都是洋蔥惹的禍
It's lunchtime, so she's in the kitchen, making a sandwich out of tuna fish and pre-chopped celery and onion. The kids are safe away at school, her husband off at work, and the house is hers for a few brief, calming hours.
現在是午飯時間，她在廚房做三明治，旁邊擺着吞拿魚、剁碎的芹菜和洋蔥。孩子們在學校，丈夫還沒下班。這幾個小時，房子裏就她一個人，簡簡單單，安安靜靜。
It's cold outside, but her kitchen is warm and bright, and in its comfortable familiarity she can almost banish away the chill of melancholy, the knowledge deep inside her that there should be, there must be, something more to life.
外面很冷，廚房裏卻是溫暖又明亮。在這種熟悉又舒適的環境中，她好像快忘掉那種憂傷帶來的陣痛了，但在內心深處，一直覺得生活中缺少了一些東西。
She adds the mayonnaise, some garlic, some pepper, mixes briefly, and plops a spoonful onto the bread.
她倒了一些蛋黃醬，加了一點大蒜碎和胡椒粉，攪拌，然後用勺子抹在麪包片上。
And then he's there, perched at the edge of one of her battered dinette chairs, the stub of his tufted tail fitting into the old torn place in the upholstered seat almost as though that alone was the cause, the purpose of the rip.
男人出現了，他斜靠在破舊的餐椅上，髮尾直接嵌入軟墊上磨破的地方，好像是頭髮磨破了軟墊、磨開的口子就是爲了放頭髮似的。
"Hello," he says, his dark curls bouncing with his enthusiasm, playing peekaboo with the tips of his curving horns. "We need you again. It's urgent. Oh! Is that tuna you're making?"
“你好啊，”他說到，頭上的黑色鬈髮也隨着這熱情的問候彈跳起來，好像發尖玩起來藏貓貓的遊戲。“我們還需要你幫忙，事情很緊急。哦！你做的是吞拿三明治嗎？”
She slides the sandwich onto a plate, slightly dazed, yet somehow not at all, then pours him a glass of milk, and another for herself.
她用盤子裝好三明治，遞給他。頭好像有點暈，又好像不暈。然後給他到了一杯牛奶，也給自己到了一杯。
"Who are you?" she asks, but he just shrugs, his mouth full of tuna.
“你是誰啊？”她問到，但他滿口的吞拿，只是聳聳肩。
She drinks her milk in one scared (excited?) series of gulps, and slams the glass down on the counter.
她帶着恐懼（抑或激動）的心情接連幾大口就喝光了牛奶，然後把杯子猛地放在櫥櫃上。
"Who are you?" she asks again, though she is seized, quite suddenly, by a madly vivid impulse to turn, to walk to the bedroom, to reach behind the heavy antique dresser and grasp, and draw . . . what? A blade? Don't be silly, she's no good with even paring knives, which is why, of course, she buys the pre-chopped tuna salad mix. Have to buy more of the stuff. That was the last, and her husband so loves his tuna. . . .
“你到底是誰？”她再次發問。她突然生出一種異常鮮活的衝動，想要轉身走進臥室，在古老而笨重的梳妝檯後摸索，找出……一把刀？別傻了，她連削皮刀都用不好，所以纔買已剁碎的沙拉配吞拿。又要去買了，剛剛把最後一點用掉了，她丈夫愛死了吃吞拿三明治……
"Let's not go through this again." He sighs, and wipes stray bread crumbs from his beard, rising to his cloven feet. "It gets so dull, and deep inside you know you know. Just get your things and we'll be off. There's a dragon this time, and a mage so dark that shadows linger round his eyes. We need your help."
“不用再來一次了吧。”他嘆了口氣，抹掉沾在鬍子上的麪包屑，翹起二郎腿。“太無聊了，你自己也知道。就收好你的東西跟我走吧。這次有條龍，還有個黑法師，黑到我們都看不見他的眼睛。我們需要你的幫助。”
And she stumbles, slowly gaining speed and grace, to her bedroom door, finds the things her sideways self knows she'll use, then strides back to her kitchen guest.
她跌跌撞撞地走向臥室，直到門口才慢慢穩住。找到她要用的東西，然後大方地走向廚房裏的客人。
"The kids?" she asks, her last mad grasp at normalcy.
“孩子們呢？”她問，想要努力表現得正常。
He snorts, and drops his dishes in the sink. "Will be fine," he says. They're on this-world time, not ours. You'll be back before they even know you're gone. Before you even know you're gone. Or sort of." Another shrug. "You know I hate the science stuff. Now, let's away!"
他哼哼鼻子，把盤子放在水槽裏。“沒事，”他說，“孩子們在這個世界，和我們那個世界的時間不同。他們還沒發覺你離開，你就已經回來了。或者你自己都沒發覺自己曾離開過。這之類的。”他又聳聳肩。“我不擅長科學的玩意，你知道的嘛。我們現在就走吧！”
A cause. A dream. Her "something more." She smiles, just a bit at first, then wider, and holds her sword hilt tight, and then. . . .
她所謂的“缺少的東西”只是一個想法，一場夢。她笑了起來，一開始只動了動嘴角，然後裂開了嘴，緊緊握住手中的劍，然後……
It's lunchtime, so she's in the kitchen, making a sandwich out of tuna fish and . . . no, there's no chopped celery and onion left at all. Strange. She slides her sandwich onto a plate and frowns at dishes in the sink, a milk filmed glass on her counter's edge.
現在是午飯時間，她在廚房做三明治，旁邊擺着吞拿魚……很奇怪，旁邊並沒有剁碎的芹菜和洋蔥。她用盤子給自己裝了一塊三明治，看着水槽裏的髒盤子和櫥櫃上裝過牛奶的杯子，皺了皺眉。
Those kids, she thinks, and wipes away a single tear, caused maybe by the onion's ghost.
她猜那些是孩子們弄的，然後拭去眼角的一滴淚。都是洋蔥在搗鬼。
