"I don't WANT to go," Eddie says.
“我不想去，”爱迪说道。
He is eight years old. He sits on the edge of a plaid couch, his arms crossed in anger. His mother is at his feet, tying his shoes. His father is at the mirror, fixing his tie.
他今天八岁。他坐在一张方格布沙发的边沿上，两只胳膊气呼呼地交叉在胸前。他的母亲在他脚边帮他系鞋带。他的父亲站在一面镜子前扎领带。
"I know," his mother says, not looking up, "but we have to. Sometimes you have to do things when sad things happen."
“我知道，”他的母亲说道，仍然低着头，“但是，我们一定要去。有时候，伤心的事一旦发生了，我们就得做一些事情。”
"But it's my BIRTHDAY."
“但今天是我的生日呀。”
Eddie looks mournfully across the room at the erector set in the corner, a pile of toy metal girders and three small rubber wheels. Eddie had been making a truck. He is good at putting things together. He had hoped to show it to his friends at a birthday party. Instead, they have to go someplace and get dressed up. It isn't fair, he thinks.
爱迪惋惜地望着房间角落里的拼装玩具，一堆金属横梁和三个小橡胶轮子。爱迪正在拼一辆卡车。他干起拼拼装装的活来很拿手。他本来希望在生日派对上把拼好的卡车给他的朋友们看。可是，他们眼下非得去个什么地方，还得打扮起来。这不公平，他心想。
His brother, Joe, dressed in wool pants and a bow tie, enters with a baseball glove on his left hand. He slaps it hard. He makes a face at Eddie.
他哥哥乔穿着一条毛料裤子，扎着一个蝴蝶结领结，走进屋来。他左手上戴着一只棒球手套，啪啪拍着。他朝爱迪做了个鬼脸。
"Those were my old shoes," Joe says. "My new ones are better."
“那是我的旧鞋，”乔说道。“我这双新鞋好多了。”
"Stop wiggling," his mother says.
“别扭来扭去，”他母亲说。
Eddie winces. He hates having to wear Joe's old things.
爱迪脚一缩。他讨厌穿乔的旧东西。
"They HURT!" Eddie whines.
“好痛啊，”爱迪嗷嗷叫道。
At the cemetery, Eddie barely recognizes the pier people. The men who normally wear gold lame and red turbans are now in black suits, like his father. The women seem to be wearing the same black, dress; some cover their faces in veils.
在墓地里，爱迪几乎认不出码头上的人们了。那些通常身穿金银线衣服、头戴红色穆斯林头巾的人们，现在都像他父亲一样穿着黑色西装。女人们似乎都穿着一样的黑色裙子，有些人脸上还戴着面纱。
"Enough!" his father yells. He glares at Eddie. Eddie goes silent.
“够了！”他父亲大喊一声，瞪了爱迪一眼。爱迪不作声了。
Eddie watches a man shovel dirt into a hole. The man says something about ashes. Eddie holds his mothers hand and squints at the sun. He is supposed to be sad, he knows, but he is secretly counting numbers, starting from 1, hoping that by the time he reaches 1000 he will have his birthday back.
爱迪望着一个男人往地上的一个坑里铲了一些土。那个男人说了一些关于灰烬的话。爱迪拉着母亲的手，眯缝着眼睛望太阳。他知道，他应该看起来很伤心，但是，他正在心里默默地数数，从一数起，他希望等他数到一千的时候，就可以把他的生日找回来了。