Susan著 小哭译
今天是周五，我应该在学校上学，但是我没有。相反，我正坐在家里的书桌前，写着我今天在H村中心走来走去的多事之晨。
今天早晨我如常醒来准备去上学。前一天上学日相当地正常（除了取消了课后班），我一点也没有想到今天会有什么不同。象任何往常的一天一样，我穿上大衣在门口等校车。我等啊等，等啊等，五分钟后，校车还没有来。通常到了这个时候，要么是校车特别晚了，要么就是我错过了。没有人在等校车，所以我猜想是我错过了校车，别的人都已经走了。我妈妈认为肯定是校车晚了，因为校车几乎从没早来过。但是如果是校车晚了，那些平时等校车的人都哪去了呢？
那是第一个迹象表明有什么不对劲儿。然而我们没去管，妈妈开车送我去上学。她把车停在学校对面的一个教会，我就下车了。在我过马路的时候，我觉得什么事不太正常。通常在那个时候，学校的停车场因着送孩子上学的家长、还有走路上学的同学而相当地拥挤。可现在学校的草坪空无一人。当我走近大门口时，我看到了让人震惊的现象——学校里一个人也没有。
学校里面灯光昏暗，食堂里所有的桌子都折起来了，最不可思议的是一个人也没有。所有的门都锁上了，门上有一纸通知：“学校将在1月17日星期五关闭。”我开始明白了。每一件事儿都可以给出合乎逻辑的解释了：为什么校车一直没有来，为什么停车场没有人，还有为什么里面一个人也没有。我真的感到奇怪，但也高兴于不用上学了。我现在用不着想着科学课的考试了（至少下星期二前不用想）！还有，因为周一是马丁.路德.金日不上学，我将有四天的长周末！然而，我开始意识到我陷入了困境。
我没有车可以搭回家。妈妈已经把我放下了，所以唯一的选择是我不得不走到图书馆给她往家打电话，让她来再把我接回家。那也不算多糟，以前我也不得不走到图书馆过，不过是两个街区远而已。我还能借书！唯一不好的是天气冷。所以，我开始向图书馆走去。走到半路上，我的一个朋友家的车开了过来，他们让我搭了个便车。因此我就上了车，他们载我向图书馆驶去。
我应该让他们把我载回家，但是我不想给他们添太多麻烦，因此他们把我送到图书馆。然而令人恐怖的是我发现……图书馆也关门。就在我意识到那些门是锁着的时候，我转过身来，看到他们的车已经开到拐角那儿了。
一瞬间，我站在那里，蒙了，不知道做什么好。图书馆是我的一个、并且也是唯一的一个备用计划。很快我向自己所了解的小村中心走去。我记得图书馆隔壁的纪念厅里有一个办公室，于是我往那儿去，谢天谢地，门是开的。然而……办公室没开，大楼里一个人也没有。
我只剩下两个选项了：在能将人冻僵的冷天里走二十分钟回家，或者试着看看是否邮局那里有电话可打。妈妈总去邮局，所以我还有幸知道邮局在哪里。我很快地走过去，发现门开着。可是，令我失望的是，那里没有电话。
这时，我开始觉得相当地恼怒，真的很冷。我想我还能去哪呢？记得离开纪念堂时，我看到两个看起来挺重要的人进了图书馆。我想可能那里现在开门了。于是我离开邮局、过马路，向图书馆走去。我很冷，我的脚因为一直在雪地里走来走去地感觉有点累。我来到图书馆后看到门还是关着。然而，里面有一个人帮我开了门。
原来先前进去的人是承包商。图书馆正在改造，承包商在今天早晨来，为我开门的人是来给承包商开门的。他让我进去给家长打了电话，然后告诉我在门厅那里等。门厅那有一张椅子，很温暖，我不介意在那里等着。好了，这是今天的第二次了，我坐在那里等待着。
我等啊等啊……至少等了二十分钟。妈妈应该到了啊，可她竟然还没出现。我走回去给爸爸打电话，爸爸说她已经出门了。我决定再等一会儿。我真的、真的烦透了。半个小时后，妈妈终于来了。
原来她认为我说的是学校的图书馆，所以她花了很长的时间在学校里找我。后来她给爸爸打电话发现我实际上是在公共图书馆。哈哈哈……等到回家后，已经8:40了，我已经离家两个小时了。这可真是个多事之晨。现在，我很高兴回到了家里，去准备享受四天的长周末了。
【小哭介绍背景】这事根本不是Susan小文写得这么轻松。在学校图书馆找不到她的那段时间我真的给吓坏了。图书馆里有三个工人在干活，给我开门带我进入大楼的工头听说Susan刚刚还给我打了电话清清楚楚地说她在图书馆等我，也急了。我说一个女孩子就这么不见了，会出什么事啊！我真想把那三个工人揪出来好好地审审。可人家说根本没见到有学生来，那我就只能在工头的带领下，满学校地找孩子了。边找我们边交流，说是谁能给Susan开门呢？她会从哪个门进来呢？现在她还有可能在哪个房间里呢？她会不会又给家里打电话了呢？我这才意识到，刚才慌慌张张地，出门忘带手机了。非常难为情地，我跟工头借手机打回家，Susan爸说孩子刚又打电话回来了，说是妈妈怎么还不来接她？！什么？我就在学校啊！学校？不是图书馆吗？于是意识到，她应该在公共图书馆！！！至少她又打了电话回家，人身安全似乎是有保障的。谢天谢地，幸亏Susan爸在家，否则还不乱了套。我也是糊涂，从来说图书馆都是指公立图书馆啊，我怎么跑到学校图书馆去找人了呢？唉！气死个人。
