童年時候經常隨母親回她的家鄉廣東小欖鎮, 因此留下了很多兒時的回憶。倒是在無數表格中填寫過的自己的籍貫——順德龍江，卻一直末有涉足, 直到在美國十八年後才第一次踏上尋根之旅, 那是後話了。
大概所有讀書的孩子們都是一樣, 很想放假，我是他們之中的要加上 “更”字的那個。 因為是實在的懶和貪玩。我特別喜歡的是假期有機會跟母親回鄉探親, 坐上當年的 “花尾渡”--本身沒有機器, 要靠小火輪拖著行的船。 黃昏時候在廣州長堤大鐘樓對面江邊下船, 在那僅僅躺得下一個人的鋪位上睡過一個晚上, 第二天拂曉便到小欖的沙口碼頭。
沙口碼頭座落在一條很寬的堤壩上, 堤壩的另一邊, 有一條通往鎮中心的小河。二、三十米寬的河面一邊是石板路, 路邊有著各種各樣的的小鋪，鄉村的氣息在清晨是格外的濃。小鋪子升起的縷縷炊煙，飄過小河, 很快便在另一邊的田野上消失了, 再也分不清是炊煙還是晨霧。
我不知道這小河有沒有它的名字, 它流向哪裡? 也記不起什麼時候開始, 石板路變成了公路, 使這條小河變成了大渠。這河上有不少木橋，但我記憶中的十二橋卻不是在這條小河上，而是在小鎮中央，比這小河要還要窄得多的小溪上。
我第一次聽到 “十二橋”, 是我表兄說起小欖前科舉人的一首詩， 詩中有 “五松六路三叉水, 一洞梅花十二橋。” 這名句。因為表兄說話小欖口音很重，念起這詩來，更是有板有眼，字正腔圓，別有一番地方風味。據說是為了這句詩, “十二橋” 便成了小欖鎮的有名景點了。
當年表兄領著我, 有時還有我舅父，舅母和後來成了我姐夫的 “十一” ，很多時都沿著那小溪散步或到什麼地方串門。那年頭，實在沒有太多的生活消遣的方式，在鄉村的石板路上走著，路旁一灣綠水，我不時可以跳起摘片掛下來的樹葉，確實是很寫意的事情。
當你看到小溪兩邊的人家打開那扇小門，互相打招呼的那份優閒，以及小溪裡不時因為蜻蜓或小鳥點過而掀起的陣陣漣渏。你會覺得這條彎彎曲曲的小溪，就像一條綠色帶子，把鎮上人們的生活連在了一起。
小溪上面的橋，其實只是一塊兩米長左右的石板，有的是單塊的，有的是兩塊並在一起。到底是否真有十二座這樣的小橋，大概也從來沒有人去認真數過。看起來, “橋” 是小溪兩邊的人家，為了方便來往隨意放上去的。如果沒有這些石板，溪兩邊的人家會老死不相往來。
遇上那一代人有了些過節，說不定這些石板又會被搬掉，那就真的是過不去了。 但遇上溪兩邊對戶的人家通親，說不準又多搭上塊石板，這樣，小溪就會多了一條橋。或者橋的數量就是這樣加加減減，始終保持著十二這個數字吧？如果沒有這些小石板橋，人們要繞過很遠的路才能到小溪的另一邊, 當然我們在小溪的橋上跳來跳去的興致也沒有了。
梅花，我記得在鎮上是從來沒有看見過，據說以前真有過一小山洞被稱為 “梅花洞” ，但也是沒有梅花的。小欖是有名的菊城，盛產菊花，人們喜歡種各樣的菊花，而且很有藝朮地把它們弄成各種形狀。每隔六十年, 小欖會舉辦一次菊花盛會，甚至千里迢迢的外省人，也來趁這個熱鬧。我想, 為什麼不把詩中的梅花換成菊花呢？ “兩岸菊花十二橋” 不是更加貼切？
梅花在詩歌中向來最受寵，當然是無花可比。 陶淵明的 “採菊東蘺下” 可惜也不是在小欖， 詩人要從別處借來梅花，不能不說是一種無奈吧。反正菊花也好，梅花也好， 襯著此橋此水，都已是一幅絕妙的畫圖。
幾十年以後, 在異國的土地上, 一次我在遠程駕車的途中, 驀然發現有一路牌標誌著 “Twelve Bridge” (十二橋), 一下子心絃好象被重重地融動了，我不禁將車子沿著路牌的指示駛離了高速公路， 停在了 “十二橋” 上。這是一座寵然大物，但也是一座除了用 “枯燥” 便沒有其它詞可以形容的橋。橋下並沒有水，只看到那飛揚的塵土，沒有盡頭的大公路及滾滾的車流。橋的兩邊是連綿不斷的黃色山頭，內華達州的夏天，你是不會看到一點綠色的。 我很快回到車上，離開了這 “十二橋” 。
我的車子在路上奔馳著, 很快便溶進那飛揚的塵土和滾滾的車流之中。在沒有盡頭的路上，我好像在要追回已經失去的一些什麼，但我也知道這些東西永遠找不回來，那是童年, 還有已經離開我們的親人。
The Twelfth Bridge
When I was a child, I often returned to my mother’s hometown of Xiaolan Town, Guangdong Province, and left a lot of childhood memories. However, for those countless forms about my own hometown Shunde Longjiang has been involved in the end, until the first time 18 years later after I left China for the United States. That was on the journey of root-seeking.
