雷丁最近開咗間舖頭，專做《寵物小精靈》卡交易。今日我去賣卡。
A shop recently opened in Reading, dealing in Pokémon cards. Today I went to sell mine.
細細間舖頭，大大堆小朋友，嘈到爆、迫到喊。等咗廿分鐘，輪到我行埋去櫃枱……
A tiny shop. A great crush of children, noise to bursting, packed to screaming. Twenty minutes' wait. Then my turn at the counter...
小五小六咁上下，我好沉迷呢啲卡。有段日子，每日去附近商場搵人對戰或者交易；所有零用錢，用晒喺抽卡同報名參加比賽。
At ten or eleven, I was deep in these cards. For a while I went every day to the mall nearby, looking for someone to battle or trade. All of my pocket money went on packs or on entering tournaments.
我第一張抽到的閃卡係九尾，自此九尾亦係我最喜愛的小精靈。好想要耿鬼，從未入過手。有傳聞話，最值錢、最稀有嘅係噴火龍，我抽到過六次。
The first holographic I pulled was Ninetales. It has been my favourite Pokémon since. I wanted a Gengar. Never got one. Word was that Charizard was the rarest, the most valuable. I pulled six.
我曾經好用心砌卡。有本簿，用嚟記低同分析所有隨機抽卡可能性，只為確保組合完美。最教我自豪嗰疊卡係全草系，奇異花加尼多后，殺到開巷。有次參加比賽，就係靠呢套卡一路殺入決賽，不巧對手玩全火系，而且每張卡都配置得合理。最後落敗，係幾揼春。
I built decks with care. A notebook for logging and analysing the odds of every random pull, only to get the combinations right. The stack I was proudest of was all Grass; Venusaur and Nidoqueen tore through the field. Once, in a tournament, that deck carried me to the final. The other boy played all Fire, every card well placed. I lost. It stung.
自己一個人時可以做下研究，出去玩又識到其他小朋友。父母則覺得，閃卡而已，了無春用。玩物喪志，不如好好讀書。
Alone, I could sit and work the odds; out playing, I met other children. My parents thought otherwise. Only cards. Good for nothing. A boy ruined by toys. Better to study.
某日老竇因為工作不順，返到屋企搵我嚟鬧；鬧到激動之際，一腳踢到我飛起撼埋牆，最後扔埋草系套卡落化寶桶燒咗。
One day my father came home from a bad turn at work and took it out on me. As the shouting rose, a kick sent me flying into the wall. Then he threw the Grass deck into the incinerator and burnt it.
奇異花閃卡燒起嚟，火苗會變藍。
A holographic Venusaur burns blue.
我就周身瘀黑。第二日返到學校，嚇班主任一大跳。
I was bruised all over. The next day at school, the class teacher got a fright.
之後有一排，社工、警察、小學校長輪住嚟家訪。屋企人藉口係：「我係為個仔好。」
For a couple of weeks, social workers, police and the headteacher took turns coming to our flat. The family's excuse: "I'm doing it for my son."
最後點收科，印象好模糊。總之自此再無掂過剩低嗰堆卡。
How it ended, I barely remember. I never touched the remaining cards again.
但早幾年由香港嚟英國，又唔知點解會執埋堆卡入行李。
Years later, leaving Hong Kong for England, the remaining cards went into the suitcase. Why, I couldn't say.
月前有公司同事忽然提起：「呢排Pokemon卡又炒返起！」
Months ago, a colleague mentioned it out of nowhere: "Pokémon cards are booming again."
諗咗幾個月，的起心肝，拎晒所有卡去放售。
I thought about it for months. Then I found the heart to take the lot to sell.
交易最後，老細特別講句：「我會確保每張卡，都係交付識得珍惜之人。」
At the end of the sale, the owner made a point of saying: "I'll see every card go to someone who treasures it."
微笑點頭轉身走，收返少少奶粉錢。
A smile, a nod, and I turned and left with a little formula money.
期待過幾年，兩父子一齊搵啲嘢玩。
In a few years: father and son, something to play at.