我们在庆祝美国农村的“友谊奉献”

我们在庆祝美国农村的“友谊奉献”

At the moment, I'm performing a magic show for a duck-hunting doctor, an expert in underground drilling and four home-schooled children. They're not the only ones watching me make a bottle of Diet Pepsi disappear and re-appear with the snap of my fingers. There's also a nurse, an artist and a couple dozen others. And, of course, an 89-year-old dairy farmer.

此刻，我正在为一位猎鸭医生、一位地下钻探专家和四个在家接受教育的孩子表演魔术。他们并不是唯一看着我把一瓶无糖百事可乐从我的指缝中消失，然后重新出现的人。还有一名护士、一名艺术家和其他几十个人。当然，还有一位89岁的奶农。

Brooks (left) told Marie (right) that he's the honorary mayor of Hoard Road, but says he's resigning due to term limits. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

My wife Elizabeth and I were invited to a holiday block party for everyone who lives on our road, a proudly eclectic group of people to say the least. As a writer who works from home in his pajamas, I fit right in.

我和我的妻子伊丽莎白被邀请参加一个街区聚会，住在我们这条路上的每个人都参加了。作为一个穿着睡衣在家工作的作家，我很适合。

I had taken over the business from my older brothers, hence the 'new generation' reference. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

Our neighbor Marie, who was organizing the block party, knew of my previous career as Atlanta's second most famous Jewish kid magician. (I never could quite catch up to the popularity of Brian Grossblatt, a few years my senior, whose tricks were always more advanced than mine.) She asked if I'd come out of retirement to put on a show for the Hoard Road crew. I told her it would be my pleasure, and promptly headed to my garage to dust off an old suitcase full of tricks. I didn't mind at all; I was just happy to be invited to the party.

我们的邻居玛丽是街区聚会的组织者，她知道我以前是亚特兰大第二著名的犹太儿童魔术师。(我永远赶不上比我年长几岁的布赖恩·格劳斯布拉特，他的技术总是比我高超。)她问我退休后是否会复出，为窖藏修路队表演。我告诉她这是我的荣幸，并立即前往我的车库，掸掉一个旧手提箱的灰尘，里面装满了各种道具。我一点也不介意;我很高兴被邀请参加聚会。

The audience seemed just the right amount of enthused by my magic show. (Photo: Elizabeth Cohen)

The truth is, living in such a remote area, the importance of neighbors takes on a whole new meaning. I remember last year, when a tree fell, blocking the road, a few neighbors with pickup trucks hauled it away within an hour. When we first moved out here, we heard how the city doesn't come out this far to clear the road of snow, but not to worry: the farmer does it himself using his tractor.

事实是，生活在如此偏远的地区，邻居的重要性有了全新的意义。我记得去年，一棵树倒了，挡住了路，几个邻居开着小货车在一个小时内把它拖走了。当我们第一次搬到这里时，我们听说这个城市不会走这么远来清除道路上的积雪，但不用担心:农民自己用拖拉机来清除积雪。

The party today is taking place at the local chapter of the Isaak Walton League, of which Marie is a member. It's named after the famous 17th century father of fly fishing and author of "The Compleat Angler." Hundreds of local chapters like this one can be found across America. This particular one-story building, like many structures in Appalachia, looks like it was frozen sometime during the Nixon administration and defrosted just to host this Thanksgiving feast.

今天的聚会在伊萨克沃尔顿联盟的地方分会举行，玛丽是该联盟的成员之一。它是以17世纪著名的飞蝇钓鱼之父和《完美垂钓者》的作者命名的。在美国各地可以找到数百个这样的地方分会。这座独特的单层建筑，就像阿巴拉契亚的许多建筑一样，看起来像是在尼克松政府时期被冻住了，解冻只是为了举办这次感恩节宴会。

The Iocal chapter of the Isaak Walton League in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

Because we recently became backyard chicken keepers, and because we have more eggs than we know what to do with, Elizabeth brought deviled eggs. She dressed them up to look like our flock, which we lovingly nicknamed the "Co-Hens."

