by James Bowen

烏蕪 譯

遇見流浪貓鮑勃

A Street Cat Named Bob

by James Bowen

烏蕪 譯

由于父母離異，與家里關(guān)系疏遠(yuǎn)，加上在學(xué)校受到了欺凌，年少叛逆的詹姆斯·鮑恩離開了與母親共住的澳大利亞，回到倫敦寄住在他同父異母的姐姐家，但不久后就被趕了出來，驕傲倔強(qiáng)的他不愿向家人求助，落得露宿街頭，還沾上了毒癮，靠著在街頭彈唱的微薄收入過著朝不保夕的生活，人生變得一塌糊涂。然后有一天，他遇上了人生的救贖——流浪貓鮑勃。有了鮑勃后，詹姆斯開始一步一步地回到正常的人生軌道。他不再依靠賣唱為生，開始自力更生，當(dāng)上了《大志》（The Big Issue）的銷售員，還下決心徹底戒掉毒癮，與家人修復(fù)關(guān)系。

鮑勃是一只很有靈性，人見人愛的貓，它會跟著詹姆斯出去街頭賣唱和兜售雜志。有人拍下關(guān)于它的短片傳到了Youtube上，獲得超高點(diǎn)擊率，鮑勃意外地成為了很有名氣的貓。后來，一家出版社得知詹姆斯和鮑勃的故事，表示愿意出版一本關(guān)于他們的書，這本書就是《遇見流浪貓鮑勃》（A Street Cat Named Bob）。這本書一經(jīng)面世就俘虜了萬千讀者的心，高居暢銷書榜首?，F(xiàn)在，詹姆斯和鮑勃的故事依然在繼續(xù)著……

It was a cold and wet autumn that year. On one particular morning, as Bob and I left the block of fats and set off for the bus stop, the sun was once more nowhere to be seen and a light, fne drizzle was falling.

Bob wasn’t a big fan of the rain, so at frst I assumed it was to blame for the1)lethargic way in which he began padding his way along the path. He seemed to be taking each step at a time, almost walking in slow motion. As I cast an eye up to the sky, a giant bank of steely, grey clouds were hovering over north London like some vast, alien spaceship. Maybe Bob was right and we should turn around, I thought for a second. But then I remembered the weekend was coming and we didn’t have enough money to get through it. Beggars can’t be choosers—even if they have been cleared of all charges, I said to myself, trying to make light of the2)predicament.

“Come on, mate, climb aboard,” I said, turning around and ushering him up into his normal position.

He3)draped himself on my shoulder and we trudged off towards Tottenham High Road and the bus. But as we settled into our bus journey I realised there was more to his low spirits than just the weather.

The ride was normally one of his favourite parts of the day. Bob was a curious cat. No matter how often we did it, he would never tire of pressing himself against the glass. But today he wasn’t even bothered about taking the window seat. Instead he curled up on my lap. He seemed tired. Looking at his eyes he seemed a bit drowsy, as if he was half asleep. He was defnitely not his normal, alert self.

那年秋天，天氣寒冷潮濕。一天早上，當(dāng)我和鮑勃離開公寓，前往巴士站時，太陽仍然不見蹤影，天空下起了蒙蒙細(xì)雨。

鮑勃不太喜歡下雨，所以我剛開始以為它走起路來昏昏沉沉的樣子是因?yàn)樘鞖馑隆Ｋ坪跏且徊揭粋€腳印，近乎以慢動作行走著。我抬頭望向天空，一大片烏黑冰冷的烏云正盤旋在倫敦北部的上空，仿佛一艘巨大的外星飛船。也許鮑勃是對的，我們應(yīng)該轉(zhuǎn)身回去，這樣的念頭在我腦海中一閃而過。但我隨即想起周末快到了，而我們還沒湊夠這兩天的生活費(fèi)。乞丐沒有選擇的權(quán)利——即使他們沒有犯下任何罪行，我對自己這樣說，試圖淡化眼前的窘境。

