始終無法忘記那天在銅鑼灣看到的那個孤單的身影。那彎曲的手指、布滿鬍渣的下巴、依著垃圾桶瘦窄的身軀、那親切的，近乎和周遭一切成了強烈對比的，溫和的笑容、 和老伯手裡捧著的一塊爛融融的，藍色的浮板 – 浮板插滿了傳統的粘土人，有孫悟空，豬八戒，唐三藏，還有各式各樣色彩鮮艷的動物– 我步向宜家的步伐不經意的慢了下來。我好奇地直盯著老伯看。熙來攘往的銅鑼灣東角道好不熱鬧，有人下班趕著回家、有情侶手牽著壽逛街、有年輕人漫無目的的在街上閑逛，卻沒有一個人停下來看老伯一眼，更別說是看他要賣的東西了。我心想加緊腳步快快把東西買完後回頭再幫老伯買一個粘土人，怎知只不過差了一個小時左右，老伯就不見了。
那天我站在寒風中望著老伯之前依著的那個垃圾桶，不知怎的，鼻子一酸，心頭猛地一揪，只覺得我一定要把老伯找出來，向他買個粘土人不成。我等了足足有大半個月吧，終於，在同樣一個熱鬧的夜裏，我和老伯重遇了。老伯的手指依然枯黃、頭發照樣斑白、笑容滄桑，可他見到我走過來時的眼神卻是難得的興奮。我買了一個孫悟空一個關公回家，爸爸說我浪費，盡買些沒用的東西。我想，粘土人雖然沒有用途，可我卻買來了一分快樂 － 因為重新認識孩童的玩意兒而快樂，也因為給老伯做成了一宗生意而快樂。這，用途可是無可限量啊！
Hi, I just stumbled upon your blog randomly. But I definitely know who this 'ah bak' is in cwb. I used to see him from time to time when I was little so I was really happy to see him again this one time with him resting the plastic toys on top of a random trash can. Needless to say I bought a stick from him!
Posted by: Veekaykay.blogspot.com | 02/07/2011 at 06:56 PM
So happy to know that SOMEONE in Hong Kong shares my soft spot for this "ah bak"! Yup, indeed I saw him again around X'mas time and bought a Santa figurine from him, but I was sad to see the somewhat strange collection of toys he was selling and how dirty the figurines were - I wonder who would buy them if not out of sympathy for him? They were also not cheap!
He looked so sad in the cold. I wish there was something I could do to help him!
Posted by: Nana | 02/11/2011 at 11:02 AM