Getting Married（结婚记）by Sanmao, translated by Abby

结婚记

Getting Married

去年冬天的一个清晨，荷西和我坐在马德里的公园里。那天的气候非常寒冷，我将自己由眼睛以下都盖在大衣下面，只伸出一只手来丢面包屑喂麻雀。荷西穿了一件旧的厚夹克，正在看一本航海的书。“三毛，你明年有什么大计划？”他问我。

One morning in last winter, Hexi and I sat in a park in Madrid. It was very cold. I covered my whole body in the coat except my eyes and one hand feeding the sparrows with bread crumbs. Hexi, in his old thick jacket, was reading a book on navigation. “Sanmao, what’s your big plan for next year?” He asked me.

“没什么特别的，过完复活节以后想去非洲。”

“Nothing special. But I want to go to Africa after Easter.”

“摩洛哥吗？你不是去过了？”他又问我。

“Morroco? Haven’t you been there already?” He asked again.

“去过的是阿尔及利亚，明年想去的是撒哈拉沙漠。”

“It was Algeria that I have been to. Next year, I want to go to the Sahara Desert.”

荷西有一个很大的优点，任何三毛所做的事情，在别人看来也许是疯狂的行为，在他看来却是理所当然的。所以跟他在一起也是很愉快的事。

Hexi has a great merit—anything I want to do might appear insane to others, while to him it is always natural. Therefore, I enjoy being with him very much.

“你呢？”我问他。“我夏天要去航海，好不容易念书，服兵役，都告一个段落了。”他将手举起来放在颈子后面。“船呢？”我知道他要一条小船已经好久了。

“What about you?” I asked him. “I want to go sailing this summer, since I just managed to finish school as well as the military service.” He put his hands behind the neck. “You got a boat?” I knew he had been longing for a boat for a long time. 

“黑稣父亲有条帆船借我们，明年去希腊爱琴海，潜水去。”我相信荷西，他过去说出来的事总是做到的。

“Father Heisu could lend us his sailing boat. Next year, I will go to Aegean Sea in Greece for diving.” I believed Hexi because he had always lived up to his promises.

“你去撒哈拉预备住多久？去做什么？”

“How long will you be staying in Sahara? What are you going to do there?”

“总得住个半年一年吧！我要认识沙漠。”这个心愿是我自小念地理以后就有的了。

“Six months or even a year is surely necessary. I want to know the desert.” It has been in my thought since I studied geography when I was little.

“我们六个人去航海，将你也算进去了，八月赶得回来吗？”我将大衣从鼻子上拉下来，很兴奋的看着他。“我不懂船上的事，你派我什么工作？”口气非常高兴。

“There will be six of us going sailing and you are already counted in. Can you make it by August?” I pulled the coat off my nose and looked at him excitedly. “I know nothing about sailing, and what will you assign me to do?” I said with a happy tone.  

“你做厨子兼摄影师，另外我的钱给你管，干不干？”

“You will be our cook and photographer. Besides, I’ll let you manage my money. Deal?”

“当然是想参加的，只怕八月还在沙漠里回不来，怎么才好？我两件事都想做。”真想又捉鱼又吃熊掌。

“Of course I want to join you, but I am afraid that I will still be in the desert by August. What should I do? I really want both.” Yeah, how I want to have my cake and eat it as well.  

荷西有点不高兴，大声叫：“认识那么久了，你总是东奔西跑，好不容易我服完兵役了，你又要单独走，什么时候才可以跟你在一起？”荷西一向很少抱怨我的，我奇怪的看了他一眼，一面将面包屑用力撒到远处去，被他一大声说话，麻雀都吓飞了。

Hexi became somewhat unhappy and cried out, “We have known each other for quite a long time, but you were always traveling here and there. And now when I finally finish the military service, you are again on your way. When can we be together?” I shoot him a curious look—Hexi seldom complained about me and then flung some bread crumbles into the distance. Frightened by his loudness, the sparrows had flown away,. 

“你真的坚持要去沙漠？”他又问我一次。

“Are you really determined on going to the desert?” He asked me again.

我重重的点了一下头，我很清楚自己要做的事。

I gave a determined nod, feeling quite clear about that.

“好。”他负气的说了这个字，就又去看书了。荷西平时话很多，烦人得很，但真有事情他就决不讲话。

“Fine.” He said petulantly and then went back to his reading. Hexi is a talker, which is quite annoying, but he always keeps silent when something is actually bothering him.