Probably all the children who study in school are the same, I really want to have a holiday. I am the one who wants to add the word "more" because I was really lazy and playful. What I particularly like is that during the holidays, I have the opportunity to go with my mother to her hometown to visit our relatives.
We took the “Huaweidu” in those old days. It did not have a machine, and rely on a small fire boat to drag it.
At dusk, we disembarked at the riverside opposite the Great Bell Tower in Guangzhou, and slept in a small bed for one night in the cabin, that was only good for one person. The next day we arrived Shakou Pier in Xiaolan.
The Shakou Wharf is located on a wide dam , and on the other side of the dam there was a small river leading to the town center. On the side of the river, two or thirty meters wide, there was a stone road on the side and there were all kinds of small shops on the roadside. The atmosphere of the village is extraordinarily thick in the morning, the smoke rising from the small shop, drifting across the river, and soon went to the other side of the field then disappeared. You couldn’t tell that was smoke or morning fog.
I didn’t know that if this river has its name. Where did it flow to? Can't remember when it started, the stone road became a cement road, turning this river into a canal. There were many wooden bridges on the river, but the twelve bridges I remember were not on this small river, but on the creek in the middle of the town, which is much narrower than this small river.
The first time I heard the "Twelve Bridges", it was my cousin who spoke of a poem by the former scholars of Xiaolan. The poems contained "five pines and six roads with three forks and one hole with plum bridges." Because the cousin spoke Xiaolan accent is very heavy, when reading this poem, that was very interesting. It was said that for this poem, "Twelve Bridges" has become a famous attraction in Xiaolan Town.
When my cousin led me, sometimes my uncle, my aunt and my brother-in-law, we often walked along the creek or went to somewhere. At that time, there was really not much way for entertainment, we walked on the stone road in the country. There was a green water on the roadside. From time to time, I could jump up the leaves hanging from the slices. It was really a pleasant thing.
The bridge above the creek is actually just a slab of about two meters long, some are single pieces, some are two pieces together; whether there are really 12 such small bridges or not, probably no one has ever seriously counted them. It seems that the "bridge" is the people on both sides of the creek. If you don't have these slates, the people on both sides of the creek would never get together.
In the case of the generation, there were some festivals. Maybe these slates will be removed again, then it was really impossible to pass. However, when they meet the family on both sides of the creek, they were not allowed to take a slate. In this way, the creek will have more bridge. Or is the number of bridges added and subtracted, always holding the number twelve? Without these small slate bridges, people have to go a long way to get to the other side of the creek. Of course, the enthusiasm of jumping around on the bridge of the creek was gone.
Plum I remember that I had never seen it in the town. It was said that there was a small cave in the past called "Meihua Cave", but there is no plum blossom. Xiaolan was a famous chrysanthemum, rich in chrysanthemums. People like to plant a variety of chrysanthemums, and they are artistically made into various shapes. Every sixty years, Xiaolan will hold a chrysanthemum event, and even the people from other provinces who are thousands of miles away will come to this excitement. I think, why not change the plum in the poem to chrysanthemum? "Twelve bridges of cross-strait chrysanthemums" was not more appropriate?
Plum blossoms had always been the most favored in poetry, of course. Tao Yuanming's "Picking the Chrysanthemum East" is not unfortunately not in Xiaolan. The poet had to borrow plum blossoms from elsewhere. It couldn’t be said that it is a helplessness. Anyway, the chrysanthemum was also good, the plum blossoms, and the water that lining the bridge is a wonderful painting.
A few decades later, on a foreign land, once on the way to driving remotely, I found a sign that marked "Twelve Bridge". It seems that the heartstrings had been heavily tempered. I drove off the highway along the signs and stopped at the "Twelve Bridges".
This was a huge thing, but it was also a bridge that could be described without words other than “boring”. There was no water under the bridge, only the flying dust, the big road without end and the rolling traffic. On both sides of the bridge was a continuous yellow hill, in the summer of Nevada, you would not see a little green. I quickly returned to the car and left the "Twelve Bridges".
My car was running on the road, and soon it melted into the flying dust and rolling traffic. On the road without end, I seemed to be recovering what I had lost, but I also knew that these things could never be found, they were childhood, and our relatives, who left us forever.
康瑋發，廣東人，中國上世紀＂老三屆＂。曾在雷州半島農場耕耘七年，後招工回廣州黃埔港務局工作。參加了改革開放後的1978年第二次高考，入讀廣州市師範學院中文系。1982年移民美國加州，退休前在Raley’s超級商場任職高管。現閒居在家，喜歡旅遊。
朗讀者簡介
山那邊，喜歡自然簡約，喜歡文字，喜歡音樂，偶爾朗讀。
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