Price Tags

by Lucy

Price Tags

by Lucy

Track 9

世界上具有經濟價值的事物大概比不具有經濟價值的事物要多。然而，最貴重的都是不能用金錢衡量、有錢也買不來的東西，比如生命和健康，比如愛和幸福。

Everything has a price.

That apple. The cute little1)puppy at the pet store. Even that paper bag your mom packs your peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches in. Yes, that brown paper has value.

When I was five, I didn’t understand this. I would run into the supermarket with my mom and fill my stomach with2)muffins from the bakery. Until someone caught me and had Mamma pay for what I ate. How was I supposed to know?

Once, when we got home, my mother3)spanked me. I could see the4)rage in her eyes like fire, but I just kept smiling like a five-year-old. When I felt her hand5)smack me—the one I thought held only love—I learned that nothing was free.

I asked my teacher if we had to pay to get a gold star. I asked the bus driver if we needed to pay to sit in the back of his bus. I even asked Mamma if I had to pay to be alive.

“To be alive?” Mamma sighed as if she was pouring all of the wealth from her lungs.

“I bet my hands are worth a dollar each. One whole dollar! Mamma, that’s one hundred6)pennies! My fingernails have been7)glossed with money from Mother Nature!” I8)squealed.

A9)chuckle10)boomed through the room, and a smile appeared on Mamma’s face.

“Only a dollar? Baby, I think your tiny hands are worth more than that. Each finger is worth a hundred dollars.”

1) puppy ['p?p?] n. 幼犬，幼小的動物

2） muffin ['m?f?n] n. 小松餅，小松糕

3) spank [sp??k] v.（用巴掌）打

4) rage [re?d?] n. 憤怒

5) smack [sm?k] v.（用手掌）打，拍，摑

6) penny ['pen?] n. 美分

7) gloss [gl?s] v. 使有光澤

8) squeal [skwi?l] v. 長聲尖叫

9) chuckle [t??k?l] v. 輕聲地笑，咯咯地笑

10) boom [bu?m] v. 發出低沉而有回響的聲音

A serious look11)took over my face.

One hundred dollars? Each finger? On each hand? Could Mamma get Papa out of12)jail with that much money? Could Mamma send me to a better school, like where Shirley goes? Could Mamma buy us a better house? Could Mamma stop working so long and hard? She only made $4 an hour and worked eight hours a day, six days a week with barely any holidays off.

Could my hands buy us a better life? I held them up to have a good look. They didn’t seem so special. The fingernails were short from biting, the skin was13)flaky from washing dishes, and the color was so dark I couldn’t see my14)veins.

“If my hands are worth that much, then how much are my arms, legs and neck worth? I hope they’re a hundred dollars, too. Then I can buy a hundred15)candy bars for my little sister for $61.79, I can get 129 pounds of black beans for $78.25, and I can even buy 70 boxes of pencils for $96.30. We’ll be rich forever!”

My mother chuckled again, but this time I felt the sadness behind the laughter.

“Well, that’s a lot you can get. How much do you figure your head and heart are worth?”

That one16)stumped me. Isn’t the heart the most valuable part of the body? Isn’t the brain important too? Can I give that away?

Before I could answer, my mother whispered, “Baby, you can’t put a price tag on your heart. The love17)pumping through those veins couldn’t even buy you the moon, but it will buy you what everyone seeks in life, though many never find. Happiness. And you, my girl, are priceless.”

I remember Papa using $4 to buy something the police didn’t like. Didn’t that buy him a18)pocketful of regret? I remember Mamma using $6 to buy me a pretty yellow dress for the first day of school. Didn’t that buy me a pretty smile, too? I remember when that cute boy in my class gave me a one-cent candy for my birthday. Didn’t that buy me a heart full of warmth?

But that was ten years ago.

Now I don’t buy anything without a price tag.

