阿 Bae [遇見]

兩年來，我不只一次提醒自己，下回遇見一定要問一問她貴姓芳名，可是碰了面，我就是一絲兒也沒有稱呼的問題。私下我一直叫她「阿 Bae」，懂得閩南語的人可能好奇這個女人到底有多醜，但也應該感覺到我這一個「阿」字該有多麼親切啊！

第一次碰見阿 Bae 是在兩年前一個清爽的春天早晨，山谷的微風，林間的鳥語，周遭盡是朝露與旭陽，我走在山徑溪邊的此時此刻，絕對不能預期會有一雙銀色高跟拖鞋，以及一襲黑、白混搭的薄紗衣衫向我迎面而來，就在約三公尺遠的距離處，我看見一束衝天的染了什麼顏色的頭髮，飄動著發亮的髮帶，在這個女人瘦削、黝黑的臉龐上有極盡可能的彩妝，似乎藍、綠橫在眉、眼處，而紅與紫則在雙唇和兩頰一帶，一時之間，我無法看清她的容顏；事實上，透過一顆門牙的缺洞，她以難免漏氣的音腔，熱情的嗓門向我親切問早，緊隨著連珠一串地讚美晨光與山景，我很快就接納了她的友善，以及從此以後每一回碰面時，她重覆的熱情問候與 blah blah 的讚嘆。

阿 Bae 的正職是開著一輛白色的箱型車，每天一早沿著山區道路到一些人家收集山區的學齡小孩去上學，傍晚時再把這些孩子們分送回家。載著一車孩子的阿 Bae 總一定上好滿臉熱鬧的妝，披掛各種時尚的衣物，蹬著細高跟鞋，從駕駛座位伸出掛著閃亮手鐲的左手向路邊的熟人熱烈揮擺。阿 Bae 也種花，也種菜，但是她總是這麼說：種菜，好玩嘛！可以活動一下身體。總之，有益筋骨、小腹什麼的；因此，她總是維持所有繁複的妝扮，即使在施肥的菜園子裡。只有在她的花圃上可以感受她從小山居的自然經歷，尤其兩棵絕色的玫瑰花，種在一小塊特意經營的沃土上；每次我佇足讚美著花，她就不禁要話說從前，如何曾經一個少女，翻山越嶺到城裡去；如今結婚生子，依然回到山中的老家；如今山區有了道路，農家有了汽車，世事 blah blah 諸如此類。阿 Bae 遇到我的時候，話越說越多，有時她談教育，雖是一派陳腔套句，倒沒有一丁點偏差；她也感歎環境變遷，滿嘴老掉的辭彙，但也沒一個字眼不對；她積極地高談闊論，不下於拼命妝扮的心意，我懂得她的友善，也看得出她企圖開展視野的努力。

於是，每次路過阿 Bae 位於山路旁的花圃和菜園時，我會停下腳步欣賞她種的所有植物，她則快樂地享用我片刻聆聽她發表高論的耐心；雖然至今我還不能分辨她的真正容顏，倒已經非常習慣她發聲漏氣而且十足八股的反覆言談。依此，我到底還要不要問問她的尊姓大名？


A-Bae
[ Translated by Huai-Ti Lin 林懷玓 ]

For two years now, I reminded myself more than once to ask her real name. However on every encounter, I never seemed to have a need to address her. Privately, I always referred her to as “A-Bae”. For those who know Taiwanese would be curious how ugly this woman really was. At the same time, the prefix “A” inferred such familiarity between us.

It was a clear spring morning two years ago when I first met A-Bae, with mellow breaths in the valley, chattering of birds in the woods, and morning dew against the crystal clear sunshine. I was walking on the mountain trail close to a creek, and suspected that I had imagined hearing the sounds of high heel slippers. Also unexpected was this figure in some black and white flimsy silk dress in my collision course. Just about 3 meters away, I saw an explosive type of hair style with various ambiguous colors with sparkling hair ribbons. This woman was skinny. Her dark face was covered with all the possible combination of make-up. Roughly speaking, it was bluish green around the ocular area and reddish purple pink around the mandible vicinity. For a moment, I couldn’t quite make out her face. Well actually, she spoke up first through a missing incisor tooth with some leaky accent yet animated tune. Her salutation was followed closely by a series of admiration of the mountains and morning views. I quickly accepted her friendly greetings and all the numerous repetitions whenever we met afterward… blah blah blah.

A-Bae’s official occupation was an unofficial school van driver. Every morning she would collect kids in the mountain community with a white van and put them into their proper day-care locations (sometimes called schools). Every evening, she would also send all the children back to where they take showers (otherwise called home). With a van full of little people, A-Bae always wear a face full of make-up, a creative combination of fashion gowns, and very narrow high-heels. Out from the driver’s window always hung a limb with shiny wrist-cuffs. This limb was responsible for executing diplomatic movements. A-Bae also tended a garden with flowers and some vegetables. But she always says that gardening is for fun, and it works the body a little. The bottom line was something regarding whole body muscle tones and lower waist… Therefore, she could keep up with her heavy make-ups, even in her freshly manured garden. However, her garden was the only place that could help me associate some of her earlier experiences in the mountains. Her two well-tended roses impressed me especially. And every time I stopped to admire these two beauties, she would tell me how she used to be a young girl who hiked long distance just to get into town. And now after she had a family, she moved back to her old place in the mountains. Nevertheless, it’s not the same anymore. There are actually roads in the mountains and most farmers have cars…etc…blah blah blah… A-Bae became very talkative when we met. She even talked about education. There were such obsolete concepts, but presented quite accurately. She also talked about climate changes and environmental issues. I heard many interesting vocabularies in these speeches without any definitions. Her efforts in lecturing were equal to her efforts in coloring herself. I understood her friendliness and her efforts to opening to the new world.

For all the depictions I’ve presented above, I always stop by her garden whenever I take a walk around the mountain trail. Then I would admire all her plantations and listen to her lectures patiently. Although I still haven’t seen her real face up to now, I have gotten used to her leaky voice and various repetitive speeches. In which case, shall I ask her real name?