Unshaven, still drowsy, I lock the door to my 5th floor Taipei flat. I check my watch as I wait for the elevator, realizing I'll likely be late for class. When the elevator door finally opens, after an annoyingly slow descent from a floor high above, I come face to face with some upper-story neighbors, a mother and her young son. The boy is four or five and carries a huge slice of watermelon covered in clear plastic wrap. I notice the yellow of the melon perfectly matches the yellow of the bicycle stenciled on his teeshirt. The mother, as usual, has way overdone her makeup, and is carrying an oversized Louis Vuitton bag. The boy smiles at me, but the woman keeps her gaze on the floor.
Then, as the doors close, she suddenly whacks her son sharply on the head and snaps in Mandarin: "Stop touching the melon! You'll ruin it and no one will want to eat it! It's like butterfly wings. If you touch them you ruin them!"
I watch the boy's reaction in the mirror as the elevator begins to descend.
"Do people eat butterfly wings?" he asks her after a few seconds.
She makes a scoffing noise and says just a single word: "Stupid." She clutches her bag closer.
As we near the ground floor, I catch the boy's eye in the mirror. He's clearly upset to be hit and insulted in front of the tall foreigner. As the elevator slows to a stop, I smile at him and say: "We eat them in my country."
And just before the doors open, he looks up at his mother and defiantly says: "He eats them!"
As I step out of the elevator, I catch the mother scowling at me. But the boy is happy. I know in his mind he's already picturing foreigners munching on yellow butterfly wings.
That I'll be late for my class matters little now. I step out into the rain, hoist my flimsy umbrella, and head to the subway. I'm glad I caught them on the elevator. One must always try one's best to get to children when they're young.
自然教學方法
昏昏欲睡了，還沒刮鬍子，我把我五層樓房子的大門鎖好，等電梯來。我看手錶，了解我第一堂課會遲到。電梯從很高的樓層下降得很慢。門終於打開我遇到上面某層樓的鄰居，一個媽媽和她小兒子，大概五歳。兒子帶著一大片西瓜，上面有保鮮紙。我覺得黃色的西瓜搭配他T恤上面的黃色腳踏車。照樣，他媽媽的化妝太濃，她帶著一個大大的LV包。
電梯門關了，媽媽突然打兒子的頭，說：「別一直摸！你會弄壞，不會有人想吃！像蝴蝶翅膀，你摸就會弄壞！」
我在鏡子裡可以看到孩子的臉。電梯開始下降。
「有人會吃蝴蝶翅膀嗎？」兒子過幾秒問他媽媽。
她發出嗤音，只說一個子：「笨。」她把她的包包拉近一點。
我從鏡子裡看到男孩在看我。我明白他在高高的外國人面前這樣被打又被受辱感到羞愧。當電梯快要停在一樓時，我微笑對他說：「在我的國家我們會吃。」
然後，電梯開門跟前，他抬頭對他媽媽强嘴說：「他會吃！」
我走出電梯時，一眼看看媽媽做鬼臉。不過兒子開心。我知道他在心裡已經可以看到吃黃色蝴蝶翅膀的外國人。
我會遲到第一堂課沒關係。大部分我的學生也會遲到。我打開雨傘，往捷運站走。儘可能啟發小孩是必要的。
[四十多歲小孩寫的文字。 謝謝我學生畢莘幫我改我的錯誤，但她應該太有禮貌， 應該還有怪怪的地方。]
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