1. This motel was at the edge of Garden City, Kansas. In the front of the lobby, across the parking lot, was a small swimming pool.It was a place the last of my money could take me, for a night. A late October Friday, Indian summer, warm. I didn’t have a swimsuit. I did not own short pants since I was a boy. My duffel held only necessary work clothes and some personal things. I stripped off my shirt and boots and socks and went to the pool in my filthy jeans. I had my eyes closed and didn’t realize I was asleep until the sliding door of a van slammed shut and woke me up.
這家汽車旅館位于堪薩斯州加登市邊上。旅館大廳的前部，停車場對過是一個小泳池。我僅剩的那點兒盤纏，也就是能讓我在這個地方住上一宿。這天是十月下旬的一個星期五，晚秋晴暖的天氣還相當暖和。我沒有泳衣。我從小就沒有短褲。我的行李袋里只裝著必要的工作服和一些私人物品。我脫掉襯衫、靴子和短襪，穿著我那條臟兮兮的牛仔褲走入池中。我閉上眼睛，直到一輛廂車砰地一聲關上拉門并把我吵醒時，我才意識到自己剛剛睡著了。
2. A woman about my age and a half-dozen preteen girls stepped out of the van, and walked to the lobby in a way that suggested a long and tiring ride. The woman looked at me a little warily. I knew those girls were going to want to swim, and not with someone as shaky-looking as me around. I went back to my room.
一名與我年齡相仿的女子和六個十幾歲的女孩從廂車上走了下來，然后拖著長時間乘車后疲憊的步伐走進了旅館大廳。那名女子用略帶警惕的眼神看了看我。我知道那些女孩想要游泳，卻又不希望與我這么一個看上去不靠譜的家伙共享這個泳池。于是，我回到了自己的房間。
3. Television seemed like an indulgence. A man read the news and told me things I hadn’t an inkling of. I was hungry but had eaten my dinner already, and could not afford another meal. I could hear the little girls out in the water now, squealing and plunging. I pulled a room chair outside to sit there in front of my room, to feel the cooling air of the night.
電視機似乎是在放縱地播放著它的節目——一名男子播報了新聞，告訴了我一些我完全不了解的事情。我覺得有些餓，但已經吃過晚餐了，而且我現在已經沒錢再去買吃的了。此時，我能聽到外面小女孩們在水里的尖叫聲以及噼里啪啦的跳水聲。我把房間里的一把椅子拉到了門外，在我的房間前坐了下來，感受著夜晚涼爽的空氣。
4. In the parking lot that was my view, a big Cadillac, new-looking, had appeared. The car was blue with white leather seats. The trunk was still open, as was the door to a room close to mine, and after a while a man came out to get the rest of his things from the car.
在我面前的停車場內出現了一輛新款加長版凱迪拉克轎車。車身是藍色的，車內配有白色的真皮座椅。后備箱的門敞開著，對著距離我的房間不遠的一個房間。沒過一會兒，一個男子從房間里出來，打算從車上取走剩下的東西。
5. He was tiny. He was maybe a little more than three feet tall. I guessed him to be in his sixties. He turned and saw me standing there. In a reedy voice, he said, “Give an old fellow a hand?” I got up and went around to the trunk and took out his bag, which was leather and expensive-looking. He had thick glasses and his face was all lines. I brought the suitcase in and laid it at the foot of his bed, and then he said, “Say, let me offer you a drink. I’ll join you outside.”
他個頭很小，可能也就三英尺多，年齡我猜有六十多。他轉過身來，站住腳步，看到了我，于是尖聲對我說：“幫我這個老頭一個忙好嗎？”我起身走到那個后備箱旁，從里面拿出了他的包，這是一個看上去很昂貴的真皮包。他戴著鏡片很厚的眼鏡，臉上布滿了皺紋。我把那個手提箱拎進了他的房間，放在了床邊的地板上，然后他對我說：“嘿，小伙子，我去給你拿杯喝的。然后，咱們一起出去走走。”

6. Out of his suitcase, he took a bottle of Chivas, a metal jigger, and four glasses. He made our drinks, Scotch over ice, and off we went outside, him carrying the drinks with his palms underneath, me carrying his chair out to put next to mine.
他從手提箱中拿出了一瓶芝華士、一個金屬量酒器和四個玻璃杯。酒是他親自配制的——加冰蘇格蘭威士忌。然后，我們走出了房間，他用手掌托著我們的酒，我把他房間的椅子搬到了外面我的那把椅子旁邊。
7. “Where are you headed?” I asked. “I have to be down in the place called Liberal in the morning,” he said. “You?” “Looking for work,” I said. “Indulging myself for one night.” He, with his car and his leather luggage and his Scotch, nodded and said nothing. After a while, he said, “Call me Frank.”