想不到今年二月初，荷西不声不响申请到一个工作，（就正对着撒哈拉沙漠去找事。）他卷卷行李，却比我先到非洲去了。我写信告诉他：“你实在不必为了我去沙漠里受苦，况且我就是去了，大半时间也会在各处旅行，无法常常见到你——。”荷西回信给我：“我想得很清楚，要留住你在我身边，只有跟你结婚，要不然我的心永远不能减去这份痛楚的感觉。我们夏天结婚好么？”信虽然很平实，但是我却看了快十遍，然后将信塞在长裤口袋里，到街上去散步了一个晚上，回来就决定了。

It took me by surprise, however, that in early February this year, Hexi packed up his things and went to the desert ahead of me for he had quietly took a job in the Sahara Desert (he had meant to apply for job positions in Sahara). I wrote him a letter, “You really don’t have to go to the desert and suffer for my sake. Besides, I won’t be able to see you all the time anyway, because I will be traveling all across Sahara when I get there.” He replied in his letter, “I have thought this through. The only way to keep you by my side is marrying you. Otherwise, I could never get rid of the pain in my heart. Let’s get married this summer, shall we?” The letter was plain, but I read it for almost ten times. Later, I tucked the letter in my pants’ pocket and went out for a walk for the whole evening. When I came back home, I made my decision. 

今年四月中旬，我收拾了自己的东西，退掉马德里的房子，也到西属撒哈拉沙漠里来了。当晚荷西住在他工作的公司的宿舍里，我住在小镇阿雍，两地相隔来回也快一百里路，但是荷西天天来看我。“好，现在可以结婚了。”他很高兴，容光焕发。

In mid-April, I packed my things, terminated the renting of the house in Madrid, and then went to the Spanish Sahara. I stayed in a small town called Laayoune the night I arrived and Hexi still lived in his company’s dormitory. Hexi came to see me every day despite the fact that we were almost 50 kilometers away from each other. “Now, we are ready to get married.” He was glowing with happiness. 

“现在不行，给我三个月的时间，我各处去看看，等我回来了我们再结婚。”我当时正在找机会由沙哈拉威（意思就是沙漠里的居民）带我一路经过大漠到西非去。

“Not now. Give me three more months for traveling around and we can get married when I come back.” I was looking for a Sahrawi( people who live in the desert)to take me all the way across the desert to West Africa. 

“这个我答应你，但总得去法院问问手续，你又加上要入籍的问题。”我们讲好婚后我两个国籍。

“That I can promise you. But we need to go to the court first and ask them about the marriage procedure. Moreover, you need to gain Spanish nationality.” We had agreed on my having two nationalities after getting married.

于是我们一同去当地法院问问怎么结婚。秘书是一位头发全白了的西班牙先生，他说：“要结婚吗？唉，我们还没办过，你们晓得此地沙哈拉威结婚是他们自己风俗。我来翻翻法律书看——”他一面看书又一面说：“公证结婚，啊，在这里——这个啊，要出生证明，单身证明，居留证明，法院公告证明……这位小姐的文件要由台湾出，再由中国驻葡公使馆翻译证明，证明完了再转西班牙驻葡领事馆公证，再经西班牙外交部，再转来此地审核，审核完毕我们就公告十五天，然后再送马德里你们过去户籍所在地法院公告……”

Therefore, we went to the local court for information about how to get married. The secretary was a gray-haired Spanish man. He said, “Want to get married? Alas! We have never dealt with that before. You know, the local Sahrawis have their own marriage customs. Let me look it up in some law books,” he continued as he was reading, “Civil marriage, ah, here it is. It needs birth certificate, single status certificate, proof of residence, court announcement... Papers of this lady need to be obtained from Taiwan, then translated into Spanish and further proved by the Chinese Embassy in Portugal, then transferred to the Spanish Embassy in Portugal to be notarized, and then sent here for verification by the Spanish Foreign Ministry. Upon being verified, they will be publicized for fifteen days and then transferred to the local court of your domicile in Madrid for publicity...”

