經典科幻文學:《 再見 多謝你們的魚》第18章2

OK, said Fenchurch, pull on the rope, steady the ‘cello. Pass it up to me.
He pulled on the rope, he steadied the ‘cello.
I can’t pull on the rope again, he said, without letting go of the ‘cello.
Fenchurch leant down.
I’m steadying the 'cello', she said. You pull on the rope.
The ‘cello eased up level with the doorway, swinging slightly, and Fenchurch manoeuvred it inside.
Come on up yourself, she called down.
Arthur picked up his bag of goodies and went in through the stable doors, tingling.
The bottom room, which he had seen briefly before, was pretty rough and full of junk. A large old cast-iron mangle stood there, a surprising number of kitchen sinks were piled in a corner. There was also, Arthur was momentarily alarmed to see, a pram, but it was very old and uncomplicatedly full of books.
The floor was old stained concrete, excitingly cracked. And this was the measure of Arthur’s mood as he stared up the rickety wooden steps in the far corner. Even a cracked concrete floor seemed to him an almost unbearably sensual thing.
An architect friend of mine keeps on telling me how he can do wonderful things with this place, said Fenchurch chattily as Arthur emerged through the floor. He keeps on coming round, standing in stunned amazement muttering about space and objects and events and marvellous qualities of light, then says he needs a pencil and disappears for weeks. Wonderful things have, therefore, so far failed to happen to it.
In fact, thought Arthur as he looked about, the upper room was at least reasonably wonderful anyway. It was simply decorated, furnished with things made out of cushions and also a stereo set with speakers which would have impressed the guys who put up Stonehenge.
There were flowers which were pale and pictures which were interesting.
There was a sort of gallery structure in the roof space which held a bed and also a bathroom which, Fenchurch explained, you could actually swing a cat in. But, she added, only if it was a reasonably patient cat and didn’t mind a few nasty cracks about the head. So. here you are.
Yes.

“好的，”芬琪詩說，“拉着繩子，穩住大提琴。把它提上來給我。”
他拉了繩子，穩住了大提琴。
“我沒法再拉繩子了，”他說，“除非放下那大提琴。”
芬琪詩彎下身來。
“我來穩住大提琴，”她說，“你拉繩子。”
那把大提琴微微搖擺着進了門，芬琪詩把它弄了進去。
“你快上來。”她往下喊着。
阿瑟拿起裝甜食的包，通過馬廄門走了進去，心中興奮異常。
盡頭的房間阿瑟原先草草地看過幾眼，裏面非常粗糙而且放滿了垃圾。一個巨大的鑄鐵軋布機立在房中，好大一堆廚房水槽堆在角落裏。阿瑟馬上警覺地發現了那裏有一輛嬰兒車，不過它已經很舊了而且堆滿了書。
地板是陳舊褪色的混凝土，令人激動地開裂了。當他凝視着遠方角落搖搖欲墜的木臺階時，這反映着阿瑟的心境。甚至開裂的混凝土地板對他似乎都是慾望的象徵。
“我的一個建築師朋友一直跟我說他怎樣可以給這個地方搞些很美妙的東西。”當阿瑟從地板上露出頭時芬琪詩跟他閒聊。“他不停地跑過來，愣在那兒唸叨着什麼空間、物體、事件還有精妙的光效，接着他說自己需要支鉛筆和消失幾個星期。美妙的東西就這樣，目前爲止，還未到來。”
事實上，在阿瑟看來，不管怎樣，上面那個房間至少還是相當美妙的。它的裝修很簡樸，裏面裝滿了軟墊做的東西和一套讓建造巨石陣的人都印象深刻的立體聲音響。
裏面有些淺色的花和有趣的圖片。
屋頂上有一種畫廊結構的建築，裏面設置了一張牀和一間浴室，芬琪詩解釋說你甚至可以把一隻小貓用繩索吊進去。“但是，”她補充說，“除非那是隻相當有耐心的貓而且不介意自己會磕着腦袋。所以，就這樣。”
“是的。”