內戰過后，遲來的吻

by Nikolina Kulidzan德孟 譯

內戰過后，遲來的吻

A Kiss Deferred by Civil War

by Nikolina Kulidzan德孟 譯

M any saw it coming.1)Ethnically charged graffti began appearing on buildings around town. The local newspapers published the locations of bomb shelters. A classmate told me not to sleep in my bedroom because it faced military2)barracks.

But in my 12-year-old mind, our town of3)Mostar was too beautiful and the people too good to one another for there to be a civil war here. Besides, that spring was promising to be the greatest time of my life: I was happily in love for the frst time.

I had noticed Marko at school and was attracted to his4)mischievous eyes and playful smile. One afternoon, while walking home from a piano lesson, I spotted him coming down the hill on his skateboard. He stopped just short of running into me. I don’t remember us saying much. We just stood there and smiled. But that’s all it took to5)seal the deal of our6)mutual affection, and we became inseparable.

很多人都目睹了戰爭的來臨。種族主義的大字涂鴉開始出現在城鎮的各處樓房上。本地報紙發布了躲避炸彈的避難所位置。一個同學叫我不要睡在自己的臥室里，因為它面朝軍營。

但在12歲的我的觀念里，我們的城市莫斯塔爾如此美麗，人民如此友愛，這兒不應該爆發內戰。況且，那個春天充滿希望，是我一生中最美好的時光：我幸福地陷入了初戀。

我在學校注意到了馬爾科，我被他淘氣的眼神和頑皮的微笑迷住了。一天下午，在鋼琴課后走路回家時，我看到他踏著滑板從山上溜下來。他在幾乎撞到我之前停住了。我記得我們沒說多少話。我們只是站在那兒相視而笑。但這足以讓我們對彼此產生好感，我們變得形影不離。

還記得那個3歲的敘利亞小難民Aylan Kurdi嗎？他的悲劇引起了國際社會的震驚，引起了遙遠的和平國家和地區的人們對戰爭的關注，只因為受害者是個可愛的三歲小男孩。如果不是因為他，世界上很多人不會去關注與自己永遠不會有交集的敘利亞內戰。時光倒流回二十多年前，在波斯尼亞和黑塞哥維那也曾爆發了一場歷時四年的血腥內戰。下面這篇文章的作者以自己的初戀故事講述了自己親身經歷的戰爭年代。然而她還算是幸運的，但這種幸運反而彰顯了戰爭的可怕和殘酷，以及世界和平的珍貴與幸福。

Marko was Croatian and I was Serbian. Soon, our ethnic groups would fnd themselves on opposing sides of a bloody civil war. But for the moment, none of that mattered. What mattered was how good it felt to be acknowledged by him, to be let in on his secrets and jokes, to take on the same adventures.

The day the war started, Marko and I walked home from school together. He told me that if war broke out, his family would go to7)Split, Croatia. He asked what my family would do.

I had no idea. Right then my plans extended only to 6 p.m., when I was supposed to meet him and the rest of our friends. With that agreement, we parted.

Less than a half-hour later, as I was walking upstairs to our apartment, an explosion shook the building. The blast threw me down the stairs, and the building went dark. All I knew then was that I had to fnd my family. I got up and stumbled outside. People were rushing every which way. Some were crying, some bleeding. I ran to my aunt’s place, where my mother was.

馬爾科是克羅地亞人，而我是西伯利亞人。要不了多久，我們各自的民族同胞就會成為血腥的內戰中不共戴天的敵對雙方。……