王行之老先生讲的故事续

又是周末了， 老先生蒸了正宗北方猪肉大葱馅儿的包子，煮了香喷喷的绿豆江米粥来犒劳种了四天半地的ES，值了三个夜班的LL和上了5天学的小崩豆们。LL连夸包子好吃，ES只吃不响，老先生红光满面，笑眯眯地看着包子由多到少，自在悠闲地喝几口粥，尝几口小菜。

想起XGuo搜索到的老先生那封正在网上拍卖的写给王若望先生的信，LL不禁好奇地问

“您还记得那封退稿信吗？”

“不记得了，我怎么会退他的稿呢？要有也一定是他被开除党之前，之后的我肯定发！”

哈哈哈，老先生果真不同寻常！

提起20年前那场风波，老先生一改平日的淡定自若和诙谐幽默。

“我那时发了一篇非常好的文章，2万字，是华东师大的一位教授写的，主编很犹豫，但我力劝他发！后果由我全权负责。时间会证明我们的决定是正确的。这位教授的太太给我们打了几次电话要求撤稿。稿子是发了，代价还是惨重的。主编被撤了，我们全受到处分，那位教授当了多少年的副教授，就是不能晋级正教授。”

“那年夏天，我随时都打好一个小包，里面是我短袖，长袖，秋衣秋裤，毛衣毛裤，随时做好准备住进去了。一来人，我就跟他们走，一句废话也没有。我游行，演讲，发稿，也该抓我。”

“后来我想明白了为什么我没进去。我堂姐正从台湾回来，我是沾了她的光了，我被保护了。”

老先生非常赞赏支持刘晓波。他认为刘应获2010的世界和平奖。（刘写的）2008年的那个东西是中国的出路。在老先生眼里，刘还是个年轻人 J 当年是他老人家发的刘的博士毕业论文，所以刘一辈子都是他眼里的有志青年了。

提起政治归属，老先生又恢复了他的轻松调侃的风格。

“我年轻的时候一直想入党，可人家不要我。我在肚子饿的楼梯都爬不动时，都为自己是为寻求人类解放为共产主义奋斗而骄傲。后来人家要我入党了，我又不想去了，因为我怎么也写不出为共产主义事业奋斗终身这句话来。”

“我呀，就加入了民主党派，后来又退出了。”

“为什么退了啊？”LL一向很崇拜民主党派的，听起来有学问。

“人家都叫我王姨太啊，丢人啊。那就是姨太太，花瓶儿，怪不得别人笑！”

“我这一说要退啊，他们赶紧来给我道歉，然后让我当政协。我说啊，我不是在撒娇儿呢，政协我更不能干了。坐那儿开会，举手， 拍手，我干不了，让老朋友们笑话。”

王行之老先生讲的故事

王行之

原名王兴志，笔名高歌。山东临沂人。1960年毕业于山东大学中文系。历任中国剧协《戏剧报》、人民文学出版社、中国社科院文学研究所《文学评论》编辑。现为老舍研究会副会长。1983年加入中国作家协会。主要作品有专著《老舍著作年表简编》、《话说〈金瓶梅〉》，论文《我论老舍》、《老舍的语言艺术观》，编辑《老舍剧作全集》1—4卷（合编）、《我的文学观》（主编）等。

以上介绍摘自百度百科，我再加一条吧：他老人家就是Grace他爸， Alex 和Angie他姥爷了。以下都是老先生操着地道的京腔不紧不慢地边擀饺子皮儿，边讲的故事。

关于做馒头

我们北京的家啊，离一个食堂很近，我爱吃馒头，所以每天去那儿买，和食堂大师傅混得很熟。一天啊，我就问他，你做的馒头又白又暄，我怎么也做不出这样儿的，您有什么窍门儿吗？大师傅就说了，您得用干酵母，过去用的老面是不行地。我说了，我用的就是干酵母啊。大师傅挤挤眼说，还要加一样东西，但我不能告诉你，无论如何也不能！

我呀思来想去，就决定自己做馒头了，他不告诉我的东西我可不敢吃！我的馒头做得那叫好啊，用全麦粉，不但我自己家里吃，我每个月定时给我的老朋友们送，他们都爱吃. 你看自己做馒头的好处多啊：