“您要去什么地方？”我問。他說：“我明天早晨要去一個名叫利貝拉爾的地方。”“你呢？”“找工作，”我說，“再放縱我自己一晚上。”他點了點頭，什么也沒說，背景里是他的汽車、皮箱和蘇格蘭威士忌。過了一會兒，他說：“叫我弗蘭克。”
8. A blue Air Force station wagon rolled into the parking lot. Four young men got out, in jumpsuits and colourful ascots. They were clean-cut and joking, relaxed with big smiles. Frank and I watched them take out their bags and go to the office. “Jet pilots, they must be,” Frank said. We sat and finished our drinks and he fixed us a couple more.
一輛藍色的空軍旅行車駛入停車場。四名身著連身褲，戴著色彩鮮艷的寬領帶的年輕男子下了車。他們外表整潔，互相開著玩笑，面帶放松的笑容。弗蘭克和我看著他們從車上拿出行李包，然后朝辦公樓走去。“噴氣機飛行員，他們肯定是。”弗蘭克說。我們坐在那里，喝完了我們的酒，然后他又給我們配制了幾杯。
9. After a while the woman and the little girls came out to the van, their hair still wet from the pool. The woman, having forgotten something, fumbled with her keys and went back in the room. One by one, the girls saw the little man and one of them said something nasty and the others tried, not overly hard, to suppress their giggles. “A lifetime of that,” Frank said, clearly to put me at ease. “Living like you’re comfortable with what life deals you, that’s the big impossible sometimes.” For a few moments I thought about robbing Frank.
過了一會兒，剛剛的那名女子和那個幾個小女孩走了出來，朝著她們的那輛廂車走去，因為剛剛從泳池中出來她們的頭發還都是濕的。那名女子，應該是忘了什么東西，摸索著她的那串鑰匙，回到了房間。女孩們一個接一個地把目光投向了我身邊的這個小老頭，她們其中一個人說了句臟話，其他人則在一旁咯咯地竊笑。“人這一輩子，”弗蘭克說，顯然是為了讓我放心了，“活著就要坦然面對生活給予你的一切，雖然有時候我們真的做不到。” 一時間，我有了搶劫弗蘭克的念頭。
10. The little girls couldn’t stop staring. Another remark, and another louder round of squeals. The woman came out, got in the van, and they drove off. “What business are you in?” I said. “I’m pretty much retired,” Frank said. “You’re traveling for fun?” “No,” he said. “Every once in a while, my services are in demand. It’s a way of making a little money quickly and easily. Then I can go home.” He was lost in himself for a second, then he turned to me. “I notice you have no vehicle. What is it that you do?” “I work,” I said. “I have to get to places where the jobs are. I just finished on a farm out east of here. I’m walking into town tomorrow to get a bus.” “Good work, hard work,” he said. “Yes,” I said. “That’s good.”
小女孩們繼續盯著我們這邊看。又一句臟話從女孩們中傳了出來，隨之而來的是又一陣更大的尖叫聲。那名女子從房間里走了出來，上了廂車，然后廂車開走了。“您是做哪行的？”我問。“我已經退休了。”弗蘭克回答說。“您這是休閑旅行？”“不，”他說，“每隔一段時間，我的業務需求就會變得很大。這是一種快速、輕松的賺錢方法。完成任務，就可以回家了。”此時他已沉浸在自己的世界中，片刻后轉向我說：“我注意到你沒車。你來這里干什么？”“工作，”我說，“我必須去工作的地方。我剛剛完成東邊一個農場的工作。我明天要走到鎮上去搭乘巴士。”“好工作，就是辛苦點兒。”他說。“是的，”我說，“這工作還行。”
11. Again, for a few moments I thought about robbing Frank. In my situation at that time, the thought was almost inevitable whenever I met someone new: the car, gassed up with the keys nearby; his wallet inevitably fat. But I thought about him without his car, without his scotch, without his leather suitcase worth more than all of my possessions together. Frank was my friend.
我再一次有了搶劫弗蘭克的念頭。這樣的時間，我又身處這樣的狀況，每次遇到個陌生人，這種念頭幾乎會不可避免地出現——汽車停靠在那里，已經加滿了油，鑰匙就在跟前，而且他的錢包肯定是鼓鼓囊囊的。但此時，我的腦海里只有我身邊的這個小老頭，沒有他的汽車，沒有他的蘇格蘭威士忌，也沒有他那個比我全部身家加起來都值錢的真皮手提箱。畢竟，弗蘭克是我的朋友。