“來吧，伙計(jì)，爬上來，”我邊說邊轉(zhuǎn)身招呼它爬上平時的位置。

它懶洋洋地坐到我的肩膀上，然后我們便步履維艱地前往托特納姆大街乘坐巴士。但當(dāng)我們坐上巴士后，我意識到它之所以無精打彩不僅僅是因?yàn)樘鞖獠缓眠@么簡單。

通常，乘坐巴士是它一天里最喜歡的活動之一。鮑勃是一只好奇心很強(qiáng)的貓。無論我們坐了多少次巴士，它每次都會擠向玻璃往外看，從不會對此感到厭倦。但今天它甚至都懶得坐到靠窗的位置去，反而蜷縮在我的大腿上。它似乎很累，眼神迷蒙，就像快要睡著一樣。這絕對不是平常那個活潑機(jī)靈的它。

1) lethargic [le'θɑ?d??k] adj. 昏睡的，瞌睡的

2) predicament [pr?'d?k?m?nt] n. 困境

3) drape [dre?p] v.懶散地垂著或放著

As we walked down Neal Street I was suddenly aware that Bob was behaving oddly on my shoulder. Rather than sitting there4)impassively as normal, he was twitching and rocking around.

“You all right there, mate?” I said, slowing down.

All of a sudden he began moving in a really agitated way, making weird5)retching noises as if he was choking or trying to clear his throat. I was convinced he was going to jump or fall off so I placed him down on the street to see what was wrong. But before I could even kneel down he began to vomit. It was nothing solid, just6)bile. But it just kept coming.

I knew that all the retching and the fact that he no longer had any liquid to bring up meant that he was getting dehydrated. I decided that some food and, more importantly, some water, would be a good idea. So I scraped him up and held him in my arms as we walked to a general store I knew nearby. I didn’t have much cash on me at all, but I cobbled together enough to buy a liquidised chicken meal that Bob usually loved and some good, mineral water.

I carried him to Covent Garden and placed it down on the pavement near our normal pitch. I got out Bob’s bowl and spooned the chicken into it.

Ordinarily he would have pounced immediately and guzzled down a bowl of food at a rate of knots, but not today. He only ate the jelly. He didn’t touch a bit of the meat. Again, it set the alarm bells ringing. This wasn’t the Bob I knew and loved. Something was defnitely wrong.

I half-heartedly set myself up to start selling the magazine. We needed some money to get us through the next few days, especially if I was going to have to take Bob to a vet and pay for some drugs. But my heart really wasn’t in it. I cut the day short after less than two hours.

當(dāng)我們走到尼爾街時，我突然察覺到趴在我肩上的鮑勃表現(xiàn)異常。它沒有像往常一樣乖乖地坐著，而是在抽搐，扭來扭去的。

“你還好嗎，伙計(jì)？”我說道，并放慢腳步。

突然，它開始焦躁地扭動起來，發(fā)出奇怪的干嘔聲，就像被噎著了或是在清嗓子。我確信它快要跳下去或者掉下去，所以我把它放到了地面上，看看到底是怎么回事。但我都還沒彎下膝蓋它就開始嘔吐起來。吐出來的全是膽汁，沒有固體的東西。但它就是不停地吐著。

我知道一直嘔吐就意味著它會面臨脫水，何況它現(xiàn)在連水都吐不出來。我覺得要給它吃點(diǎn)食物，更重要的是要多喝點(diǎn)水。所以我把它抱在懷里，走到附近的一家雜貨店。我身上沒有多少錢，但拼拼湊湊還是夠給鮑勃買一份它喜歡的雞肉濃湯和一些優(yōu)質(zhì)的礦泉水。

我抱著它來到了考文特花園，把它放在我們平時擺攤地點(diǎn)附近的人行道上。我拿出鮑勃的碗，把雞肉倒了進(jìn)去。

平常，它都會立馬猛撲過來，然后開始迅速地狼吞虎咽碗里的食物，但今天它沒有這樣做。它只吃了碗里的濃湯，沒有碰一點(diǎn)肉。警鐘再次響起。這不是我認(rèn)識和喜歡的那個鮑勃?？隙ㄓ惺裁床粚?。

