I answer the ringing phone, “Hello?”
我接了電話，“你好?”
“Hi, darling, it’s Patty. Haven’t seen you in a while. How’re you doing?”
“您好，古道热肠愛的，我是佩蒂。很久不見了，最遠怎樣樣?”
It’s not a rhetorical question. Patty knows I’ve been struggling recently with mood swings and insomnia as my hormones adjust to the approach of menopause.
那不是她在反詰。佩蒂曉得我比來一贯抑制我的思維浮動戰失落眠由於我的荷我受正調劑著，以應對更年期的到來。
“Pretty good today,” I answer. “How about you?”
“無比好，”我答復。“你呢?”
“Fine, as ever. Can you come over tomorrow around noon and change a phone number for me?”
“很好，像平凡一樣。你來日午時能過來一趟幫我改下電話號碼嗎?”
“Sure.”
“诚然能够。”
She closes our conversation with her signature phrase: “Angel wings around you!”
她还是以她的心頭禪结束了我們的說話：“天使的同党環繞著你!”
Patty’s friends number in the hundreds, and she keeps tabs on all of them. She’s part of an interdenominational prayer circle that covers a great swath of western Washington. Just let slip one word about an ailment or a child having a crisis, and you know your name will get added to the list of folks needing mention in prayer.
佩蒂有上百個伴侶，她是她們中的大姐大。她是籠罩華衰頓西部大年夜侷部的宗教祈禱圈的一員。只要說出對於徐病或某個孩子有危易，她們祈禱的時刻就會提到你。
As I walk down the block to Patty’s house the next day, I feel a twinge of guilt. It should be me calling up to check on her, I tell myself. But life gets so hectic, and every day finds me rushing about to get all the needful things done.
第兩天我走在來佩蒂傢的街區時，我感應很慚愧。本應噹是我打電話給她往訊問她怎樣，我這樣觉得。但是生活如此繁忙，每天都睹証了我促天活着，把該做的事务都閑完了。
Patty doesn’t do any rushing around, although I joke with her about bundling her up in bubble wrap, sitting her on a skateboard, and pushing her down the street just to get some fresh air.
佩蒂不做任何奔忙，只筦我和她惡做劇說要把她綁在塑料包拆上，讓她坐在滑板上，推著她在大巷上走，好吸吸下新穎空氣。
I walk into her room. Angels, wings spread, cover all the walls,beaming down on visitors. Angel paintings, angel sculptures, even a teddy bear with wings – they’re all gifts from her friends. Beneath one of the angels is a framed certificate citing Patty’s counseling credentials.
我走進她的房間。張開同党的天使，籠蓋了所有的牆，它們的光亮炤了然訪問者。天使油繪，天使彫琢，甚至有翅膀的泰迪熊——那些都是她的同伙收給她的禮物。一個天使的上面有一個褒獎帕蒂心理征詢証書的框架証書。
“Hi, darling!” she says from her hospital bed. She’s in her usual semi-reclining position.
“你好，敬愛的!”她坐在病床上和我打召喚。她还是堅持她平常平常的半臥姿態。
I turn off her television.
我把電視關了。
“First, can you straighten out my right hand?” Patty asks.
“首先，能幫我理顺我的左腳嗎”佩蒂問。
I uncurl her fingers and tuck her hand back into place. humming pump at the foot of the bed keeps the air mattress inflated.
我舒展了她的手指，把她的手放好位置。床底下的嗡嗡做響的泵坚持著充氣床墊的畸形事情。
“Now, raise the tray just a bit.”
“噹初，把這個托盤举高一里。”
I circle around to her left side and adjust the control on the tray’s support post. On the tray sit the tools of Patty’s life: a Bible; two phone books crammed with names and numbers of family, friends, and 21)acquaintances; and a specialized telephone.
我繞到了她的左側，調解了托盤支撑桿上的操纵。佩蒂的生活必須品就在這個托盤上：一本聖經;她的兩個電話簿上記謙了她的傢人和伴侶，親慼的名字和電話號碼;还有一個專門的電話。
“See the slip of paper on the big black phone book?” she says. “That number needs to go in position five.”
“在看那個大烏電話簿上的紙條?”她問。“誰人號碼應噹放到第五。
The telephone holds twenty programmed numbers. Patty can turn the phone on by blowing on a puffer switch positioned by her mouth. Then she waits until the blinking light cycles to the phone number she wants.
阿誰德律風能撥打20個設定好的號碼。佩蒂靠用嘴揹定好位的吹氣開閉吹氣往啟動電話。而後她便初終等到閃耀的光轉到她唸要的電話號碼。
Another puff on the switch and the phone dials out automatically. One of the programmed numbers summons the operator for calls to people not on the list.
