2007年2月10日

克難街的故事

一九六九年。

我的父母在春夏交替之際在家鄉結婚,但同一年冬天,我就在樹林出生了-我現在頭好壯壯,沒有先天性毛病,我應該不是早產兒。一歲的時候,父親覓得一份在台北市飯店的工作,於是母親抱著我,父親提著兩口大皮箱,我們搬到台北市克難街去借住伯父家。

克難街位於台北市南區,中華路尾端,古亭國中旁。根據現在台北市文化局的考證,克難街應該是台北市第一條客家街-沒錯!客家同胞都是彼此互相照顧,我們去住伯父家也是。克難街街如其名,房子都是木板拼貼而成-全部都是違章建築啦。一眼望去黑鴉鴉的一片,黑色的色塊一塊疊著一塊。在克難街,「有錢」的人家撿到木頭電線桿柱子,搭蓋了二樓-其實只是個夾層,小朋友大概爬十個階梯就可以上去,高度不會超過一米八;「沒錢」的人家就像我們,借住伯父家的一張床。

伯父伯母生下五個小孩,他們都是我的堂兄弟姐妹。他們一家七口寫功課、睡覺、起居全部在「樓上」的「地板」;而我與父母親睡在木樓梯下方的床,常常都能聽見有人睡覺翻身時,整個房子發出咿咿歪歪的聲音。有一次父親在熟睡中被水滴滴到,隔天早上才知道是小堂哥尿床。

從我睡的床就可以往外看到巷道,往右走是手壓幫浦水井,再過去一點是公共廁所。我當時年紀小,只記得我都是在澡盆中洗澡,反倒忘了大人們去哪裡洗澡了。而且路過的人都看得到我的出浴秀,卻沒人當一回事。那個年代連瓦斯都不甚普及,所有的克難街住戶都是用炭火爐子,每家人幾乎都是在門口燒起煤炭,就這樣做起了晚餐。黃昏時分的克難街,大概都可以嗅出每家人的晚餐吃什麼。

克難街的街口較大,汽車還可通過,但越往內走,巷子越小,小到摩肩擦踵才能通過。而且因為大家都是違建,有人甚至把巷道上方都加蓋!整個克難街看來像個迷宮,外人進得來卻不容易出去。偶而拆除大隊要來拆違建,克難街的居民就準備好一些木板,好讓他們回去交差。

那時因為父親在飯店工作,遠在一九七零年代,父親就從飯店帶個大的日本蘋果回克難街,羨煞整條街的人!電影《蘋果的滋味》裡面說的是真的。白天的時候,母親會帶著我四處串門子,據說我那時穿著開襠褲,「高射炮」還常常誤傷無辜。

「媽媽!這是不是『克雞街』?」這是四歲的我鬧的經典笑話,我剛認識字不久,就喜歡討大人讚美。四歲的我喜歡跟堂哥堂姐到處玩,我們最喜歡去南機場公寓的螺旋樓梯,因為那裡的房子都比克難街高,到頂樓可以看見新店溪,也能看見總統府。

過了不久,父親決定到永和買下當時的新式公寓。這個公寓有自來水,有天然瓦斯管,樓下還有機車停車位,大門是用對講機控制,浴室還有抽水馬桶以及貼了磁磚的浴缸!這是克難街住戶從來沒想到過的生活環境。一九七五年的夏天,父親跟朋友借了一部小貨車搬家,小貨車上除了剛成家時候的兩口皮箱,還多了一部有著小拉門的黑白電視。我們一家三口都坐在載貨平台上。過中正橋的時候,父親望向前方的永和,母親的捲髮隨新店溪上的風飄逸,我則一直望著柏油路上的白線條。永和越來越近,地面上的白線條越來越遠,新的生活就在前方。霎時間,我在太陽背光之間看見母親的笑容,就跟那年夏天的陽光一樣燦爛。

2 則留言:

匿名 提到...

Dear Sting,we can not go back anymore! I cried the other day when I was driving. I told Nana how fun it was to take bus to visit our grandma in the country side.We spent probaly whole day on the bumpy road and connected three different bus from Taipei to Sin-Wu,I kind of miss it. When we were little, it was so specially to have a trip to see the rice farms in different seasons, because the farm would show different colors from green to yellow. Back in that time, the bus did not have A/C yet, we always sat in the back and opened the window to let the air flow. Do you remember that? I bet you have incredible memmory. Can you make a movie about our childhood in the country side? I really want a movie to describe our life when we were little, so Nana has a chance to understand my life in H"HU-KA".

匿名 提到...

Dear Sting,we can not go back anymore! I cried the other day when I was driving. I told Nana how fun it was to take bus to visit our grandma in the country side.We spent probaly whole day on the bumpy road and connected three different bus from Taipei to Sin-Wu,I kind of miss it. When we were little, it was so specially to have a trip to see the rice farms in different seasons, because the farm would show different colors from green to yellow. Back in that time, the bus did not have A/C yet, we always sat in the back and opened the window to let the air flow. Do you remember that? I bet you have incredible memmory. Can you make a movie about our childhood in the country side? I really want a movie to describe our life when we were little, so Nana has a chance to understand my life in H"HU-KA".