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梦想之舟 brkenrie（第1页）

洛林。格雷

LorraineM。Gregoire

“Sheesh!Givemeafewointsforselfcontrol!”Isnaedatmycrankyhusband。Iwantedtostoatasortinggoodsstore“GoingOutofBusiness”saleweassedinthemall。“Theresnothingweneed，”hisusualgrumymalecomment。“It’salloverricedjunk。Iftheyhadanythinggoodtheywouldn’tbegoingoutofbusiness。”

“But，itssortinggoods，”Iwheedled。“couldbesomegooddealsforthegrandkids。And，youlikeboatsandfishingstuff。I’veutuwiththathotoofyour’dream-canoe‘stuckonthebathroommirrorforyearsnow。Maybeyou’denjoyjustlookingaround?”

“Areyoucrazy?”hiseyesgotfunnyandhesaidsomethinglike。“TheboatIwantistheSuremoNumero-Unoblah-blah。SoonasIfinishsavingu6000bucksforthatbabyI’mgoingtoorderrightfromthemanufacturer。Custom。Insilver。Thisloserstorewouldn’tcarrysomethinglikeTHAT。AndImsurenotgoingnearthosesuckercrowds。”

“Youresodarnnegativeandboring!”Iretorted。“Ihaentolikecrowds。TheymakemefeellikeI’martofsomething。IromiseIwon’tbuyanythingbutI’mgoingtolookaroundforfunanyways。YougoforcoffeeandI’llmeetyoubackhereinhalfanhour。”

“Don’tmakeromisesyoucan’tkee，oldgirl。”Hechuckledinthatself-satisfied“IllbelieveitwhenIseeit”waythatalwaysgetsmeriled。“Iknowyouregoingtocomeoutoftherewithuselessjunk。Youalwaysdo。”

Hiswordsmadememad。Howdareheaccusemeofbeingfrivolous!Iridedmyselfonbeingawiseshoer。Ihadadarngoodnoseforbargainsandstretchedouroldageensionslikenobody’sbusiness。NowIhadamadon，that’sforsure。“Boy，Illshowhim。”IromisedmyselfIwouldnotbuyadarnthing，nomatterwhat。Ha!IwouldntgiveMr。Know-It-Allsmarty-antsreasontogloat。

Isquaredmychinandmarchedintothecrowdedstore。Aislesandaislesofhockeyequiment，basketballs，golfclubs，exerciseequiment，fishinggear，boytoysgalorewerestrungwithhugeblaringsigns。CLOSINGOUTSALE-Uto80%OFF。NOREFUNDS。

UanddowntheaislesIstrolled，duckedanddodged，hummingtomyselfandenjoyingthefreneticenergyandexcitementofasale。

Allofasudden，there，atthebackofthestore，ingleamingsilver，fulloflifejackets，addlesandfishingstuff，sattheexactcanoeofmyhusbandsicture。Igasedandblinkedthreetimes。Yu。Itwasstillthere。TheSuremoNumero-Unoblah，blah。Myheartbeatwildly。Ielbowedmywaythroughthecrowds，scrambledoverjunkintheaislesanddarnednearfellintothecanoelookingforthericetag。

Thereitwasalittletattered，withthemanufacturerssuggestedretailriceat$6750lustaxcrossedoutandahandwrittenTOCLEAR$750ASIS。NORETURNS。Mustbeamistake。$6000off?Salesman。Ihadtotalktoasalesman。

Isottedayoungfellowwitha“Hi。ImMathew”tagtryingtohideoutfromthemobofbargainhunters。Iclutchedhissleeve。“Mathew。TellmeaboutthisElSuremocanoe。Whatswrongwithit?Whyisitonly$750？”

“Oh。There’snothingwrongwithit。It’sbrandnew。We’reclosingthestore。Thatisall。It’sonclearancelikeeverythingelse。Ithinkthatincludeslifejackets，addlesandabunchoffishinggear，too。Illgocheck。”

Afewminuteslaterhecamebackandsaid，“I’msorryma’am。Someonemadeamistakeonthesaletag。It’ssuosedtobe$4750forthewholeackage。IjusttalkedtomyDadwhoisrunningtheclose-out。Hesaiditwasworthmorethan$8000regularricesoit’sstillarealgooddeal。”

Ifelttearswelluinmyeyes。“Ohwell”，Isaidsadly。“Ofcourse，itwastoogoodtobetrue。Thisisexactlylikemyhusband’sdreamboat。IguessIstartedtodreammyselfwhenIsawthatricetag。He’sgoingtobe62yearsoldFriday。Hadtoretireearlyforhishealth。It’sbeenhardonjusttheensionbutthestubbornoldfoolhasbeensaving$10everyweekforyearstobuyonejustlikethis。Justanoldman’ssillydream，youknow。Alwayssaidhewantedtosendhisretirementoutfishinginacanoe，”myvoicetrailedoffandIturnedandwalkedaway。

