我們在慶祝美國農(nóng)村的“友誼奉獻”

我們在慶祝美國農(nóng)村的“友誼奉獻”

At the moment, I'm performing a magic show for a duck-hunting doctor, an expert in underground drilling and four home-schooled children. They're not the only ones watching me make a bottle of Diet Pepsi disappear and re-appear with the snap of my fingers. There's also a nurse, an artist and a couple dozen others. And, of course, an 89-year-old dairy farmer.

此刻，我正在為一位獵鴨醫(yī)生、一位地下鉆探專家和四個在家接受教育的孩子表演魔術。他們并不是唯一看著我把一瓶無糖百事可樂從我的指縫中消失，然后重新出現(xiàn)的人。還有一名護士、一名藝術家和其他幾十個人。當然，還有一位89歲的奶農(nóng)。

Brooks (left) told Marie (right) that he's the honorary mayor of Hoard Road, but says he's resigning due to term limits. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

My wife Elizabeth and I were invited to a holiday block party for everyone who lives on our road, a proudly eclectic group of people to say the least. As a writer who works from home in his pajamas, I fit right in.

我和我的妻子伊麗莎白被邀請參加一個街區(qū)聚會，住在我們這條路上的每個人都參加了。作為一個穿著睡衣在家工作的作家，我很適合。

I had taken over the business from my older brothers, hence the 'new generation' reference. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

Our neighbor Marie, who was organizing the block party, knew of my previous career as Atlanta's second most famous Jewish kid magician. (I never could quite catch up to the popularity of Brian Grossblatt, a few years my senior, whose tricks were always more advanced than mine.) She asked if I'd come out of retirement to put on a show for the Hoard Road crew. I told her it would be my pleasure, and promptly headed to my garage to dust off an old suitcase full of tricks. I didn't mind at all; I was just happy to be invited to the party.

我們的鄰居瑪麗是街區(qū)聚會的組織者，她知道我以前是亞特蘭大第二著名的猶太兒童魔術師。(我永遠趕不上比我年長幾歲的布賴恩·格勞斯布拉特，他的技術總是比我高超。)她問我退休后是否會復出，為窖藏修路隊表演。我告訴她這是我的榮幸，并立即前往我的車庫，撣掉一個舊手提箱的灰塵，里面裝滿了各種道具。我一點也不介意;我很高興被邀請參加聚會。

The audience seemed just the right amount of enthused by my magic show. (Photo: Elizabeth Cohen)

The truth is, living in such a remote area, the importance of neighbors takes on a whole new meaning. I remember last year, when a tree fell, blocking the road, a few neighbors with pickup trucks hauled it away within an hour. When we first moved out here, we heard how the city doesn't come out this far to clear the road of snow, but not to worry: the farmer does it himself using his tractor.

事實是，生活在如此偏遠的地區(qū)，鄰居的重要性有了全新的意義。我記得去年，一棵樹倒了，擋住了路，幾個鄰居開著小貨車在一個小時內(nèi)把它拖走了。當我們第一次搬到這里時，我們聽說這個城市不會走這么遠來清除道路上的積雪，但不用擔心:農(nóng)民自己用拖拉機來清除積雪。

The party today is taking place at the local chapter of the Isaak Walton League, of which Marie is a member. It's named after the famous 17th century father of fly fishing and author of "The Compleat Angler." Hundreds of local chapters like this one can be found across America. This particular one-story building, like many structures in Appalachia, looks like it was frozen sometime during the Nixon administration and defrosted just to host this Thanksgiving feast.

今天的聚會在伊薩克沃爾頓聯(lián)盟的地方分會舉行，瑪麗是該聯(lián)盟的成員之一。它是以17世紀著名的飛蠅釣魚之父和《完美垂釣者》的作者命名的。在美國各地可以找到數(shù)百個這樣的地方分會。這座獨特的單層建筑，就像阿巴拉契亞的許多建筑一樣，看起來像是在尼克松政府時期被凍住了，解凍只是為了舉辦這次感恩節(jié)宴會。

The Iocal chapter of the Isaak Walton League in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

Because we recently became backyard chicken keepers, and because we have more eggs than we know what to do with, Elizabeth brought deviled eggs. She dressed them up to look like our flock, which we lovingly nicknamed the "Co-Hens."