我穩(wěn)住不安的心情，心不在焉地開始兜售雜志。我們需要一些錢來支撐接下來幾天的生活，尤其是如果我要帶鮑勃去看獸醫(yī)和支付藥費(fèi)的話。但我真的無心工作。不到兩個小時，我就提前結(jié)束了今天的工作。

4) impassively [?m'p?s?vl?] adv.無感情地

5) retch [ri?t?] v. 作嘔，惡心

6) bile [ba?l] n. 膽汁

When we got home Bob just headed straight for the radiator where he just curled up and went straight to sleep. He stayed there for hours. That night I didn’t sleep much, worrying about him. I’d creep up in the gloom and listen for the sound of his breathing. I couldn’t believe how relieved I was when I found he was purring gently.

The next day I decided to stay home until late in the afternoon to give Bob a good chance to rest. He slept like a log, curled up in his favourite spot. He seemed OK, so I decided to leave him for three or four hours and try and squeeze in some selling. I didn’t have much option.

When I got to Covent Garden all everyone could ask was“Where’s Bob?” When I told people that he was ill they were all really concerned.

It was then that an idea struck me. I had come across a vet nurse called Rosemary. Her boyfriend, Steve, worked at a comic-book shop near where we sometimes set up. Bob and I would pop in there every now and again and we had become friends.

I decided to stick my head in there to see if either of them was around. Luckily Steve was there and gave me a phone number for Rosemary.

When I spoke to Rosemary she asked me a load of questions.

我們回到家后，鮑勃徑直走到暖爐旁蜷縮起來，開始睡覺。它在那里呆了很久。我那晚沒怎么睡，擔(dān)心著它。我摸黑起床，悄悄地傾聽它呼吸的聲音。當(dāng)我聽到它發(fā)出輕柔的咕嚕聲時，我不敢相信自己松了多大一口氣。

第二天，我決定在家呆到臨近傍晚再出去，讓鮑勃能好好休息一番。它睡得很熟，蜷縮在它最喜歡的地方。它看起來還不錯，所以我決定留它自己在家呆三、四個小時，努力擠出時間賣點(diǎn)雜志。我別無選擇。

當(dāng)我到達(dá)考文特花園后，大家都問我：“鮑勃去哪兒了？”我告訴他們它生病了，他們都很擔(dān)心。

就在這時，我想到了一個主意。我遇到過一位叫露絲瑪麗的動物護(hù)士。我和鮑勃有時候會在她男朋友斯蒂夫工作的漫畫書店附近擺攤。我和鮑勃時不時會出現(xiàn)在那里，所以我們成為了朋友。

我決定探頭進(jìn)去看看他們在不在。很幸運(yùn)，史蒂夫在那里，他給了我露絲瑪麗的電話號碼。

我給露絲瑪麗打了電話，她問了我許多問題。

“What does he eat? Does he ever eat anything else when he’s out and about?”

“Well, he7)rummages around in the bins,” I said.

I could hear it in her voice; it was as if a light bulb had been switched on.

“Hmmm,” she said. “That might explain it.”

She prescribed some probiotic medication, some antibiotics and some special liquid to settle the stomach.

“What’s your address?” she said. “I’ll get it biked over to you.”

I was8)taken aback.

“Oh, I’m not sure that I can afford that, Rosemary,” I said.

“No, don’t worry, it won’t cost you anything.” she said. “This evening OK?”

“Yes, great,” I said.

I was overwhelmed. Such spontaneous acts of generosity hadn’t exactly been a part of my life in the past few years. Random acts of violence, yes; kindness, no. It was one of the biggest changes that Bob had brought with him. Thanks to him I’d rediscovered the good side of human nature.

Rosemary was as good as her word. I had no doubt she would be. The bike arrived early that evening and I administered the frst doses of the medicine straight away.

The medicine had an almost immediate impact. That night he slept soundly and was a lot friskier the following morning.

Seeing Bob sick had a profound effect on me. He had seemed to be such an indestructible cat. I’d never imagined him getting ill. Discovering that he was mortal really shook me.

