因剎那的悔恨告訴她基思遺體的下落。
her desperation to give Keith a Christian burial, before she died herself when she became ill.
她那時已身染疾病,不顧一切地想給伊恩一個基督教式的葬禮。
But it is her relentless hope as a mother which makes this story even more poignant.
然而,就是這位母親的無盡的愿望使整個故事更加讓人痛心。
Her hope that in finding Keith's remains she would have done all in her power as a mother and finally made peace with herself.
她希望盡一個母親的全部力量來找到基思的遺體,從而與自己講和。
But holding onto such hope must have been a kind of torment itself always demanding courage and patience.
不過堅持這種希望一定是種折磨,需要靠勇氣和耐心來支撐。
Maybe Winnie Johnson's Christian faith gave her some solace in her darkest hours but I think that keeping faith in the face of despair is God's biggest challenge to us.
也許維妮·約翰遜的基督教信仰在黑暗的時光里給予她安慰,但我想,在絕望中堅持信仰是上帝給我們設下的最大挑戰。
Her son was the victim of Brady's murder but she became the victim of his silence.
她的兒子成為布拉迪謀殺行為的受害者,而她則成為布拉迪沉默態度的受害者。
And although her family will continue this search they too may never find out.
盡管她的家人們將繼續尋找,但他們可能依舊一無所獲。
In trying to keep her son's memory alive she took flowers and toys to the moors.
為了使人們記住自己的孩子,維妮在沼澤地里布置了鮮花和玩具。
And perhaps in years to come it is this tender image which will gradually eclipse the dark secrets of these moors and the infamous faces of the murderer,
也許若干年后,這溫馨的景象會漸漸沖淡這片沼澤地的秘密,漸漸模糊兇手窮兇極惡的面容。
an image in which lies the haunting hope of a mother's love.",
而這溫馨的景象背后,是一位母親滿懷愛意的心愿。