今天在病房里听到了家乡话

一个80多岁的株洲老爷爷，南下广东已近40年。三个月前得了脑梗，现在遗留严重的认知障碍，智能减退，无法交流。早上查房的时候他一直喃喃自语，讲的就是亲切的株洲话（约等于长沙话）。
不知道那些叶落异国的游子们，最后闪过的念头是不是也是在用家乡话。

PS：2022年秋天首发朋友圈，现在在新博客上存个档。最后一段，当时想的是我的伯伯，年轻出国，海外70多年。但每次在长沙见他，还能讲口流利的长沙话。最后90多岁，在COVID-19大流行时，叶落美国东海岸。

#老文新发

Heard My Hometown Dialect in the Ward Today

An 80-year-old grandpa from Zhuzhou, who moved to Guangdong nearly 40 years ago. Three months ago, he suffered a stroke and now has severe cognitive impairment, diminished intelligence, and is unable to communicate. During the morning rounds, he kept muttering in his familiar Zhuzhou dialect (which is roughly the same as Changsha dialect).

I wonder if those who drift far from home, in their final moments, also have thoughts in their hometown dialect.

PS: Originally posted on WeChat Moments in autumn 2022, now archived on my new blog. In the last paragraph, I was thinking of my uncle, who went abroad when he was young and spent over 70 years overseas. But every time we met in Changsha, he could still speak fluent Changsha dialect. He finally passed away in his 90s on the East Coast of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.