The Pink Tour Book intro

尼爾蓋曼寫給The Pink Tour Book
中文是我私人的翻譯
--
The Pink Tour book intro
written by neil gaiman


Hi, by the way

I met her first on a tape, and after that we spoke on the phone late at night, and then one evening I went to see her play piano and sing.

It was a tiny Notting Hill Brasserie, and Tori had already started when I got there. She saw me come in and smiled like the lighting of a beacon, played Tear In Your Hand to welcome me in. The room was almost empty, save for the owner, who was having his birthday meal in the middle of the room. Tori sang Happy Birthday to You, then a song she's just made up called Me And A Gun, pure, dark and alone.

Later, we went off through Notting Hill and talked like old friends do who are meeting for the very first time. On the empty subway platform she sang and danced and acted out the video she had made that day for Silent All These Years -- one moment she was a Tori in a box, spinning around, the next a small girl dancing past a piano...

That was several years ago.

I know Tori a little better now than I did that night, but the wonderment she inspired then has faded neither with time nor with familiarity.

Tori doesn't ever ring me anymore. She sends strange messages by other means and intermediaries, and I have to track her down in odd countries, negotiate my way through foreign switchboards. The last time she wanted to tell me that they served great pumpkin ice cream in the place across from the recording studio, a continent away.

She offered to save me some.

And she wanted to tell me she sings about me on Under The Pink. "What do you sing?" I asked.

"Where's Neil when you need him?" she said.

Tori is wise and witchy and wickedly innocent. What you see is what you get: A little delirium, a lot of delight. There's fairy blood inside her, and a sense of humor that shimmer and illuminates and turns the world upside down.

She sings like an angel and rocks like a red-haired banshee. She's a small miracle. She's my friend.

I don't know where I am when you need me. I hope the pumpkin ice cream doesn't melt before I find out.

-Neil Gaiman

嗨

我第一次聽到多莉是從錄音帶，之後，我們通過電話，然後有一天，我去看她 彈奏鋼琴，看她演唱。

當我抵達窄小的諾丁山餐廳時，多莉已經開始表演了。她看見我進來，然後微 笑，像燈塔的光一般，演唱了〈你手裡的眼淚〉歡迎我。餐廳裡沒有什麼人， 老闆自己包了下來，他坐在房間的中央吃著他的生日餐點。多莉唱了生日快樂 歌，還有另一首她剛做好的歌叫做〈我和槍〉，那是首純澈、黑暗、孤獨的歌。

之後，我們走遍諾丁山。我們像是老朋友般地交談，那不過是我們第一次見面。 在空無一人的地鐵站，她唱著歌，跳著舞，模仿了她在音樂錄音帶裡的樣子， 那是她那天才剛錄好的〈沈默多年〉。上一秒她是個困在箱子裡的多莉，快速 地旋轉，下一秒她是個小女孩，跳著舞經過鋼琴…

那是好幾年前的事了。

比起那天晚上，現在我更了解了多莉多一點，但她帶給我的驚奇，並沒有隨著 時間還有熟悉而消弱。

多莉不打電話給我。她用其他的方法帶給我訊息，然後我得透過異 國的總機台搞定前往的方法，在奇特的國家找到她。上一次她想告訴我，在她 錄音室的對面有家店，店有很棒的南瓜冰淇淋，而那家店遠在另一個洲。

她說她會幫我留些冰淇淋。

她告訴我她在〈紅粉心事〉裡提到我。「你唱了什麼？」我問。

「當你需要尼爾的時候，他人在哪裡？」她說。

多莉聰明、神祕、調皮天真。她就是你所看到的這個樣子：有點狂熱，卻又十 分討人喜歡。在她體內流著精靈的血液，還有發著光的、足以讓世界為之顛倒 的幽默。

她唱起歌來像天使，又像個紅髮妖精搖撼眾人。她是個小小的奇跡，她是我的 朋友。

我不知道當你需要我時我會在哪。我希望在我找到之前，那南瓜冰淇淋還沒融 化。

--尼爾蓋曼