美國失憶老人：母親節仍記得給妻子買鮮花

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.
今年母親節前夕，警方收到一位妻子的驚慌報警，稱自己身患老年癡呆症的丈夫從家裏失蹤了。夫婦二人家住阿根色州小巖城。

Police found Melvin Amrine two blocks from their home, unable to tell officers where he lives.
警察在離他們家兩個街區的地方發現了梅爾文·愛莫林，當時他說不清自己家住哪裏。

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.
然而他對於自己要去的地方卻毫不含糊：他要給妻子多莉絲買母親節鮮花，因爲這是一慣例是從她生了第一個孩子開始每年都堅持的。

Melvyn Amrine has been slowly deteriorating since he was diagnosed with the condition three years ago.
梅爾文·愛莫林自從三年前被診斷出老年癡呆症後，身體健康每況愈下。

His wife has become her husband's carer, watching helplessly as the cruel disease steals her husband's memories and personality away from him.
妻子成了丈夫的護工，無助地眼睜睜看着疾病殘忍地奪走丈夫的記憶和個性。

Officers radioed dispatch to say they would take the elderly man straight home - but Melvyn Amrine was having none of that.
警察用無線電對講機告知梅爾文·愛莫林的家人他們會把老人直接帶回家，但是老人自己卻不同意。

'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·迪拉德告訴CBS新聞記者，“老人相當固執。”布萊恩·格雷斯比警官補充道，“他非要買到花之後才肯回家。”

'That's what he wanted. He wanted flowers for his wife, because tomorrow was Mother's Day.'
“這就是他想要的，他想給妻子買鮮花，因爲明天就是母親節了。”

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.
所以警察就決定幫助梅爾文·愛莫林完成目標，在附近的超市偷偷停下來、幫他挑選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.'
“我們必須弄到那些鮮花，” 警官格雷斯比說，“我們必須買到鮮花交到他手中，別無選擇。”

The kind officers even surruptitiously slipped the cashier some extra bills when Melvyn couldn't cover the tab.
善良的警察甚至還在梅爾文·愛莫林付賬錢不夠的時候，偷偷地塞給收銀員一些額外的小費。

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.
和妻子結婚已有60年的丈夫在警察的陪同下出現在家中的前樓梯，驚慌的妻子多莉絲·愛莫林看到丈夫終於鬆了一口氣，隨即在看到精心挑選的花束之後、多莉絲欣喜若狂。

'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.'
“當他走上那幾階臺階時，我看見了玫瑰以及他臉上的微笑，當時我的心就被觸動了。”多莉絲告訴CBS記者，“我高興得無以言表，只是說謝謝、謝謝。因爲我看到了他對我的真心。”

'It's special, because even though the mind doesn't remember everything, the heart remembers.'
"這很特別，因爲即使大腦沒有了記憶，心仍會記得愛。"