1. 绿色，营养，卫生，吃着放心啊
2. 发面，揉面，多锻炼身体啊
3. 省时间，有下楼排队买馒头的功夫，我都蒸出来了
4. 省钱，省大发了，我！

老先生半生节俭，两儿女一个在欧洲，一个在美国，均事业发达，美满幸福。LL忍不住问开了”您省了钱干嘛啊？”

“我山东还有一个85岁的老哥哥。我还资助4个从湖南来的大学生。贫困地区的孩子难啊！”

关于南天门

我小的时候啊，有个邻居的老奶奶，她给我讲啊，”孩子啊，你每天子时对着南天门磕头，一个白胡子老头儿就会出来，你要什么就会有什么了。”

我初中还没毕业，就去参军了。我做梦都想上大学，我爱写东西。这一天，南天门就真为我开了。一个军人模样的人叫我去看报纸，那天的报纸说具高中学历，或在职军人具初中学历的年轻人都可以报考大学。我高兴啊，我也有机会了！可是领导不让我报考，怕耽误工作。我去找领导的领导，终于同意我报考，但不许请假，不许在工作时间复习，如考上了，他们欢送我，没考上，就复员回老家。我真的是冒冷汗啊，我拿什么考啊，我们军一共有5个人报名，4个高中毕业，就我一个初中都没毕业。我笨鸟先飞，立刻去新华书店买了书，上班前，下班后，我什么都不干，就看书，把那几本书啊，三个月下来背了个滚瓜烂熟。第一志愿山东大学中文系录取了！那时的山东大学还在青岛，多美的地方啊！

关于小河水满大河流

闺女啊，你看这小河的水满了，聚到大河中，才会有中国的长江黄河，美国的密西西比啊。治国也是这样，老百姓日子过好了，手里有钱了，上了税给国家，国家才能真正强大啊。民富国强，以人为本啊。不是反过来的，大河水漫溢到小河里的。先国家花大钱造大工程，然后再想老百姓，有人饿肚子的国家就是落后国家，不管有多少原子弹。

此时华灯初上，外面雨打窗棂，桌子上已排满饺子，开锅煮饺子喽，老先生讲的故事要待续了。

 

Daddy is SOLD!

9:30am in the morning as I was pulling open the curtains and straightening the bedrooms, a lady with a cheerful voice called for daddy.

“Is Eric available?”

“No, could I take a message?” The grey clouds in the sky were parting and I was in the mood to know more about this young lady with a caller ID “unknown.”

“I am an IT recruiter. I talked to Eric a few months ago. I am wondering if he is still on the job market.”

“Oh, thanks! He is not available anymore.”

“Did he find a permanent job?”

Permanent? Nothing is permanent these days, thought mommy, but there is no point to argue about that on this nice morning.

“Yes. He did.”

“Oh, great!” The recruiter did not sound as enthusiastic as daddy’s buddies or all his lady friends when they heard the news.

Putting down the phone, I pictured daddy with a big stamp “SOLD!” on his forehead, just like the sign hammered on someone’s lawn.

That guy is totally sold. See his rough schedule below:

Mon-Fri

7:50am wake up the kids, feed them some cold cereals and send them to school

8:45am – 5:00pm work on the “permanent position”

Mon evening: family swimming

Tue-Thur evening: play solo on taking care of the kids’ business which are a lot from feeding dinner to supervising homework to tucking in bed

Fri evening: send Emma to Art class which is frequently taken care of by Aunt Grace, so daddy should not take much credit. Friday night is also the Wii night for the kids. Daddy always “reluctantly” plays along and competes fiercely with the 5 years and 8 years old.

Sat-Sun

Send two kids to their swimming lessons, Chinese lessons and co-coach Connor’s basketball team.

“Time is like the water in a sponge. If you squeeze, you can always get some out,” said who? Anyway that is what daddy did and deeply believes. On top of all these daddy things, he manages to squeeze in cheap golf trip, free table-tennis matches, late night poker parties with his buddies and always get tons of hearty laugh out of them.

As the whole world knows that mommies are the pillars for each family, daddies’ role is not as trivial as most of us believe eitherJ Cheers for daddies!

