Fishing in Simplicity

Fishing in Simplicity. Written by Stephen Cosgrove. Illustrated by Kevin McCarthy.

《辛普利西蒂垂钓记》 斯蒂芬·科斯格罗夫 撰文 凯文·麦卡锡 绘图

I live in Louisiana, not far from Lake Charles. It's a backwater kind of place surrounded by bayou and meandering molasses streams, water barely moving at all. The streams know they're eventually going to end up lost in the ocean, a drop in the bucket, so to speak, and they're in no hurry to get there. This is as good a place as any to meander. This being my hometown, Simplicity, Louisiana. There isn't much to the town. I guess that's why the name fits so well.

我住在路易斯安那州，离查尔斯湖不远 那是一片静水区，四周环绕着河口沼泽，还有像糖浆一样缓缓蜿蜒的溪流，水流几乎纹丝不动 溪流仿佛知道自己终究会汇入大海，说白了不过是沧海一粟，所以它们一点也不着急赶路 在这里慢悠悠闲逛，可比哪儿都舒服 这儿就是我的家乡，路易斯安那州辛普利西蒂镇 镇子很小，没什么繁杂之处 我猜这就是为什么这个名字这么贴切

It was on these simplicity backwaters when I was eight years old that I made what I thought was the most historical of discoveries. Any one of 100 lazy summer nights, my granddaddy would tell the story of an old house lost in the swamps where slaves used to hide out before the Civil War. The old house is gone, but his story has it that the place kind of lights up once in a while, all filled with ghosts and such. The only remnant of the house is a staircase that seems to go nowhere. That's why, I suppose, they call it Nowhere House.

我八岁那年，就是在辛普利西蒂这片静水区，有了一个我自认为最了不起的大发现 无数个懒洋洋的夏夜，爷爷都会给我讲故事：内战前，沼泽深处藏着一座老房子，曾经是奴隶躲避追捕的地方 老房子早就消失了，但爷爷说那个地方偶尔会发光，据说还闹鬼 老房子只剩下一点残迹，就是一段好像哪儿都通不到的楼梯 所以我想，大家才把它叫做「无名宅」

That's why, when I found an old stone staircase that butted up against a sinkhole filled with water that fed Syrup Creek, I thought for sure I had found no warehouse. My granddaddy just laughed and laughed. He said it was the old Duquesne place that washed away in the flood of 63. There's nothing left except for 13 steps up and a long drop to the water.

所以当我发现那截靠着灌满水的沉洞、连通糖浆溪的老石梯时，我确定我找到了那座无名宅 爷爷听完笑个不停 他说这是迪克恩家的老宅子，1963年的洪水把它冲走了 除了往上的十三级台阶，和陡降到水面的深坑，什么都没剩下

Fewer than a thousand people live in simplicity, and most of them work for DeWild's feed and seed or they don't work at all. DeWild's does about everything. It's a flour mill where grain is ground, and they even have a shed out back where cayenne pepper is made into a hot sauce that would leave blisters on the sun. In front of the flour mill and lumber yard is the big store where you can buy anything and everything. a quart of fresh milk, barbecue sausages, persimmons, live crawdads, and even fishing tackle and lures.

辛普利西蒂镇的居民不到一千人，大部分要么在德维尔德饲料种子店干活，要么就没有工作 德维尔德店什么生意都做 店里有磨谷物的面粉坊，后院还有作坊，用卡宴辣椒做辣椒酱，那辣酱辣得能把太阳烫出泡 面粉坊和伐木场的前面就是大商店，你想要什么这儿都有 一夸脱鲜牛奶、烧烤香肠、柿子、活小龙虾，甚至渔具和鱼饵都能买到

It was the fishing tackle that drew me to DeWild's. When I was nine, I didn't have two nickels to rub together, but that never stopped me from wishing up and down the fishing aisles. Early spring of my 10th birthday, DeWild's decorated the main window on the big front porch side of the store with a fishing pole and all the rigging. It wasn't one of those long cane poles like my granddaddy used. It was a spinning reel with a pole made of fiberglass.

正是渔具把我吸引到德维尔德店去的 我九岁的时候穷得叮当响，连两个五分镍币都凑不出来，但我还是忍不住在渔具区逛来逛去盼着能拥有它 我十岁生日那年早春，德维尔德店把一根钓竿和全套渔具摆在了前门廊边的主橱窗里 那不是爷爷用的那种长竹钓竿 那是配了纺车轮的玻璃纤维钓竿