The Phone Call (Part 1)
A quick phone call about dinner keeps going off topic — until the most important thing gets forgotten.

昨天晚上,我给一个好朋友打电话,本来只想说一件事。Last night I called a good friend, originally just to say one thing.
我问她:“星期六的晚饭,你能来吗?”I asked her, "Can you come to dinner on Saturday?"
她说:“能来!对了,你妈妈的身体好点儿了吗?”She said, "I can! Oh right, is your mom feeling any better?"
我们聊了一会儿我妈妈,她突然又说:“对了,上次借你的那本书我看完了,星期六带给你。”We chatted about my mom for a while, then she suddenly said, "Oh right, I finished that book I borrowed from you — I'll bring it Saturday."
我说好,她又想起来:“对了,星期六天气好像不太好,别忘了带伞。”I said sure, and then she remembered something else: "Oh right, the weather doesn't look great on Saturday — don't forget an umbrella."
过了几分钟,她又说:“对了,我们公司旁边新开了一家饭馆,下次我们一起去试试吧。”A few minutes later she said, "Oh right, a new restaurant opened next to my office — let's try it together sometime."
我笑着说:“你今天的‘对了’真多啊!”I laughed and said, "You've got a lot of 'oh rights' today!"
她也笑了:“最后一个——对了,星期六的晚饭到底几点开始?”She laughed too: "Last one — oh right, what time does Saturday's dinner actually start?"
我这才发现,我们聊了半个小时,最重要的事却谁都没说。Only then did I realize we'd chatted for half an hour and neither of us had mentioned the most important thing.
看来朋友之间的电话,永远不会只有一件事。It seems a phone call between friends is never about just one thing.
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