South for the Winter

I never stay in one country for a long time. It gets boring. I like to move on, see new places, meet different people. It's a good life, most of the time. When I need money, I get a job. I can do most things – hotel and restaurant work, building work, picking fruit. In Europe you can pick fruit most of the year. You need to be in the right country at the right time, of course. It's not easy work, but the money's not bad.

I like to go south in the winter. Life is easier in the sun, and northern Europe can get very cold in the winter. Last year, 1989 it was, I was in Venice for October. I did some work in a hotel for three weeks, then I began slowly to move south. I always go by train when I can. I like trains. You can walk about on a train, and you meet a lot of people.

I left Venice and went on to Trieste. There I got a cheap ticket for the slow train to Sofia, in Bulgaria. This train goes all down through Yugoslavia, and takes a long time – a day and a half. But that didn't matter to me.

The train left Trieste at nine o'clock on a Thursday morning. There weren't many people on it at first, but at Zagreb more people got on. Two girls went along the corridor, past my carriage. They looked through the door, but they didn't come in. Then an old woman came in, sat down and went to sleep. The two girls came back along the corridor and looked into the carriage again. The train left Zagreb and I looked out of the window for about ten minutes, then I went to sleep too.

After the train left Zagreb, I went to sleep.

When I opened my eyes again, the two girls were in the carriage, they looked friendly, so I said, 'Hullo.'

Hi!' they said.

You're American,' I said. 'Or Canadian. Right?'

American,' the taller girl said. She smiled. 'And you're twenty-three, your name's Tom Walsh, you've got blue eyes, and your mum lives in Burnham-on-Sea, UK. Right?'

How did you know all that?' I asked.

The second girl laughed. 'She looked at your passport. It's in your coat pocket.'

Oh. Right.' My coat was on the seat next to me. I took my passport out of my pocket and put it back in my bag. 'Who are you, then?' I asked.

They told me. Melanie and Carol from Los Angeles, USA. They liked Europe, they said. They knew a lot of places – Britain, Holland, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece...

I'm going to Bulgaria now,' I said. 'For about a month. Then I'm going south for the winter. Cyprus, or perhaps North Africa.'

Oh yes?' they said. 'We love Bulgaria. Sofia's a great town. Wonderful.'

What do you do about money?' I asked.

Well, you know,' Carol smiled. 'Sometimes we get a little job. This and that. But what about you?'

Yeah, come on,' Melanie said. 'Tell us about you – Tom Walsh with the blue eyes and the mum in Burnham-on-Sea. What are you doing with your life, hey?'

So I told them. They were nice girls. They were older than me, perhaps twenty-seven or twenty-eight, but I liked them. We talked and laughed for hours. I told them a lot of stories about my life. Some of the stories were true, some weren't. But the girls laughed, and said I was a great guy. I asked them about Bulgaria, because I didn't know the country. They knew Sofia well, they said.

We talked and laughed for hours.

Hey, Carol,' Melanie said. 'We're staying in Bela Palanka for a day or two. But let's go over to Sofia this weekend and meet Tom there. We can meet him on Saturday night at the Hotel Marmara.'

Yeah! It's a good hotel,' Carol told me. 'Cheap, but good. What do you think, Tom?'

Great!' I said. 'Let's do that.'

The train was very slow. We got to Belgrade at six o'clock in the evening, and a lot of people got off. There were only me and the girls in the carriage then. The guard came and looked at our tickets, and went away again.

Carol looked at Melanie. 'Hey, Mel,' she said. 'Why don't you and Tom go along to the restaurant? I'm not hungry, and I want to sleep for an hour.'

Er... Food's very expensive on the train,' I said. 'I haven't got much money just now. I'm going to get a job in Sofia.'

Oh Tom!' Melanie said. 'Why didn't you tell us? Look, you're a nice guy, right? We're OK for money this week. We can buy you a meal.'

Of course we can,' Carol said. 'And look, in Sofia, we can take you to the best restaurant in town. It's a great place. We love it.'

What could I say? I was hungry. They had money, I didn't. So Melanie and I went to the restaurant and had a meal. When we came back, Carol was still alone in the carriage. Melanie put her feet on the seat and went to sleep.

At Nis some more people got on the train, and two old men came into out carriage. They looked at Melanie's feet on the seat, and talked in loud voices. Carol laughed, and Melanie opened her eyes and sat up.

Are we nearly there?' she asked Carol, and looked out of the window.

Yeah. About half an hour, I think.'

Why are you getting off at Bela Planka?' I asked. 'What are you going to do there?'

Melanie smiled. 'Find a cheap hotel, meet people, take a look at the town... you know.'

Just for a day or two,' Carol said.

But there's nothing there!'

Oh well, you never know,' Melanie laughed. 'See you in Sofia, right? On Saturday night.'

