加国头条 i4cc.ca ｜ The Cottage in the estuary 河口的小屋

“Perhaps, I am a view of others who encounter me in their life, no matter seeing them again or not. 对于那些曾经邂逅的人来说，无论将来能否再见，我也许是他们眼中的一道风景。 ”

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A cottage / 木屋

The seashore village was quiet and dark at night. The moon and stars were concealed by the thick clouds. Guided by the dim headlight, I drove along a winding trail on the hillside back to my accommodation, a cottage named as “Le Port d’attache”. Since coming again, it was not too difficult to get there as it was in the afternoon, my first time looking for it, without an explicit landmark except for the rocks.

海边小镇的夜晚宁静而深沉，厚重的云层遮住了月亮与星辰的光辉。借着昏黄的车灯，顺着蜿蜒的坡道再次回住到处，一路还算顺利。下午初来乍到的时候确实难找，一路上除了岩石，没有什么特别的标记。

The cottage is the home of an elder couple, who have been running it as an accommodation for tourists for many years. The cottage is one of the not many accommodations in Saint-Irenee, a less popular spot for tourists. Even so, the rooms are usually sold out particularly in weekend. In the being cold season, I was lucky to book a room for one night in weekdays in spite of changes in my schedule only 24 hours ago. When booking on line, by some chance, I had watched myself input a check-in date a week after it should be. Discovery was only a day before being there.

这是一所名叫“阿泰祺港”的木屋，是一对老夫妇的家，他们多年来一直把它当作家庭旅馆经营着。圣伊雷内不是旅游热点，因此住宿不多。即便如此，周末的房间也往往能够被订满。在这个日渐寒冷的季节，我在非周末时段订上了一晚。没成想当初网订时，鬼使神差般地把入住日期整整错后了一周。发现时，离实际入住也就剩下一天的时间。好在还能有空闲的房间。

The view on the run / 途中的山景

Arriving in a sunny or cloudy afternoon, I was amazed by the beautiful bungalow on an uphill, surrounded by blooming flowers in which a sign showed “Le Port d’attache”, telling visitors “here is home”. Walking to the entrance in the east stone wall, sheltered by a porch spacious enough to park a large Ram, I stepped up to a white-painted door with a faint blue lifebuoy. Through a short hallway piled with dozens of brochures and books, I was in a spacious room combining the functions of kitchen, dining hall and living room, furnished with pieces of old fashion furniture neatly. A stone wall with an inlaid fireplace demonstrated a style of 1990s. Stepping off the living room, I was attracted by a patio extending into an elegant garden, fenced by maples, birches and poplars with motley foliage. Out there, I saw the glittering emerald water in the estuary, or hidden or shown.

我在一个时阴时晴的下午达到这里，沿坡道上行，映入眼帘的是山坡上一座漂亮的平房，花团锦簇。花丛中一块招牌上写着“阿泰祺港”，告诉访客这里就是家。房门开在房子的东山墙，门廊宽敞得足以停得下一辆大公羊皮卡。登上几阶木梯，是一扇白漆入户门，门上挂着一个有些褪色的蓝色救生圈。门内的过道里摆放着很多书籍和旅行手册，连通到一个敞亮的多功能空间：厨房、餐厅和客厅。厅里整齐地摆放着一些老式家具，对面的石墙上嵌着一个壁炉，有一种上世纪九十年代的范儿。客厅外面连接着一个大露台，以及一个精致的花园，周围种着红枫、白桦、黄杨等树木，秋叶色彩斑驳。远处可以眺望到河口中碧绿的海水，波光粼粼。

The view of the estuary / 河口的风景

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The night / 夜宿

However, I saw nothing in the darkness at night. I didn’t find anything interesting in the rural cottage until the hostess showed me a notebook. It was a faded black hard-cover book with messages written by tourists in various language. I quickly went through the book, skipping French and other language I couldn’t read, and roughly understood some people expressed their happiness and appreciations. Since nothing to do in the evening, I loved to write something to spend the leisure time there. In English or Chinese? I prefer to the latter, making the notebook more international and multicultural. Although the host and hostess didn’t read Chinese, someone bilingual of Chinese and French would tell my story to them someday later. Or, at least, they would show them to new visitors as a particular multicultural item of wordings and handwritings.

