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Mom ran her pointer finger down Carnie's chest.
媽媽用手指在卡尼的胸前從上到下地撫摸。
I don't know how to tell you this the behaviorist said, but you've been nsexually stimulating your parrot. Mom blushed.
我不知道該怎么告訴你，但是你剛才的動作是在給鸚鵡性暗示，專家說。媽媽的臉一下就紅了。
Less cuddling, the specialist said, more cage time.
少摸他，多讓他在籠子里待著，專家說。
I called three places to find Carnie-the plumber who took him after Mom, the bird sanctuary he'd pawned the parrot off on, then the roadside zoo. Now the car is too warm and I'm falling asleep, but I don't want to blast Ike with the AC. He's playing card games on the console.
我打了三個地方的電話才找到卡尼。第一個是最開始帶走卡尼的水管工，然后是鳥類收容所，最后是路邊動物園。車里現在熱得我都要睡著了，但是我還不想把空調對著他，怕在玩紙牌游戲的艾克著涼。
Are we leaving so that people can move into our house? Ike asks.
我們走是為了讓別人搬進咱家嗎？艾克問。
we're going to Ted's Roadside Zoo, I say.
我們要去泰迪路邊動物園，我說。
What's in the zoo, he asks.
動物園里有什么？艾克問。
There's a bird I want to see,I say.
有一只我想看看的鸚鵡，我說。
We pass a couple in a sedan. The woman is crying and flips down her visor.
我們路過一對坐在轎車里的夫妻。那個女的把遮陽板放得很低，一直在哭。
It's hard being a single mom, but it's easier than being a miserable wife. I hardly knew Ike's father; he was what I'd call a five-night stand. We used to get coffee at the same place before work. A director of the local college theater, he was notorious flirt but already married. Separated, he'd claimed. He sends little money each month, but doesn't want to be involved. The upside of our arrangement is simplicity.
做一個單親家庭的母親是很不容易的，但是比做一個悲慘的妻子還是要強一些。我對艾克的父親幾乎沒有什么了解，他只不過是我幾次一夜情的對象而已。我們經常在上班前去同一個地方喝咖啡。他是當地大學劇院的一個導演，一個臭名遠揚的調情能手，但是已經結了婚。現在分居了，他揚言。他每月寄點錢，但是不愿意真正有認真的關系。這種安排的唯一好處就是簡單。
I put some pressure on the gas and passed a school bus.
我踩了一下油門，超過了一輛校車。
Did I tell you about Louis's mom? Ike says.
我跟你說過路易斯的媽媽嗎？艾克說。
Louis's mom is a born-again Christian with two poodles and a coke habit, the kind of person I avoid at open houses at school.
路易斯的媽媽是一個重生基督徒，養了兩條狗，吸毒。我在學校舉行活動的時候一直躲著她。
Tuesday afternoon, Ike says, she boarded the bus with her dogs, raised her fist, and said. "Christ is risen! Indeed, he is risen."
星期二下午她帶著狗上了校車，舉起拳頭說“上帝來了，上帝來了”，艾克說。
No, I say. Really?
不是吧，真的？
Really, Ike says. Louis pretended not to know her when she got on, but his mom held on to that chrome bar at the front of the bus and said, "Lord, I've been places where people don't put pepper on their eggs." And she started to dance.
真的，路易斯一開始裝作不認識她。但是她媽媽在校車前面說：“上帝，我已經去了一個吃雞蛋不放胡椒的地方了。”說完她就開始跳舞。
Ike waves his arms in front of his face, imitating Louis's strung-out mother. I see the rust-colored clouds of eczema on his forearms. I want to fix everything. I want him to know nothing but gentle landings. I don't want him to know that people like Louis's mom exist, that people fall into landmines of pain and can't' crawl back out.
艾克揮舞著手模仿路易斯吸毒的媽媽。我看見他手臂上的濕疹斑。我多想讓一切都朝著好的方向發展。我想讓他除了輕松的生活之外什么都不知道。我不想讓他知道有很多像路易斯媽媽的人一旦落入痛苦的深淵就再也爬不出來。
When Ike was almost a year old, I took him by for Mom to hold while I emptied the old milk from her fridge and scrubbed her toilets. The house was beginning to smell; Mom was not cleaning up after the bird. Suddenly the woman who'd ironed tablecloths, polished silver, bleached dinner napkins, and rotated mattresses had given up on decorum.
當艾克一歲的時候我把他帶去看我媽媽。我要一邊帶著兒子，一邊要給她清理冰箱里壞了的牛奶、刷廁所，否則房子都要臭了。自從有了鳥之后媽媽就不再打掃房間。從前熨桌布，把銀飾拋得閃亮，漂白餐巾，調換床墊的媽媽，現在除了鳥之外突然什么都不在乎了。
Would you like to hold Ike while clean? I sad.
我打掃的時候你能不能抱一會艾克？我說。