我生平最不喜欢填表格办手续，听秘书先生那么一念，先就烦起来了，轻轻的对荷西说：“你看，手续太多了，那么烦，我们还要结婚吗？”“要。你现在不要说话嘛！”他很紧张，接着他问秘书先生：“请问大概多久我们可以结婚？”

Hating filling in all kinds of forms and going through formalities more than anything in my life, I got annoyed immediately upon hearing them from Mr. Secretary, so I whispered to Hexi, “You see, too many procedures! That’s just annoying. Are we still going to get married?” “Of course we are. Now, don’t say anything just yet,” He was getting nervous and turned to Mr. Secretary, “Sir, how long will it take for us to get married?” 

“咦，要问你们自己啊！文件齐了就可公告，两个地方公告就得一个月，另外文件寄来寄去嘛——我看三个月可以了。”秘书慢吞吞的将书合起来。

“Eh, that depends on you! As long as papers are ready, they can be publicized immediately. It will take one month for the publicity in two countries. Plus sending papers here and there—I say three months is enough.” He closed the book slowly. 

荷西一听很急，他擦了一下汗，结结巴巴的对秘书先生说：“请您帮忙，不能快些么？我想越快结婚越好，我们不能等——。”这时秘书先生将书往架子上一放，一面飞快的瞄了我的腰部一眼。我很敏感，马上知道他误会荷西的话了，赶快说：“秘书先生，我快慢都不要紧，有问题的是他。”一讲完发觉这话更不伦不类，赶快住口。

Hearing this, Hexi became anxious. He wiped away the sweat, stammering, “Sir, please help us. Is there any way of making it faster? I want to get married, the sooner, the better. We can’t wait—” Mr. Secretary took a quick glance at my waist as he put the book back on the shelf. Being sensitive, I knew he misunderstood what Hexi had said, so I explained hastily, “Mr. Secretary, it doesn’t matter to me whether the process is slow or fast. It’s just him who has a problem.” These words sounded even lousier, so I stopped saying anything. 

荷西用力扭我的手指，一面对秘书先生说：“谢谢，谢谢，我们这就去办，再见，再见。”讲完了，拉着我飞云似的奔下法院三楼，我一面跑一面咯咯笑个不停，到了法院外面我们才停住不跑了。“什么我有问题，你讲什么嘛！难道我怀孕了。”荷西气得大叫。我笑得不能回答他。

Twisting my fingers hard, Hexi said to Mr. Secretary, “Thank you. Thank you. We are on it. Good bye. Bye.”After saying these, he clutched my hands and we rushed downstairs from the third floor courtroom with me laughing all the way. We stopped until we got outside of the court. “It’s me who has a problem? What were you talking about? So I am pregnant?” Hexi shouted like crazy. I wasn’t able to say anything because of all the laughing. 

二

Chapter Two

三个月很快的过去了。荷西在这段时间内努力赚钱，同时动手做家具，另外将他的东西每天搬一些来我的住处。我则背了背包和相机，跑了许多游牧民族的帐篷，看了许多不同而多彩的奇异风俗，写下了笔记，整理了幻灯片，也交了许多沙哈拉威朋友，甚至开始学阿拉伯文。日子过得有收获而愉快。

Three months passed quickly. During that time, Hexi had been working hard to make money and at the same time making furniture and moving a few of his things to my place every day while I was visiting nomads’ tents with my backpack and camera, taking notes along the way of the exoticism and abundance of the local customs and making slide shows afterwards. I had made some Sahrawi friends and even started learning Arabic. Those days were fulfilling and joyful. 

当然，我们最积极的是在申请一张张结婚需要的文件，这件事最烦人，现在回想起来都要发高烧。

We had been, however, most occupied with applications needed for getting married. It was annoying to death; simply recalling it from memory would get me a high fever. 

天热了，我因为住的地方没有门牌，所以在邮局租了一个信箱，每天都要走一小时左右去镇上看信。来了三个月，这个小镇上的人大半都认识了，尤其是邮局和法院，因为我天天去跑，都成朋友了。

It was getting hot. I rented a mailbox from the post office in town because I didn’t have a doorplate at my place. Every day I had to walk for about one hour there to check my letters. Three months later, I had got to know most people in town, especially people from the post office and the court. We sort of became friends because I went to those places every day. 

那天我又坐在法院里面，天热得像火烧似的令人受不了。

One day I was sitting in the court again. It was an unbearable hot day and felt like everything was burning.  

秘书先生对我说∶“好，最后马德里公告也结束了，你们可以结婚了。”

Mr. Secretary said, “Okay, now that the Madrid publicity period is over, you may get married.”

