A Fateful Dinner 一頓改變命運的晚餐
“Dinner is ready, Ken,” Ken’s mum called.
Ken was immersed in an adventure book, “OK, Mum.”
Five minutes later,
“Dinner is getting cold, Ken, come right now!” his dad called.
Ken took the book with him to the dining room; his mum and dad were waiting.
“Put that book away, son, eat your dinner now,” his dad said.
“But I nearly finished it,” Ken’s eyes were glued on the book.
“Put that book away!” his dad said sternly.
“Tell us about your school today, did anything interesting happen?” his mum tried to calm the air.
“Nothing new really.”
“晚餐弄好了，肯恩，” 肯恩的媽媽叫著。
肯恩沉浸在一本探險的書裡， “好的，媽。”
五分鐘後，
“晚餐快涼了，肯恩，馬上來吃!” 他的爸爸叫著。
肯恩帶著他的書來到餐廳﹔他的媽媽和爸爸在等著。
“放下那本書，兒子，現在吃晚餐，”他的爸爸說。
“可是我幾乎要讀完了，” 肯恩的眼睛盯住那本書。
“放下那本書!”他的爸爸嚴肅地說。
“告訴我們你今天在學校的事吧，有沒有什麼有趣的事發生啊?” 他的媽媽試著使氣氛緩和下來。
“其實沒什麼新鮮事。”
“We know you love reading, but why don’t you have a hobby like other kids?” his mum asked.
“Reading is a hobby, Mum, and I want to be a great reader when I grow up.”
“Reading is good, but we hope you have a proper hobby like collecting stamps, playing some musical instruments, making some art crafts, painting pictures or writing …” his mum went on.
“Mmm! I like the idea of painting and writing, my art teacher Mrs Greenford said my drawings were very good, and I always get an A plus in English, but what shall I paint or write?”
“Why not start by writing a short story and drawing some pictures for the story?” his dad suggested.
“That sounds difficult, I don’t know what to write…”
“Or paint a picture then write a poem or something for it,” his mum suggested.
“Mmm…” Ken’s eyes fixed on a painting on the wall, he made a decision.
“我們知道你很喜愛讀書，可是你怎麼不像其他小孩一樣有個嗜好呢?” 他媽媽問。
“讀書是個嗜好啊，媽，而且我長大後要當個偉大的閱讀家。”
“讀書是好的，但我們希望你有個適當的嗜好像收集郵票、彈某種樂器、製作某些工藝品、畫圖或寫作…” 他媽媽繼續說著。
“嗯! 我喜歡畫圖和寫作的主意，我的美術老師格林佛得太太說我的圖畫得很好，而且我的英文總是得A+的，可是我要畫什麼和寫什麼呢?”
“何不開始寫個短篇故事與替那故事畫些圖呢?”他的爸爸建議。
“那聽起來蠻困難的，我不知道要寫什麼…”
“或者畫個圖然後給那個圖寫篇詩或什麼的，”他媽媽建議。
“嗯…”肯恩的眼睛盯在牆上的一幅畫上，他作了一個決定。
Fifteen years later,
“Congratulations, Mr Parkton. Today’s exhibition was a big success, and you have two books on the best sellers list at the same time; as a young artist, how did you come to choose both painting and writing as a career?”
“It all started at a dinner when I was about ten, my father was upset about me reading at the dinner table, and my mother suggested that I have a hobby…the painting on the wall of the dining room made the decision for me.”
“What was the decision?”
“To take up painting and writing as my hobby.”
“What was the painting on the wall?” the reporter asked.
“Salvador Dali’s ‘The Persistence of Memory’, as a child I was fascinated by those melting pocket watches, and often wondered about the intriguing visions in Dali’s head, so I started to copy his painting style and write stories about my own paintings; over the years I developed my own style and concepts which led to what you saw today.” Ken replied.
十五年後.，
“恭喜，派克頓先生。今天的展示真是個大成功，而且你同時有兩本書在暢銷書單上﹔身為一個年輕的藝術家，你怎麼會選擇繪畫和寫作當事業的?”
“這從當我大約十嵗時的一個晚餐開始的，我的父親不高興我在吃飯的時候讀書，我母親建議我有個嗜好… 餐廳牆上的一幅畫為我作了決定。”
“什麼決定?”
“以繪畫和寫作當我的嗜好。”
“牆上的那幅畫是什麼?”記者問。
“薩爾瓦多達利的畫 ‘持續的記憶’，當我小的時候我很著迷於那些溶化的懷錶，也常迷惑於達利腦子裡的那些耐人尋味的幻象，所以我開始模仿他的繪畫風格
也為我自己的畫寫故事﹔多年來我發展出自己的風格與概念演化成你今天所見的作品。”肯恩回答。