因為我們最近成了后院養(yǎng)雞的人，因為我們的雞蛋太多，不知該怎么處理，伊麗莎白帶來了魔鬼蛋。她把它們打扮得像我們的雞群，我們親切地給它們起了個綽號叫“母雞”。

Ever wonder how you make deviled eggs look like chickens? This is how. (Photo: Elizabeth Cohen)

One dish that would be noticeably absent from this year's affair was "Broken Glass" pie, a retro recipe from the 1960s featuring a graham cracker crust, Cool Whip and "shards" of Jell-O of varying colors. The dessert was from the kitchen of Mary Jane, the matriarch of Hoard Road and the wife of our beloved dairy farmer. She passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 90, after 66 years of marriage to Chuck. They met in high school and went square-dancing on their first date.

有一道菜在今年的活動中明顯缺席，那就是“碎玻璃”派，這是上世紀60年代的復古食譜，特點是全麥脆餅皮、冷奶油和各種顏色的果凍碎片。甜點來自瑪麗簡的廚房，她是窖藏路的女族長，也是我們敬愛的奶農(nóng)的妻子。幾周前，在與查克結婚66年后，她去世了，享年90歲。他們在高中認識，第一次約會就去跳廣場舞。

This block party was the first big communal gathering since her funeral earlier this month. Despite her age, Mary Jane knew how to light up a room with her broad smile and sly wit. At last year's New Year's Eve party, she cracked jokes as she beat us all at board games.

這是自本月早些時候她的葬禮以來的第一次大型社區(qū)聚會。瑪麗·珍妮盡管上了年紀，但她知道如何用她那燦爛的笑容和狡黠的機智使房間里的氣氛活躍起來。在去年的新年晚會上，她在棋盤游戲中擊敗了我們所有人，還講了一些笑話。

Farmer Chuck (left) and our neighbor Bunnie at the Friendsgiving party. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

The conversation at the gathering revolves around the usual topic of choice for those living the country life: animals. We talked about our pets and, together, hatched a plan to catch our neighbor's renegade chicken who keeps escaping from her yard. We talked about another neighbor's basset hound who keeps walking over to the cafe with the slot machines down the road. "He's got a gambling problem," someone joked.

聚會上的談話圍繞著生活在鄉(xiāng)村的人們通常選擇的話題:動物。我們談論了我們的寵物，一起策劃了一個計劃，要抓住我們鄰居的雞，它總是從她的院子里跑出來。我們談到了另一個鄰居的巴吉特獵犬，它總是帶著老虎機走到咖啡館。“他有賭博的毛病，”有人開玩笑說。

We are a random collective of people who, by dint of luck and geography, have created a neighborhood family. Most communal groups nowadays — whether online or off — coalesce themselves around a cause (the installation of speed bumps on a street) or an event (a kid's soccer match). Over on Hoard Road, we simply celebrate the fact that we all live near each other.

我們是一群隨機的人，憑借運氣和地理位置，建立了一個鄰里家庭。如今，大多數(shù)社區(qū)組織——無論是在線的還是離線的——都圍繞著一項事業(yè)(在街道上安裝減速帶)或一項活動(孩子們的足球比賽)團結起來。在窖藏之路上，我們只是慶祝我們都住在彼此附近。

Celebrating Thanksgiving with our new friends from Hoard Road. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

And I'm beginning to realize that that's an important aspect of rural life: Even though you can't see your neighbor's house, we're more reliant on each other than those who live in an urban environment. Who else are you going to call to borrow a chainsaw or when you need help pulling your truck out of a ditch?

我開始意識到這是農(nóng)村生活的一個重要方面:即使你看不到鄰居的房子，我們也比住在城市里的人更依賴彼此。當你需要幫助把你的卡車從溝里拉出來的時候，你還會向誰借電鋸呢?

Living in rural America, where all of our mailboxes are grouped together at the top of our street, encourages us to see each other on a daily basis. We check in with each other. We ask about the animals. And we invite each other over to our homes. We've already received an invite to the New Year's Eve block party. And I already know what I'll be bringing.

生活在美國農(nóng)村，我們所有的郵箱都放在街道的盡頭，這鼓勵我們每天都能看到對方。我們互相檢查。我們詢問動物。我們邀請對方到家里做客。我們已經(jīng)收到了新年晚會的邀請。我已經(jīng)知道我要帶什么了。

Before Mary Jane passed away, she left me an envelope in my mailbox. It was the recipe to her famous Broken Glass Jell-O pie.

瑪麗·珍妮去世前在我的信箱里給我留了一個信封。這就是她著名的碎玻璃果凍派的配方。