“真的？”我简直不能相信这场文件大战已结束了。

“Really?” I simply couldn’t believe those days of fighting against papers was over.

“我替你们安排好了日子。”秘书笑眯眯的说。

“I have arranged the date for you.” Mr. Secretary said smilingly.

“什么时候？”我赶紧问他。

“When?”I asked him hastily.

“明天下午六点钟。”

“Six o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”

“明天？你说明天？”我口气好似不太相信，也不开心。

“Tomorrow? You were saying tomorrow?” I must have sounded like I neither believed him, nor was happy about it.

秘书老先生有点生气，好似我是个不知感激的人一样。他说：“荷西当初不是说要快，要快？”

Old Mr. Secretary turned a little angry as if I were some ungrateful person. He said, “Hexi said making it faster and faster, didn’t he?”

“是的，谢谢你，明天我们来。”我梦游似的走下楼，坐在楼下邮局的石阶上，望著沙漠发呆。

“Yes, he did. Thank you. We will be here tomorrow.” I walked down stairs as if I were sleeping. Then I sat on the steps of the post office down the court building, staring at the desert blankly.

这时我看到荷西公司的司机正开吉普车经过，我赶快跑上去叫住他∶“穆罕默德沙里，你去公司吗？替我带口信给荷西，请告诉他，他明天跟我结婚，叫他下了班来镇上。”

Suddenly I saw the driver of Hexi’s company driving by in a jeep. I rushed to stop him, shouting, “Mohammed Shari, are you going to your company? Can you take a message for me? Please tell Hexi that he and I will get married tomorrow and he needs to come to town after work.”

穆罕默德沙里抓抓头，奇怪的问我∶“难道荷西先生今天不知道明天自己要结婚吗？”

Scratching his head, Mohammed Shari asked me curiously, “Mr. Hexi doesn’t know he is about to get married tomorrow?”

我大声回答他∶“他不知道，我也不知道。”司机听了看著我，露出好怕的样子，将车子歪歪扭扭的开走了。我才发觉又讲错话了，他一定以为我等结婚等疯了。

I said loudly, “He doesn’t and neither do I.” Hearing this, the driver appeared to be startled and tilted the jeep away. Only when he left did I realize that again I said things in a wrong way. He must have thought that I had gone crazy about getting married.

荷西没有等下班，他一下就飞车来了。“真的是明天？”他不相信，一面进门一面问。

Hexi didn’t wait until after work. He sped the car back to my place in no time. “Is it really tomorrow?” he asked as he entered the house, sounding unconvinced.

“是真的，走，我们去打电报回家。”我拉了他又出门去。

“Yes, it is. Now, let’s go send telegrams to our parents.” I pulled him out of the door.

“对不起，临时通知你们，我们事先也不知道明天结婚，请原谅——。”荷西的电报长得像写信。

“Sorry for such short notice, but we don’t know beforehand we are about to get married tomorrow. Please forgive me—” It’s Hexi’s telegram, long as a letter.

我呢，用父亲的电报挂号，再写∶“明天结婚三毛。”才几个字。我知道父母收到电报不知要多么安慰和高兴，多年来令他们受苦受难的就是我这个浪子。我是很对不起他们的。

I, however, simply wrote to my father, “Tomorrow get married Sanmao”. I knew though, how relieved and excited my parents would be to receive the telegram. It was me, a drifter, who had put them through misery for many years. I had greatly let them down.

“喂，明天你穿什么？”荷西问我。

“So, what are you going to wear tomorrow?” Hexi asked me.

“还不知道，随便穿穿。”我仍在想。

“Don’t know yet. Anything will do.” I was still thinking.

“我忘了请假，明天还得上班。”荷西口气有点懊恼。

“I forgot to ask for my leave, so I still need to work tomorrow.” Hexi sounded upset.

“去嘛，反正下午六点才结婚，你早下班一小时正好赶回来。”我想当天结婚的人也可以去上班嘛。

“Then go. The wedding is not until six o’clock tomorrow afternoon anyway. If you come off work one hour early, you can get back in time.” People could still go to work on the day they get married, couldn’t they? 

“现在我们做什么，电报已经发了。”他那天显得呆呆的。

“What should we do next, now that these telegrams have been sent?” He looked dumb that day.

“回去做家具，桌子还没钉好。我的窗帘也还差一半。”我真想不出荷西为什么好似有点失常。

“Go home and make furniture. The table hasn’t been done yet. And I only finished half of the curtain.” I couldn’t understand why Hexi was somewhat not himself.

