永恒的瞬间（译作）

    （注：文题为笔者添加。）

      几年前，我每天在繁忙的学业中挤出几小时，在一家音像店打工。一天，一位年长的老太太和一位年轻些的女士（我猜是她女儿）走进了店里。那位女儿显得极不耐烦，每隔几秒就看一次手表。老太太则开始浏览最近货架上的DVD。我稍微迟疑了一下，便走过去询问是否需要帮忙。老太太微笑着，给我看了一张皱巴巴的纸条，上面写着要找的片名。显然，找这片子的人对电影略知一二。

      我并没有急匆匆地去替她找这张DVD，而是请她随我一起走，这样我就能告诉她东西在哪儿。她慢悠悠的动作让我想起了自己的母亲——她在上一个圣诞节去世了。老太太似乎很感激有我这样不慌不忙地陪着她，还能随意聊聊天。我们找到了那部电影，我领着她走到收银台前排的队伍里。当老太太付现金时，我走向那位仍在店门口不停地跺着脚的年轻女士。

      “那是你妈妈吗？”她翻了个白眼，答道：“是啊。”她的回答里透着烦躁，半是叹息，半是抱怨。我仍望着那位母亲，说道：“介意听我一点建议吗？”“说吧，”女儿说。我笑了笑，表示我并非在指责她。我对着她好奇的表情回答道：“等她走了，你会想起的，恰恰是这些微小的瞬间。就像此刻这样的瞬间，我知道的。”

      女儿沉默了片刻，然后伸出手臂，带着一种略显生疏的温柔，揽住了母亲的肩膀，轻轻地领着她走出了店门。

附：英文原文

A few years ago，I spared a couple of hours from busy academic learning to work in a video store on a daily basis. An elderly woman walked into the store with a younger woman who I guessed was her daughter. The daughter was displaying a serious case of impatience， checking her watch every few seconds. The older woman began to look through the DVDs on the nearest shelf. After slight hesitation, I walked over and asked if I could help. The woman smiled and showed me a title on a crumpled (皱巴巴的) piece of paper. Obviously， a person looking for it knew a little about mivies.

Rather than rushing off tolocate the DVD for the woman, I asked her to walk with me so I could show her where she could find it. Something about her deliberate movements reminded me of my own mother, who had passed away the previous Christmas. The woman seemedgrateful for the unrushed company and casual conversation. We found the movie, and Iwalked her to the queue at the cash register. When the older woman was paying in cash, I walked over to the younger, who was still tapping her foot at the front of the store.

“Is that your mom?” She rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah.” There was annoyance in her reply, half sigh and half complaint. Still watching the mother, I said, “Mind some advice?” “Sure,”said the daughter. I smiled to show her I wasn’t criticizing. I answered her curious expression by saying, “When she’s gone, it’s the little moments that’ll come back to you. Moments like this. I know.”

Silent for a moment, the daughter placed her arm with aparently unaccustomed affection around her mother’s shoulders, gently guiding her out of the store.