5年前，跟老公提议暑假去中欧。 那之前我们已经去过法国西班牙意大利希腊，都是美食大国。 老公一听中欧却老大不乐意。 他去过德国出差，对当地的食物失望透了，“除了香肠就是马铃薯，你叫我一个月就吃这些？” 不过最后我们还是去了，玩得超开心的，除了德国还在周边几个国家转了一大圈，山水美得醉人，小镇如童话般迷人，而且一路上也吃得很好，当然，香肠土豆没少吃。

“The Invention of Curried Sausage” 是德国小说家Uwe Timm的一本中篇小说。 Curried Sausage咖喱香肠，好特别的组合，那是德国最受欢迎的路边摊小吃。 咖喱香肠是怎么发明的呢？

小说一开头，香肠和主角Mrs. Brücker就出镜了。 此时的Mrs. Brücker已经年近九旬，眼瞎体弱，但头脑清晰，一边织毛衣一边向要揭秘咖喱香肠的‘我’娓娓道来一段尘封往事。 

1945年四月，二战已到尾声，英军兵临城下（汉堡），男女主角（40岁的Mrs. Brücker和24岁的年青士兵）在电影院排队时相遇，电影被空袭打断，自然而然的，他们回到Mrs. Brücker的家，怕死的男主角成了逃兵，也成了Mrs. Brücker的情人。

Mrs. Brücker白天给德军做饭，晚上给逃兵情人做饭。 虽然物资极度缺乏，但是她非常resourceful，能用芹菜做出山寨版蟹肉浓汤。 

汉堡陷落了，可是Mrs. Brücker为了多留住情人，隐瞒了战争结束的消息。 情人越来越焦躁，而Mrs. Brücker只有拖延，最后在一次争吵中她脱口说出真相，情人不告而别。

战后的德国千疮百孔，失业的Mrs. Brücker为了要养活女儿外孙，顶下一个摊子。 靠着情人留下的一枚稀有勋章，跟一个英国少校换了木材，再把木材换成两百张松鼠皮，毛皮又连夜赶制成皮大衣，再换成油、番茄酱、烟酒，烟酒再换成香肠。 谁知道油没了，临时换成了咖喱粉。 在搬回家的楼梯上，Mrs. Brücker想起了情人，想起他说起曾经在印度驻守时尝到咖喱鸡饭的美味。 百感交集，她不小心跌了一跤打翻了番茄酱，弄得一片狼藉。 沮丧至极的Mrs. Brücker痛哭起来，但舔了舔混合番茄酱和咖喱粉的手指，“it tasted, had a taste that made her laugh, pungent, but not only pungent, there was also something fruity-moist pungent about it.”  就这样阴差阳错的发明了咖喱香肠。 

就像咖喱辛辣浓烈的滋味，这是一个关于爱欲、谎言、梦想、责任、善意、背叛的故事，喜怒哀乐都那么真实，叫人笑泪交织。 

Timm的文字简淡，而意蕴深长，是我最欣赏的文风。 除了男女主角，也描述了邻居、同事，战后的德国市井小民的不同反应，有些悲伤，有些可怕，有些又令人忍俊不禁。 故事分为七章，精心铺设架构，前后呼应，到结尾处，令人意想不到的温馨叫我感动到鼻酸。 非常喜欢。 

Quotes:

That even in the dark times there are bright moments, and that the darker the times are the brighter those moments seem.

She would tell me about essential and incidental events, who and what had been involved in the invention of curried sausage: a naval petty officer, a silver equestrian badge, two hundred squirrel skins, twenty-four cubic meters of lumber, a whiskey-drinking, female sausage-factory owner, a British military commissary, and an English beauty with red-gold hair, three bottles of ketchup, my father, chloroform, a laughing dream, and much more.  

“The war in Hamburg was all over, but he still walked quietly around in his socks.  There was no more fighting, and I had someone in my home who crept around in socks.  Not that I made fun of him, but I found him comical.  IF you find someone comical, it doesn’t mean you have to stop liking him, but you can’t go on taking him all that seriously.”

Then she picked up the ladle and poured that red sauce over the sausage slices.  He could see— and that’s how I remember her too — that she repeated this movement day after day; it was a graceful, brief movement, light and effortless.

德国