One summer, I was traveling with my husband, Jon. We were on a crowded bus in Texas. Most of thepassengers spoke Spanish . Suddenly, Jon said, “Natalie, look at those people with the beautiful baby.” He pointed to a young family. They looked so happy. I smiled at them. Then, in my best Spanish, I said, “Que chulo!” (“How charming!”) and praised the baby.

Now the parents did not look happy. They looked worried. They got up from their seats and came toward us. When they were close, the father held out the baby to me. He asked me to touch the baby.

The baby’s father spoke to Natalie in Spanish. He said that praise from a stranger might bring bad luck. The baby could get sick or even die. But if Natalie touched the baby, Natalie was not a stranger anymore. Her praise could not hurt the baby. So the parents wanted Natalie to touch their baby—to protect him from bad luck. Natalie smiled and took the baby. She held him for a minute. The parents smiled too. Now their baby would not have bad luck.

一年夏天，我和我的丈夫，强一起去旅游。我们坐在得克萨斯州一辆拥挤的汽车上，很多乘客都说西班牙语。忽然，强说：“纳塔莉，看那些人，还有那个漂亮的婴儿。”他指着一个年轻的家庭。他们看上去非常开心。我冲他们微笑了一下，然后用我说得最好的一句西班牙语说：“Que chulo!”（“真可爱呀！”）。

这下子那对父母看上去不那么高兴了，相反却显得很忧虑。他们从座位上站起身朝我们走过来。父亲把孩子抱到我面前，他让我用手摸一摸那个婴儿。

孩子的父亲用西班牙语告诉纳塔莉，来自陌生人的赞美可能会带来厄运，孩子也许会生病，甚至死亡。但是如果纳塔莉用手摸一下那个婴儿，那她就不再是陌生人，她的赞美也就不会伤害婴儿了。所以他们让纳塔莉摸一摸婴儿——来保护他不受厄运的侵扰。纳塔莉笑着把孩子接过来，在怀里抱了一会儿。孩子的父母也笑了。现在他们的孩子不会有麻烦了。