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

It was a stormy afternoon. Emma and I sat in the sofa with the reading light turned on. We snuggled under a blanket and turned the pages together. I was impressed by how many words Emma has already known and how politely she asked when she had questions. We read and read. After a pile of books, I asked Emma if she could sing me a song.

“Sure,” smiled Emma. Making up songs is certainly Emma’s strong suit J

    I love to be with my mommy.

    I love to read with her.

    I don’t like Thursday.

    Mommy will go to work.

    … (some lah lah and repetition followed)

“I love your song and I love your story too. Could you tell one?”

“Once there were three bears living in a little house …” started Emma with great ease and confidence.

The rest of the story has been told millions of times. Then Emma surprised me with a new “Emma” ending.

Mama Bear said “someone slept on my bed.”

Papa Bear said “someone slept on my bed.”

Little Bear said “someone is sleeping on my bed now!” Emma mocked the little bear’s shocking face.

Then Goldilocks woke up.

Little Bear looked at her and said “You can sleep here with me.”

Mama Bear patted on her head “You can have breakfast with us.”

Papa Bear promised “I will make you a new rocking chair.”

“That’s very nice of them, Emma.”

“I made up that part because Goldilocks doesn’t have her own house,” Emma said with all the sympathy in her dark eyes. That reminds me of Emma’s wish.

Everyone knows that Connor wishes to be a computer engineer. Once I asked Emma “What do you want to do when you grow up?” while expecting a lofty answer such as “a princess or a famous dancer.”

“I want to take care of sick babies,” answered Emma seriously.

Connor, the Wise Boy

Connor has his own computer which is like 100 years old in computer age. Daddy told mommy that he would install Linux on that machine. About 2 seconds later, he came back to his study.

“All done? That was quick!” commented mommy.

“Connor created 3 accounts on that machine, one for himself, one for Emma and one for limited user. Only limited user is not pass word protected and it won’t allow me to install anything.”

“Did you teach him how to do it?” Mommy was impressed by Connor’s security sense.

“No. Somehow he figured it out.”

In the evening on our way back from the swimming pool, daddy asked about the accounts on Connor’s computer.

“I am the only one who has administrative rights. Emma is limited user too, but hers is pass word protected. You can log on as limited user which doesn’t require a password,” so it was all by design.

**************************************************

 

During dinner we had some school talk. We’d like to know how Connor evaluates his peers, so we threw a couple of names we know.

“Is xxxx a good student?”

“Yes. He is a good student.” This answer was repeated for a couple of his classmates.

“Is yyyy a good student?” yyyy is a well known trouble maker inside and outside of school.

“He could be the best student if he improves his behavior. He is smart and he knows many stuff.”

“What bad behavior are we talking about?”

“He keeps on poking on me and whisper the F word in my ear. You know the F word, F-X-X-X which means kill and F-X-X-X-E-R which means killer,” Connor lowered his voice when talking about the forbidden word.

Clearly the little guy is not comfortable with the conversation about yyyy, so we shifted.

“Is Breanna a good student?”

“No, she is not.”

“Huh?”

“She is a GREAT student!” smiled Connor.

 

My Son and Daughter

Connor

Today is the first day for Chess Club. As usual I totally forgot it. At a bit to 3pm, the pickup time for Connor, the phone rang.

“Hi mom, I have Chess Club today,” said Connor in his usual calm voice.

“Oh, that! Where are you?”

“I will be in the gym in a minute. I asked Mrs. Kim’s permission to call you. Bye, mom!”

So when you have a forgetful mom, you have to keep on top of things and remind her from time to time.

Emma

“Mommy, could you play with me?” said a sweet voice.

“Good idea, but no,” I was busy keeping up with the emails.

“It’s ok, mommy. I’ll play with you,” a soft little hand patting on my back.

Emma

“Who are on your table at school, Emma?”

“Three girls and two boys, Celina, Madison, me, Connor, and Jacob.”

“Is that Connor all right?”

“He talks with Madison and the teacher tells them to be quiet, but I like him because he has my brother’s name.”

Connor

The first report from the teacher was all great. The teacher mentioned Connor being a role model for the other kids. Daddy was impressed.

“Connor, are you a role model?”

“No. I don’t want to be a role model.”

“Do you know what role model means?”

“Teacher’s pet.”

