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The phone rings. I wait for the answering machine to get it, but for some reason, it's not picking up.
電話響了。我等著電話答錄機來接，但由于某種原因，電話沒有接通。
I exhale, annoyed because I know the call is either going to be for my wife, Susan
我憤怒地呼氣，因為我知道這電話不是打給我老婆蘇珊的，
(she's the only one who receives calls on the home line, and she left to take Alyce to school ten minutes ago),
（她是唯一會接到打到家里電話的人，而且她十分鐘前就去送愛麗絲去學校了），
or it's the latest of 300 attempts to sell me something I have absolutely no interest in.
就是最近三百次向我銷售我完全不感興趣的東西的騷擾電話。
"Hello ,I say, an edge in my voice." Daddy, it's me." It's Alyce, my 12-year-old daughter.
我用尖銳的聲音說了你好。爸爸，是我。打電話的是我12歲的女兒愛麗絲。
"Mommy was just in a car accident." My heart stops and then begins pounding. "Are you all right?""Yes.""Is Mommy?"
“媽媽剛出了車禍。”我的心臟停了一下，然后開始跳動。“你還好嗎？”“是的。你媽媽呢？”
A deep sob. "I don't know ... I don't think so. Come quick." I sprint a few blocks to what looks like a shoot for a disaster movie.
一聲沉重的啜泣。“我不知道...我認為不太好。你快點過來吧。”我快步跑過幾個街區，來到一個像是災難片拍攝的地方。
Fire engines, police cars, and ambulances are randomly parked in the street; helicopters circle.
消防車、警車和救護車任意停放在街上；直升機在盤旋。
A city bus is on the wrong side of the road. In front of it are the smashed remains of Susan's car.
一輛公車走錯了方向。它前面是蘇珊被撞毀的汽車。
Susan is pinned under the dash-board. There is no front windshield—no front end, for that matter.
蘇珊被亞在儀表板下面。這里早已沒了前擋風玻璃，也沒有前端。
Alyce is standing on the corner crying, covered in tiny shards of glass but uninjured.
愛麗絲站在角落哭泣，她身上都是小的玻璃碎片，但是沒有受傷。
Inconceivable. Susan isn't so lucky. But she is alive. It turns out she has broken nearly every bone in her body, and she will spend almost three months in the hospital.
難以置信。蘇珊沒那么幸運。但是她還活著。后來發現她幾乎撞斷了身體的每一根骨頭，她將在醫院度過近三個月的時間。
More than two years later, Susan and I were at an event at our syna-gogue celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Our temple's cantor and musical director, Danny, rushed up to us.
超過兩年后，蘇珊和我在參加我們的猶太教會堂的一次紀念馬丁·路德·金的活動。我們教堂的指揮家和音樂總監丹尼向我們沖了過來。
He said excitedly, "There's a woman here tonight from one of the church choirs who you have to meet!"
他激動地說道，“這里有一位來自一個教堂唱詩班的女人，你們一定要見見她！”
He returned with an African American woman with a bright, glowing smile.
他回來時邊上多了一位有著燦爛笑容的非裔美國女性。
She told us she lived in the apartment building by where the wreck had happened.
她告訴我們她住在車禍地址旁邊的那幢公寓樓里。
That morning, she had rushed to the street, still in her bath-robe, and seen Alyce standing by the side of the wrecked car, crying.
那天早上，她穿著浴袍就沖到了街上，看到愛麗絲站在毀壞的汽車旁邊哭泣。
She approached her, asking, "Is that your mom in there?" Alyce nodded, and the woman said, "Let's pray together."
她走近愛麗絲，問道。“那是你母親嗎？”愛麗絲點點頭，這個女人說道，“讓我們一起祈禱。”
Sweet, innocent Alyce looked at this woman wearing a cross around her neck and said, "OK, but you should know I'm Jewish."
甜美純真的愛麗絲看見這名女性戴著的十字架，“好的，但是你知道我們是猶太人。”
The woman smiled. She took Alyce's hand, held it to her chest, and said, "That's OK. In here we're all the same."
這名女性笑了。她握著愛麗絲的手，放到自己的胸膛，“沒有關系。在這里我們都一樣。”
Alyce told her that she needed to call me, but her backpack with her phone was trapped inside the crushed vehicle.
愛麗絲告訴她需要給我打電話，但是裝著手機的書包被壓在毀壞的汽車里。
So the woman lent Alyce her phone. After the accident, she said, she had continued to pray for our family.
所以這個女性把她的手機借給愛麗絲。她說，車禍之后，她還繼續為我們的家庭祈禱。
We had our picture taken together, and as were saying goodbye, she hugged us all warmly.
我們一塊拍了照片，道別時，她熱情地抱了我們。
We realized we had never been formally introduced, so she said to me, "I'm sorry, I never got your name."
我發現我們從未正式介紹過彼此，所以她對我說，“抱歉，我還不知道你的名字。”
I told her it was Doug, and she paused, as if maybe she hadn't heard me. I repeated, "Doug, like Douglas."
我告訴她我叫道格，她頓了一下，好像沒聽過這個名字一樣。我重復了一遍，“道格，就是道格拉斯。”
She looked at us and said, "Wait, your name is Susan?" Susan nodded.
她看著我們說道，“等下，你的名字是蘇珊？”蘇珊點了頭。
"And your name is Douglas?" The woman put her hand over her heart. "Oh my goodness," she said. "My name is Susan Douglas."
“你的名字是道格拉斯？”這名女性把她的手放在了頭上。她說，“我的天啊，我叫蘇珊·道格拉斯。”
