同住一個(gè)房間，姐妹也會(huì)結(jié)怨!為了獨(dú)享房間的支配權(quán)，為了擁有私密的空間，為了不再受姐姐的愚弄，為了不再因?yàn)槭敲妹镁偷檬率驴窟呎?，我扳著指頭算啊算啊算……盼著姐姐離家的那一天。終于，這一天到來(lái)了，我雀躍不已，歡喜勝于過(guò)圣誕!只是，為何雀躍之后，心里會(huì)泛起一絲失落、難過(guò)、不安?

Eight Years to Go

I was five when I began counting down the years until my sister would move out. Don’t get me wrong—I love her. I love her like I love the winter coat crammed1) in my closet; it’s great when the temperature is below freezing and I need it to keep me warm， but every other day it takes up half the space in my closet and I’m tempted to slash it into a million pieces.

Since my sister is four years older， as a child， I thought she was the wisest person I knew. She took full advantage of this. Any story she told (like the one about the cat who gave birth to a chicken) was 100 percent true: the boogeyman2) really would kidnap me if I didn’t sleep under the covers， and when we played Scrabble3)， the word that scored her 36 points， confuzzled， was actually in the dictionary (just the newer edition we didn’t have).

Along with the stories of me being adopted and all our relatives being able to do magic except me， my sister convinced me of another reason why I didn’t belong in the family. I had always been perplexed why my sister and Mom both had striking strawberry blond hair while mine was dark.

“That’s because Mom had an accident4) on your head when you were born，” my lovely sister reasoned.

I washed my hair 100 times that week.

Six Years to Go

As a younger sister， I never once received first dibs5) on the chocolate cake batter6) spoon; I never got to be teacher when we played school， or be Beauty when we acted out our favorite Disney movie; riding shotgun7) was completely out of the question. Sharing a room， however， caused the most problems.

My sister must have failed basic math because the tape that separated our room clearly did not split it in half. It was more like 90/10. Guess who had the bigger slice. My “half”， however， included the closet. I assumed this gave me full reign over the clothes inside. Wrong.

One day while my sister was gone (most likely torturing some other innocent person)， I decided to try on her new Old Navy overalls8) with the rhinestone9) straps. I slipped into the two-sizes-too-big outfit10) and ran into the bathroom where I admired myself in the mirror， pretending to be flirting with Josh， the love of my life (that week， anyway). Far from my daydreaming mind， footsteps echoed down the hall.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

The words tingled down my spine like a spider. My heart stopped. My hands trembled. I had been caught.

Please don’t kill me in my sleep. Dear God， please don’t let my sister kill me in my sleep.

Four Years to Go

The sounds weren’t unfamiliar; the slamming doors， the screaming voices， the shattering dishes. Mom was fighting with the boyfriend again. I had stopped remembering their names. My sister and I tiptoed into our room. Ignoring the tape on the floor， I crawled into bed with her and she handed me her CD player. Everything we had fought about that day didn’t matter anymore. She was the warm coat I needed. And I remembered why I love her.

The next day， when we watched Aladdin11)， she let me be Princess Jasmine.

Two Years to Go

Tonight was yet another night with my head under my pillow， attempting to drown out12) the music that felt like an earthquake through the walls of our house. Tonight I hated my sister and her thunderous parties. I hated her for keeping me up until 3 a.m. when I told her I had an important test the next day. It was nights like these that reminded me why I couldn’t wait for my sister to move out.

I walked downstairs and was disgusted by the teenagers drinking out of red plastic cups and groping13) each other as if they were checking for ticks14). However， the worst sight of all was discovering my sister in the middle of it. No longer was she the wise， beautiful girl I had looked up to， but instead just another person who had let me down.

It’s hard to remember why you love someone when all you can think about is how much you hate them.

0 Years to Go

I had two Christmases the year my sister left for college. Finally I was free—no more sharing a room， no more being harassed， and best of all， no more nights of only four hours of sleep. After counting down for nine years， I was finally an only child. I thought I would be the happiest girl ever. And I was， at first.

No longer did I have to take a three-minute ice-cold shower or share an entrée15) at an expensive restaurant. I was living the life of an only child and loving it. But after a few weeks I began to feel lonely. No one was around to give me advice about boys or fashion. Sure， my sister and I had our clashes， but we always had each other when we were in need. Now， separated by 500 miles and a string of mountains， I feel like I am missing my other half.

