Who Me?是我嗎？ ErikaTremper

The letter from the principal1 couldn’t have been clearer： The bus will pick upyour new kindergartner at the designated2 bus stop. Parents are not to ride withchildren on the bus， and under no circumstances3 are parents to come to theschool， whether to drop off their children or to take pictures. Parking is tight， evenfor teachers， staff， and buses， and additional cars are strictly forbidden at thebeginning or end of the school day.

校長的信說得再清楚不過了：公共汽車會在指定的站臺接送你的幼兒園新生。家長們不能和孩子們一起乘車，在任何情況下，無論是送孩子還是拍照，家長們都不能來學校。停車位很緊張，即使是對教師、工作人員和公共汽車也不例外，而且在上學或放學時嚴禁?？款~外的車輛。

That was all understandable but they didn’t know my five-year-old twins. Shyand sensitive4， they hid whenever the doorbell rang. They couldn’t be coaxed5 outof their hiding places with ice cream， candy， or new toys. Their grandparents didn’tget a good look at them until they were about seven. They clung6 to me wheneverwe went out in public—one girl per leg. And while my Frankenstein -monster7walk was not graceful， it did have the advantage of providing a resistance8 trainingand aerobics9 for a busy mom.

這一切都可以理解，但他們不了解我五歲的雙胞胎。她們又害羞又敏感，只要門鈴一響，她們就會躲起來，人們無法用冰淇淋、糖果或新玩具把她們從藏身之地哄出來。她們的祖父母直到她們七歲左右才好好看到她們一眼。每當我們外出去公共場合時，她們都緊緊抓住我——每條腿上一個女孩。雖然我的科學怪人式漫步并不優(yōu)雅，但它的優(yōu)點是為一位忙碌的媽媽提供了阻力訓練和有氧運動。

My fear on that first day of school was that my girls would hide under a busseat， or somehow get lost or stolen. The first day of school wouldn’t be easy forthem or me.

開學第一天，我擔心我的女兒們會躲在公交車座位下，或者不知怎么迷路或被偷。上學的第一天對她們和我來說都不容易。

The day came， and it was sunny and beautiful. The girls were dressed in theirnew dresses and light-up sneakers. Each wore a nametag around her neck.

這一天到了，陽光明媚。女孩們穿著新裙子和發(fā)光的運動鞋。每個人脖子上都掛著一張名牌。

The bus was late， and they were nervous， but they smiled for the camera. I saton the front lawn under a shady tree for a minute， and their father finally took hiseye off the camera lens10 and took in what I was wearing.

公共汽車晚點了，她們很緊張，但她們還是對著鏡頭微笑。我在前院草坪上一棵樹的樹蔭下坐了一分鐘，她們的父親終于把目光從相機鏡頭上移開，拍下了我的穿著。

“Oh， no， you’re not，”he said.

“哦，不，你不是吧?！彼f。

I had on my running gear and favorite long-distance running shoes. The school was a few" miles away.

我穿上了我的跑步裝備和最喜歡的長跑鞋。學校在幾英里外。

“I am not going to run after the bus， if that’s what you’re thinking，”I said.

“我不會追著公交車跑的，如果你是這么想的話?！蔽艺f。

Our conversation was cut short when the bus approached. I watched my twogirls get on （how could human beings be so impossibly cute？）， turn and wave on thetop step， and then…

公共汽車駛來時，我們的談話中斷了。我看著我的兩個女孩上了車（人類怎么會如此可愛？），轉(zhuǎn)身在最上面的臺階上揮手，然后……

Okay， then I ran like hell. But I ran before the bus， not after the bus， so Iwasn’t lying to the husband. Can’t a woman go for a run？ I ran faster than I everran before.

好吧，然后我拼命地跑。但我是在公共汽車前面跑，而不是在公共汽車后面跑，所以我沒有對丈夫撒謊。女人不能去跑步嗎？我跑得比以前更快。

The bus finally overtook me a few hundred yards before the school building.Panting11， I made my way to the front entrance by sprinting12 from behind one carto another until， hidden safely behind a large SUV， I had a bird’s-eye view of everychild that climbed down the bus steps and walked into the school doors. As each busemptied， it would pull away， and the next bus in the row would pull up to the spotdirectly in front of the school entrance. I willed my breath to quiet down. My legs feltlike jelly， and I concentrated hard on just being still because getting caught wouldbe beyond embarrassing， even for me. Sweat dripped13 down my forehead and mixedwith the sunblock14 I had thoughtfully applied15 hours before， stinging my eyes andmaking them tear up.

公共汽車終于在離學校大樓幾百碼的地方超過了我。我氣喘吁吁地去了學校前門入口。我從一輛車后面沖刺到另一輛車后面，直到安全地藏在一輛大型SUV 后面，才能鳥瞰爬下公交車臺階走進學校大門的每一個孩子。每輛公交車清空時都會駛離，排在這一排的下一輛公交車會停在學校門口的正前方。我調(diào)整呼吸讓自己靜下來。我的腿感覺像果凍一樣，我集中精力保持靜止不動，因為被抓到會非常尷尬，即使對我來說也是如此。汗水順著我的額頭流下來，與我?guī)讉€小時前精心涂抹的防曬霜混合在一起，刺痛了我的眼睛，讓它們流淚。

A few minutes went by. Two more buses emptied and left，and then there they were！ Chloe smiled shyly as the principalgave her a big smile and “Welcome！ ”Morgan stayed tightlybehind， chin16 down， but she was smiling and holding hersister’s hand.

幾分鐘過去了。又有兩輛空的公共汽車離開了，然后她們在那兒！在校長給了克洛伊一個大大的微笑并說著“歡迎！”的時候，她害羞地笑了笑。摩根緊緊地站在后面，下巴低垂，但她微笑著握著她姐姐的手。

I said it was the sweat and the sunblock that made me tearup. I was lying about that part.

我說過是汗水和防曬霜讓我淚流滿面。在那部分我撒謊了。

（英語原文選自：chickensoup.com）