11) take over 接管，占領

12) jail [d?e?l] n. 監獄

13） flaky ['fle?k?] adj. 薄而易剝落的

14) vein [ve?n] n. 血管，靜脈血管

15) candy bar 單獨包裝的塊狀糖

16) stump [st?mp] v. 難倒

17) pump [p?mp] v.（像泵柄一樣）上下運動

18) pocketful ['p?k?tf?l] n. 一口袋（之量）

一切事物皆有標價。

那顆蘋果有標價。寵物店里那只可愛的小狗有標價。甚至你媽媽用來給你裝花生醬加果凍三明治的紙袋也有標價。沒錯，那張棕色的紙也值錢。

五歲的時候，我并不明白這一點。我會跟著媽媽跑進超市里，然后我會在面包房往自己的肚子里塞滿小松糕。直到我偷吃被人逮到，媽媽才被迫為我吃的東西買單。那時我又怎么會明白？

有一次，我們（從超市）回到家，媽媽扇了我一巴掌。我能看到她眼里的怒火，但我只是像個五歲小孩那樣一直微笑著。直到我感受到她用手—我原以為只充滿愛的那只手—摑了我一巴掌時，我才明白沒有什么東西是免費的。

我曾問過我的老師，我們要不要付錢去得到一顆小金星；我問過公交車司機，我們要不要付錢才能坐在他開的公交車里；我甚至問過媽媽，我要不要付錢才能活著。

“才能活著？”媽媽嘆了一口氣，好像要把她肺里的財富統統傾倒出來一樣。

“我打賭我的兩只手各值一美元。整整一美元！媽媽，那可是100美分啊！我的指甲都被大自然母親的錢打磨光滑了！”我尖叫道。

咯咯的笑聲在房間里回響，媽媽的臉上露出了一個微笑。

“只值一美元？寶貝，我想你的這雙小手可不止這個價。每根手指都值100美元呢。”

我的表情變得嚴肅起來。

100美元？每根手指？兩只手的手指都是？用這一大筆錢，媽媽能把爸爸從監獄里弄出來嗎？媽媽能送我到更好的學校上學，就像雪莉上的學校那樣嗎？媽媽能給我們買一套更好的房子嗎？媽媽能不再這么長時間辛苦地工作嗎？她每小時只賺4美元，一天工作八個小時，一周工作六天，幾乎沒有其他任何假期。

我的雙手能給我們買來更好的生活嗎？我舉起手仔細地看。我的雙手似乎沒那么特別。指甲被咬得短短的，皮膚因為洗碗而掉皮，膚色也深得看不見血管。

“如果我的雙手值那么多錢，那么我的手臂、腿和脖子值多少錢呢？我希望它們也值100美元。那么我就可以花61.79美元買一百顆糖果給我妹妹了，我可以花78.25美元買到129磅（約117斤）黑豆了，我甚至可以花96.30美元買70盒鉛筆了。我們會永遠富有的！”

媽媽又咯咯地笑了，但這次我感覺到了笑聲背后的傷感。

“嗯，你能買到很多東西。那你想一想你的腦袋和心臟值多少錢？”

那個問題可難倒我了。心臟不是身體最有價值的部位嗎？腦袋不也很重要嗎？我能舍棄這些部位嗎？

還沒等我回答出來，媽媽就輕聲說道：“寶貝，你不能給你的心臟貼上價格標簽。血管里流動的愛也不能讓你買到月亮，但能讓你買到每個人都在生命中尋找的東西，盡管很多人從未找到。那就是幸福。你，我的女兒，是無價之寶。”

我記得爸爸花4美元買了警察不喜歡的東西。他不是買了滿滿一口袋的悔恨嗎？我記得媽媽花6美元買了一條漂亮的黃色連衣裙給我在上學的第一天穿。她不也同時給我買了一個美麗的笑容嗎？我記得班上那個可愛的男孩在我生日時給了我一顆一美分的糖果。他不是因此給我買了滿心的溫暖嗎？

但那是十年前的事了。

現在，我不買任何沒有價格標簽的東西。

物可沽，愛無價

翻譯：Roza