The Hotel Marmara, OK? Eight o'clock,' Carol said. 'Don't forget now!'

Ok. Great,' I said. 'See you there.'

The train came into Bela Palanka and stopped. The two girls got off and stood on the platform. They smiled at me through the window. 'Saturday. Eight o'clock,' Melanie shouted.

Saturday. Eight o'clock,' Melanie shouted.

OK,' I called. They couldn't hear me because of the noise in the station. They smiled again, picked up their bags and walked away. Nice girls. I'm going to have a great time in Sofia, I thought.

The train left Yugoslavia and crossed into Bulgaria at two o'clock in the morning. Then the train stopped at some village – I don't remember the name. I ate an apple and looked out of the window.

Suddenly there were a lot of policemen on the train. Everybody in the carriage sat up and began to talk.

What's happening?' I said in Italian to the old man next to me.

I don't know,' he said in bad Italian. 'Perhaps they're looking for somebody. Look. The police are taking some people off the train.'

Then two policemen came into our carriage, a tall thin one and a short fat one. They looked at everybody carefully... and then they looked at me again.

Come with us, please,' the fat policeman said in English.

What? Me?' I said. 'Why? What's the matter?'

And bring your bag with you,' the tall policeman said.

I began to ask a question, but policemen never like questions from young men with long hair. So I stayed quiet, picked up my bag, and went with them.

In the station building there were a lot more policemen, and some people from the train. They were all young people, I saw. Some were afraid, some were bored. The police looked in everybody's bags, and then the people went back to the train.

My two policemen took me to a table. 'Your passport, please,' the fat policeman said, 'and open your bag.'

They looked at my passport and I opened my bag. There was a young policewoman with red hair at the next table. She had a nice face, so I smiled at her and she smiled back.

Aaah!' the tall policeman said suddenly. All my dirty shirts and clothes were out on the table. The policeman picked up my bag and turned it over. On to the table, out of my bag, fell packet after packet of US American dollars. Nice, new dollars. Fifty-dollar notes in big packets. A lot of money.

Nice, new dollars. Fifty-dollar notes in big packets. A lot of money.

My mouth opened and stayed open. I couldn't find my voice. I was suddenly a very interesting person, and a lot of police ran up to our table and stood behind me.

50,000... 100,000... 150,000... There's 200,000 dollars here,' the tall policeman said. 'What an interesting bag, Mr Tom Walsh!'

I found my voice again quickly. 'But it's not my bag!' I shouted.

There was a big, happy smile on that policeman's face. 'Well,' he said, 'it's got your name on it. Look!'

So I looked, and of course there was my name, and yes of course, it was my bag. So how did 200,000 US dollars get into my bag?

You cannot bring US dollars into this country,' the fat policeman said. He had very short grey hair and little black eyes. He didn't smile once.

But I didn't bring them,' I said quickly. 'They're not my dollars. I never saw them before in my life, and—'

There was a lot of noise in the station. I looked out of the window and saw my train. Slowly, it began to move.

Hey!' I shouted. 'That's my train—'

Hey!' I shouted. 'That's my train —'

The tall policeman laughed. It was a great day for him. 'Oh no,' he said. 'You're not getting back on that train. You're staying here with us, in our beautiful country.' He smiled, happily.

So I never got to Sofia on Saturday. I was very unhappy about that. I wanted to have a little talk with Melanie and Carol, ask them one or two questions, you know. You're a nice guy, Tom. See you in Sofia, OK? Take you to the best restaurant in town. Yeah. Great.

And I never got down to Cyprus or North Africa that winter. Oh well, I live and learn. It's not an easy life, in prison. But it's warm in winter, and the food's not bad. And I'm meeting some interesting people. There's a man from Georgia, USSR – Boris, his name is. He comes from a place by the Black Sea. He's a great guy. When we get out of here, he and I are going down to Australia... Brisbane perhaps, or Sydney. Get a job on a ship, start a new life. Yeah, next year's going to be OK.

life n. the time when you are alive, not dead 生活

job n. work that you do for money 工作

fruit n. the part of a plant, tree, or bush that contains seeds and is often eaten as food 水果

corridor n. the long narrow place on a train with doors to the carriage 走廊

great adj. very good 非常好

yeah adv. yes 是

guy n. a man, especially a young man 〔尤指青年〕男子

meal n. food that you eat at a certain time (e.g. breakfast, dinner) 餐，饭

shout v. to say something very loudly 大声说

clothes n. the things that people wear to cover their bodies or to keep warm 衣服

unhappy adj. not happy 不快乐

prison n. a large building where people are kept as a punishment for a crime 监狱

去南方过冬

我从不会在一个国家待很长时间，因为日子久了会让人觉得无聊。我喜欢四处走，去看看新的地方，结识不同的人。这样的生活很不错，至少多数时候是这样的。我需要钱时，就找份工作。我会做很多工作——酒店和餐厅的工作，建筑工作，采摘水果。在欧洲，一年中大部分时间都能采摘水果。当然，你需要在对的时间去到对的国家。采摘水果这种活儿并不轻松，但报酬不错。

