1. “I had to leave school when I was thirteen,” his father had said; “that’s a year younger than you are now. If I’d had half the chances that you have, I’d…” Greg had sat in the small kitchen listening, knowing the lecture would end with his father saying he couldn’t play ball. The principal had sent that letter saying Greg would probably fail math if he didn’t spend more time studying.
“我十三歲的時候就不得不輟學了，”他父親說，“比你現在還小一歲。如果我有你現在一半的機會，我會……”格雷格坐在小廚房里聽著父親的教導，知道父親會以說出那句“他可能不會去打球”結束他的教導。校長寄來了那封信上說：如果格雷格不花更多的時間學習，就可能學不好數學。
2. Now he was sitting outside. His father’s words still rumbled softly in his ears. It was beginning to cool. Large drops of rain splashed onto his jeans. Down the block there was an old house that had been abandoned for some months. Without much thought, pulling his collar up as high as he could, he made a dash across the street. He let himself in. He entered the room, frowning at the musty smell.
此時此刻，格雷格正坐在屋外，父親的話仍在他耳邊輕柔且低沉地縈繞著。天開始變涼了。碩大的雨滴濺到他的牛仔褲上。街區的另一邊有一棟已被廢棄數月的老房子。他盡可能地拉高了衣領，沒想太多，便沖向了街道的另一側。他走進了那棟房子，進入了一個房間，在聞到霉爛味時皺起了眉頭。
3. Silence followed, but ended unexpectedly after only a few moments. He thought he had heard something that sounded like a scraping against the wall. He listened carefully, but it was gone. Could he have been imagining the sounds? “Don’t try nothin’, cause I got a razor here sharp enough to cut a week into nine days!” Greg stood stock-still. The person who had been speaking moved a step closer. Greg turned, holding his breath, his eyes straining to see in the dark room. “Who are you?” Greg hardly recognized his own voice. “I’m Lemon Brown,” came the answer. “Who’re you?” “Greg Ridley.”
一陣寂靜隨之而來，但僅僅片刻后，這陣寂靜便被意外地打斷了。他以為自己聽到了類似刮墻壁的聲音。但當他仔細聽時，卻什么動靜都沒有了。這聲音是他的幻覺嗎？“別做沒用的嘗試，因為我這里有一把非常鋒利的剃刀，鋒利到足以把一個星期切割成九天！” 格雷格一動不動地站在那里。剛剛跟他說話的那個人走近了一步。格雷格屏住呼吸，使勁地看向房間黑暗的深處。“你是誰？”格雷格幾乎沒分辨出這是自己的聲音。那個人回答道：“我是萊蒙·布朗。”“你是誰？”“格雷格·里德利。”
4. He was an old man. His pants were bagged to the knee, where they were met with rags that went down to the old shoes. Greg relaxed. He had seen the man before, picking through trash on the corner and pulling clothes out of a collection bin. There was no sign of the razor that could “cut a week into nine days.”
他是位老人。他的褲子已經松弛下垂到了膝蓋的位置，膝蓋處纏著幾塊一直垂到他的那雙舊鞋子上的破布。格雷格放松了下來。他以前見過這個男人在角落里撿破爛，并從收集箱中拉出別人放進去的衣服。沒有任何跡象表明他有那把“能將一個星期切割成九天的”剃刀。
5. “What are you doing here?” Greg asked. “This is where I’m staying,” Lemon Brown said. “What you here for?” “It is raining out,” Greg said. “Ain’t you got no home?” “I got a home,” Greg answered. “You ain’t one of them bad boys looking for my treasure, is you? Because I told you I got me a razor.” “I’m not looking for your treasure,” Greg answered, smiling. “What do you have, gold coins?”