因为我们最近成了后院养鸡的人，因为我们的鸡蛋太多，不知该怎么处理，伊丽莎白带来了魔鬼蛋。她把它们打扮得像我们的鸡群，我们亲切地给它们起了个绰号叫“母鸡”。

Ever wonder how you make deviled eggs look like chickens? This is how. (Photo: Elizabeth Cohen)

One dish that would be noticeably absent from this year's affair was "Broken Glass" pie, a retro recipe from the 1960s featuring a graham cracker crust, Cool Whip and "shards" of Jell-O of varying colors. The dessert was from the kitchen of Mary Jane, the matriarch of Hoard Road and the wife of our beloved dairy farmer. She passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 90, after 66 years of marriage to Chuck. They met in high school and went square-dancing on their first date.

有一道菜在今年的活动中明显缺席，那就是“碎玻璃”派，这是上世纪60年代的复古食谱，特点是全麦脆饼皮、冷奶油和各种颜色的果冻碎片。甜点来自玛丽简的厨房，她是窖藏路的女族长，也是我们敬爱的奶农的妻子。几周前，在与查克结婚66年后，她去世了，享年90岁。他们在高中认识，第一次约会就去跳广场舞。

This block party was the first big communal gathering since her funeral earlier this month. Despite her age, Mary Jane knew how to light up a room with her broad smile and sly wit. At last year's New Year's Eve party, she cracked jokes as she beat us all at board games.

这是自本月早些时候她的葬礼以来的第一次大型社区聚会。玛丽·珍妮尽管上了年纪，但她知道如何用她那灿烂的笑容和狡黠的机智使房间里的气氛活跃起来。在去年的新年晚会上，她在棋盘游戏中击败了我们所有人，还讲了一些笑话。

Farmer Chuck (left) and our neighbor Bunnie at the Friendsgiving party. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

The conversation at the gathering revolves around the usual topic of choice for those living the country life: animals. We talked about our pets and, together, hatched a plan to catch our neighbor's renegade chicken who keeps escaping from her yard. We talked about another neighbor's basset hound who keeps walking over to the cafe with the slot machines down the road. "He's got a gambling problem," someone joked.

聚会上的谈话围绕着生活在乡村的人们通常选择的话题:动物。我们谈论了我们的宠物，一起策划了一个计划，要抓住我们邻居的鸡，它总是从她的院子里跑出来。我们谈到了另一个邻居的巴吉特猎犬，它总是带着老虎机走到咖啡馆。“他有赌博的毛病，”有人开玩笑说。

We are a random collective of people who, by dint of luck and geography, have created a neighborhood family. Most communal groups nowadays — whether online or off — coalesce themselves around a cause (the installation of speed bumps on a street) or an event (a kid's soccer match). Over on Hoard Road, we simply celebrate the fact that we all live near each other.

我们是一群随机的人，凭借运气和地理位置，建立了一个邻里家庭。如今，大多数社区组织——无论是在线的还是离线的——都围绕着一项事业(在街道上安装减速带)或一项活动(孩子们的足球比赛)团结起来。在窖藏之路上，我们只是庆祝我们都住在彼此附近。

Celebrating Thanksgiving with our new friends from Hoard Road. (Photo: Benyamin Cohen)

And I'm beginning to realize that that's an important aspect of rural life: Even though you can't see your neighbor's house, we're more reliant on each other than those who live in an urban environment. Who else are you going to call to borrow a chainsaw or when you need help pulling your truck out of a ditch?

我开始意识到这是农村生活的一个重要方面:即使你看不到邻居的房子，我们也比住在城市里的人更依赖彼此。当你需要帮助把你的卡车从沟里拉出来的时候，你还会向谁借电锯呢?

Living in rural America, where all of our mailboxes are grouped together at the top of our street, encourages us to see each other on a daily basis. We check in with each other. We ask about the animals. And we invite each other over to our homes. We've already received an invite to the New Year's Eve block party. And I already know what I'll be bringing.

生活在美国农村，我们所有的邮箱都放在街道的尽头，这鼓励我们每天都能看到对方。我们互相检查。我们询问动物。我们邀请对方到家里做客。我们已经收到了新年晚会的邀请。我已经知道我要带什么了。

Before Mary Jane passed away, she left me an envelope in my mailbox. It was the recipe to her famous Broken Glass Jell-O pie.

玛丽·珍妮去世前在我的信箱里给我留了一个信封。这就是她著名的碎玻璃果冻派的配方。