Angels in Indiana

In September 1960， I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.

I scrubbed1 the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress. I loaded them into the rusty2 old car and drove off to find a job. The seven of us went to every factory， store and restaurant in our small town. No luck.

The last place we went to， just a few miles out of town， called the Big Wheel. An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked3 out of the window from time to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard4 shift， 11 at night until seven in the morning. She paid 65 cents an hour and I could start that night.

On Christmas Eve， the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. It was still dark and I couldn't see much， but there appeared to be some dark shadows in the car -- or was that just a trick of the night? Something certainly looked different， but it was hard to tell what. When I reached the car I peered warily5 into one of the side windows. Then my jaw dropped in amazement. My old battered6 car was full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes. I quickly opened the driver's side door， scrambled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back， I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was a whole case of little blue jeans， sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes: There were candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking， and canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and cookies， pie filling and flour. There was a whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.

As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life， I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.

Yes， there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December.

1960年9月的一個早晨，我醒來，身邊是6個饑餓的孩子，口袋里只有75美分。孩子們的父親已經(jīng)離開了。男孩子們年齡在3個月到7歲之間，他們的妹妹只有2歲。

我把孩子們擦洗干凈，他們看起來干干凈凈。然后，我穿上最好的自己縫制的衣服。我把他們放在生銹的舊汽車?yán)?，去找工作。我?個人走遍了我們小鎮(zhèn)的每一個工廠、商店、餐廳，一無所獲。

最后，我們來到離鎮(zhèn)里幾英里的叫做“大車輪”的地方。這個地方由一個老奶奶所有。她不時地從窗戶里看著這些孩子們。她需要有人值夜班，晚上11點到第二天7點。每小時付65美分，我當(dāng)天晚上就可以上班。

圣誕節(jié)前夜，通常顧客們在這兒喝咖啡。天黑，看不清什么。在車?yán)铮袔讉€黑影在走動。難道晚上有惡作劇嗎?感覺有點異樣，但是說不清是什么。我向車走去，看了一眼車的側(cè)窗。我目瞪口呆。我的破車?yán)锓艥M了各種形狀和大小的盒子。我很快打開駕駛員的側(cè)門，爬進(jìn)車?yán)?，面向車的后座跪了下來。打開最上面的一個盒子，里面裝著一盒子藍(lán)色小牛仔褲，號碼從2到10都有。另一個盒子里，裝滿了與牛仔褲配套的襯衫。其他盒子里有糖果、堅果、香蕉和其他日用品袋。有一個巨大的火腿，罐裝的蔬菜和土豆。有布丁、餅干、餡餅和面粉，一大袋洗滌和清潔用品。有5個玩具汽車和—個漂亮的小洋娃娃。

當(dāng)我開車回家時，太陽正慢慢升起，我最有意義的圣誕節(jié)開始了。我充滿感激，熱淚盈眶。我永遠(yuǎn)也忘不了圣誕節(jié)的早晨我孩子們臉上的幸福表情。

確實，在那個逝去的12月里，印第安那出現(xiàn)了天使。

注釋

①scrub v.洗擦，擦凈

②rusty adj.生銹的，遲鈍的

③peek n.一瞥，匆忙看過;v.偷看

④graveyard n.墓地

⑤warily adv.留心地，小心地，警惕地

⑥batter n.擊球手;v.打壞，猛擊