“结婚前一晚还要做工吗？”看情形他想提早庆祝，偷懒嘛。

“Do we still need to work on the night before our wedding day?” It seemed that he wanted to slack off and celebrate in advance. 

“那你想做什么？”我问他。

“So what’s in your mind?” I asked him.

“想带你去看电影，明天你就不是我女朋友了。”

“Taking you to the movies. From tomorrow on, you will no longer be my girlfriend.”

于是我们跑去唯一的一家五流沙漠电影院看了一场好片子《希腊左巴》，算做跟单身的日子告别。

Therefore, we ran to the only one-star movie theatre in the desert and watched a good movie called Zorba the Greek. That was our farewell to the days of being a bachelor. 

三

Chapter Three

第二天荷西来敲门时我正在睡午觉，因为来回提了一大桶淡水，累得很。已经五点半了。他进门就大叫∶“快起来，我有东西送给你。”口气兴奋得很，手中抱著一个大盒子。

The next day when Hexi came to knock on my door, I was napping, tired from carrying a big bucket of fresh water all the way home. It was half past five already. Hexi shouted as he entered the room, “Get up quickly, I have something for you.” He sounded extremely excited and had a big box in his arm. 

我光脚跳起来，赶快去抢盒子，一面叫著∶“一定是花。”

I jumped to my bare feet and went after him for the box, exclaiming, “They must be flowers.”

“沙漠里哪里变得出花来嘛！真的。”他有点失望我猜不中。

“How could I get flowers in the desert? No kidding.” He was disappointed that I guessed it wrong.

我赶紧打开盒子，撕掉乱七八糟包著的废纸。哗！露出两个骷髅的眼睛来，我将这个意外的礼物用力拉出来，再一看，原来是一付骆驼的头骨，惨白的骨头很完整的合在一起，一大排牙齿正龇牙咧嘴的对著我，眼睛是两个大黑洞。

I hastily opened the box and ripped out the scrap papers inside. Aha! There appeared eyes of a skeleton. I pulled this unexpected gift out and studied it. It was a camel skull with intactly-occluded pale bones, two big eye-holes and grinning teeth pointed at me.

我太兴奋了，这个东西真是送到我心里去了。我将它放在书架上，口里啧啧赞叹∶“唉，真豪华，真豪华。”荷西不愧是我的知音。“哪里搞来的？”我问他。“去找的啊！沙漠里快走死了，找到这一付完整的，我知道你会喜欢。”他很得意。这真是最好的结婚礼物。

I was more than excited for this gift really captured my fancy. I set it on the book shelf while clicking my tongue, “Wow, really, really gorgeous!” Hexi had again proved himself to be my bosom friend. “Where did you get this?” I asked him. “I went looking, of course, all over the desert and finally found one complete piece. I knew you would love it.” He was beside himself with pride. Indeed, it was the best wedding gift ever.

“快点去换衣服，要来不及了。”荷西看看表开始催我。

“Hurry up and go change, otherwise we would be late.” Hexi took a glance at his watch and started rushing me. 

我有许多好看的衣服，但是平日很少穿。我伸头去看了一下荷西，他穿了一件深蓝的衬衫，大胡子也修剪了一下。好，我也穿蓝色的。我找了一件淡蓝细麻布的长衣服。虽然不是新的，但是它自有一种朴实优雅的风味。鞋子仍是一双凉鞋，头发放下来，戴了一顶草编的阔边帽子，没有花，去厨房拿了一把香菜别在帽子上，没有用皮包，两手空空的。荷西打量了我一下∶“很好，田园风味，这么简单反而好看。”

I had many lovely clothes, but I seldom wore them. I stretched my neck to look at Hexi and found that he wore a light blue shirt and had had his thick beard trimmed. Alright, I decided on blue. I took one long light blue linen gown, not a new one, but plainly elegant in its own way. Yet I kept the sandal. Then I let my hair down and put on one wide-brimmed straw hat to which was fixed a small bunch of coriander from the kitchen, as there were no flowers. I decided to go bare handed and not to bring a purse with me. Hexi looked at me up and down, “Brilliant. Country style. Simple yet more beautiful.”

于是我们锁了门，就走进沙漠里去。

So we locked the door and walked into the desert. 