夜幕中可是什么都看不见。在这乡间田舍内，除了老大妈展示给我的一个笔记本，暂时也没有什么令人感兴趣的事情。这是一个用了多年的黑色硬皮本，内里面游客写下了很多留言，各种语言。我快速地翻看着，掠过法语和其他一些我不认识的文字，大致明白这是游客所表达的愉悦和感谢之辞。既然无所事事，我也索性乐于写一些东西消磨这夜晚的闲暇时光。用英文还是汉字？我倾向于后者，尽管老夫妇俩看不懂，也许在将来的某一天，一位通晓法语和汉语的人，会把我的故事讲给他们听。至少，他们可以向后来的人们展示这个由文字和手迹组成的特殊的文化展品。

A lake in the mountain / 山中的湖泊

The couple spoke less English while I didn’t speak French at all, but it didn’t discourage us chatting with each other. By limited English words, they asked me where I came from and what to do here. They were very glad to hear that I drove from Toronto to experience the northeast Quebec. And then, they were excited to introduce the local attractions, while I felt tough to follow them and their subjects. Obviously the hostess noticed my awkwardness, and handed over me another photo book about Charlevoix, making our topic easier to be followed up. Perhaps out of curiosity, “what do you do in Toronto?”, asked the hostess. “I am an accountant in a bank”, I immediately replied. But she didn’t respond, instead, she stood up and turned away. When staggeringly back, she held a very thick dictionary, put it in front of me and pointed at the cover with her wrinkled hand, an English-French and French-English dictionary. Apparently she didn’t catch up my words. Following the English index, I quickly found the word “expert-comptable”, the accountant in French. It worked very well. By this means, we were talking for a long time. To be honest, I really admired her creative thinking of such means to bridge the language gap between us. Why didn’t I think of “Google Translate” then? I shouldn’t have left my laptop in the bedroom useless.

老人们很少讲英语，而我对法语更是一窍不通。然而我们互相沟通的兴致一点都不少。凭借着有限的英文词汇，他们问我从哪里来，来这里做什么。我说我来自多伦多，到这里就是为了感受一下东北部魁北克的风土人情。听到这些，他们显然来了兴致，不断地介绍着当地的情况和周边的好去处。而我却基本跟不上他们的节奏。大妈显然看出了我的尴尬，随手又递给我一本下龙湾地区的画册，这让我们更容易交流了。也许是出于好奇，大妈问我：“你在多伦多做什么？”我不假思索地答道：“我在银行做会计。”她没有反应，而是起身而去。当她再次缓缓走回来的时候，手里拿着一本厚厚的字典，放在我的面前，又用她那布满皱纹的手指了指标题，这是一本英法法英互译词典。显然她没有明白我的话。按照英文索引，我很快就找到了“会计师”的法语表达。这方法倒是很管用！借助着字典，我们又聊了好一阵儿。说实话，我挺佩服老太太这个跨越语言障碍的创意思维。后来我就想，当时我怎么就没想到谷歌翻译呢？我不应该把电脑扔在卧室里面闲置。

Foliage in valley /山谷秋叶

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The morning / 早晨

The cozy single bed released my fatigue of traveling all day long. I even forgot where I was when I woke up in the morning, only hearing it was raining out there. The house was quiet, except for the hissing coffee pot, the tinkling toaster and the sizzling pan. The host and hostess were preparing the breakfast in the kitchen. The smell of fried bacon was full of the room. Their busyness in the morning warmed the house everywhere, dispersing the coldness poured by the rain on the windows and glass door. The table had already been set up with sliced kiwi, apple, banana, orange and grape, served with light yellow local cheese and golden brown homemade muffin. The china on the table were briefly painted with images of fruit and vegetable, as a watermelon in the plate, a eggplant on the mug, and a pear in the bowl. What mostly caught my eyes were the sorts of homemade jams, made from peach, blueberry and cranberry, reserving the summer’s flavors. What a big breakfast! Enjoying the coffee and chatting in a rainy fall morning, I wished it was raining all day long. But I had to go, not only because of another business in Montreal that day, but felling snow soon after the rain. I didn’t want to be stuck helplessly in the mountain. After the breakfast, they were seeing me off out of the door, like seeing their children leaving home.

