A Middling Animal 《中等動物》
Flash Fiction 極短篇
A Middling Animal
Neither here nor there.
Walking, waiting, getting irritated now and then.
Being a little nosy, watching what’s happening on the street.
Some idiot riding a bicycle on the sidewalk,
with that look of “Yeah, so what?”
All I can do is stare through my glasses.
Oh… what an idiot.
Ah, green light.
Red again.
Sigh.
Around the corner, another donut shop with a line outside.
Deep-fried, loaded with artificial cream and sickly sweet filling.
Oh, another bunch of people with nothing better to do, following the latest trend.
I glance over.
Among the crowd, I catch sight of someone from…
The moment she turns to look back.
Those damn donuts.
Red light.
What now?
Say something?
Pretend I didn’t see her?
Whatever.
She walks toward me, holding a donut.
Takes a bite, leaving a smear of pale green filling at the corner of her mouth.
Pistachio?
Looks so good.
Or maybe…
The moment she opens her mouth,
I silently repeat the words, like some kind of spell:
Don’t break my heart.
Don’t break my heart.
Don’t break my heart.
中等動物
不上不下。
走路，等著，偶爾很煩躁。
有點雞婆地看著路邊。
一台白目腳踏車騎在人行道上，
還一副「我就是這樣啊」的樣子。
只能隔著眼鏡看著。
噢……白目。
啊，綠燈。
又轉紅燈了。
哎。
轉角，又有一間甜甜圈店在排隊。
油炸的，一堆人工奶油，甜膩的內餡。
噢，又是一群吃飽沒事做的跟風者。
眼神瞅了一眼。
人群中，看到曾經的……
她回眸的那一刻。
這該死的甜甜圈。
紅燈。
該怎麼辦？
開口說話？
假裝沒看見？
無所謂啦。
她拿著甜甜圈走過來，
一口咬下去，嘴角沾著青綠色的餡。
開心果口味嗎？
真好看。
還是……
她張開口的那一瞬間，
我默念著，像是某種咒語：
Don’t break my heart.
Don’t break my heart.
Don’t break my heart.
A Note from Eva
A Middling Animal came from little observations of everyday life. Listening to music, watching people on the street, and wondering why everyone seems to love donuts so much.
Eva 的創作筆記
關於《中等動物》，其實就是一些日常的觀察。聽著歌，看著路上的人，偶爾想著，為什麼大家這麼熱愛甜甜圈呢？
