蒙特维多的邂逅（外一则）
A Stalker in Montevideo（with a bonus picture）

既然说到阿猫阿狗，那我就玩个穿越，讲述2010年我在南美与一只跟踪犬邂逅的故事。

Since we are on the topic of cats and dogs, let's do a bit of time travel and fast forward to 2010, so I can recount my encounter with a South American canine stalker.

它在街上闲逛。我也是
那个城市叫蒙特维多，乌拉圭首都
估摸是只丧家犬，但并不落魄
我看了它一眼。它没注意到我
我心想：这条狗，躯体所承载的灵魂会是怎样的？它又经历过什么？
在这个当下，在这个空间，它和我产生交集；
而之前，我们天涯相隔
（这个天边之城，我飞了22个小时才到，有同事飞了30个小时）

Since we are on the topic of cats and dogs, let's do a bit of time travel and fast forward to 2010, so I can recount my encounter with a South American canine stalker.

就在这时
它扭头看了我一眼
很友好地走过来
我继续闲逛，它尾随

大约一小时过去了
虽然我知道它不是为了乞食而跟着我
但我还是把随身带的、仅存的一块芝麻糕掰成两半
一半放在地上
它摇摇尾巴，走过来
嗅嗅
抬头向我致谢
但不吃。
于是，我严肃地对它说：
“你不能再跟着我了”，
“我要走了”。
它继续摇尾，继续尾随

又过了一小时
我看到前方有个公车站，人很多
我就挤进人群
快速穿行
再疾行至路侧。
回头远远看着它
只见它挨个儿嗅着等车的人
有时还走到一些人的面前
抬头辨认……

我转身，走了

I saw this dog in Montevideo. I was being a tourist and the dog, a local wanderer.
It was probably a stray, but not the mangy type.
I noticed it before it did me.
When I first laid eyes on it, a thought came to my mind from nowhere:
‘What kind of soul is encaged in this canine body? What has this soul experienced through all its incarnations, up to this point, where our paths, hitherto far apart, are crossing?’（I had had to fly 22 hours to get here. Some of my colleagues had been less lucky.）
Just then, the dog turned round and saw me.
Wagging its tail and flashing a smile, it came over to me.
We exchanged pleasantries, linguistic and otherwise.
I carried on roaming the streets; it followed.
It was persistent, and greeted my numerous verbal discouragements with more tail wagging and more of what is analogous to a sunny human smile.
After about an hour, I stopped. I snapped a sesame snap in two and placed one piece on the pavement. I ate the other piece.
It gave the snack a cursory sniff out of courtesy, looked up to me to acknowledge my generosity and then looked away. It sat down.
I decided this interaction, which was getting us nowhere, had to stop and a serious tête-à-tête
was in order: ‘You cannot follow me any more. You must go home. I'm going home, too!’
It kept up its multi-purpose tail gesticulation programmed to express positive sentiments, while ‘listening’ to me, but roundly ignored my message.
The tailing continued.
Another hour or so elapsed. I saw a bus stop thronged with passengers waiting for a late bus. I had to do what I had to do...
Ten seconds later, I emerged from the far side of the crowd. I quickly crossed the frontage road and peeked back:
The same dog was sniffing round the feet of the passengers at the bus stop, one by one.
Now and then, it would stop and look up to perform facial identification...

I turned round and walked off.

顺便欣赏一下这幅“怡然观景图”。同一天，同一座城市，四处游荡时，不经意间一抬头……While I am at it, why don't I throw in this delightful picture? I was rambling along in the same city on the same day, when I casually looked up... and there it was, a languid canine onlooker!