“别动!……叫你别动就别动!”

　　“动一个“裤脚管’有什么?’

　　“什么‘裤脚管’?!”

　　我不知道是哪根神经的传导，使这位双目失明的演员知道我在偷偷撩动翼幕。我习惯叫翼幕为“裤脚管”，这使他很生气，粘着的胡子簌簌发抖，要不是化了妆，肯定是张铁青的脸。

　　以他的艺龄，完全可以做做剧院艺术顾问的事了，多省心!但他说一个演员不能离开舞台，也许到死!于是每逢他演出，院长派我负贵他的安全：上场、下场……

　　舞台上的翼幕，什么时候开始被叫做“裤脚管”，无人能回答亡但的确有这样的事，有些演员常在吃食后，便把它当做抹布擦手;下场时，为了少走两步，把“裤脚管”一撩，走个斜线就下妆去了。这些他现在已看不到了。这一次为了怕翼幕绊住他的脚，我才撩了一下，不幸落在我的身上，我心里嘟嚷着：“摔着活该!”

　　Zhijun

　　"Don't move it! Don't move it, I tell you!"

　　"I've just moved ‘the trouser legs' a little. What of it?"

　　"What ‘trouser legs’?! "

　　I didn't know which of his nerves told this blind actor that I was stealthily moving the side curtains. My habit of calling the side curtains "trouser legs" irritated him to such an extent that his artificial whiskers quivered. I was sure that under the make-up his face must be black with anger.

　　He deserved the position of art adviser in the troupe for the long years he had been working there. What a comfortably easy job it would have been for him! But ire claimed an artist should remain on the stage till death. So I was appointed by the director to see to his safety whenever he went on stage.

　　No one could say when the side curtains on the stage carne to be called the "trouser leg." In fact, some actors would use them as napkins after snacks, and others would lift them to take a short cut off the stage. All this he could no longer see. I had held u the side curtain just in time to keels him from tripping over it, and this was what I got in return from him.