By Robert Klose

The advent of warm weather here in Maine calls for a seasonal ritual that， for me， puts the exclamation point on winters end—fetching the wooden screen door.1

Note that I wrote “wooden.” The aluminum2 models just wont do it—they close too neatly and retain their perfect form for decades. But I came of age3 in the 1960s， a time of imperfection. There was no perfect house， no perfect car， no perfect kids or parents. Why should a screen door be an exception？

I grew up with my siblings in a working-class neighborhood in urban， industrial New Jersey.4 When the warm weather arrived， my dad would go out to the garage，haul out the wooden screen door， and install it over the back door， which could then be left wide open， admitting a refreshing breeze （we had no air conditioning）.5

My father was a Mr. Fix-it par excellence， so keeping the screen door serviceable was one of his indulgences.6 Every few years he gave it a fresh coat of paint（picket-fence green）， reinforced the rickety joints， and patched the screen with Scotch tape.7 I distinctly remember him putting the last screw in the last hinge，8 stepping back， and swinging the door shut with a solid， woody “crack！”

A good， rattly， wooden screen door， unsightly as it was，9 had an invaluable function in the age of the stay-at-home mom： It alerted her to the coming and going of the kids （at a time when children played outside）. I dont have to close my eyes to see myself， my siblings， and my friends running in and out of the house， tearing the screen door open and letting it slap shut behind us. Ten times a day？ Fifty？ A hundred？ It was all good， and my mom never complained about the noise， because that was the purpose of a wooden screen door—to slam shut and thereby announce that her children were within earshot.10

Flash forward： Several years ago， in a fit of nostalgia，11 I went shopping for a wooden screen door. I was disappointed in the choices available.They looked a bit too solid， too well made. But I found one online， and within a week it was delivered to my doorstep.

The firm had sent me one with the wrong dimensions12， however—too wide and too tall. So I asked my carpenter to make the necessary adjustments. Ozzie worked away at it for a couple of hours until he got it to sit neatly in its frame. I stood back， looked it over， and then gave it the acid test13： I pulled it open and let go. It closed in a lazy fashion14， like royalty lying down on silk sheets.

“Not good，” I pronounced. “No slap factor. Please remove the automatic door closer and adjust the door so it swings shut with a good crack.”

Ozzie rolled his eyes. “But Ill have to change the set of the hinges and shave some more off the bottom to get it to close like that.”

“Please proceed.”

I watched as Ozzie grudgingly went about his work， emanating a clear sense that our values were at odds.15 Be that as it may16， a short while later the task was done. We both stepped back and looked it over. The door was slightly askew， uneven in its frame， and the screen no longer lay flat.17 But when I pulled open the door and released it， the thing clapped shut like a rifle shot.

“What do you think？” I asked.

“It looks like hell，” said Ozzie.

“But it sounds like heaven，” I said. And I， being the owner of the door—and the memory—had the final word.

1. 在緬因州，夏天的到來(lái)離不開一種季節(jié)性的儀式，在我眼里，這種儀式總能為冬天的結(jié)束畫上一個(gè)驚嘆號(hào)，那就是——拿出家里的木紗門。the advent of： ……的到來(lái)；Maine： 緬因州，美國(guó)東北部新英格蘭地區(qū)一州；ritual： 儀式，慣例；exclamation point： 驚嘆號(hào)；screen door：（防止蚊蟲進(jìn)入的）紗門。

2. aluminum： 鋁。

3. come of age： 達(dá)到法定年齡，成年。

4. sibling： 兄弟姐妹；New Jersey： 新澤西州，位于美國(guó)中部，是人口密度最高的州。

5. 當(dāng)天氣轉(zhuǎn)熱時(shí)，父親就會(huì)去到車庫(kù)，將紗門從里面拖出來(lái)，然后把它裝在后門上，這樣后門就能隨時(shí)大開，時(shí)刻保持通風(fēng)了（那時(shí)我們還沒(méi)有空調(diào)）。haul： 拖，拉。

6. 父親非常熱衷于修理，且技術(shù)高超，于是，確保紗門正常工作成了他的一個(gè)嗜好。par excellence： 出類拔萃的；indulgence： 嗜好。

7. 每隔幾年，他就會(huì)給紗門重新上一層涂料（就是尖頭柵欄常用的綠色），同時(shí)對(duì)不牢固的連接處進(jìn)行加固，并用透明膠帶給破損的位置打上補(bǔ)丁。picket-fence： 尖樁柵欄；reinforce： 加固，增強(qiáng)；rickety： 松垮的，不牢固的；patch： 給……打補(bǔ)?。籗cotch tape： 透明膠帶。

8. distinctly： 清楚地，明顯地；screw： 螺絲；hinge： 鉸鏈。

9. rattly： 格格響的；unsightly： 難看的，不雅觀的。

10. slam： 砰地關(guān)上；earshot： 聽力所及范圍之內(nèi)。

11. flash forward： 提前敘述未來(lái)事件，閃前；a fit of：突發(fā)的；nostalgia： 懷舊之情。

12. dimension： 尺寸，大小。

13. an/the acid test： 嚴(yán)峻的（真正的）考驗(yàn)。

14. fashion： （做事的）方式，樣子。

15. grudgingly： 勉強(qiáng)地，不情愿地；emanate： 表現(xiàn)出；at odds： 不一致。

16. be that as it may： 盡管如此。

17. 由于門框不平，整個(gè)紗門微微傾斜著，使得紗網(wǎng)也皺皺巴巴的。askew： 歪斜的。