我谢别工头，马上往图书馆赶。到了图书馆，接上Susan，才算长出一口气。Susan说你怎么会在学校的图书馆找人呢？我说因为我知道公共图书馆这会儿根本就不开门啊！所以我怎么也没想到你竟然会在这里！！！唉，一场虚惊！！当我用工头手机打回家时，Susan爸一听我说找不到孩子了，也吓坏了，觉得孩子肯定是被坏人给劫了，一下子有一肚子话要跟我说。我在弄清楚很有可能是在公共图书馆后，不得不叫停他，说我是在用别人的手机给你打电话呢，并且我要马上去找人了。经历过这种瞬间，对孩子还会有什么要求吗？嗯，安全就好，天天安全地上学、安安全全地回家就好。能够健康开心地长大，就非常地好了。
真是个多事儿的早晨。本来送Susan上学就是意外中的事件，马上就要送小宝上学的时候又节外生枝地去接Susan还接了大半天，最后小宝上学也迟到了。回到家里，我才有空好好地回想一下整个过程，发现问题主要出在学校没有通知停课！！！可是，别的家长怎么似乎都知道呢？至少早晨没有别的孩子去等校车啊！
于是开始打听，有的说是自家的孩子知道学校可能停课，自己在网站上查到通知了。那他们的孩子怎么知道有可能停课呢？Susan爸说肯定是学校发通知时，Susan没有认真听。Susan说学校一天到晚都在通知广播，谁会留意啊？就算如此，停课也不能只有这样一个通知渠道啊？得通过正常的渠道通知家长才对啊。还有家长说送孩子到学校门口发现关门就回家了，那看来也是不知道停课这事儿。相比之一上，我是因为车技差， 一大早不愿意开到学校门口跟一大堆车挤在一起，就在离学校一街之隔的教会把Susan放下了，结果导致了这一系列的后果。
但是又有一个家长说，学校最近水管有问题，前一天通知水管的一个邮件好像是提到了停课。我想那就是我那几天比较忙，一看是关于维修水管进展的邮件就没打开细看。可是学校这种突然停课的事件，属于紧急事件，为什么没有如往常那种，家里电话也会接到通知，手机短信也会接到通知，方方面面的渠道都会得到通知呢？而且停课通知在关于修水管的邮件中下达，也不正常啊。这么大的事儿 ，至少应该专门发一个邮件，标题就是停课通知这类的才对。
一想原因在学校，我就准备去找相关部门提建议了。不过后来东忙西忙的，气消了，懒得再理了。但以后若是有机会，我还是会提出来，这种情况学校应该启动紧急通知方案，就如同下大雪停课似的，不但要专门发通知，还要邮件与宅电和手机等多渠道通知才行啊。
附上英文原文：
Very Eventful Morning
Today is Friday, so I’m suppose to be in school. But I’m not. Instead, I am sitting at my desk at home, writing about my very eventful morning spent walking around in downtown The village of H.
This morning, I woke up as usual, and got ready to go to school. The previous schoolday was perfectly normal (except for a cancelation of after school activities), and I did not expect today to be any different. Like any other day, I put on my coat and waited for bus at my door. I waited….and waited….and after five minutes, it still did not come. Usualy, by that time, the bus is either super late, or I missed it. There was nobody else waiting for the bus, so I guessed that I had already missed it, and everyone else had already left. My mom thought the bus must be late, because the bus almost never comes early. But if it’s the bus that’s late, where was everyone else who usually waits for the bus?
