By+Kalyani+Candade

There is a very thin line， they say， between the sublime1 and the ridiculous. I never really thought about it， until one day， my education as an Army wife on an Indian military base took me down a path that made me wonder.

It was a crisp winter morning in the foothills of the Vindhyas， just right to laze in the sun and bury my nose in a novel.2

Suddenly and rudely， I was jerked3 back to reality.

“Memsahib！” （“Madam！”） It was a strange wail4. I put my book down. “Memsahib！” It was coming from the kitchen.

I hurried in to investigate and found Ramu， our military orderly5.

“I found him， memsahib！ And Ive got him！” he cried. He pointed grimly to a drawer that was vibrating alarmingly.6

A human intruder could not fit in a drawer. A snake wouldnt rattle7 around like that， I concluded. Ah！ It must be that rat！ Good for you， soldier， I thought. But now what？

He grinned. “You guard the door，” he said to me. “Ill bag it.”He was whirling a sack over his head like a club.8

How about we just close the door and I wait outside？ I thought. But I didnt want to dampen his obvious enthusiasm， so I stood bravely， hoping that I could hold my own against a fleeing rat.9

But I hadnt taken into account Ramus years of practice： In one swift move the rat was out of the drawer and into the sack. I scrambled to find some string and handed it to Ramu to tie the burlap sack closed—or so I thought.10

But no. Instead， Ramu coiled the string into a neat lasso， and suddenly—before I could speak （or shriek） —he had grabbed the rat by its torso through the bag.11

Expertly， he maneuvered the rat until its whiskers popped out of the top of the sack.12 Then he neatly flipped the lasso around the rats neck， the way youd put a leash on a dog.13

Something must have shown on my face. “I cannot kill the rat， memsahib，” Ramu apologized softly. “Ill take it to the other side of the canal and leave it.” His declaration brooked no argument； clearly， he did not think it was necessary to harm the pesky creature.14

Before I could respond， he had eased the rat out of the sack， and—to my astonishment—began walking it out of the kitchen.

“Wait！” I screamed. “Its just going to come back.”

On the lawn， with leashed rat in tow15， Ramu paused and turned back to me.“Then well catch it again， memsahib，” he assured me.endprint

I watched， dazed， as the twosome set off， man and rat， in a synchronism16 I wouldnt have believed possible. It was a sight Id never seen： a puzzled rat shuffling obediently down the road behind a burly man tugging gently on its leash with a cajoling “aao， aao” （“come， come”） every so often.17

I waited until they were well out of earshot before doubling over with laughter.18

When Id composed myself， I peered over the fence to make sure they were really going all the way to the canal.19 Ramu had stopped and was talking to someone on a bicycle. The two nodded and exchanged smiles. Then， to my amazement， Ramu handed over the leash to the boy on the bike. I watched to my further disbelief as the rat began to run to keep up with the cyclist as they continued toward the bridge over the canal.

Sometimes， as they say， there is a very thin line between the sublime and the ridiculous. When I retell this story at parties I often play up20 the ridiculous aspect.

As I write this， however， new layers to the story emerge： the unexpected gentleness I witnessed， the sense of understanding between man and vermin21， the proof of our orderlys deep conviction that the earth must be shared.

I gained a precious insight from a soldier who ensured that， somewhere on an Indian military base in the foothills of the Vindhyas， a rat lived. He， more than many of us， I believe， truly understood the value of life.

1. sublime： // 崇高的，卓越的。

2. crisp： 清爽的，干冷的；foothill：山麓，丘陵；Vindhyas： 溫迪亞山脈（Vindhyas Range），印度中部的山脈；laze： 懶散地打發(fā)（時間）。

3. jerk： 急拉，猛拉。

4. wail： 哭喊，哭嚎。

5. orderly： 勤務(wù)兵。

6. grimly： 嚴肅地；vibrate： 顫動，振動。

7. rattle： 使發(fā)出咯咯聲。

8. whirl： 使……旋轉(zhuǎn)；sack： 麻袋，大口袋；club： 棍棒。

9. 但我不想給興致勃勃的他潑冷水，所以我鼓起勇氣站在那里，希望自己能抵擋住這只想要逃跑的老鼠。dampen：抑制；hold ones own： 堅守住，不退讓。

10. scramble： 趕忙做，倉促行動；burlap： 粗麻布。

11. 然而，拉姆把繩子盤成一個利落的套索，我還沒來得及出聲（或者說是尖叫），他便隔著袋子一下抓住了老鼠的身子。coil： 盤繞，把……卷成圈；lasso： 套索；shriek： 尖叫；torso： 軀干。

12. maneuver： 操縱，巧妙移動；whisker：（老鼠、貓等的）須。

13. flip： 快速翻轉(zhuǎn)；leash：（牽狗的）繩子，皮帶，下文作動詞指將（狗等）用皮帶系住。

14. brook： 允許；pesky： 討厭的。

15. in tow： 被拖著。

16. synchronism： // 同時發(fā)生，同步性。

17. 這是我從未見過的景象：一個魁梧的男人溫柔地牽著一只老鼠走在路上，那老鼠看起來滿臉疑惑，卻十分聽話地跟在男人身后，男人還時不時用輕柔的語氣哄著那小東西：“過來，過來……”shuffle：拖著腳步走；obediently： 順從地；burly： 魁梧的；tug： 用力拉，拖拽；cajole： /（用甜言蜜語）哄騙，勸誘。

18. earshot： 聽力所及之范圍；double over with laughter： 指笑彎了腰。

19. compose oneself： 使自己鎮(zhèn)靜下來；peer： 盯著看，凝視。

20. play up： 突出，強調(diào)。

21. vermin： 害獸。endprint