老人和他的山核桃店

大约10年前，我先生Ted上网寻找出售Pecan（一种山核桃）的果仁店，发现了这家山核桃公司。从此他喜欢上了那儿的果仁和干果，也对店铺的主人库柏先生产生了兴趣。有一天，他拜访了那家店铺回来，告诉我店主人是大屠杀幸存者。然后又看了一遍斯皮尔伯格的辛德勒名单，还买了那本书仔细阅读起来。

 

后来Ted带我去店里时，我注意到墙上贴着一个关于库柏先生的剪报，讲述他如何帮助了那本书的作家和电影的制作人。辛德勒是库柏先生的恩人。

Ted告诉库珀先生，二战的时候他的父亲参加了诺曼底登陆等战役，而一个德国远房亲戚在北非被俘，后来被关在科罗拉多州的一个战俘营。两个有着同样姓氏的年轻人，在不同的大陆出生，为不同的阵营而战。Ted后来在研究“家族树“（家谱）时拜访了这个远亲，他说战后英国人强迫他劳动多年，非常感激美国人对他的公平待遇。就在Ted不停地讲述着与他有关的二战和德国的联系，我忽然觉得不安，想着如何叉开话题。库珀先生平静地听着，然后轻轻地、一字一字地讲到：“美国是非常慷慨的”。我深深地感动了，为了库珀先生的宽容以及他对这个国家的感恩。在那个没有希望的年代，我也是远度重洋来到这里，这个国家对我展开温暖的怀抱，给予我重生的机遇和第二个故乡。

山核桃店，祝你50岁生日快乐！并感谢你给予我们城里最好的坚果！

 

（去年时逢这家山核桃店成立50周年，记下一点感想，献上我的祝福。今天时逢美国国庆节，献上我的感恩。）

The Old Man and his Pecan Shop

About 10 years ago my husband Ted searched for a shop where he could purchase pecans and found this pecan shop. He fell in love with the nuts and dry fruits there. One day he came home from the shop with news that the owner is a Holocaust survivor. Then Ted viewed Spielberg’s Schindler’s List a second time and read the book after buying it. When Ted took me to the shop after that, I noticed a newspaper clipping about how Mr. Cooper aided the author and the filmmaker.

 

Ted was telling Mr. Cooper that his father participated in D-Day and other battles while a distant cousin was confined at a POW camp in Colorado, having been captured in North Africa. These two young men had the same surname but didn’t know one another at all. Ted discovered the cousin in a family tree project, and he told Ted that he felt grateful for the fair treatment of the Americans but was taken by the British after the war for several years of forced labor. Mr. Cooper listened calmly and I was wondering how to change the subject, and then Mr. Cooper spoke softly and deliberately: "America is very generous". I felt deeply touched by the comment. As an immigrant from the Far East, I have also appreciated the enormous warmth and kindness this country has extended to me in addition to the vast opportunities.

 

Happy 50^th birthday, the Pecan Shop! And thank you for the best nuts in town!

（Last year was the 50^th anniversary of the Pecan Shop. I presented Mr. Cooper a happy birthday card with this note.) 

[Bluebonnets]

回复 'zhige' 的评论 : 谢谢关注，希望你也喜欢这个坚果店。

[zhige]

太谢谢了！

[Bluebonnets]

回复 'zhige' 的评论 : Houston Pecan Company, 7313 Ashcroft Dr, Houston, TX 77081

[zhige]

能告诉一下这个店的地址吗？