“您在這兒干什么呢？”格雷格問。“這是我住的地方。”萊蒙·布朗說。“你來這兒干什么？”“外面正在下雨。”格雷格說。“你沒有家嗎？”“我有家。”格雷格回答說。“你不是正在找我的財寶的那群壞小子中的，是吧？因為我告訴過你我有一把剃刀。”“我不是在找您的財寶。”格雷格微笑著回答說，“您的財寶是什么？金幣嗎？”
6. “Don’t worry none about what I got,” Lemon Brown said. “You know who I am?” “You told me your name was orange or lemon or something like that.” Said Greg, slightly bored. “Lemon Brown,” the old man said, pulling back his shoulders as he did so, “they used to call me Sweet Lemon Brown.” “Sweet Lemon?” Greg asked. “Yessir. Sweet Lemon Brown. They used to say I sung the blues so sweet that if I sang at a funeral, the dead would commence to rocking with the beat. You mean you ain’t never heard of Sweet Lemon Brown?”
“別為我的東西瞎操心。”萊蒙·布朗說。“你知道我是誰嗎？”“您剛剛告訴過我您的名字叫橙子或檸檬什么的。”格雷格說，稍稍有些厭煩。“萊蒙·布朗，”老人一邊說著，一邊挺直了肩膀，“他們曾叫我甜萊蒙·布朗。”“甜萊蒙？”格雷格問。“是的先生。甜萊蒙·布朗。他們曾經說，我唱的藍調歌曲是如此甜美，以至于如果我在葬禮上唱時，死者都會隨著節拍開始搖擺。你的意思是你從未聽說過甜萊蒙·布朗唱的歌？”

7. “Afraid not,” Greg said. “What… what happened to you?” “Hard times, boy. Hard times always after a poor man.” ” Sorry about that. How come you gave up singing the blues?” Greg asked. “You don’t give up the blues; they give you up.” “ Eeeh.. I guess so”, replied Greg. “You really have a treasure?” “What I tell you? Didn’t I tell you every man got a treasure?” Lemon Brown said. “You want to see mine?” “If you want to show me,” Greg shrugged. “Here, you hold this.” Lemon Brown gave Greg a flashlight. He sat on the floor near Greg and carefully untied the strings that held the rags on his right leg. When he took the rags away, Greg saw a piece of plastic. The old man carefully took off the plastic and unfolded it. He revealed some yellowed newspaper clippings and a battered harmonica.
“恐怕沒有，”格雷格說，“您后來遭遇了什么？”“孩子啊，世事艱難。世事艱難總是追隨著可憐的人。”“真的為您遺憾。您為什么放棄了演唱藍調歌曲？”格雷格問。“你是無法放棄藍調的，只有它放棄你。”“ 呃……我想是這樣的。”格雷格回答說。“您真的有財寶嗎？”“我告訴你什么了？我沒告訴你每個人都有財寶嗎？”萊蒙·布朗說，“你想看看我的嗎？”“如果您想給我看的話。”格雷格聳了聳肩。“拿著這個。”萊蒙·布朗遞給格雷格一把手電筒。然后，他坐在格雷格跟前的地板上，小心翼翼地解開了纏在他右腿上的那幾塊破布上的繩子。當破布被取下時，格雷格看到了一塊塑料。老人接著小心翼翼地摘下了那塊塑料，并將其展開，里面露出一些泛黃的剪報和一把非常破舊的口琴。
8. “There it be,” he said, nodding his head, “There it be.” Greg looked at the old man, saw the distant look in his eye, then turned to the clippings. They told of Sweet Lemon Brown, a blues singer and harmonica player who was appearing at different theaters in the South. One of the clippings said he had been the hit of the show. All of the clippings were reviews of shows Lemon Brown had been in more than fifty years ago. Greg looked at the harmonica. It was dented badly on one side, with the reed holes on one end nearly closed.
“就是它，”老人點著頭說，“就是它。”格雷格看著老人，注意到了他那深邃的目光，隨后他的注意力轉向了那些剪報。它們都是關于一個名叫甜萊蒙·布朗的藍調歌手及口琴演奏者現身于南方的不同劇院演出的事。其中一張剪報說他的表演是整場演出中最精彩的一幕。所有剪報都是關于萊蒙·布朗五十多年前的演出的評論。格雷格看著那把口琴。它的一側已嚴重凹陷，一端的孔已幾乎全部合攏。
9. “I used to travel around and make money for to feed my wife and Jesse – that’s my boy’s name. Used to feed them good, too. Then his mama died, and he stayed with his mama’s sister. He growed up to be a man, and when the war come, he saw fit to go off and fight in it. I didn’t have nothing to give him except these things that told him who I was, and what he come from. Anyway, he went off to war, and I went off still playing and singing. ’Course by then I wasn’t as much as I used to be, not without somebody to make it worth the while. You know what I mean?”
