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"YOU NEED TO GET HERE NOW!"
“你必须现在就到这！”
The nurse whispers anxiously over the phone. It's after midnight.
护士在电话里小声地说着话，有些焦急，已是后半夜了。
One of our hospice patients has just died at home,
我们这所救济院刚刚有位病人在家里离世，
and her husband is threatening to shoot himself if the funeral home shows up.
病人的丈夫威胁说，如果殡仪馆出现，他就开枪自杀。
"Has the funeral home been called?" I ask.
“给殡仪馆打电话了吗？”我问。
"No," she says.
“没有,”护士说。
It was her suggesting such a call that had set him off.
护士建议给殡仪馆打电话惹怒了丈夫。
"Does he have a gun or weapon?"
“他有枪还是武器？”
"We're in the country. There are deer heads on the wall."
“我们在乡下，墙上有鹿头。”
The deer heads are a giveaway.
鹿头是一种不正当的交易。
There are probably lots of guns.
可能有很多只枪。
"Has he threatened to hurt anyone else?"
“他威胁要伤害别人吗？”
"He says he might take one of the funeral guys with him,
“他说他可能会带一个葬礼上的人一起，
but I don't think he's serious."
但我认为他不是认真的。”
She isn't sure, though. She is the backup nurse and has never met him or the patient before.
她不确定，她是后援护士，以前从未见过这个男的，也没见过病人。
Of course, neither have I. The patient's regular social worker is off tonight, and I am on call.
当然，我也没有。今晚，病人的护工休息，我随时待命。
We agree not to phone the funeral home yet.
我们同意暂时不给殡仪馆打电话。
Then I jump into my car. As I drive, my mind turns to a night years ago.
然后，我跳进车里。我一边开车，一边回想起多年前的一个夜晚。
I was a graduate student at a bar with friends,
我刚毕业，在酒吧和朋友一起喝酒
and we were embroiled in an intense conversation about, of all things, death.
我们展开了一场关于死亡的激烈讨论。
"You know what helps me when I think about death?" Claude asked.
“你知道当我想到死亡的时候，是什么帮助了我吗？”克劳德问道。
"I think of that psalm about the valley of the shadow of death."
“我想起了那首关于死亡阴影山谷的诗篇。”
He must be joking, I thought. Claude, a professor, was an inveterate atheist.
他一定是在开玩笑，我想。克劳德是位教授，是个根深蒂固的无神论者。
He recited Psalm 23:4:"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
他背诵了诗篇23:4：“我穿行在通向死亡的阴影之谷中，
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."
但我不畏惧邪恶：因为你与我同在；你的杖，你的竿，都安慰我。”