My Son Bought Me Lunch

Today is my first day volunteering at Connor’s classroom for 2^nd grade. Connor asked if we could have lunch together and lunch would be on him. That doesn’t happen often, so I happily accept the invitation.

Last night I had a couple of dreams about forgetting the volunteering all together and being 30 minutes late etc. It was such a relief to arrive at the school 2 minutes before the scheduled time 10am. From the distance I can see Mrs. Kim leading the kids in the hallway to the play ground for recess. Connor waved to me smiling one of those sun-shining smiles. Breanna saw me and gave me a sweet smile too.

Mrs. Kim looks much younger than I thought, a mother for two college-graduated grown up children? Her hair is neatly combed and her casual dresses are impeccable. Mrs. Kim greeted me with big warm smile. She explained the home work packet preparation task to me step by step. There are separate works for different groups of students. She hesitated about putting one page into one student’s folder for one minute or two. The reason? She doesn’t want to overwhelm the student. A very good teacher, I was thinking.

It does pay for being a volunteer veteran at the school. When there is not enough page, I know exactly where to go to make more copies instead of bothering the nice busy teacher. I am almost proud of myself by the time I am all done with my work. I even asked for extra work while waiting for Connor to go to lunch.

We went to the cafeteria a bit late because Mrs. Kim did not want to bring a line of noisy little ones to lunch. The long line proceeded quietly through the hallway. Mrs. Kim wished me a nice lunch, then Connor led me in the cafeteria. I followed Connor to get my lunch. There are varieties, from cold sandwich to hot hamburger, from salad/fruit bar to yogurt and milk. I did not have to worry about a thing. Connor handled all the business about paying lunch for me.

Unlike the little ones in Kindergarten when I checked on Alex at lunch, here students can sit wherever they want, definitely more social freedom and talking seems to be acceptable. The kids at our table were joking and laughing. Then a big “kuang” made me jump. Looking towards the big sound, I saw a lady hitting a gong with two Chinese characters “泰来“(here come the peace and prosperity) on it. Then the whole cafeteria went quiet all together and every little kid raised their two fingers. I mouthed to Connor “what?” Connor mouthed back to me “Be quiet!”

“Clean up your table and pick up the stuff on the floor,” instructed another lady.

Looking at my half way finished lunch, I was thinking that was sure short. Connor only finished half of his cheese burger and the only vegetable he picked, the two small slices of tomatoes were untouched. Now I know why his first sentence upon arriving home is always “I’m hungry!” Every kid acts quietly and swiftly. Before I knew it, Connor instructed me where to put the plastics and where to put the waste, and out of the cafeteria, the kids ran to the playground.

I thanked Connor for lunch and waved bye-bye to the big boy who already joined the basketball game. The playground was so alive with kids running, swinging, and laughing.

From Olympic Reporter Nanyu

奥运体坛周报特约记者曹南豫为大家带来的报道：

` `

2009年奥运会即将在奥力匹克国家公园召开。9月4日下午，中国体育代表团的运动员们顺利抵达吸血鬼的故乡-风景秀丽的华盛顿forks奥运村。在总导演曹永年耗资巨大的篝火开幕式上，代表团团长郭形刚表示将一定为祖国争取最好成绩。当晚运动员们就不辞辛劳的为最后一天的升级团体决赛做准备，激烈的赛前热身一直延续到凌晨4点。9月5日，风和日丽，奥运会的第一枚金牌即将产生，我国选手在这项比赛上有较大优势，最近蝉联此项比赛各种冠军的梁丽选手在最后关头惜败，夺得起床最晚的银牌，我国选手牛新辉勇夺金牌。上午，奥运会的金牌大户田径比赛正式开始。自从刘翔因伤退赛以后，我国运动员在田径方面一直无所建树，但是今天刘翔的师兄刘开邦为大家带来一个惊喜，他带领的刘家军包揽了雨林1500米障碍竞走赛的金银铜牌，其中夺得银牌的colin和铜牌的kyler年仅7岁和5岁，充分奠定了我国选手在今后这个项目几十年的优势。9月5日下午，水上项目开始展开，我国选手舒文雨，牛新辉，阳阳，Alex，Emma和小Angie夺得男女混合6人双桨无舵手原地打转比赛的金牌，接着舒文雨，阳阳和萱萱又夺得男子双人双桨有舵手1500米的金牌，为我国再添2金。9月6日，大雨滂沱，游泳比赛在奥力匹克温泉游泳池进行，芽芽，星星和Emma夺得花样游泳的女子团体冠军，更值得欣喜的是曹明明，林峥，梁丽，Grace和林茵以3小时22分15秒的成绩夺得5米温水原地自由泳接力的金牌，并打破该项比赛美国选手包揽14年的世界纪录。9月6日晚，赛场再传喜讯，4岁小选手风风取得男子蹦床金牌。晚10点，奥运会上最引人注目的项目-团体升级赛拉开帷幕，第一次参加此项赛事的年轻选手梁丽凭借精准的计算，犀利的牌风，和全体队友无懈可击的配合以400比0的成绩打了男子选手队一个大光，从而率领女子队最后以11：8的成绩摘走本届奥运会上这枚分量最重的团体金牌。9月7日，奥组委主席郭形刚在麦当劳的闭幕式上总结陈词，对这次中国代表团8金2银1铜的成绩进行了充分肯定，并期待2009冬奥会的胜利召开。

