Big Enough

“Four years,” said Father Tom. “You have taught at this school for four years, Miss Novak. And you have never once said no to me.”

“四年了,”Father Tom说。“Novak小姐,您在这所学校教了四年书,从来没有对我说过一次‘不’。”

He sat on one of the children’s chairs in my classroom. It was much too small for him, and he laughed at it, his big, happy laugh. It was half past three. My Year 4 children were gone. Outside, it was already getting dark over St Nicholas Square.

他坐在我教室里的一把小孩椅子上。椅子对他太小了,他自己笑起来,笑声又大又开心。现在是三点半,我四年级的孩子都走了。窗外,St Nicholas Square已经开始黑了。

“What do you want, Father?”

“您想要什么,Father?”

“The Christmas play.”

“圣诞节的戏。”

I put down my pen.

我放下了笔。

“Every Christmas Eve, at five o’clock, the children of the parish do the nativity in the church,” he said. “Mary, Joseph, the baby, the angels, the shepherds. For twenty years Edith Green ran it. Then she stopped, and I have run it myself.”

“每年平安夜五点,教区的孩子们都在教堂演耶稣诞生的戏,”他说。“马利亚、约瑟、小耶稣、天使、牧羊人。二十年来都是Edith Green在做。后来她不做了,我就自己做。”

“I know. I was there last year.”

“我知道。去年我在那里。”

“Then you know.” He stopped laughing. “In 2023 the lights went out. In 2024 somebody brought a real sheep. In 2025 I left the script on the 24 bus. The parish council has spoken to me. One more disaster, they say, and there will be no more children’s play. Ever. Diane Price said those words twice.”

“那您就知道了。”他不笑了。“2023年,灯灭了。2024年,有人带来了一只真的羊。2025年,我把剧本忘在24路公共汽车上了。教区委员会找我谈过话。他们说,再有一次出事,以后就不会再有孩子们的戏了,永远不会。Diane Price把这句话说了两次。”

I looked at the pile of books on my desk. I have thirty children, reports to write and no free evenings. But when I first came to this school, from my small town, Edith Green still came in every Friday. She heard the children read. She knew every child’s name in a week. I wanted to be a teacher like her.

我看着桌上那一堆书。我有三十个孩子,有要写的报告,晚上一点空也没有。可是我刚来这所学校的时候,从我的小镇来,Edith Green每个星期五还来学校。她听孩子们读书。她一个星期就记住了每个孩子的名字。我想做一个像她那样的老师。

It was Edith’s play.

这是Edith的戏。

“Yes,” I said.

“好,”我说。

“Thank God,” said Father Tom. “The first meeting is at six. In the church hall.”

“感谢上帝,”Father Tom说。“第一次会是六点,在教堂的小礼堂。”

The church hall is a long, cold room behind the church. It has a small kitchen, an old piano and a high little window at the back. In one corner stands the church’s old crib. It is a wooden stable as big as a suitcase. Inside there is a baby Jesus doll the size of my hand, two little angels with wire wings, a tin star and three wooden sheep, on real straw, with a small lamp. Father Tom says it is a hundred years old.

教堂的小礼堂是教堂后面一个又长又冷的房间。里面有一个小厨房、一架旧钢琴,后面有一扇又高又小的窗。一个角落里放着教堂的旧圣诞马槽。它是一个木头马棚,有一个行李箱那么大。里面有一个小耶稣娃娃,只有我的手那么大,还有两个带铁丝翅膀的小天使、一颗铁皮星星和三只木头羊,下面是真的稻草,旁边有一盏小灯。Father Tom说它有一百年了。

Ruth Adler was already at the piano. She leads the children’s choir. She is seventy, tall and very straight, with short silver hair.

Ruth Adler已经坐在钢琴前了。她是孩子们合唱队的老师。她七十岁,个子高,背很直,有一头银色的短发。