美国失忆老人：母亲节仍记得给妻子买鲜花

The day before Mother's Day this year, police received a call from a wife frantic because her husband, who suffers Alzheimer's disease, had gone missing from the Little Rock, Arkansas home.

今年母亲节前夕，警方收到一位妻子的惊慌报警，称自己身患老年痴呆症的丈夫从家里失踪了。夫妇二人家住阿根色州小岩城。

Police found Melvin Amrine two blocks from their home, unable to tell officers where he lives.

警察在离他们家两个街区的地方发现了梅尔文·爱莫林，当时他说不清自己家住哪里。

However, he wasn't confused as to where he was going: he was buying his wife Doris flowers for Mother's Day, as he had every year since she had given birth to their first child.

然而他对于自己要去的地方却毫不含糊：他要给妻子多莉丝买母亲节鲜花，因为这是一惯例是从她生了第一个孩子开始每年都坚持的。

Melvyn Amrine has been slowly deteriorating since he was diagnosed with the condition three years ago.

梅尔文·爱莫林自从三年前被诊断出老年痴呆症后，身体健康每况愈下。

His wife has become her husband's carer, watching helplessly as the cruel disease steals her husband's memories and personality away from him.

妻子成了丈夫的护工，无助地眼睁睁看着疾病残忍地夺走丈夫的记忆和个性。

Officers radioed dispatch to say they would take the elderly man straight home - but Melvyn Amrine was having none of that.

警察用无线电对讲机告知梅尔文·爱莫林的家人他们会把老人直接带回家，但是老人自己却不同意。

'He was pretty adamant,' Officer Troy Dillard told CBS. 'He wasn't going home until he got those flowers,' Officer Brian Grigsby said.

警官特洛伊·迪拉德告诉CBS资讯记者，“老人相当固执。”布莱恩·格雷斯比警官补充道，“他非要买到花之后才肯回家。”

'That's what he wanted. He wanted flowers for his wife, because tomorrow was Mother's Day.'

“这就是他想要的，他想给妻子买鲜花，因为明天就是母亲节了。”

So the officers decided to help Melvyn Amrine achieve his goal, secretly stopping in at a local supermarket and helping him select a bouquet of beautiful cream-colored roses.

所以警察就决定帮助梅尔文·爱莫林完成目标，在附近的超市偷偷停下来、帮他挑选了一大束奶油色的玫瑰。

'We had to get those flowers,' Grigsby says. 'We had to get them. I didn't have a choice.'

“我们必须弄到那些鲜花，” 警官格雷斯比说，“我们必须买到鲜花交到他手中，别无选择。”

The kind officers even surruptitiously slipped the cashier some extra bills when Melvyn couldn't cover the tab.

善良的警察甚至还在梅尔文·爱莫林付账钱不够的时候，偷偷地塞给收银员一些额外的小费。

A frantic Doris Amrine was relieved when she saw her husband of 60 years walking up their front stairs in the company of the police officers, but her relief turned to joy when he presented her with the carefully selected bouquet.

和妻子结婚已有60年的丈夫在警察的陪同下出现在家中的前楼梯，惊慌的妻子多莉丝·爱莫林看到丈夫终于松了一口气，随即在看到精心挑选的花束之后、多莉丝欣喜若狂。

'As he came up those steps, and I saw those roses and the smile on his face, I just broke inside,' Doris told CBS. 'I just said, thank you, thank you. Because I saw his heart.'

“当他走上那几阶台阶时，我看见了玫瑰以及他脸上的微笑，当时我的心就被触动了。”多莉丝告诉CBS记者，“我高兴得无以言表，只是说谢谢、谢谢。因为我看到了他对我的真心。”

'It's special, because even though the mind doesn't remember everything, the heart remembers.'

"这很特别，因为即使大脑没有了记忆，心仍会记得爱。"