cafe 79 / 79號咖啡館

基隆的冬天一如往常，雨滴滴答答落著，空氣中有種爬進皮膚地下的寒意。母親領我到咖啡館之後，便下樓和委託行的老闆娘聊天。小小的咖啡店裡，安安靜靜的，只有一名看報紙的中年男子。我坐下來，盯著窗外隨風飄搖的吊飾盆栽，在這個雨濛濛的城市裡突然感到有些孤單。

Winter in Keelung has always been like that. The rain drops unceasingly, and the cold air creeps under my skin. After Mom leads me to the cafe, she goes downstairs to have her routine chat with the boutique owner. In the small, quiet coffee shop, there is only one middle-aged man reading newspapers. I sit down, staring at the fragile ferns flowing in the wind. Loneliess catches me, in this gray and rainy city.

不久，我陷入速寫的專心裡，我的耳朵便接手雙眼的工作：有位常客進來了，小姐泡完咖啡後，兩人話著家常；收音機傳來輕柔空靈的歌聲，很適合這個有點憂鬱的午後；常客離開後，咖啡館又恢復沉默好一陣子；母親進門時的清脆門鈴聲；小姐製作鬆餅噴奶油的聲音；樓下推著攤子的歐巴桑不時喊著：「買豆花喔！」

Soon, I am engrossed in sketching. My ears then take over the job of observing the world around me--an acquaintance comes; after the beautiful cafe owner serves the coffee, they two start a chat in low whispers; a soft and ethereal voice from the radio forms the background sound, which is perfect for this blue afternoon; after the old customer leaves, the cafe resumes its silence; when Mom comes in, the bell rings; the lady squeezes fresh cream onto the waffles; an old peddler downstairs keeps shouting, "Come for some been curds!"

我沒有抬起頭，卻有一種很安心的感覺，冬季的79號咖啡館被聲音包圍著，暖烘烘的。

I do not raise my head all the while, but I feel reassured. Cafe 79 in winter is surrounded by all kinds of sounds, and it is thus warm...