八年倒計(jì)時(shí)

五歲那年，我開(kāi)始扳著手指頭數(shù)還有幾年我姐姐才能搬出去。別誤會(huì)——其實(shí)我很愛(ài)她。我愛(ài)她就像我愛(ài)那件塞在衣櫥里的冬衣一樣。天寒地凍我需要用來(lái)取暖時(shí)，它確實(shí)很棒，但隔不了兩天，它就得占去我衣櫥里一半的空間，這時(shí)我真恨不得把它撕成碎片。

姐姐比我大四歲，因此，在孩提時(shí)代，在我的心目中，她是我認(rèn)識(shí)的最聰明的人。她充分利用了我對(duì)她的這種崇拜。她講的每個(gè)故事(比如那個(gè)關(guān)于一只貓生了一只小雞的故事)，我都百分之百地相信:比如我要是睡覺(jué)不蓋好被子，惡巫就真的把我捉走;再比如玩拼字游戲時(shí)，她靠“confuzzled”一詞得了36分，然后告訴我，這個(gè)詞在字典里真的可以查到(就是那部新版字典，只不過(guò)我們家沒(méi)有罷了)。

姐姐告訴我，我是被收養(yǎng)的，我們家除了我，所有的親戚都會(huì)施魔法。她還讓我相信，我之所以和家里人都不一樣，還有另外一個(gè)原因。以前我一直搞不清楚，為什么姐姐和媽媽都長(zhǎng)著偏紅的金發(fā)，非常引人注目，而我卻是一頭黑發(fā)。

“那是因?yàn)閶寢屔愕臅r(shí)候把便便拉在你頭上了?！蔽夷强蓯?ài)的姐姐如此推論。

那個(gè)星期，我洗了一百次頭。

六年倒計(jì)時(shí)

我是妹妹，所以拿勺子攪拌巧克力蛋糕糊的優(yōu)先權(quán)從來(lái)輪不上我，一次也沒(méi)有;玩上學(xué)游戲時(shí)，我從來(lái)沒(méi)當(dāng)過(guò)老師;演我們最喜歡的迪士尼電影時(shí)，我從來(lái)沒(méi)演過(guò)美女;坐車(chē)時(shí)坐在前座對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)更是完全沒(méi)戲。但是和她住一個(gè)房間，那才是最最麻煩的事。

我姐姐的基礎(chǔ)數(shù)學(xué)肯定沒(méi)及格，因?yàn)樗读烁鶐ё右盐覀兊姆块g一分為二，卻明顯沒(méi)有分平均。比例都差不多是9∶1了。猜猜是誰(shuí)占了大頭吧。而我那“一半”里還擺了個(gè)衣櫥。我以為這下衣櫥里的衣服就全歸我支配了。大錯(cuò)特錯(cuò)。

一天，趁姐姐不在家(很可能是去折磨另外一個(gè)無(wú)辜的人了)，我決定試一下她那條新買(mǎi)的“老海軍”背帶褲，背帶上還鑲了水鉆。我三下五除二套上這條大了兩個(gè)尺碼的褲子，沖進(jìn)浴室，對(duì)著鏡子自我欣賞，假裝在和我生命中的至愛(ài)喬希(至少是那個(gè)星期的至愛(ài))談情說(shuō)愛(ài)。我做著白日夢(mèng)，心神游離，竟沒(méi)有聽(tīng)到走廊里傳來(lái)的腳步聲。

“你以為你在干什么?”

聽(tīng)到姐姐的叫聲，我就像被一只蜘蛛咬了一口，脊梁骨一陣刺痛。我的心跳停止。我的雙手顫抖。我被抓了個(gè)現(xiàn)行。

請(qǐng)不要趁我睡覺(jué)時(shí)殺了我。老天啊，請(qǐng)別讓我的姐姐趁我睡覺(jué)時(shí)殺了我。

四年倒計(jì)時(shí)

