雙語閲讀：狼的傳説

With all her big brothers and sisters off to school, our ranch became a lonely place for our three-year-old daughter, Becky. She longed for playmates. Cattle and horses were too big to cuddle and farm machinery dangerous for a child so small. We promised to buy her a puppy but in the meantime, “Pretend” puppies popped up nearly every day.

I had just finished washing the lunch dishes when the screen door slammed and Becky rushed in, cheeks flushed with excitement. “Mama!” she cried, “Come see my new doggy! I gave him water two times already. He’s so thirsty!”

I sighed, another of Becky’s imaginary dogs.

哥哥姐姐都去上學以後，對我們三歲的女兒貝基來説，農場就成為一個寂寞的地方了。她渴望夥伴。牛馬太大了，她無法抱在懷裏。農業機械對這麼小的孩子也太危險。我們答應給她買個寵物，不過同時，“虛構”的寵物每天都會出現。

我剛洗完午飯的`盤子，紗窗門就砰地被撞開，貝基跑了進來，興奮地滿臉通紅。“媽媽!”她叫着，“快來看看我的新狗狗!我已經喂他兩次水了，他都快渴死了!”

我歎息了一聲，又是一隻貝基虛構的小狗。

“Please come, Mama.” She tugged at my jeans, her brown eyes pleading, “He’s crying — and he can’t walk!”

“Can’t walk?” Now that was a twist. All her previous make-believe dogs could do marvelous things. One balanced a ball on the end of its nose. Another dug a hole that went all the way through the earth and fell out on a star on the other side.

Still another danced on a tightrope. Why suddenly a dog that couldn’t walk?

“All right, honey,” I said. By the time I tried to follow her, Becky had already disappeared into the mesquite.

“Where are you?” I called.

“Over here by the oak stump. Hurry, Mama!”

“來呀，媽媽。”她使勁拖着我的牛仔褲，棕色的眼睛裏透出乞求的眼神。“他一直在叫——他還不會走路呢!”

“不會走路?”這倒是一個預想不到的變化。她以前編造的狗狗都會做令人驚異的事情。其中一隻會在鼻尖上平穩地頂着一個球不讓它掉下來，另一隻挖洞穿越了地球，從另一端掉到星球上去了，還有一隻在能在鋼絲上跳舞。怎麼突然有了一隻不會走路的狗狗呢?

“好吧，寶貝。”我説。還來不及跟上她呢，貝基就已經消失在豆科灌木叢中了。

“你在哪兒啊?”我喊道。