7) rummage ['r?m?d?] v. 到處翻找，搜尋

8) take aback使驚訝

9) DDU abbr. Drug Dependency Unit, 戒毒所

“它都吃些什么？它有在外面吃過其他東西嗎？”

“嗯，它會在垃圾箱周圍翻找，”我說道。

我聽到她的聲音透出一種了然于心的感覺，仿佛燈泡點(diǎn)亮了。

“嗯，”她說道?！澳蔷褪窃蛩诹??！?/p>

她給我開了一些益生素、抗生素和專門平胃的藥水。

“你的地址是？”她說道。“我騎車給你送過去。”

我感到很驚訝。

“噢，我不知道夠不夠錢付藥費(fèi)，露絲瑪麗，”我說道。

“不，別擔(dān)心，這不要錢的?！彼f道?！敖裢砜梢詥幔俊?/p>

“可以，太好了，”我說道。

我受到了震撼。在過去幾年的生活中，我從未受到過別人這種發(fā)自內(nèi)心的慷慨相助。任意的暴力行為，有；善意，沒有。這是鮑勃給我?guī)淼淖畲蟾淖冎弧６嗵澦?，我重新發(fā)現(xiàn)了人性美好的一面。

露絲瑪麗信守諾言。我對此沒有一絲懷疑。她那天晚上很早就騎車過來了。我馬上就給鮑勃服下第一劑藥。

藥物的效果立竿見影。那天晚上它睡得很安穩(wěn)，第二天早上精神了很多。

鮑勃生病對我造成了很大的影響。之前，它似乎是一只堅(jiān)不可摧的貓。我從未想過它會生病。發(fā)現(xiàn)原來它也是會生病的，這讓我受到了很大的沖擊。

It underlined the feeling that had been building inside me for a while now. It was time for me to get myself clean.

I was fed up with my lifestyle. I was tired of the mind-numbing routine of having to go to the9)DDU unit every fornight and the chemist every day. I was tired of feeling like I could slip back into addiction at any time.

So the next time I went to see my counsellor I asked him about coming off methadone and taking the final step towards becoming completely clean. We’d talked about it before, but I don’t think he’d ever really taken me at my word. Today, he could tell I was serious.

“Won’t be easy, James,” he said.

“Yeah, I know that.”

“You’ll need to take a drug called Subutex. We can then slowly decrease the dosage of that so that you don’t need to take anything,” he said.

“OK,” I said

“The transition can be hard, you can have quite severe withdrawal symptoms,” he said, leaning forward.

“That’s my problem,” I said. “But I want to do it. I want to do it for myself and for Bob.”

“OK, well, I will get things moving and we will look at beginning the process in a few weeks’ time.”

For the frst time in years, I felt like I could see the tiniest light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

這加深了我之前抱有的一個想法。是時候徹底戒除毒癮了。

我受夠了自己的生活方式。我受夠了每隔兩個星期就要去一次戒毒所，每天都要去藥店。我受夠了那種隨時可能再沾上毒癮的感覺。

因此，當(dāng)我再次見到我的咨詢師時，我問了他關(guān)于停用美沙酮，踏出徹底戒毒的最后一步的相關(guān)事宜。我們之前就討論過了，但我覺得他沒有把我的話放在心上。但今天，他可以看出來我是認(rèn)真的。

“這不容易，詹姆斯,”他說道。

“是的，我知道?！?/p>

“你需要服用一種叫丁丙諾啡的藥物。然后我們可以慢慢地減少劑量直到你不再需要服用任何藥物，”他說。

“好的，”我說。

“這個過程會很困難，你可能會出現(xiàn)一些很嚴(yán)重的脫癮癥狀，”他傾身向前說道。

“這是我的問題，”我說?！暗蚁脒@樣做，為了我自己和鮑勃?！?/p>

“好的，我會著手準(zhǔn)備，考慮在幾周后開始進(jìn)行。”

這么多年來，我第一次感到在黑暗的隧道盡頭看到一絲微光。