That was the first sign that something was wrong. However, we dismissed it, and my mom drove me to school instead. She parked in the parking lot of a church across from the school, and I got off. As I was walking across the street, I felt that something wasn’t right. Usually, at that time, the school parking lot should be really crowded with other parents driving their kids to school, and there should be students walking into the school. However, the school lawn was deserted. As I got closer to the door, I saw a shocking sight. There was nobody inside the school.
The inside of the school was dimly lit, and all the tables in the cafeteria were folded up. Most surprisingly, there was nobody there. The doors were locked, and on the door was a piece of paper that explained it all: “SCHOOL WILL BE CLOSED FRIDAY 1/17”. I was relieved at first. So there was a logical explanation to everything: why the bus never came, why the parking lot was deserted, and why there was no one inside. I was really surprised, but happy that there was no school. I wouldn’t have to take the science test anymore (at least not until Tuesday)! Also, since I have Monday off from Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I would have a 4-day weekend! But then, I realized that I was stuck.
I didn’t have a ride home. My mom had already driven off, so the only option I had was to walk to the library and call her to come and pick me up again. That wasn’t too bad, I have walked to the library from school before, and it’s only two blocks away. And I would be able to check out books! The only downside was the cold. So, I started walking towards the library. I was halfway there when my friend’s car drove up, and they offered me a ride. So I got in, and they drove me to the library.
I should have asked them to drive me home, but I didn’t want to be too much of a bother. Instead they drove me to the library, and to my great horror I found out that…. the library was also closed. Just as I realized the doors were locked, I turned around and saw their car driving off around the corner.
For a second, I stood there, frozen, not sure what to do. The library was my one and only back-up plan. Quickly, I went through the places in downtown The village of H that I know of. I remembered that there is a office in the Memorial Hall place next to the Library, so I went there, and thankfully, the door was open. However… the office was not. There was no one there inside the building.
I had only two options left: walk twenty minutes in the freezing cold to get home, or try to see if there’s a phone at the post office. My mom goes to the post office a lot, so fortunately, I knew where that was. I walked there quickly, and found the door open. However, to my great dissapointment, there were no phones there.
By then, I was getting pretty annoyed, and really cold. Where else can I go? I thought. I remembered that before I left Memorial Hall, I saw two important-looking guys go into the library. Maybe it’s open now. I thought. I left the post office and walked across the street to the library. I was cold, and my feet felt a bit tired from all that walking through the snow. I arrived at the library to see it still closed. However, a guy inside opened the door for me.
It turned out that the people who went inside previously were contractors. The library is going to be remodeled, and this morning, the contractors were supposed to come. The guy who opened the door for me was there to open the doors for the contractors. He let me in to call my parents, and then told me I could wait out in the foyer. There was a chair there, and it was warm, so I didn’t mind. So, for the second time this morning, I sat there and waited.
I waited…and waited….for at least twenty minutes. My mom should have been there by then, but she still wasn’t there. I went back and called my dad, and my dad said she already left. I decided to wait a while more. I was getting really, really bored. After half an hour, my mom finally arrived.
It turned out that what happened was that she thought I meant the school library, so she spent a long time looking for me in the school. And then she called my dad and found out that I was actually at the public library. Hahaha….by the time I got home, it was 8:40, two hours after the time I left. That was a really eventful morning. Now, I’m glad I’m back at home, ready to enjoy by four-day weekend.
| 温连军 (2014-05-12 09:21:04) |
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等孩子的感觉：着急、恐惧、、、、、、、、孩子等妈妈、、、百感交集。 生活有数不清的小疙瘩。 |
| 周小哭 (2014-05-12 09:36:35) |
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就是，当时挺焦急的，现在好像是写故事一般。这个月在国内转得忙碌不堪，只能把Susan以前写的一些文章拿出来贴：） 我当时对你有的留言还是挺有点看法的。 发现你常常留言鼓励写手，真的是谢谢！ |
| 温连军 (2014-05-14 07:39:51) |
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不用谢，我是一个粗人，愿意直说，也希望别人指教，特别愿意和主内的朋友互相鼓励。 愿你国内顺利，以马内利。 |
| 周小哭 (2014-05-20 14:49:49) |
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谢谢！我已经回美国了：）有空再写中国行。 |
| 温连军 (2014-05-23 08:58:24) |
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期待佳作。 回国看望亲朋？还是创业？ |