A lake in the mountain / 山中的湖泊

床的舒适缓释了我奔波一天的疲乏。甚至在早上醒来的时候，几乎忘记了身在何处，只有窗外的雨声不绝于耳。厅里很安静，咖啡壶喷着热气，小烤箱弹吐着面包片，平底锅滋滋作响。此时，大爷大妈正在厨房里准备着早餐。油煎培根的香味充斥了整个房间。他们的忙碌给早晨的小屋增添了暖意，驱赶着窗外门外雨水泼洒而来的湿冷。餐桌基本收拾停当，果盘里盛放着一片片的猕猴桃、苹果、香蕉、香橙还有提子。金黄色的手工纸杯蛋糕旁边还放在乳白色的本地切片奶酪。桌上的一盘一碗都绘有水果蔬菜的图案，有的是一个西瓜，有的是一条茄子，有的是一只梨。最令人垂涎的是自制的果酱，有桃酱、蓝莓酱还有蔓越莓酱，瓶瓶罐罐里储存了夏天的味道。多么丰盛的早餐！在这个阴冷潮湿的早晨，一边喝着咖啡，一边聊天，真希望这雨就这样一直下着。走还是要走，不仅仅是因为在蒙特利尔还有别的安排，还有雨后随之而来的降雪，我不想就这样被雪困在山区里。餐后，大爷大妈把我送出门，就像送即将远行的孩子。

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Return / 返程

Snow in the mountain / 山中落雪

As saying, after the rain, it didn’t take a long time that large snowflakes were blown down from the dark dampened clouds on my way back to Quebec City. The peaks showed themselves in and out of the mist now and then. It was like driving through a space full of flakes when crossing ridges. The colored boreal forests and meadows were soon decorated with white. When down to the river lowland, the flakes turned into strings of rain drops, cleaning the trees in the field and vehicles on the run. Charlevoix changed itself into another scene. In the past 24 hours I had almost experienced sunshine, cloud, rain and flurry, like traveling in time from summer through winter, and rewarded with stunning and changeful scenery, from valley to summit, from river to ocean. The most unforgettable, however, is the host’s hospitality and the warm atmosphere in their cottage. Admittedly, it is only a single day with me in their life, but the messages left on the note book and their website witness their enthusiasm for every visitor day after day, year after year. Saint-Irenee has been fading out of my rearview mirror, while other sceneries are still on my way ahead. Perhaps, I am a particular view in their eyes. Perhaps, I am a view of others who encounter me in their life, no matter seeing them again or not. If so, what view should I present to them as their best memories, recalled someday late?

The boreal forest / 北方的森林

果然，雨后不久，在前往魁北克城的路上，大片的雪花从阴沉沉的云层中吹落了下来。山峰在云雾中若隐若现。驾车翻越山岗的时候，就仿佛在雪片的世界中穿梭。原本色彩斑澜的森林和草地很快就披上了素装。车行驶到河岸谷地，雪片又变成了一串串的雨滴，洗刷着原野中的树木和行驶中的车辆。下龙湾展现出了别样的风貌。过去的一天里，我经历了阳光、云雨和飞雪，犹如从夏日穿越到了冬季；从高峰到山谷，从河流到汪洋，目睹了时间和空间上景观的变迁。然而最难忘的是老夫妇的热情和小屋中的融融暖意。诚然，对我来说这只是他们的一天而已，但是从笔记本以及网页留言中可以看到他们对待每一位过客都是这样，日复一日，年复一年。圣伊雷内在我的后视镜中渐行渐远，而路的前方还将会有另一番风景呈现。也许，在他们眼中，我也是一道风景；也许，对于那些与我邂逅的人们来说，无论将来能否再见，我也会是他们眼中的风景。那么，我又该将怎样的风景展现出来，某一天，他们也会偶然记起？