我喜欢去南方过冬。生活在阳光下更舒服，而北欧的冬天会特别冷。去年，也就是1989年，我十月份是在威尼斯度过的。我在一家酒店里干了三周的活儿，然后开始慢慢往南走。如果可以的话，我通常会坐火车。我喜欢火车。你可以在火车上四处走动，结识很多人。

我离开威尼斯去了的里雅斯特。在那里我买到一张去保加利亚索非亚的便宜慢车车票。火车一路南行穿越南斯拉夫，要花很长时间——一天半。但这对我来说无所谓。

火车在一个星期四的早晨九点钟离开了的里雅斯特。起初车上没有多少人，但是在萨格勒布有很多人上了车。两个女孩沿着过道往前走，路过我的包厢。她们往门里看了看，但没进来。接着一个老妇人走进来，坐下后就睡着了。那两个女孩沿着过道走了回来，再次朝包厢里看了看。火车离开了萨格勒布，我向窗外望了大约十分钟，后来也睡着了。

当我再睁开眼时，那两个女孩已经在包厢里了。她们看起来很友好，于是我说：“你们好。”

“你好！”她们说道。

“你们是美国人，”我说道，“或者是加拿大人，对吧？”

“美国人。”高个子女孩说道，她笑了笑，“你23岁，你的名字是汤姆·沃尔什，你有一双蓝眼睛，你妈妈住在英国的滨海伯纳姆，对吗？”

“这些你是怎么知道的？”我问道。

另一个女孩笑了起来：“她看了你的护照。你的护照在大衣口袋里。”

“哦，是的。”我的外套就放在身边的座位上。我把护照从口袋里拿出来，放回包里。

“那么，你们是谁呢？”我问道。

她们自称梅拉妮和卡萝尔，来自美国洛杉矶。她们说她们喜欢欧洲。她们去过很多地方——英国、荷兰、丹麦、德国、法国、西班牙、意大利、南斯拉夫、保加利亚、希腊……

“我要去保加利亚，”我说，“大概待上一个月，然后去南方过冬，到塞浦路斯，也可能是北非。”

“哦，真的吗？”她们说道，“我们喜欢保加利亚，索非亚是一个美丽的城市。很棒。”

“你们靠什么挣钱？”我问道。

“这个，”卡萝尔笑了笑，“有时我们会找个小活儿，各种活儿。那你呢？”

“是呀，快来说说。”梅拉妮说道，“跟我们说说你和你妈的事——蓝眼睛的汤姆·沃尔什和住在滨海伯纳姆的妈妈。你们是怎么生活的，啊？”

于是我告诉了她们。她们是很好的女孩。比我大些，可能二十七八岁，但我喜欢她们。我们有说有笑地聊了好几个小时。我给她们讲了许多我自己的事。有些是真的，有些不是。但是她们笑了，说我是个很棒的人。我问她们保加利亚的情况，因为我对这个国家并不了解。她们说她们对索非亚很熟悉。

“喂，卡萝尔。”梅拉妮说道，“我们要在贝拉帕兰卡待上一两天，不妨这周末我们去索非亚找汤姆。我们可以周六晚上和他在马尔马拉宾馆见面。”

“是啊！那是家不错的宾馆。”卡萝尔跟我说，“便宜，但很好。你觉得怎么样，汤姆？”

“太好了！”我说，“就这么办。”

火车开得十分缓慢。我们在晚上六点钟到了贝尔格莱德，很多人在那儿下车。包厢里就只剩下了我和那两个女孩。列车长过来查票，查完又走了。

卡萝尔看着梅拉妮。“嗨，梅尔。”卡萝尔说道，“为什么你不和汤姆一起去餐车呢？我不饿，想睡一个小时。”

“哦……火车上用餐很贵的。”我说，眼下我没有太多钱。我打算去索非亚找份工作。”

“啊，汤姆！”梅拉妮说道，“你怎么不告诉我们？听我说，你是一个好人，对吗？我们这周的钱足够了，可以请你吃一顿。”

“当然可以。”卡萝尔说道，“瞧，在索非亚我们可以带你去城里最好的餐馆。那是个很不错的地方，我们很喜欢那里。”