“我曾經到處周游，賺錢養活我的妻子和杰西——這是我兒子的名字，曾經也讓他們過上了不錯的日子。后來，他的媽媽去世了，于是他就和他媽媽的姐姐住在一起。他長大成人后，戰爭爆發了，他覺得是時候奔赴戰場了。我什么東西都沒給他，除了這些能夠告訴他我是誰以及他來自何方的東西。總之，他奔赴了戰場，而我仍然繼續著我的演奏和演唱生涯。因為那個時候我已經不像以前那樣努力了，已經沒有人讓我覺得那樣的努力是值得的了。你明白我的意思吧？”
10. “Yeah,” Greg nodded, not quite really knowing. “I traveled around, and one time I come home, and there was this letter saying Jesse got killed in the war. Broke my heart, it truly did. They sent back what he had with him over there, and what it was is this old mouth fiddle and these clippings. Him carrying it around with him like that told me it meant something to him. That was my treasure, and when I give it to him, he treated it just like that, a treasure. Ain’t that something?” “Yeah, I guess so,” Greg said. “You guess so?” Lemon Brown’s voice rose and octave as he started to put his treasure back into the plastic. “Well, you got to guess, cause you sure don’t know nothing. Don’t know enough to get home when it’s raining.”
“是的，”格雷格點了點頭，并不太了解他什么意思。“我依舊到處周游，一次我回到家，這封信上說杰西在戰斗中犧牲了。我的心傷透了，真的是傷透了。他們把他的隨身物品寄了回來，就是這把舊口琴和這些剪報。他一直隨身攜帶著這些東西，像是在告訴我這些東西對他很有意義。這就是我的財寶，當我把它們交給他時，他就像對待財寶一樣對待它們。這是不是很有意義？”“是的，我想是這樣的，”格雷格說。“你想是這樣的？”萊蒙·布朗的聲音上升了八度，同時開始將財寶放回那張塑料中。“好吧，你是得好好想想，因為你肯定一無所知，甚至都不知道下雨時要回家。”
11. “I guess... I mean, you’re right. “You get on out of here and get yourself home. I’ll be watching from the window, so you’ll be all right.” “You sure you’ll be OK?” Greg asked. “Now, didn’t I tell you I was going to East St. Louis in the morning?” Lemon Brown asked. “Don’t that sound OK to you?” “Sure it does,” Greg said, the wrinkles about his eyes suggesting a smile. “That I’ll do.”
“我想......我的意思是，您是對的。”“你趕快離開這里，回自己家去。我會從窗戶看著，所以你會沒事的。”“您確定您會沒事嗎？” 格雷格問道。“好啦，我沒告訴你我早上要去東圣路易斯嗎？”萊蒙·布朗問，“這安排聽起來還不錯吧？”“的確不錯。”格雷格說，同時瞇起了充滿笑意的眼睛。“一定會的。”
12. The night had warmed and the rain had stopped, leaving puddles at the curbs. Greg didn’t even want to think how late it was. He thought ahead of what his father would say and wondered if he should tell him about Lemon Brown. He thought about it until he reached his stoop, and decided against it. Lemon Brown would be OK, Greg thought, with his memories and his treasure. Greg thought of the lecture he knew his father would give him next, and smiled.
夜晚的天氣變暖了，雨也停了下來，并在路邊留下了一些水洼。格雷格甚至不愿去想此時有多晚了。他提前設想著父親會對他說的話，不知道自己是否應該把關于萊蒙·布朗的事情告訴他。他反復思考著這件事，但最后還是放棄了，決定不把這件事情說出去。格雷格心想，萊蒙·布朗會一切都好的，因為他擁有那段珍貴的記憶以及他的財寶。格雷格想到了他父親下次會給他的那耳熟能詳的教導，露出了會心的微笑。