這些聲音并不陌生:“砰砰”的關(guān)門(mén)聲、刺耳的尖叫聲、稀里嘩啦的摔盤(pán)子聲。媽媽又在和男友干仗了。我已經(jīng)懶得去記他們的名字了。姐姐和我躡手躡腳地躲進(jìn)房間。我跟著她一起爬上床，根本沒(méi)理會(huì)地上那條分界線，然后她把她的CD唱機(jī)遞給我。那天我們爭(zhēng)吵過(guò)的一切都不再重要。她就是我需要的那件溫暖的外衣。而我也終于記起來(lái)自己為什么愛(ài)她了。

第二天，我們看《阿拉丁》時(shí)，她讓我演了茉莉公主。

兩年倒計(jì)時(shí)

今晚，我又一次把頭埋在枕頭底下，想掩住那感覺(jué)像地震一樣穿透房子四壁的音樂(lè)聲。今天晚上我討厭姐姐，還有她那震雷般哄鬧的派對(duì)。我討厭她，因?yàn)槲乙呀?jīng)告訴她第二天我有一場(chǎng)重要的考試，她卻還是害我凌晨三點(diǎn)才睡著。正是一個(gè)個(gè)像這樣的不眠之夜不斷地提醒我，為什么我會(huì)如此急不可耐地希望姐姐搬出去。

我走下樓，眼前的景象讓我惡心:一幫少男少女們端著紅色的塑料杯豪飲，還互相在對(duì)方身上摸來(lái)摸去，就像互相捉虱子一樣。但是，最讓我受不了的是，我發(fā)現(xiàn)姐姐也赫然在列。她不再是我曾經(jīng)崇拜的那個(gè)聰明、漂亮的女孩，她現(xiàn)在只不過(guò)是另外一個(gè)讓我徹底失望的人罷了。

當(dāng)你滿腦子想到的都是你對(duì)一個(gè)人有多厭惡時(shí)，就很難想起你愛(ài)他的理由了。

夙愿成真

姐姐上大學(xué)那年，我真像過(guò)了兩個(gè)圣誕節(jié)。我終于自由了——不再與別人合住一個(gè)房間，不再被折磨，最棒的是，再也不會(huì)有那種只能睡四個(gè)小時(shí)的夜晚了。我扳著手指頭數(shù)了九年，現(xiàn)在終于可以嘗嘗做獨(dú)生女的滋味了。我以為我將成為世界上最幸福的女孩了。沒(méi)錯(cuò)，起初的確如此。

我再也不用洗冰冷的冷水澡，還得三分鐘洗完;上高級(jí)飯店吃飯，我再也不用一份主菜兩個(gè)人分著吃了。我過(guò)上了獨(dú)生女的生活，并且樂(lè)在其中。但幾周后，我開(kāi)始覺(jué)得寂寞了。沒(méi)人在身邊給我出主意了——告訴我如何跟男孩交往，怎樣才能更時(shí)尚。誠(chéng)然，姐姐和我有過(guò)不少?zèng)_突，但在危難時(shí)刻，我們總是能相互依靠。而現(xiàn)在， 五百英里的距離和崇山峻嶺將我們分隔兩地，我感覺(jué)仿佛失去了自己的另一半。

1.cram [krAm] vt. 把#8943;#8943;填滿

2.boogeyman [5bu^ImAn] n. 具有超人力量的惡巫，假想的怪物

3.scrabble [5skrAbl] n. 一種拼字游戲

4.have an accident:〈婉〉尿失禁或大便失禁(常用于兒童)

5.dibs [dIbz] n. 權(quán)利

6.batter [5bAtE] n. (用雞蛋、牛奶等調(diào)制而成的)面糊

7.ride shotgun:〈俚〉坐在汽車(chē)前面的旅客座上;(作為乘客)搭車(chē)與司機(jī)同行

8.overall [5EuvErC:l] n. [用于復(fù)]寬松的褲子，工裝褲

9.rhinestone [5raInstEJn] n. 水晶中的一種，人造鉆石

10.outfit [5autfIt] n. 全套服裝

11.Aladdin:《阿拉丁》，迪士尼經(jīng)典動(dòng)畫(huà)片之一，改編自神話《一千零一夜》(The Book of One Thousand and One Nights)，阿拉丁是故事中的主人公。

12.drown out:(聲音等)壓過(guò)，蓋沒(méi)

13.grope [^rEup] vt. (調(diào)情時(shí))撫摸……的身體

14.tick [tIk] n. 蜱，壁虱

15.entrée [5RntreI] n.〈美〉主菜