疫情下的日子 (枇杷园)

因为家小，所以已经不添家具了。疫情在家上班，也就是在主卧一角靠墙处放了一张小桌子，上面放上公司的手提电脑，和一些简单的办公用品。眼睛老花的加剧让我越来越不适应手提电脑这样的小屏幕，一天下来眼睛太累，不得已我架上了老花镜。某人倒是说过给我换大屏幕，可想想桌子太小，加上拎着手提电脑上上下下很方便，就一直拖着。

后来公司说，另一处的办公楼不打算租了，里面的椅子桌子可以送给员工。就这样，我要了一把办公室的好椅子(比自家Costco买的还要舒服)，一张很新的桌子，又问IT要了一台大大的monitor，就此准备长期在家备战。

扛回家中，先暂时摆在楼下的客厅里。长长的桌面，靠窗摆着，坐在正对着窗的桌边，感觉特别亮堂，一改坐在楼上小桌子前的拘束和相对的幽暗。因为桌子比较长，摆上了公司电脑后还有很多空地，还可以再摆一台自己的电脑，感觉真好:))

感恩节在家休息，早晨起来后一个人下楼，炖上一锅粥后，便坐在了这张书桌前，拉开窗帘看书做笔记。冬日的阳光照着邻家的黄瓦屋顶上，和耸立一旁的白色尖顶装饰。湛蓝的天空，一碧如洗。打开窗，秋冬清冽的空气随之而来，静静的四周间断性地传来邻居家鹦鹉嘎嘎的叫声。渐渐地，阳光开始照到我家后院，一点点从左边转到右边，从火龙果枝条移到枇杷树梢上。虽然冬日的阳光是照不进这朝西的窗户和房间的，但是满目的阳光已经让我感觉到它的温暖。

某人从楼上下来，看见了说，"这样的桌子你一个人用很享受吧"，说完走近要重新摆一摆台灯，说要让"暖冬居"更温馨。可能"暖冬居"这三个字说出口又觉得有点拗口，马上又脑筋急转弯说，人家有"百草园"，你这个就叫"枇杷园"。

"枇杷园"，我抬头看着窗外的枇杷树，想象着它明年四五月硕果累累时的金黄，笑着说道，"名字不错，就叫枇杷园，改明我出书了，也学别人落款--某年某月于枇杷园。我继续自我嬉笑道。"只可惜了这客厅被这一张桌子一摆，更小了，也有点不搭了"。

"你知道吗，现在的新房结构已经把厅的功能弱化了......"某人及时地供应着新信息。

想想也是，疫情下人与人的交往只限于空中，如果一切恢复正常，又有多少朋友会常来家里聚聚呢? 人老了，其实朋友也少了。

随后，我从楼上拿来几块我喜欢的石头，放在窗沿边，又找出2010上海世博会上浙江馆送的两个小陶瓷碟，盛上水，将其余几颗小的放入水中。并摆出装有自己年轻时照片的相框，颇有几分占山为王的架势，临近中午时分，已经很少拍照的我主动提出让某人帮着自己和枇杷树照了一张像，让2020年十一月二十九日定格在了相片中。若干年后看到这张照片一定会想起这一天，疫情下的一个周日，因着一张书桌，一个玩笑，有了这样一段片刻的遐想......

When the new desk was fetched from the office in mid-November (11/14), we placed it at the living room, temporarily, as he thought of replacing his desk upstairs.  But the empty white desk, long, clean and setting across the window, was inviting. One day I chose to sit by and work for a whole day. The striking contrast between sitting behind a small table against the walls and a long one against a window made me cling to it, and the fondness only grew by days, when my own personal laptop  could now sit side by side without squeeze. 

This Thanksgiving was quiet and non-festive. Though still some house chores around, the cooking wasn’t heavy.   Alone downstairs in the mornings was my time of reading for the days.  The crisp air was let in through the open window, along with sporadic sounds of the chirping birds. The neighbor’s parrot squawked occasionally, its noises loud but muffled from the closed window, breaking the morning peace. The sun came out early, soaking the neighbor’s orange roof, the nearby white spire and the distant pine tree top.  The sky was cloudless blue. As the clock ticked by, the sun began to bestow upon my garden.  It first reached the sprawling dragon fruit on the high trellis, and then gradually suffused the top of the loquat tree.  The early bloomed loquat flowers are in its first stage of fruiting, but late bloomers are still flowering, attracting bees and hummingbirds for the honey.

He came downstairs for late breakfast. Seeing me by the table reading, he came over to better postion the desk lamp, jesting that if one day I were to publish a book, this dubbed “loquat corner”, as it faces the loquat tree in the backyard, should be mentioned in the preface :)