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Mom ran her pointer finger down Carnie's chest.
妈妈用手指在卡尼的胸前从上到下地抚摸。
I don't know how to tell you this the behaviorist said, but you've been nsexually stimulating your parrot. Mom blushed.
我不知道该怎么告诉你，但是你刚才的动作是在给鹦鹉性暗示，专家说。妈妈的脸一下就红了。
Less cuddling, the specialist said, more cage time.
少摸他，多让他在笼子里待着，专家说。
I called three places to find Carnie-the plumber who took him after Mom, the bird sanctuary he'd pawned the parrot off on, then the roadside zoo. Now the car is too warm and I'm falling asleep, but I don't want to blast Ike with the AC. He's playing card games on the console.
我打了三个地方的电话才找到卡尼。第一个是最开始带走卡尼的水管工，然后是鸟类收容所，最后是路边动物园。车里现在热得我都要睡着了，但是我还不想把空调对着他，怕在玩纸牌游戏的艾克着凉。
Are we leaving so that people can move into our house? Ike asks.
我们走是为了让别人搬进咱家吗？艾克问。
we're going to Ted's Roadside Zoo, I say.
我们要去泰迪路边动物园，我说。
What's in the zoo, he asks.
动物园里有什么？艾克问。
There's a bird I want to see,I say.
有一只我想看看的鹦鹉，我说。
We pass a couple in a sedan. The woman is crying and flips down her visor.
我们路过一对坐在轿车里的夫妻。那个女的把遮阳板放得很低，一直在哭。
It's hard being a single mom, but it's easier than being a miserable wife. I hardly knew Ike's father; he was what I'd call a five-night stand. We used to get coffee at the same place before work. A director of the local college theater, he was notorious flirt but already married. Separated, he'd claimed. He sends little money each month, but doesn't want to be involved. The upside of our arrangement is simplicity.
做一个单亲家庭的母亲是很不容易的，但是比做一个悲惨的妻子还是要强一些。我对艾克的父亲几乎没有什么了解，他只不过是我几次一夜情的对象而已。我们经常在上班前去同一个地方喝咖啡。他是当地大学剧院的一个导演，一个臭名远扬的调情能手，但是已经结了婚。现在分居了，他扬言。他每月寄点钱，但是不愿意真正有认真的关系。这种安排的唯一好处就是简单。
I put some pressure on the gas and passed a school bus.
我踩了一下油门，超过了一辆校车。
Did I tell you about Louis's mom? Ike says.
我跟你说过路易斯的妈妈吗？艾克说。
Louis's mom is a born-again Christian with two poodles and a coke habit, the kind of person I avoid at open houses at school.
路易斯的妈妈是一个重生基督徒，养了两条狗，吸毒。我在学校举行活动的时候一直躲着她。
Tuesday afternoon, Ike says, she boarded the bus with her dogs, raised her fist, and said. "Christ is risen! Indeed, he is risen."
星期二下午她带着狗上了校车，举起拳头说“上帝来了，上帝来了”，艾克说。
No, I say. Really?
不是吧，真的？
Really, Ike says. Louis pretended not to know her when she got on, but his mom held on to that chrome bar at the front of the bus and said, "Lord, I've been places where people don't put pepper on their eggs." And she started to dance.
真的，路易斯一开始装作不认识她。但是她妈妈在校车前面说：“上帝，我已经去了一个吃鸡蛋不放胡椒的地方了。”说完她就开始跳舞。
Ike waves his arms in front of his face, imitating Louis's strung-out mother. I see the rust-colored clouds of eczema on his forearms. I want to fix everything. I want him to know nothing but gentle landings. I don't want him to know that people like Louis's mom exist, that people fall into landmines of pain and can't' crawl back out.
艾克挥舞着手模仿路易斯吸毒的妈妈。我看见他手臂上的湿疹斑。我多想让一切都朝着好的方向发展。我想让他除了轻松的生活之外什么都不知道。我不想让他知道有很多像路易斯妈妈的人一旦落入痛苦的深渊就再也爬不出来。
When Ike was almost a year old, I took him by for Mom to hold while I emptied the old milk from her fridge and scrubbed her toilets. The house was beginning to smell; Mom was not cleaning up after the bird. Suddenly the woman who'd ironed tablecloths, polished silver, bleached dinner napkins, and rotated mattresses had given up on decorum.
当艾克一岁的时候我把他带去看我妈妈。我要一边带着儿子，一边要给她清理冰箱里坏了的牛奶、刷厕所，否则房子都要臭了。自从有了鸟之后妈妈就不再打扫房间。从前熨桌布，把银饰抛得闪亮，漂白餐巾，调换床垫的妈妈，现在除了鸟之外突然什么都不在乎了。
Would you like to hold Ike while clean? I sad.
我打扫的时候你能不能抱一会艾克？我说。