由我住的地方到小镇上快要四十分钟，没有车，只好走路去。漫漫的黄沙，无边而庞大的天空下，只有我们两个渺小的身影在走著，四周寂寥得很，沙漠，在这个时候真是美丽极了。

It would take almost forty minutes to get to the town from my place. As there was no car, we had to walk there. Under the immense sky, there were only us two small figures walking in the boundless expanse of yellow sand. It was silent all around and the desert looked fabulous at that moment.

“你也许是第一个走路结婚的新娘。”荷西说。

“Perhaps you are the first bride who has to walk to her wedding.” Hexi said.

“我倒是想骑匹骆驼呼啸著奔到镇上去，你想那气势有多雄壮，可惜得很。”我感叹著不能骑骆驼。

“I would have ridden a camel howling all the way to the town. Just imagine how grand that scene would be. It’s been such a great pity.” I regretted that I didn’t get to ride the camel. 

还没走到法院，就听见有人说∶“来了，来了，”一个不认识的人跳上来照相。我吓了一跳，问荷西∶“你叫人来拍照？”

Before we even arrived at the court, we heard someone saying, “Here they come. Here they come.” A stranger jumped in front of us trying to take photos of us. I was taken by surprise and asked Hexi, “You asked for someone to take our photos?”

“没有啊，大概是法院的。”他突然紧张起来。

“No, I didn’t. That might be from the court.” He was suddenly getting nervous.

走到楼上一看，法院的人都穿了西装，打了领带，比较之下荷西好似是个来看热闹的人。

When we got upstairs, we found that everyone in the court wear suits and ties. Hexi, by contrast, appeared to be an audience in the room.  

“完了，荷西，他们弄得那么正式，神经嘛！”我生平最怕装模作样的仪式，这下逃不掉了。

“Oh, god! Hexi, they are so serious. Aren’t they being fussy!” I had feared pretentious ceremonies the most in my life and I didn’t seem to be able to dodge this one.

“忍一下，马上就可以结完婚的。”荷西安慰我。

“Be patient. The wedding should be quick.” Hexi comforted me.

秘书先生穿了黑色的西装，打了一个丝领结。“来，来，走这边。”他居然不给我擦一下脸上流下来的汗，就拉著我进礼堂。再一看，小小的礼堂里全是熟人，大家都笑眯眯的，望著荷西和我。天啊！怎么都会知道的。

Mr. Secretary wore black suit and a silk tie. “Come here. Come this way.” He didn’t even give me the time to wipe the sweat off my face and simply pulled me into the auditorium. Filled with this small auditorium were all familiar faces, who were smiling at Hexi and me. Dear lord! How come they all knew about the wedding?

法官很年轻，跟我们差不多大，穿了一件黑色缎子的法衣。

The judge was very young, about our age. He was dressed in a black satin cassock.

“坐这儿，请坐下。”我们像木偶一样被人摆布著。荷西的汗都流到胡子上了。

“Come here and sit down please.” We felt like being two puppets at his mercy. Hexi had already sweated all over his beard.

我们坐定了，秘书先生开始讲话∶“在西班牙法律之下，你们婚后有三点要遵守，现在我来念一下，第一∶结婚后双方必须住在一起——。”

After we sat down and steadied ourselves, Mr. Secretary started his announcement, “By Spanish law, you have to abide by three rules after getting married. Now let me read them to you: first, you have to live together after getting married—.”

我一听，这一条简直是废话嘛！滑天下之大稽，那时我一个人开始闷笑起来，以后他说什么，我完全没有听见。后来，我听见法官叫我的名字——“三毛女士”。我赶快回答他∶“什么？”那些观礼的人都笑起来，“请站起来。”我慢慢的站起来。“荷西先生，请你也站起来。”真噜苏，为什么不说∶“请你们都站起来。”也好省些时间受苦。

Upon hearing this, I started to chuckle. That’s pure prattle and the funniest thing to say in the world! Whatever he said after that, I totally missed it. Later, I heard the judge calling my name—“Ms. Sanmao”. I hastened to answer him, “Yes?” The audience laughed, “Please stand up.” I stood up slowly. “Mr. Hexi, you too, please stand up.” That’s just being long-winded. Why not just say, “Both of you, please stand up.” In that way we could save some time and suffer less pain. 

