I even liked the way he told me off.
One day while moving my notebook on the table, I accidentally tipped over my glass. It fell on the grass. It didn’t break. Oliver, who was close by, got up, picked it up, and placed it, not just on the table, but right next to my pages.
I didn’t know where to find the words to thank him.
“You didn’t have to,” I finally said.
He let just enough time go by for me to register that his answer might not be casual or carefree.
“I wanted to.”
He wanted to, I thought.
I wanted to, I imagined him repeating—kind, complaisant, effusive, as he was when the mood would suddenly strike him.
我甚至喜欢他训斥我的样子。
有一天我挪动桌上的笔记本时不小心打翻了玻璃杯，掉在草地上，没破。在一旁的奥利弗起身拾起玻璃杯，把杯子好好放在桌上，而且就放在我的稿子旁边。
我不知道该说什么来感谢他。
最后说了句：“你不必这么做的。”
他停了一会儿，足够我意识到他的回答可能不是偶然或随便的。
“我想做。”
他想做，我想。
“我想做”，我想象他重复着这句话——温和、恳切、热情，就像他突然感染了那种情绪而表现出来。
To me those hours spent at that round wooden table in our garden with the large umbrella imperfectly shading my papers, the chinking of our iced lemonades, the sound of the not-too-distant surf gently lapping the giant rocks below, and in the background, from some neighboring house, the muffled crackle of the hit parade medley on perpetual replay—all these are forever impressed on those mornings when all I prayed for was for time to stop. Let summer never end, let him never go away, let the music on perpetual replay play forever, I’m asking for very little, and I swear I’ll ask for nothing more.
在我们家花园里那张圆木桌旁度过的时光，永远烙印在那些让我一心只求时间能够暂停的早晨里。圆桌上那把遮阴不够大的大阳伞，让阳光洒落在文稿上；冰块在柠檬汁里融化，响起咔哒声；不远处，浪花轻轻拍打下方大礁石的声音；附近人家传来的声响，流行金曲合辑不断重复播放时发出的闷闷噼啪声……希望夏天永不结束，让他永不离去，让无尽重复的音乐永远播放。我的要求很少，我发誓我将别无所求。
One day while moving my notebook on the table, I accidentally tipped over my glass. It fell on the grass. It didn’t break. Oliver, who was close by, got up, picked it up, and placed it, not just on the table, but right next to my pages.
I didn’t know where to find the words to thank him.
“You didn’t have to,” I finally said.
He let just enough time go by for me to register that his answer might not be casual or carefree.
“I wanted to.”
He wanted to, I thought.
I wanted to, I imagined him repeating—kind, complaisant, effusive, as he was when the mood would suddenly strike him.
我甚至喜欢他训斥我的样子。
有一天我挪动桌上的笔记本时不小心打翻了玻璃杯，掉在草地上，没破。在一旁的奥利弗起身拾起玻璃杯，把杯子好好放在桌上，而且就放在我的稿子旁边。
我不知道该说什么来感谢他。
最后说了句：“你不必这么做的。”
他停了一会儿，足够我意识到他的回答可能不是偶然或随便的。
“我想做。”
他想做，我想。
“我想做”，我想象他重复着这句话——温和、恳切、热情，就像他突然感染了那种情绪而表现出来。
To me those hours spent at that round wooden table in our garden with the large umbrella imperfectly shading my papers, the chinking of our iced lemonades, the sound of the not-too-distant surf gently lapping the giant rocks below, and in the background, from some neighboring house, the muffled crackle of the hit parade medley on perpetual replay—all these are forever impressed on those mornings when all I prayed for was for time to stop. Let summer never end, let him never go away, let the music on perpetual replay play forever, I’m asking for very little, and I swear I’ll ask for nothing more.
在我们家花园里那张圆木桌旁度过的时光，永远烙印在那些让我一心只求时间能够暂停的早晨里。圆桌上那把遮阴不够大的大阳伞，让阳光洒落在文稿上；冰块在柠檬汁里融化，响起咔哒声；不远处，浪花轻轻拍打下方大礁石的声音；附近人家传来的声响，流行金曲合辑不断重复播放时发出的闷闷噼啪声……希望夏天永不结束，让他永不离去，让无尽重复的音乐永远播放。我的要求很少，我发誓我将别无所求。
