The Empty Chair at Sunday Dinner

Every Sunday, Dara's mother set the table for six, even though only five people ever sat down. The sixth place had been empty for a year, ever since Dara had started dating Kenji and stopped bringing anyone to dinner at all.

每个周日，达拉的母亲都会摆上六个人的餐位，尽管坐下来吃饭的从来只有五个人。第六个位子已经空了一年，自从达拉开始和健二交往，就再也不带任何人回家吃饭了。

It wasn't that her mother had said anything cruel. She hadn't needed to. A single raised eyebrow when Dara mentioned his name had been enough. A pointed question about "his people" and "his plans" taught Dara that the easiest solution was to keep the two halves of her life apart.

倒不是说她母亲说过什么难听的话。她根本不需要。达拉一提起他的名字，母亲只要挑一下眉毛就够了。再加上那些意有所指的问题，问“他家里人”怎么样，问“他有什么打算”，让达拉明白，最省事的办法，就是把自己生活的两半分开。

Kenji had noticed, of course. He wasn't unreasonable about it. But after a year of being introduced to Dara's friends, and never once to her family, he had started to wonder what the silence meant.

健二当然注意到了。他并没有为此无理取闹。可是一年来，他被介绍给了达拉所有的朋友，却一次也没有见过她的家人，他开始琢磨这份沉默到底意味着什么。

"I'm not asking you to fix your mother," he told her one evening. "I'm asking whether you think this is ever going to change, because I need to know if I'm waiting for something real."

“我不是要你去改变你妈妈，”一天晚上他对她说。“我是想问，你觉得这件事会有改变的一天吗？因为我需要知道，我等的是不是一件真实的事。”

Dara had rehearsed a dozen answers to that question and had never once said any of them out loud. She should have brought it up months ago, before the question had to be asked for her.

对这个问题，达拉在心里排练过十几种回答，却一次也没有大声说出口。她早在几个月前就该提起这件事，而不是等到这个问题得由别人替她问出来。

The following Sunday, she called her mother and said she was bringing someone. Her mother went quiet on the phone for a moment, long enough that Dara nearly took it back.

接下来的周日，她给母亲打了电话，说自己要带一个人回来。母亲在电话那头沉默了一会儿，久到达拉差点把话收回。

"Alright," her mother finally said. "Six o'clock. Don't be late."

“好吧，”母亲终于说。“六点。别迟到。”

It wasn't a warm invitation, but it wasn't a refusal either. Dara had learned by now that with her mother, those two things could look almost identical.

这不算是一份热情的邀请，但也不是拒绝。达拉现在已经明白，对她母亲来说，这两样东西看起来几乎一模一样。

Dinner was tense at first. Kenji answered every question carefully, and her mother asked several she clearly hadn't planned to ask. Halfway through the meal, though, her mother laughed at something he said, quickly, as if it had surprised her too.

晚饭一开始气氛很紧张。健二认真地回答每一个问题，而她母亲还问了好几个显然本来没打算问的问题。不过，吃到一半的时候，母亲被他说的某句话逗笑了，笑得很快，仿佛连她自己也感到意外。

Nothing was fully resolved by dessert. But when Dara looked at the table, the sixth chair was finally being used, and for now, that felt like enough of a beginning.

到甜点时，什么都没有彻底解决。但当达拉看向餐桌，第六把椅子终于有人坐了，而此刻，这已经足够算作一个开始了。