这时我突然发觉，这个年轻的法官拿纸的手在发抖，我轻轻碰了一下荷西叫他看。这里沙漠法院第一次有人公证结婚，法官比我们还紧张。

At that moment, I caught the young judge’s hand, which held the paper, was shaking. I gave Hexi a nudge and pointed it to Hexi. As this was the first time that couples were getting a notary marriage in the desert, the judge appeared more nervous than us.  

“三毛，你愿意做荷西的妻子么？”法官问我。我知道应该回答——“是”。不晓得怎么的却回答了——“好！”法官笑起来了。又问荷西，他大声说∶“是”。我们两人都回答了问题。法官却好似不知下一步该说什么好，于是我们三人都静静的站著，最后法官突然说∶“好了，你们结婚了，恭喜，恭喜。”

“Sanmao, do you take Hexi as your lawfully wedded husband?” the judged asked me. I knew I should say “I do”, yet it somehow came out as “Okay!”The Judge began to laugh. Then he asked Hexi the same question. Hexi said loudly, “I do!” There, we both went through this question, yet the judge did not seem to know what to say next. Therefore we three stood there quietly for a while when he suddenly said, “Okay, now you are married. Congratulations. Congratulations.”

我一听这拘束的仪式结束了，人马上活泼起来，将帽子一把拉下来当扇子扇。许多人上来与我们握手，秘书老先生特别高兴，好似是我们的家长似的。突然有人说∶“咦，你们的戒指呢？”我想对啦！戒指呢？转身找荷西，他已在走廊上了，我叫他∶“喂，戒指带来没有？”荷西很高兴，大声回答我∶“在这里。”然后他将他的一个拿出来，往自己手上一套，就去追法官了，口里叫著∶“法官，我的户口名簿！我要户口名簿！”他完全忘了也要给我戴戒指。

When I heard that this formalistic ceremony was over, I regained my liveliness immediately and took off my hat to fan myself. Many people came forward to shake hands with us. Mr. Secretary was particularly happy, as if he were our parent. Suddenly, a voice said, “Eh, where are your rings?” Right, where are the rings? I went to find Hexi. He was already down the aisle. I shouted at him, “Hexi, did you bring the rings?” Hexi was joyful and said loudly, “Got them!” He took his out, put it on his finger and then went after the judge while shouting, “Judge, my household register! I want my household register!” He completely forgot that he should put one on my finger too. 

结好婚了，沙漠里没有一家像样的饭店，我们也没有请客的预算，人都散了，只有我们两个不知做什么才好。

Thus the wedding was over. As there was no single decent restaurant in the desert and also we had no budget to treat our friends to a dinner, they all left the auditorium. Only we two stayed there, not knowing what to do next.

“我们去国家旅馆住一天好不好？”荷西问我。

“How about spending a day in the National Hotel?” Hexi asked me.

“我情愿回家自己做饭吃，住一天那种旅馆我们可以买一星期的菜。”我不主张浪费。

“I would rather go home and cook by ourselves. One day at that kind of hotel would afford food of one week.” I don’t like wasting money.

于是我们又经过沙地回家去。

So we crossed the desert and went back home.

锁著的门外放著一个大蛋糕，我们开门进去，将蛋糕的盒子拿掉，落下一张纸条来——新婚快乐——合送的是荷西的很多同事，我非常感动，沙漠里有新鲜奶油蛋糕吃真是太幸福了。更可贵的是蛋糕上居然有一对穿著礼服的新人，著白纱的新娘眼睛还会一开一闭。我童心大发，一把将两个娃娃拔起来，一面大叫∶“娃娃是我的。”荷西说∶“本来说是你的嘛！我难道还抢这个。”于是他切了一块蛋糕给我吃，一面替我补戴戒指，这时我们的婚礼才算真的完毕了。这就是我结婚的经过。

There was a huge birthday cake outside our locked door. We opened the door and entered the house. No sooner had we taken the box off the cake than a note fell off, which said “Happy Marriage”. The cake was sent by Hexi’s colleagues. I was deeply moved and blissfully happy as to getting to eat fresh cream cake in the desert. More precious was that it had two newly-wedded dolls on the top, and the bride wearing white wedding dress could even be able to open and close her eyes. The childishness in me came up. I plucked those two dolls out and exclaimed, “These are mine.” Hexi said, “Of course they are yours! Like I would fight against you for them?” He sliced a piece of cake for me and then put the ring on my finger. Only by then was our wedding officially over. So that was how I got married.