狼的传说(A Wolf’s Tale)

　　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.

　　哥哥姐姐都去上学以后，对我们三岁的女儿贝基来说，农场就成为一个寂寞的地方了。她渴望伙伴。牛马太大了，她无法抱在怀里。农业机械对这么小的孩子也太危险。我们答应给她买个宠物，不过同时，“虚构”的宠物每天都会出现。

　　我刚洗完午饭的盘子，纱窗门就砰地被撞开，贝基跑了进来，兴奋地满脸通红。“妈妈!”她叫着，“快来看看我的新狗狗!我已经喂他两次水了，他都快渴死了!”

　　我叹息了一声，又是一只贝基虚构的小狗。

　　“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!”

　　“来呀，妈妈。”她使劲拖着我的牛仔裤，棕色的眼睛里透出乞求的眼神。“他一直在叫——他还不会走路呢!”

　　“不会走路?”这倒是一个预想不到的变化。她以前编造的狗狗都会做令人惊异的事情。其中一只会在鼻尖上平稳地顶着一个球不让它掉下来，另一只挖洞穿越了地球，从另一端掉到星球上去了，还有一只在能在钢丝上跳舞。怎么突然有了一只不会走路的狗狗呢?

　　“好吧，宝贝。”我说。还来不及跟上她呢，贝基就已经消失在豆科灌木丛中了。

　　“你在哪儿啊?”我喊道。