IwasalreadyatthemalldoorwhenMathewcaughtuwithme。“Doyouhave$750lus$25fordeliveryandabitmorefortax，maam?”Igased。“Yes。Yes。ThatsaboutallIhave，”IsaidasIthoughtfleetinglyaboutthecataractsurgeryIwassavingufor。

“Wellthen，youjusthaveyourhusbandsittingonthefrontorchonFridaymorningaround10o’clocksohecanbetherewhenmyDadandIcometounloadhisnewboat。We’llevenutabowonitforhisbirthday。”

Istartedtocry。MyoldhandshookandIhadtosquintasIwroteoutmycheque。Mathewswallowedhard。

“Ma’am。There’ssomethingyoushouldknow。ThisstorewasmyGrandas。Heranitformorethan30years。Healwaysromisedtoretireoneday。Saidhewantedtosendtimerelaxingandoutfishinginacanoe。Heorderedthisone，custom，forhimselflastyearbut，well，justnevertookthetimeofftouseit。”

Heswallowedevenharder。“MyGrandadied，sudden-like，justlastweek。Hewasonly68yearsold。Ithinkhedbemightyhaythatyourhusbandwillgetthisherecanoe。MyDadthinkssotoo。Youjusthavetomakesureheusesitalot，okay?Promise?”

IhandedMathewaKleenexandwestoodtheretogether，quietlylostinourownthoughtsforamoment，blowingournoses。

“Iromise!”IsaidasIdashedofftolookformydearsweethusband。

“烦死了，为什么要约束自己！”我冲着脾气暴躁的丈夫嚷道。经过大卖场时，碰巧一家体育用品商店停业大甩卖，我想进去看看，里面有没有我们需要的东西。他用一贯暴躁的男人腔调抱怨道，“都是些昂贵的垃圾，要是有好东西，就不会停业了。”

“但是，我想孩子们会喜欢这里的体育用品，”我极力劝说他，“况且，那些小船、钓鱼用品之类的东西，你也喜欢。要不，这么多年，卫生间的镜子上怎么一直都贴着你那幅梦想之舟的图片呢？我可是看够了。也许你正想进去看看呢！”

“你疯了吗？”他用戏弄的眼神看着我，说道：“我想要的可是巴拉-巴拉一等小舟，一旦我攒够了6000美元，我就会直接去厂家那儿订购一艘银光闪闪的小船。这种即将停业的小店不会有那种货色，我可不想拼命挤进去上当受骗。”

“你简直不可理喻且无趣！”我反驳道。“我偏偏喜欢凑热闹，我觉得这让我不至于无所事事。我保证不买东西，只是逛着玩玩，你去喝会儿咖啡，半小时后我来找你。”

“做不到就不要发誓，老伴。”他得意地笑着，好像心里在说“等着瞧吧”，他总是这样激我，“我知道你准会买些没用的东西回来。你一向如此。”

他的话令我极度气恼。他竟敢说我草率行事！我自认为自己从来都是理性购物。我向来很会讨价还价，从不乱花我们的养老金，可现在，我真是生气到家了，“好吧，老兄，我倒要让你看看。”我暗下决心，不管有什么好东西，我绝不买回家。哈！我可不会把笑柄留给这个自以为是、自作聪明的家伙。

我下定决心，于是走进拥挤的商店。商店的过道里摆满了曲棍球、排球、高尔夫球和健身器材、渔具以及儿童玩具等，旁边写着醒目的标语：停业大甩卖，2折优惠，已售商品，概不退还。

我一边在过道里逛来逛去，一边又提防着那挤来挤去的购物者。我嘴里哼着小调，情绪高昂，全身心地享受着逛街的乐趣。

突然，在商店的后门，一个银光闪闪的东西吸引了我的注意，那正是我丈夫照片上的那只独木舟，里面放着救生衣、船桨、渔具。我屏住呼吸，眨了几下眼睛。啊，的的确确就在那儿，巴拉-巴拉一等小舟。我的心顿时激动起来。我奋力挤开拥挤的人群，跌跌撞撞地跨过过道里杂七杂八的东西，中间还差点跌进那只独木舟里，我急不可待地去找价格牌。

那张破烂的价格牌上标着，厂家建议零售价：6750美元，另加税价，上面打了一个大大的叉叉，旁边加上手写的字体，清仓价：750美元，售出不退。少了6000美元？一定是搞错了。我得去问一下售货员。