半旗国度

1-1 The House on Mago Street

We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can't remember. But what I remember most is moving a lot. Each time it seemed there'd be one more of us. By the time we got to Mango Street we were six——Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, my sister Nenny and me.

The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don't have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people down-stairs, or be careful not to make too mush noise, and there isn't a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom.But even so, it's not the house we'd thought we'd get.

We had to leave the flat on Loomis quick. The water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn't fix them because the house was too old. We had to leave fast. We were using the washroom next door and carrying water over in empty milk gallons. That's why Mama and Papa looked for a house, and that's why we moved into the house on Mango Street, far away, on the other side of town.

They always rold us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year. And our house would have running water and pipes that worked. And inside it would have real stairs, not hallway stairs,but stairs in side like the house on T.V. And we'd have a basement and at least three washroom so when we took a bath we wouldn't have to tell anybody. Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence. This was the house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the house Mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed.

1-1 芒果街上的小屋

我们并没有一直居住在芒果街。之前我们住在洛米斯的三楼，在此之前我们住在凯勒尔。凯勒尔之前是帕里那，而再往前我就不记得了。我记得最多的是频繁的搬家。每搬一次家我们似乎就增加了一个人。等到我们搬往芒果街的时候，我们已经有六个人了——妈妈，爸爸，卡洛斯，齐齐，我的姐姐蕾妮和我。

芒果街上的小屋是我们的，我们不用向任何人付房租，不用跟楼下的住户共用院子，不用小心翼翼地避免弄出声响，也不会有房东用扫帚将天花板打得砰砰作响。尽管如此，它仍然不是我们理想中的小屋。

我们必须尽快离开洛米斯的公寓。水管坏掉了，因为房子太旧，房东懒得修理。我们不得不赶快离开。我们用隔壁的洗澡间，用空的牛奶桶提水上来。这就是妈妈和爸爸开始找房子的原因，这也是为什么我们搬到了远远地位于小镇另一边的芒果街上的小屋。

他们总是说，有一天我们会搬到一间永永远远完全属于我们的房子里面，我们不用再年复一年地搬迁。我们的房子里会有畅通的水管和自来水。房子里面不再只有过道的楼梯，而是像电视里的房子里那种真正的楼梯。我们会有一个地下室和至少三个洗澡间，当我们洗个澡的时候不再需要搞得众人皆知。我们的房屋将会是白色的，掩映在绿树丛中，房前会有一个好大的花园，绿草如茵，没有篱笆。这是爸爸捏着一张彩票时所憧憬的房屋，这也是妈妈在我们的睡前故事里所梦想的房屋。

说点什么吧。说点什么呢？

周年祭。我能做的，就是黑色致哀。

祭奠那些消逝的呼吸，祭奠青山翠谷、深涧石桥，祭奠平淡和美的日常生活。

祭奠他们耳语般神秘莫测的生之路。