She thought for a while and then continued. “We were talking about engagement when your grandfather had to go to war. It was the most horrible day of my life when he left. I was so afraid of losing him, the only way I could stay sane was to dance. I put all my energy and time into practicing—and I became very good. Critics praised me, the public loved me, but all I could feel was the ache in my heart, not knowing whether the love of my life would ever return. Then I went home and read and re-read his letters until I fell asleep. He always ended his letters with ‘You are my Joy. I love you with my life’ and after that he wrote his name. And then one day a letter came. There were only three sentences: ‘I have lost my leg. I am no longer a whole man and now give you back your freedom. It is best you forget about me.’”
她想了一下，然后接著說道：“當你祖父不得不去從軍參戰的時候，我們已經到了談婚論嫁的階段了。他離開的那段日子是我一生中度過的最可怕的時期。我很害怕會失去他，能讓我不至于瘋掉的唯一方法就是跳舞。我把我所有的精力和時間都投入到了練習之中，于是我成為了很棒的舞者。評論家對我好評連連，公眾對我鐘情有嘉，可我唯一能感覺到的卻是我心中的痛，因為不知道我一生的摯愛是否能平安歸來。然后我回到家里，一遍又一遍地讀著他的來信，直到睡去。他總是在信的結尾寫著：‘你才是我的幸福。愛你一生。’然后才是他的簽名。但有一天我又收到了他的來信。信中只有三句話：‘我失去了一條腿。我不再是一個完整的人了，所以現在我將自由歸還給你。你最好還是把我忘掉吧。’”

“I made my decision there and then. I took my leave, and traveled away from the city. When I returned I had bought myself a cane and wrapped my leg tightly with bandages. I told everyone I had been in a car crash and that my leg would never completely heal again. My dancing days were over. No one suspected the story—I had learned to limp convincingly before I returned home. And I made sure the first person to hear of my accident was a reporter I knew well. Then I traveled to the hospital. They had pushed your grandfather outside in his wheelchair. There was a cane on the ground by his wheelchair. I took a deep breath, leaned on my cane and limped to him. ”
“于是我立刻做出了決定。我向眾人告別，離開了這個城市。當我再度歸來的時候，我為自己買了一副拐杖，并用繃帶把我的腿包得緊緊的。我告訴每一個人，說我遭遇了一場車禍，我的腿再也不可能完全復原了。我的舞蹈生涯就此結束了。沒有人懷疑這個故事——我在回家之前已經學會如何惟妙惟肖地跛行。我確保第一個聽說我出車禍的是一位我熟知的記者。接著我來到了你祖父所在的醫院。他們用輪椅把他推了出來。在他輪椅旁邊的地上有一副拐杖。我深深吸了一口氣，靠在我的拐杖上，一瘸一拐地向他走去。”

By now I had forgotten about the pie and listened to grandma, mesmerized. “What happened then?” I hurried her when she took her time eating some pie.
此刻，我已經忘記了那塊蜜桃派，入迷地聽著祖母說話。“然后發生了什么事情呢？”當她停下來吃了幾口派時，我追問道。

“I told him he was not the only one who had lost a leg, even if mine was still attached to me. I showed him newspaper clippings of my accident. ‘So if you think I’m going to let you feel sorry for yourself for the rest of your life, think again. There is a whole life waiting for us out there! I don’t intend to be sorry for myself. But I have enough on my plate as it is, so you’d better snap out of it too. And I am not going to carry you-you are going to walk yourself.’” Grandma giggled, a surprisingly girlish sound coming from an old lady with white hair.
“我告訴他，他并不是唯一失去了一條腿的人，盡管我的腿沒給截掉。我給他看了關于我發生車禍的剪報。‘所以，如果你覺得我會讓你在余生自怨自艾，想都別想。在外面還有全新的生活在等待著我們！我不打算為此而顧影自憐。而眼下我要做的事情已經夠多的了，所以你最好也趕緊給我振作起來。而且你可別想我會背你——你要自己向前走。’”祖母咯咯地笑著，這位滿頭銀發的老婦人令人吃驚地發出了少女般的笑聲。

“I limped a few steps toward him and showed him what I’d taken out of my pocket. ‘Now show me you are still a man,’ I said, ‘I won’t ask again.’ He bent to take his cane from the ground and struggled out of that wheelchair. I could see he had not done it before, because he almost fell on his face, having only one leg. But I was not going to help. And so he managed it on his own and walked to me and never sat in a wheelchair again in his life.”
“我一瘸一拐地走開了幾步，然后讓他看我從口袋里掏出的一樣東西。‘現在讓我看看，你還是個男子漢。我可不會說第二次。’他彎下腰從地上拿起他的拐杖，掙扎著從那副輪椅中站出來。可以看得出他之前從未這樣做過，現在只有一條腿的他差點撲倒在地。但我沒打算幫他。接著他設法自己站穩了，向我走來，而且在他的后半生里再也沒有坐回到輪椅上。”

“What did you show him?” I had to know. Grandma looked at me and grinned. “Two engagement rings, of course. I had bought them the day after he left for the war and I was not going to waste them on any other man.”
“你給他看了什么東西呢？”我一定要知道。祖母看著我咧嘴而笑，說道：“當然是一對訂婚戒指了。在他從軍參戰的第二天我就買了這對戒指，我可不想把戒指浪費在任何其他男人身上。”

I looked at the drawing on the kitchen wall, sketched by my grandfather’s hand so many years before. The picture became distorted as tears filled my eyes. “You are my Joy. I love you with my life.” I murmured quietly. The young woman in the drawing sat on her park bench and with twinkling eyes smiled broadly at me, an engagement ring carefully drawn on her finger.
我看著廚房墻壁上的那幅畫像,那是多年前我祖父親手繪就的。我眼中滿含淚水,眼前的畫像變得模糊起來。“你才是我的幸福。愛你一生。”我輕聲低語道。畫像中的年輕女人坐在公園長椅上,眼神清亮,笑容可掬地看著我,她的手指上被精心地畫有一枚訂婚戒指。