Strawberry Banana Smoothie 草莓香蕉奶昔 by Patrick Manno

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“I want the strawberry banana smoothie,” my son said, pointing at the menu behind the cashier.

“我想要一份草莓香蕉奶昔。”儿子指着收银台后面的菜单说。

It was the first time seeing him since he left to stay with his grandparents a month ago; the three of them just arrived from their seven-and-a-half-hour road trip. The dark green-colored smoothie stand looked a bit sad and isolated compared to the other stands in the food court, but I couldn’t say no.

一个月前他离开我们去和爷爷奶奶住，这是我这段时间以来第一次见到他。他们三个人刚刚结束了长达七个半小时的公路旅行。与美食广场的其他店家相比，深绿色的奶昔店显得有点凄冷和孤独，但我无法拒绝儿子。

“One strawberry banana smoothie, please.”“Would you like that regular or large?” asked the cashier.“Regular, please.”

“一份草莓香蕉奶昔，谢谢。”

“中杯还是大杯？”收银员问。

“中杯就行。”

The boundaries of spoilage had to be put back in place, after all. The smoothie arrived and my son wasted no time popping a straw into it and taking a few gulps before handing it off to me. He then went to his grandparents, excited to see if there were any other treats in the area to try. I looked at my wife and we rolled our eyes in sync, then looked down at the smoothie in my hand before taking a sip myself.

毕竟，享乐还是要有节制的。奶昔做好后，儿子迅速的把吸管插了进去，猛喝了几口，就递给我了。他跑到爷爷奶奶那，兴奋的想看看这一带还有没有其他好吃的。我看着爱人，不约而同的翻了个白眼，低头看了看手里的奶昔，自己呷了一口。

“Pretty good, actually,” I said. My wife took a sip and made a slow nod of approval with puckered lips of surprise.

“还成，其实。”我说。妻子啜了一口，惊讶的皱起嘴唇，慢慢的点了点头。

As we were walking down the street I found myself taking sip after sip of the smoothie. Only half was left. Bad Daddy. I hoped my son would be too distracted by other things to notice.

我们走在街上时，不知不觉的，自己一口接一口的喝着奶昔，到最后只剩下一半了。可真是个坏爸爸。我希望儿子的注意力在别处，没注意到没剩多少的奶昔。

Then a little girl holding an ice cream cone walked out of a shop with her parents. My son was the first to notice. He quickly disappeared into the shop, his grandparents on his tail. I took another sip of the smoothie as I followed them in.

突然，一个拿着甜筒的小女孩和她的父母一同从一家商店走出来。儿子是第一个看到这一幕的，很快，他消失在商店里，爷爷奶奶尾随着也跟了进去。我又喝了一口奶昔，走进了这家商店。

It turned out that the shop was actually a hand-crafted chocolate shop that also made its own ice cream. I gave him his space with his grandparents at the ice cream section as I casually perused the chocolates with my wife. She then went to check out the ice cream herself, leaving me alone in the dark chocolate section.

原来这家店其实是一家手工巧克力店，还自制了一些冰淇淋。儿子和爷爷奶奶一起逛着冰淇淋区域，而我则想给他们些空间，就去和爱人随便瞧瞧巧克力。然后她自己去了冰淇淋区，把我一个人留在黑巧克力柜台。

Dark chocolate with pecans, dark chocolate with almonds, dark chocolate with orange peel—it all looked tantalizing. I grabbed some dark chocolate with sea salt. When I looked over at the checkout, I saw my son and dad with big ice cream cones—with even bigger smiles —and heading towards the exit, my mom and wife following behind.

山核桃黑巧克力，杏仁黑巧克力，橙皮黑巧克力——这一切看起来都很诱人。我抓了一些海盐黑巧克力。当我看向收银台时，我看到儿子和爸爸拿着大冰淇淋甜筒——他的笑容更灿烂了——正朝着出口走去，我妈妈和爱人跟在后面。

No more time to look. I headed to the cashier.

没有更多时间再逛了，我径直走向了收银台。

“How are you today?” she asked. She was tall, dark-skinned, and seemed young, but it was impossible to tell with her face mask on.

“I'm well, thank you,” The generic, standard response. “How are you?”

“Doing just fine!” she said. My maskless face gave a gentle yet awkward smile of acknowledgment.

“你今天过得怎么样？” 她问。收银员的个子很高，皮肤黝黑，看上去很年轻，但隔着口罩根本无法看出她的年龄。

“我很好，谢谢你。”一个再普通不过的标准回复。“你怎么样？”

“感觉还挺好！”她说。没有带口罩的我露出了一个温柔却尴尬的微笑。

“What flavor is that?” she asked as she scanned the chocolate.

“I'm sorry?” I heard her and knew what she was referring to.

“Your smoothie, what flavor is it?”

“Oh, it’s strawberry banana.”

“这是什么口味的？”她一边用收银台扫描着巧克力一边问我。

“不好意思？”我听到她的问题，也知道她指的是什么。

“你的奶昔，它是什么口味的？”

“啊，它是草莓香蕉奶昔。”

“That’s a good one!” I could sense a smile under her mask. Then time froze. For a fleeting moment, despite the boundaries of time and space, of mask and counter, she and I shared a shallow yet substantial connection that was, at its core, a palpable affinity between two strangers.

“这个味道好！”我能感觉到她口罩下的笑容，时间就这么凝固了。有那么一瞬间，尽管隔着时间、空间、口罩和柜台的界限，她和我分享了一种浅薄但又充实的连结，这种连结凝聚在两个陌生人之间十分明显的亲近之中。

“Yeah, it is.” I didn’t say it was my son’s, nor asked her what her favorite was. The moment stupefied me.

“没错儿。”我没有说那是儿子的奶昔，也没有问她最喜欢的口味是什么。那一刻让我感到一阵发愣。

I swiped my credit card. When the reader asked me how much I want to tip, I chose twenty percent.

我刷了信用卡。如果读卡器上显示要给多少小费时，我选择了百分之二十。

“Have a good one,” I said to her.

“You too!”

“一天愉快。”我对她说。

“你也是！”

As I walked towards the exit, I took another sip of the strawberry banana smoothie, and it only seemed to taste better.

当我走向出口时，我又喝了一口草莓香蕉奶昔，似乎味道比之前更好了。

019 睡前英文｜草莓香蕉奶昔 by Patrick Manno #美国 18:19 Share

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019 睡前英文｜草莓香蕉奶昔 by Patrick Manno #美国