山坡上的人家

(MS Paintbrush, Mouse, 1993, 129x295 px）

富饶的川西平原周围，是绵绵不断的丘陵。我的中学时代，丘陵地区的生活与成都平原的农家相比，还是非常的贫困。那时，常常在火车或汽车的窗口，看到过无数这样的农家小屋，默默的歇息在远远的坡上。灌木竹林的浓荫中，陈旧的木门半掩半闭，静静地等待它们的主人。

画这幅小画，是想起当年去金堂山区的春元家。

春元是铁哥们建国的表哥，一个人在赵镇南边的山里。高中的一个周末，和几个朋友决定骑车去那里山上玩玩。一路上人骑车，车骑人，爬山越岭，直到深夜才算找到春元家。

春元极尽所能的款待我们。当晚的主餐是“咸辣浆糊”- 面粉加水，盐，辣椒粉熬好，滴上几滴菜油，配上泡咸菜，在煤油灯下吃得是无比的爽。按我们当时的语言形容，是吃得“前脚打后脚”。晚饭后在屋外的果树下继续聊天，山前山后黑灯瞎火，只觉得魅影幢幢。

第二天的早餐是剩下的“浆糊”，加上一些明显营养不良的早产青梨儿。早饭后，扛着一条老掉牙的火枪，春元带我们上山为午饭做准备。路上，同行的“猴头”看到树上的青涩小果，很兴奋地采下几个“小苹果”开口就咬，春元还来不及阻挡，“猴头”就是一阵惨叫。原来不是苹果，是核桃。

几个时后，大家猎回二十几只名为“蛮嘎嘎”，长得象麻雀，但大些的鸟。回来开膛去毛，烟熏火燎，一阵忙乎。吃饭时蛮嘎嘎很快就被一扫而光。虽然再也记不得当初的滋味，二十年后聚会，一说起“蛮嘎嘎”，大家还是一样的兴奋。

后来回国时，和当年的同伴们又专程去了一次春元家。那时春元已盖了新房，拖家带口了。看看他的新家和包养的果林，确是大变了，今非昔比。谈起当年的“浆糊”和“蛮嘎嘎”，春元还很歉意那时的贫寒。不过听说现在“蛮嘎嘎”已经绝迹，大家不由一阵无奈。

House on a Hill

You can find many houses likes this one in Sichuan- setting on a small hill, facing the sun and surrounded by bushes, trees, and bamboos, and with their doors quietly open in the shadow.

One summer in high school, a few of us visited Chun Yuan, cousin of a friend. Chun Yuan lived in such a house behind hills near ZhaoZhen, a small town south of Chengdu. Chuan Yuan did his best to treat us then: Our first dinner was "spicy glue" - flour, salt and hot chili peppers with boiling water. Breakfast in the morning was leftover "glues" and premature pears from some small trees of sad leaves. To prepare lunch Chuan Yuan took us out with a big old rifle and came back with a few birds called by locals as "Man Ga Ga" - "stupid bird", literally. We couldn't remember much of the taste soon after the lunch. But we have talked about Man Ga Ga and about revisiting Chuan Yuan for more than twenty years since then.