My younger son, Kelly, started preschool when he was four, attending twice a week for two hours each time. I soon noticed he was always the last one to leave the classroom, so I asked the teacher if he was having problems. "No, no." she assured me. "He is doing fine—just involved in a creative project."
Once I asked through the classroom door if he was ready to leave, he yelled, "Don' t come in! It' s a surprise." So I waited patiently each day until he finally emerged, smiling and mysterious.
"What are you doing in there?" I asked.
"Making something." he said.
My curiosity was getting the best of me. What held his attention for such a long period of time? He liked building things by stacking alphabet blocks, then attaching Lincoln Logs until he made a structure big enough for parking his Hot Wheel cars.
Eventually the day arrived when he led his class out the door carrying his creative project, with both hands. His eyes rarely left the tissue-wrapped package as he carefully walked to the car, instead of running as usual. He handed it to me. "Here, Mom, it' s a surprise. I made it just for you."
Carefully I lifted the tissue off first one side and then the other. Inside nestled a string necklace made of hand-colored macaroni pieces—red, yellow, green, purple and every other color in his crayon box.
"It' s beautiful, " I said, holding it carefully and turning it this way and that so the sun shone on it through the car window. "It looks like a rainbow necklace."
He leaned on my arm and stared at it with me. "I made it, " he said confidently, "all by myself."
The necklace caused a lot of excitement at home. Kelly' s dad, his older brother and both younger sisters admired it. I carefully stowed it in my jewelry box so it would not get broken.
After dinner I left on a short walk to the grocery store for some milk."Wait, Mom! Wait!" Kelly yelled as he ran down the sidewalk after me."You forgot your necklace!" I bent down, and he tied it around my neck. "You look pretty." he said.
My new, brightly colored macaroni necklace caused quite a stir at the market. "Nice necklace." a stranger said. Then my neighbor remarked, "One of your kids make it?" I nodded. The grocery checker even commented, "I want one, too."
Nothing I have ever worn created more comment than that necklace, and I wore it often, enjoying every word.
Over time, however, the macaroni pieces broke one-by-one and slipped off the string. Kelly forgot about the necklace, and I stopped wearing it hoping the pieces would last longer. One day the last piece crumbled and joined the other broken bits of macaroni at the bottom of my jewelry box. The necklace was no more. I remembered how hard he had worked and how proud we had been of his efforts. I got a lump in my throat when I thought about wearing it to church, school events or Grandpa' s. It was a memorable gift, and I would miss wearing it for our special family occasions.
Over twenty-five years later, on Christmas Eve, Kelly handed me a small box. "I remember when I was four and wanted to give you a present, but had no money, so I used some string and macaroni to make you a surprise. You were such a good sport about wearing that macaroni necklace, and each time you put it on, you made me feel very special. So this gift is to make up for the macaroni one that didn' t last."
He plucked a beautiful string of pearls from inside the red velvet box and placed it around my neck.
"Did you make it?" I asked jokingly, barely able to speak.
"No, " he chuckled, "but I did pick out each pearl. I hope this necklace makes you feel as special when you wear it as I felt when you wore the other one. Merry Christmas, Mom."
我四岁的小儿子利上幼儿园了。他每周去幼儿园两次，每次去两个小时。我很快就发现，他总是最后一个离开教室，于是我便去向老师询问情况。“没事，他没遇上什么问题。”老师向我保证道，“他做得挺好的，只是在忙一件很有创意的事情。”
一次，我在教室门口问他是否准备回家了，他大声回答说：“不要进来！我要给你一个惊喜。”于是，每天我都会耐心地在外面等他，直到他神神秘秘地笑着出来。
“你在教室里面做些什么啊？”我问他。
“做东西。”他回答说。
我的好奇心愈加强烈。是什么能这么长时间地吸引着他的注意力？他喜欢用字母积木搭建房子，然后接上林肯积木，直到那房屋大得足以停放他的“风火轮”玩具汽车。
这一天终于到来了。他双手捧着他那件具有创意的手工作品，第一个冲出教室。他没有像平日里那样跑向我，而是一边小心翼翼地朝我的车子走来，一边几乎目不转睛地看着他手中的纸包。他把手中的东西递给我说：“妈妈，给你，这是给你的惊喜。我是特地为你做的。”
我小心地掀开纸巾的一边，然后又打开另一边。一串手绘五彩的意大利面团项链就躺在里面。有红色、黄色、绿色、紫色和他的蜡笔盒中其余的每一种颜色。
我谨慎地拿着它转了个方向，阳光透过车窗照在项链上，我夸奖道：“太漂亮了，它看上去像一条彩虹项链。”
儿子倚靠在我的胳膊上，和我一起看着项链。他自豪地说：“这是我做的，全部是由我一个人做的。”
这串项链给家人带来了一阵欢乐。利的爸爸、哥哥和他的两个妹妹都很喜欢它。我小心翼翼地把它放进首饰盒里，以保护它不被弄坏。
晚饭后，我走着去百货商店买牛奶。“等一下，妈妈！”利一边在人行道上跑着追我，一边喊着，“您忘记戴项链了。”我弯下腰，他把项链系在我的脖子上。他说：“您真好看。”
我脖子上崭新的、颜色明亮的面团项链在商店里引起了人们的轰动。一位陌生人对我说：“好漂亮的项链啊。”后来邻居问我：“这是你孩子做的？”我点点头作为回答。商店的收银员甚至羡慕地说道：“我也想要一条。”
我的衣饰从来没有获得过如此多的赞美，于是，从那儿以后我便经常戴着它，享受人们对它的每一句赞誉。
但是，一段时间过后，项链上的面团珠子一个接一个地碎落了。利忘记了这条项链，我也不再戴它，希望上面的“珠子”可以留存长久一点。有一天，最后一个面团也破碎了，碎屑与首饰盒里的其他面团碎屑混在一起。那条项链不复存在了。我还记得儿子是怎样努力地把它做出来，而我曾为它感到多么骄傲。想到自己带着这串项链去做礼拜，参加学校活动，去爷爷家，我的喉咙便有种哽咽的感觉。这是一份值得纪念的礼物，我会十分怀念带着它参加的那些各种家庭活动日。
25年后的圣诞节前夜，利递给我一只小盒子。“还记得我四岁的时候，很想送您一份礼物，可是我又没有钱，于是我用线和意大利面团为您穿成了一条项链，想给您一个惊喜。每次您把它戴在脖子上，都会让我感觉自己与众不同。这条项链不结实，所以不能戴得长久。今天，这份礼物算是对它的弥补吧。”
从红色天鹅绒盒子里面，儿子取出一串美丽的珍珠项链，并把它戴在我的脖子上。我激动得快要说不出话来，便打趣地问道：“这是你自己做的吗？”
他咯咯地笑着说：“不是。但是我亲手挑选了每一颗珍珠。我希望这串项链可以给您特别的感觉，就像以前我送给您的那串那样。圣诞节快乐，妈妈。”
双重悲伤
Double Sadness
玛莎·鲁塞尔·徐 / Martha Russell Hsu
"I keep worrying about Martha, " my mother said as we sat in the hospital corridor, waiting for my father to be examined by the doctor. "We left her playing in the yard and didn' t tell her where we were going. I hope she' s not sitting somewhere crying."
I wiped away tears that were streaming down my cheeks. "But I' m Martha. I' m right here with you." I tried to reassure her.
"No, not you." my mother answered, "My little Martha."
Fears of abandonment, past and present, enveloped us as we tried to adjust to my father' s sudden incapacity.