（现在参加2009年冬奥会的申办城市有Bend，Seattle和Vancouver，具体结果由一个月后的奥委会投票决定）

Boating trip by Connor

At our rental house we had a boat a small boat don’t think of a titanic or somthing ETC. It was a row boat. At first we wasted our time. The two daddys rowed the boat where there were lots of obstacles (well when I mean obstacles they were not meant to be put there but natrue did it to be assured). We could not go to the bridge, but  I, the  impressive Connor, rowed the boat to the bridge.  (well I don’t want to brag but my dad said so). My dad helped me too. Thank goodness we were almost there I was tired out of my wits by the time I reached shore!

-Connor (a2b4)

First day of school 2007 version

Two years ago when it was Connor’s first day at kindergarten, the story was quite different.

Figure 1 Then at kindergarten

Figure 2 Now a second grader

Connor was two weeks’ late for school because of our trip back to China. Mommy dropped him at the classroom door. He found his own name on the table and quietly sat down at his spot. He politely said “bye, mommy!” then looked up to the teacher for further instructions. Mommy went home with confidence and had a strong urge to sleep. I was still at Beijing time, so I would take a nap.

The kindergarten was at kinder village then, and Connor could take the school bus home. When I woke up suddenly at 1:45pm, the house was all quiet. Where is Connor? He was supposed to come back home at 12:30pm.

“Yangyang! Yangyang!” Mommy yelled with panic.

Then I realized that the door was locked. There was no way the kid could get in. I dashed downstairs to call. The answer machine’s light was flashing impatiently. There were 6 messages from school. The teacher progressively told me where Connor was about. Apparently the bus took Connor home to find no one at the door step meeting him, then the nice driver made another circle and found the same disappointing scene. He had to take Connor on the ride to pick up the afternoon students. Finally they were back at the school to wait for further dispatching.

Later when Connor talked about the incident, he smiled and commented “Now I know where everyone lives.”

When I rushed into the office, Connor was drawing some pictures and saying “hi mom” when spotted the guilty mother. The pretty young teacher assistant said he had some snacks and did not forget to praise that Connor was such a nice boy. Nobody fussed about anything as if they dealt with such parents on everyday basis.

Connor asked me “Where were you, mom?”

“I was right upstairs sleeping.”

“Oh.”

That was it. Connor was not good at criticizing others.

Later the same week, daddy had an early morning meeting. Mommy had to drive Connor to school. Daddy reminded mommy a thousand times about the arrangement the previous night since mommy doesn’t have a good track record.

The next morning mommy was woken up by Connor.

“Please get up, mom. It is time to go to school.”

Mommy sat up and asked

“What time is it?”

“It is 8:40.”

“What?! Why did not you wake me up earlier?” School starts at 8:45am.

It is a good thing Connor was already dressed up and had his backpack on. We ran into the van and Connor buckled himself up. Zoom, we sped towards the school.

“Did you have breakfast?”

“yah, milk and cereal.”

“Good boy! Could you go in by yourself?” mommy really did not want to meet any of the teachers especially the nice understanding teaching assistant at that moment.

“Sure. Bye, mommy!” The little guy went in the school gate calmly.