The Dress　一件连衣裙

　　◎?Anonymous¹

　　“Do you like my dress?” she asked of a passing stranger. “My mommy made it just for me.” Shesaid with a tear in her eye.

　　“Well, I think it’s very pretty, so tell me, little one, why are you crying?”

　　With a quiver² in her voice the little girl answered. “After Mommy made me this dress, she had togo away.”

　　“Well, now,” said the lady, “with a little girl like you waiting for her, I’m sure she’ll be rightback.”

　　“No Ma’am, you don’t understand,” said the child through her tears, “my daddy said she’s up inheaven now with Grandfather.”

　　Finally the woman realized what the child meant, and why she was crying. Kneeling down shegently cradled³ the child in her arms and together they cried for the mommy that was gone.

　　Then suddenly the little girl did something that the woman thought was a bit strange. She stoppedcrying, stepped back from the woman and began to sing. She sang so softly that it was almost awhisper. It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard, almost like the song of a very smallbird.

　　??After the child stopped singing she explained to the lady, “My mommy used to sing that song tome before she went away, and she made me promise to sing it whenever I started crying and itwould make me stop.”

　　“See,” she exclaimed, “it did, and now my eyes are dry!”

　　As the woman turned to go, the little girl grabbed⁴ her sleeve, “Ma’am, can you stay just a minute?

　　I want to show you something.”

　　“Of course,” she answered, “what do you want me to see?”

　　Pointing to a spot on her dress, she said, “Right here is where my mommy kissed my dress, andhere,” pointing to another spot, “here is another kiss, and here, and here. Mommy said that she putall those kisses on my dress so that I would have her kisses for every booboo that made me cry.”

　　Then the lady realized that she wasn’t just looking at a dress, no, she was looking at a mother...

　　who knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away the hurts that she knewher daughter would get.

　　So she took all the love she had for her beautiful little girl and put them into this dress that herchild now so proudly wore.

　　She no longer saw a little girl in a simple dress. She saw a child wrapped... in her mother’s love.

　　“你喜欢我的连衣裙吗？”她问一位正走过她身边的陌生人。“我妈妈专门给我做的。”她说道，脸上带着泪珠。

　　“嗯，我认为你的裙子很漂亮。告诉我，小家伙，你为什么哭呢？”

　　她的声音有些颤抖，回答道：“妈妈给我做完这条裙子后，就不得不离开了。”

　　“哦，是这样，”陌生的女士说，“有你这样一个小姑娘等着她，我肯定她很快就会回来的。”

　　“不，女士，您不明白，”女孩透过泪水说，“我爸爸说她现在和我爷爷在天堂里。”

　　女士终于明白孩子的意思了，也明白她为什么哭泣。她屈膝跪下，温柔地把女孩搂在怀里，一起为女孩离去的妈妈哭泣。

　　突然，小姑娘又做了件让女士感到有点奇怪的事。她停住了哭泣，从女士怀抱中抽出身，向后退了一步，然后开始唱歌。她唱得如此轻柔，几乎像轻声耳语。这是女士听过的最甜美的声音，简直就像一只非常小的鸟儿在吟唱。

　　小女孩唱完后，向女士解释说：“妈妈离去前经常给我唱这首歌，她让我答应她，我一哭就唱这支歌，这样我就不哭了。”

　　“看，”她惊叫道，“真管用，现在我的眼睛里没有眼泪了！”

　　女士转身要走时，小女孩抓住她的袖子：“女士，您能再留下来一小会儿吗？我想给您看样东西。”

　　“当然啦，”她回答，“你想要我看什么呢？”

　　小女孩指着裙子上的一处，说：“就在这里，我妈妈亲了我的裙子，还有这里，”她指着另外一处，“这里有另外一个吻，还有这里，这里。妈妈说她把所有这些吻都留在我的连衣裙上，这样我遇到什么事哭了，就会有她的亲吻。”

　　这时，女士意识到，在她眼前的不是一件连衣裙，不是的，她在凝视一位母亲……这位母亲知道她将离去，无法随时守候在女儿身边，吻去她知道女儿必然会遇到的种种伤心。

　　所以她将所有对她美丽女儿的爱倾注在这件连衣裙上。现在，女儿如此骄傲地穿在身上。

　　她看到的不再是一个小女孩身穿一件简单的连衣裙。她看到的是一个……被妈妈的爱裹着的孩子。

 

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