一個北美家庭的日常小故事︰Home from the Vinyl Cafe: A Year of Stories

因為曾在加拿大居住，所以想看多點加國作者的小說。Louise Penny雖好，但她寫的是偵探小說，裡頭的小鎮亦太夢幻，我有興趣看一些描寫平凡人日常生活的小說。機緣巧合之下，我遇上Stuart McLean的短篇小說集——Home from the Vinyl Cafe。

Stuart McLean是加拿大滿地可(Montreal)的一個電台廣播員，為CBC電台主持一個叫The Vinyl Cafe的節目，並為節目創作同名小故事。這些小故事環繞著一個平凡的加拿大家庭展開——丈夫Dave是一間黑膠唱片店的老闆，與妻子Morley育有一女一子。妻子是家庭主婦，女兒Stephanie正值青春期，兒子Sam在讀小學。Suart以幽默的筆觸寫下這家人的日常事，並將這些小故事結集成書。Home from the Vinyl Cafe: A Year of Stories 是其中一本，描述這家人一年四季的小故事。故事由冬天開始，在下一年的冬天作結，可謂「冬去冬又來」。　

這個作者以幽默感強見稱，第一個故事Dave Cooks the Turkey便很好笑。故事是說Morley向丈夫抱怨自己每年聖誕都有很多工夫要做，越來越享受不到聖誕的樂趣，於是Dave便答應妻子今年聖誕由他負起焗火雞重任。但在平安夜晚上，他才記起自己原來未買火雞，於是他想盡辦法弄到一集火雞、還得趕快解凍和放入焗爐...... Dave的解決方法令我看得笑出來，作者果然不負humorist之名。

正當我以為全書所有故事都引人發笑之時，第二個故事Holland講述的卻是Dave和Morley平凡而溫馨的愛情故事。書中有些故事好笑，有些故事溫暖，也有兩者夾雜的，給我的感覺像美劇Modern Family。這兩家人的故事也有點相似。例如Dave像Modern Family裡的爸爸Phil般經常做蠢事，Morley像Phil的太太Claire般個性較強，在夫婦關係中佔主導位置，而這兩對夫婦都要適應兒女日漸長大。兩家人進行的家庭活動也相似，例如夏天會在郊區租小屋度假，會舉家踏上公路之旅(road trip)，暑假時父母會送兒女參加夏令營等。這是一般北美家庭的寫照。就像其中一個評論者說的，故事講的是"regular Canadians in everyday situations"。

此書的文字淺白易讀，講的是生活小事，讀時沒有負擔，能令心情變好。這幾篇我較為喜愛︰

Valentine's Day: 講述Stephanie的第一個情人節約會，父母既高興女兒長大了，但也感觸她終於長到這麼大。

節錄幾句︰
~But you don't learn about love from someone else. Love is experiential. You have to make your own mistakes.

~Out on the street Paul (女兒的約會對象) had opened the door of his father's car and Stephanie was climbing in.
Morley was watching them through the window in the front door.
"What do you call it?" she said, "That funny feeling when something nice make you sad?"

~Stephanie was sitting beside her date now. As the car pulled away from the curb, she was feeling anything but sad.

Feeling excited, nervous, sophisticated, and to her great surprise- comfortable. She felt comfortable beside this boy. It was one of those nights she would always remember.

~It was good enough to be alive. But to be young and alive was very heaven.

Music Lesson: 講述Sam的老師告訴Morley她兒子有音樂天份，Morley不禁內疚自己讓大女兒早早學琴，但卻沒有讓小兒子學琴，怕現在才讓兒子起步已太遲。不過當她聽到Dave從事音樂行業的姐姐分享在音樂事業上遇到的挫折後，她明白讓兒子享受音樂比令他在音樂上有成就更為重要。

School Days: 自Morley從新上班後，Dave便要負責送小兒子回校上課。為了讓兒子像他小時候一樣有個難忘的校園體驗，他策畫了一場瘋狂的行動！

節錄︰

~The morning walks caught Dave by surprise. On Tuesday night he told Morley that walking to the schoolyard with his boy was like walking through a house of mirrors. You bump up against reflections of your past in the most unexpected places. You are hurrying your child to school and you turn a corner and look across the street and see a seven-year-old version of yourself standing on the opposite corner.

~Morley回憶她上幼稚園的第一天，老師要每個小朋友躺在地上，在地上勾畫他們的身體輪廓，並叫他們為自己的身體繪上五官和衣服。她第一筆已錯將眼睛畫在額頭中間，但因為老師不肯給她新畫紙再畫，她便不肯畫下去。於是這幅只有一隻眼睛的人像畫連同其他小朋友的畫被老師貼在課室的牆上一個月——

"It was humiliating," said Morley, "having to look at the eye every morning. I felt like it was watching everything I did." That, thought Dave, is the essence of elementary school. You walk around the schoolyard, up and down the corridors, you sit at your desk, and wherever you go there is someone with a great big eye in the middle of their forehead staring down at you. Sometimes it's your teacher, sometimes it's your friends or your family- most often it's the quiet voice in your mind that compares you to everyone else and weighs in with its inevitable and unforgiving judgment.

~Dave想為Sam製造難忘的校園回憶，結果弄出「大頭佛」，需要向全校學生解釋他為什麼要這樣做。雖然父親做了蠢事令Sam尷尬，但這事令高年級學生Sheppel主動與低年級的他攀談，請他幫忙保管校園違禁品(小刀)之餘，又間中與他打招呼。這已足夠讓Sam快樂——

"This is what Sam will remember of everything. ... Rather, that his father came to school one day and talked about memories and that Duncan Sheppel, who was in Grade Seven, lent him his knife once, and sometimes even said "hi" to him."