心灵钥匙

艾禺

我算准了时间，或许应该说我早已部署好一切，连钥匙都弄到手了，等待，等待某一个晚上的行动，如一股东风。

无意中的一通电话，让我知道大孙子和他的弟妹都要转校了，转到我家楼下对面的小学去，我有些意外，阿燕并没有跟我提起过，她前两天还回来家里坐了一会儿，眼神闪闪烁烁的，话没多两句匆匆又走了，然后家里就不见了一串钥匙！

走到这样的一个地步我也不想，但又能怎么样呢？他把那个女人带回来了，摆明要我和孩子离开。这个家，就算再死撑下去也不会有结果，只是四个人要找个地方落脚不容易，租一个房间就要六、七百块，以我一个月的工资，给了房租孩子就要饿肚子，我不能因为自己以前的不爱读书就让他们现在荒废学业，我的失败，他们无需重蹈覆辙。

Key to Her Heart

By Ai Yu
Translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang

The time is right. Or rather I should say: everything is prepared. I've even managed to get the key. Now we wait. Then one evening we'll move, like a spring wind.

An unexpected phone call from my grandson. He, his brother and sister are changing schools, moving to the one opposite my block. Strange, Ah Yan didn't mention this to me. She was here just two days ago, her eyes glittering oddly, hardly saying two sentences before she had to go. And afterwards, a bunch of keys disappeared from the house.

It wasn't by choice that I found myself here. But what can I do? He brought that woman home, making it clear he wants me and the kids to leave. Even if I struggled on, this family is over. It's not easy for four people to find a place to stay. Renting a room would cost six or seven hundred. With my salary, once I'd paid the rent, the children would have to go hungry. I can't let their studies suffer just because I didn't work hard enough at school. The fact that I failed doesn't mean they have to.