我能说什么呢？我饿了。她们有钱，我没有。于是我和梅拉妮去餐车吃了顿饭。我们回来后，卡萝尔依然一个人在包厢里。梅拉妮把脚放到座位上，睡着了。

在尼什，又有一些人上了车，有两个老先生来到了我们的包厢。他们看了看座位上梅拉妮的脚，便大声说起话来。卡萝尔笑了，梅拉妮睁开眼睛坐了起来。

“我们快到了吗？”她问卡萝尔，然后望着窗外。

“是的。大概还有半个小时，我觉得。”

“为什么你们要在贝拉帕兰卡下车？”我问道，“你们去那里干什么？”

梅拉妮笑了笑：“找一家便宜的宾馆，接触一些人，看一看这个城市……你懂的。”

“也就一两天。”卡萝尔说道。

“可那里什么都没有。”

“好吧，也说不定。”梅拉妮笑了起来，索非亚见，好吗？周六晚上。”

“马尔马拉宾馆，行吗？八点。”卡萝尔说道，“哎，别忘了！”

“好的，太棒了。”我说，“不见不散。”

火车驶入贝拉帕兰卡停下了。那两个女孩下了车，站在月台上。她们隔窗向我微笑着。“周六，八点。”梅拉妮大声说道。

“好的。”我喊道。因为车站里太吵，她们听不到我说的话。她们再次向我微笑，拎起背包，转身走了。多好的女孩。我想我将会在索非亚度过一段愉快的时光。

火车离开南斯拉夫，在凌晨两点钟驶入保加利亚。后来火车经停了某个小镇——我没记住名字。我吃了个苹果，看着窗外。

突然火车上出现了很多警察。包厢里的所有人都坐直身子，议论起来。

“发生什么事了？”我用意大利语问身旁的老先生。

“我不知道。”他的意大利语很差，“可能他们在找人。瞧，警察把一些人带下了火车。”

接着，有两个警察走进我们的包厢，他们俩一个又高又瘦，一个又矮又胖。他们仔细看着每一个人……后来又看向我。

“请跟我们来。”胖警察用英语说道。

“什么？我？”我问，“为什么？怎么了？”

“带上你的包。”高个子警察说道。

我开始问问题，但是警察一向讨厌长头发的年轻人提出的问题。因此我保持沉默，带上我的包和他们一起下了车。

在车站大楼里有更多的警察，还有一些从火车上下来的人。我看到他们都是年轻人。有些人看起来很害怕，有些人看着很无聊。警察查看了每个人的包，之后，人们回到火车上。

“那两个警察把我带到一张桌子前。请出示你的护照。”胖警察说道，“打开你的包。”

他们查看了我的护照，我打开包。邻桌有一个红头发的年轻女警察。她长得不错，所以我冲她笑了笑，她也冲我笑了笑。

“啊！”高个子警察突然说道。我所有的脏衬衫和衣服都倒在了桌子上。警察拿起我的包，把它翻了过来。从我包里掉出了成捆的美元，落到桌子上。崭新的美元。一大堆面值五十美元的钞票。好多钱。

我张大嘴，呆住了。我说不出话来。我突然间成了一个令人关注的人物，许多警察跑到我们这一桌来，站在我身后。

“五万……十万……十五万……一共有二十万美元。”高个子警察说道，“多耐人寻味的包呀，汤姆·沃尔什先生！”

很快我回过神来。“可是这不是我的包！”我大喊道。

警察脸上挂着灿烂愉快的笑容。“哎呀，”他说，“这上边有你的名字，瞧！”

于是我看了看，上边确实有我的名字，而那个真的是我的包。可是那二十万美元是怎么跑进我包里的呢？

“你不能携带美元来这个国家。”胖警察说道。他留着灰白的短发，长着小小的黑眼睛。他一次也没笑过。

“可这不是我带的。”我赶忙说道，“这不是我的美元。我从没见过，并且……”

车站很吵。我向窗外望去，看到了我坐的那趟火车。慢慢地，车开动了。

“嘿！”我喊道，“那是我的火车——”

高个子警察笑了。对他而言，今天是很重要的一天。“啊，不。”他说道，“你回不到那趟火车上了，你得和我们待在这里，待在我们这个美丽的国家。”他开心地笑了起来。

结果我没能在周六到达索非亚，为此我非常不开心。你知道，我想跟梅拉妮和卡萝尔谈一谈，问她们一两个问题。你是一个善良的人，汤姆。索非亚见，好吗？带你去城里最好的餐馆。是呀。我真是太好了。

那年冬天我也没有去成塞浦路斯或北非。好吧，吃一堑，长一智。监狱的日子并不好过。不过那里的冬天挺暖和，饭菜也不是很难吃。而且我也结交了一些有意思的人。有个男人来自苏联的格鲁吉亚，名字叫鲍里斯。他来自黑海边的一个地方，他是一个不错的人。我们出去以后，打算南下去澳大利亚……可能去布里斯班或者悉尼。在船上找份工作，开始新的生活。是的！明年会好起来的。