A Rice Sandwich 米飯三明治 The special kids, the ones who wear keys around their necks,?get to eat in the canteen. 那些特殊的孩子，那些脖子上套著鑰匙的孩子，他們在餐廳吃飯。 The canteen! 餐廳！ Even the name sounds important. 名字聽起來就不一樣。 And these kids at lunch time go there because their mothers aren't home or home is too far away to get to. 那些孩子在午餐時間去那里，因為他們的媽媽不在家，或者家太遠了不好回。 My home isn't far but it's not close either,?and somehow I got it in my head one day to ask my mother to make me a sandwich and write a note to the principal so I could eat in the canteen too. 我的家不遠，也不近。有一天我不知怎么想起來要媽媽幫我做一個三明治，并寫上一張紙條給校長，那樣我就也可以在餐廳吃飯了。 Oh no, she says pointing the butter knife at me as if I'm starting trouble,?no sir. 哦，不，她用切黃油的小刀指著我，好像我正在挑起事端一樣。不行，長官。 Next thing you know everybody will be wanting a bag lunch—I'll be up all night cutting bread into little triangles, this one with mayonnaise, this one with mustard, no pickles on mine,?but mustard on one side please. 你知道接下來的事情就是每個人都會想帶盒飯——我夜里就得忙著把面包切成三角丁，這個抹上蛋黃醬，那個撒上胡椒，我的不要泡菜，每面都要胡椒末。 You kids just like to invent more work for me. 你們這些孩子就喜歡給我找事兒。 But Nenny says she doesn't want to eat at school—ever—because she likes to go home with her best friend Gloria who lives across the schoolyard. 可蕾妮說她從不想在學校吃，因為她喜歡和她最要好的朋友一起回家，格洛莉亞住在校園對面。 Gloria's mama has a big color T. V. and all they do is watch cartoons. 格洛莉亞的媽媽有個大彩電，她們就在那里看卡通片。 Kiki and Carlos, on the other hand, are patrol boys. 另外，奇奇和卡洛斯是童子軍。 They don't want to eat at school either. 他們也不想在學校吃。 They like to stand out in the cold especially if it's raining. 他們喜歡站在寒冷中，尤其在下雨的時候。 They think suffering is good for you ever since they saw that movie 300 Spartans. 自從看了電影《斯巴達三百壯》后，他們就認為吃苦有好處。 I'm no Spartan and hold up an anemic wrist to prove it. 我可不是斯巴達人。我伸出一只蒼白的手腕來證明。 I can't even blow up a balloon without getting dizzy. 不吹到頭暈的話我就吹不爆一個氣球。 And besides, I know how to make my own lunch. 還有，我知道怎么給自己準備午餐。 If I ate at school there'd be less dishes to wash. 如果我在學校吃，你就可以少洗幾個盤子。 You would see me less and less and like me better. 你看到我的時間少了就會更喜歡我。 Everyday at noon my chair would be empty. 每天中午我的椅子是空的。 Where is my favorite daughter you would cry,?and when I came home finally at three p. m. you would appreciate me. 你會哭著說我那心愛的丫頭呢？而最后我三點鐘回家的時候，你會更欣賞我。 Okay, okay, my mother says after three days of this. 好的，好的，媽媽在我這樣磨了她三天后說。 And the following morning I get to go to school with my mother's letter and a rice sandwich because we don't have lunch meat. 第二天早上我上學的時候就帶著媽媽的信和一個米飯三明治，因為我們午飯沒肉吃。 Mondays or Fridays, it doesn't matter, mornings always go by slow and this day especially. 是星期一還是星期五？這不重要。早晨總是過去很慢，那天尤其是。 But lunchtime came finally and I got to get in line with the stay-at-school kids. 午餐時間終于到了，我得和留校的孩子們一起排隊。 Everything is fine until the nun who knows all the canteen kids by heart looks at me and says: You, who sent you here? 一切都很順利，直到那個記得所有在餐廳吃飯的小孩的嬤嬤看著我說：“你，誰讓你來這里的？” And since I am shy, I don't say anything,?just hold out my hand with the letter. 我因為害羞，什么都沒說，只是伸出拿著信的手。 This is no good, she says, till Sister Superior gives the okay. 這樣不好，她說，得大嬤嬤說好才行。 Go upstairs and see her. 上樓去見她吧。 And so I went. 于是我就走上樓。 I had to wait for two kids in front of me to get hollered at,?one because he did something in class, the other because he didn't. 我得等兩個在我前面的小孩進去聽訓，他們一個是因為上課時干了什么事情，一個是因為上課時沒干什么事情。 My turn came and I stood in front of the big desk with holy pictures under the glass while the Sister Superior read my letter. 輪到我了，我站在那張大桌子前面，桌子的玻璃板下面壓著一幅圣像。大嬤嬤讀著我的信。 It went like this: Dear Sister Superior, 信是這樣寫的：親愛的大嬤嬤： Please let Esperanza eat in the lunchroom because she lives too far away and she gets tired. 請讓埃斯佩朗莎在午餐廳吃飯，因為她住得很遠，會走累的。 As you can see she is very skinny. 你看她有多瘦啊。 I hope to God she does not faint. 上帝保佑她不會暈倒。 Thanking you, Mrs. E. Cordero You don't live far, she says. 謝謝?！狤.科爾德羅太太 你住得不遠，她說。 You live across the boulevard. 你住在大街對面。 That's only four blocks. 只有四個街區(qū)。 Not even. 甚至還沒有。 Three maybe. 也許是三個。 Three long blocks away from here. 離這里只有三個街區(qū)。 I bet I can see your house from my window. 我肯定我能從窗戶里看到你家。 Which one? 哪一棟？ Come here. 來這邊。 Which one is your house? 哪棟是你家？ And then she made me stand up on a box of books and point. 接著她讓我站在一盒子書上面去指給她看。 That one? 那棟嗎？ she said, pointing to a row of ugly three-flats,?the ones even the raggedy men are ashamed to go into. 她說，指著一排丑陋的三戶式公寓樓，那里是衣衫襤褸的人都羞于走進去的地方。 Yes, I nodded even though I knew that wasn't my house and started to cry. 是的，我點頭，盡管我知道那里不是我家。我哭了起來。 I always cry when nuns yell at me, even if they're not yelling. 我經(jīng)常在嬤嬤朝我吼的時候哭，盡管她們沒有吼。 Then she was sorry and said I could stay—just for today,?not tomorrow or the day after—you go home. 然后她很抱歉，說我可以留下來，只是今天，明天或者以后——你就回家。 And I said yes and could I please have a Kleenex—I had to blow my nose. 我說好的，可以給我一張面紙嗎？——我要擤擤鼻子。 In the canteen, which was nothing special,?lots of boys and girls watched while I cried and ate my sandwich, the bread already greasy and the rice cold. 到了餐廳，那里沒什么特別的。好多男孩和女孩看著我邊哭邊吃三明治，那面包已經(jīng)很油膩了。米飯也冷掉了。