The director went over to her."Hannah," he said softly, "do you know this man?" Michael and I stood waiting in the doorway. She adjusted her glasses, looked for a moment, but didn't say a word."Hannah, it's Michael. Michael Goldstein. Do you remember?" "Michael? Michael? It's you!" He walked slowly to her side. She stood and they embraced. Then the two of them sat on a couch, held hands and started to talk.
The director and I walked out, both of us crying. "See how the good Lord works," I said philosophically. "If it's meant to be. It will be." Three weeks later, I got a call from the director who asked, "Can you break away on Sunday to attend a wedding?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Yup, Michael and Hannah are going to tie the knot!"
It was a lovely wedding, with all the people at the nursing home joining in the celebration. Hannah wore a beige dress and looked beautiful. Michael wore a dark blue suit and stood tall. The home gave them their own room, and if you ever wanted to see a 76-year-old bride and a 78-year-old groom acting like two teen-agers, you had to see this couple. A perfect ending for a love affair that had lasted nearly 60 years.
那是幾年前一個寒冷的冬日,我在街上偶然拾到一個錢包。裏麵隻有3美元和一張看似寫自多年前的皺巴巴的信,除了信封上依稀可辨的寄信人地址,沒有任何可以證明主人身份的東西。我打開信,看到它寫於1944年——60年前啊。我仔細讀了一遍,希望能從中找出這錢包主人的線索。這是一封絕交信,娟秀的字體告訴收信人邁克爾,她的母親不準他們再見麵。但不管怎樣,她會永遠愛他,署名是漢娜。
這是一封措辭優美的信,然而除了邁克爾這個名字外,信中沒有其他可以識別失主的信息。或許谘詢處的接線員能夠按照信封上的地址查到電話號碼。“您好,接線員!我有一個特殊的請求,我拾到一個錢包,正在努力尋找失主。錢包裏隻有一封信,您能否幫我按照信上的地址查到電話號碼呢?”接線員把電話轉到了主管處,主管說那個地址的電話雖然找得到,但是她不能告訴我號碼。