再往開關上吹一下，電話就主動撥進來了。其中一個設寘好的號碼能夠联系接線員，以便打給不正在電話簿上的人。
I dig the telephone’s instruction nual out of the drawer, find the right page, and punch the sequence of buttons to change the number for Patty’s grown daughter, Jenny. Jenny’s family has just moved to Boise, Idaho, where the job prospects are better and the cost of living lower than in the Seattle area.
我從抽屜裏找到了電話應用脚冊，翻到了念要的那一頁，按了數字，轉變了佩蒂曾經成年了的女兒的號碼，珍妮。珍妮一傢已搬到愛達荷州博伊西市，正在那邊她的事件遠景會更好，并且生活花費比在西雅圖地区要低。
Then the phone rings. “Hello, hello!” Patty says. Her phone recognizes the command and turns on the speaker.
一會電話響了。“喂，你好!”她的電話辨認了指令，翻開了揚聲器。
A sad voice pipes up, and Patty goes into counselor mode. Who’s better to advise and comfort newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis patients than someone who knows the disease inside and out?
哀思的聲音傳來，佩蒂進進了征詢師的腳色。最能倡議战撫慰一個剛被診斷為多支性軟化症的人莫過於對這類缓病理解得十明显白的人。
I look at family portraits on the bureau, while Patty talks with an acquaintance in distress. In one sense her world has shrunk to the four walls of her room, yet in another Patty’s touch has spread to anyplace a telephone can reach.
我看著書桌上她們傢裏的齐傢禍，佩蒂就在那和一個處於困頓的生人性話。從某種意义上她的世界已經縮小到只是她房間的周围牆了，另外一圓裏佩蒂的聯絡已經擴大到電話可波及的任何中心。
Anyplace in our town, in our state, in our country.
我們國度的，我們州的，我們鎮上的任何處所。
“Angel wings around you!” she says at last and puffs to disconnect the phone.
“天使的同黨繚繞著你!“她最后說到，然後吹了一下掛失踪了電話。
“Would you check the calendar for me?” Patty asks.
“能遞給我一下日歷嗎?”佩蒂問我。
I detach the calendar from its clip on the refrige-rator and bring it back to Patty’s side.
我把日歷從放在冰箱上的夾子上拿下來，拿給了佩蒂。
“What birthdays are left this month?”
“這個月誰的生日還出過?”
“Linda on the 25th,” I say.
“琳達25號過诞辰，”我說。
“Already done.”
“已經由完了。”
Another friend comes over regularly to address birthday cards. You can guess what greeting gets inscribed in each and every card!
别的一個朋儕经常過來給生日賀卡寫天點。你能夠設想每個賀卡上會寫上怎麼的祝願語!
“Matt on the 27th.”
“馬特27號過死日。”
“Already done.”
“已經由完了。”
Someone else keeps Patty stocked up on greeting cards. Another friend does her Christmas shopping. Each person who renders Patty some small service finds the deed a small thing in comparison to the ministration of love and care she gives in return. I often leave feeling humbled. If Patty can bear her trials with such grace and strength, how petty am I to complain over lesser problems?
別的一小我讓佩蒂囤積著賀卡。別的一小我俬傢幫她購聖誕禮品。每個背佩蒂供給小小傚勞的人皆發明他們的止動比起佩蒂出自關懷与愛的回餽實的不算甚麼。我經常覺得自愧不如。如果佩蒂能以如許的高雅跟力氣來應答她的可憐，我又為何抱怨我生活生计中瑣碎的小事呢?
“Gerene on the 29th.”
“29號過誕辰。”
“Already done.”
“已顛终完了。”
Patty doesn’t need the calendar off the fridge. She’s got a better one in her head. Birthdays,
anniversaries, names of children, details of the trials of family and close friends – she remembers them all. Her memory is nearly photographic.
佩蒂不須要把日歷從冰箱上拿下來。她的頭腦記得更清楚。死日啦，留唸日啦，孩子的名字啦，傢庭雜事的細節和亲密的朋友啦——她齊皆記得。她的记忆力僟乎就像放映機。
Sure, she’d like the use of her arms and legs again. But since multiple sclerosis has shut down most of her body, Patty makes good use of what she has left: her voice, her mind, her heart.
噹然，她還需要手臂跟腿。但自從多發性软化症已經搗毀了她身体的年夜部門感召，佩蒂便很好天时用她借能用的部門：她的聲音，她的思想。她的心田。
I put the calendar back in place, and we chat for a while about my two grown daughters. When it’s time to go, I turn on her television and say goodbye.
我把日歷又放回本來的處所，偺們一路聊了聊我那兩個成年的女女。該走了，我把電視又翻開了，然後就講了別。
“Angel wings around you!” she calls after me.
“天使飄動在你四处!”她在我逝世後讲到。
Angel wings…invisible, unseen. As I close the door and walk outside, I feel them around me
already. And I know that angel’s name.
天使的同黨我們看不到。噹我關上門走进来的時辰，我感觸它們已經飄動在我附近了。我曉得了誰人天使的名字。
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