殘忍而美麗的情誼:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(169)

“What are you doing here?” I said, knowing how utterly foolish the question sounded, yet unable to think of anything else to say.
“Me?” Assef arched an eyebrow “I’m in my element. The question is what are you doing here?”
“I already told you,” I said. My voice was trembling. I wished it wouldn’t do that, wished my flesh wasn’t shrinking against my bones.
“The boy?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I’ll pay you for him,” I said. “I can have money wired.”
“Money?” Assef said. He tittered. “Have you ever heard of Rockingham? Western Australia, a slice of heaven. You should see it, miles and miles of beach. Green water, blue skies. My parents live there, in a beachfront villa. There’s a golf course behind the villa and a little lake. Father plays golf every day. Mother, she prefers tennis--Father says she has a wicked backhand. They own an Afghan restaurant and two jewelry stores; both businesses are doing spectacularly.” He plucked a red grape. Put it, lovingly, in Sohrab’s mouth. “So if I need money, I’ll have them wire it to me.” He kissed the side of Sohrab’s neck. The boy flinched a little, closed his eyes again. “Besides, I didn’t fight the Shorawi for money. Didn’t join the Taliban for money either. Do you want to know why I joined them?”My lips had gone dry. I licked them and found my tongue had dried too.
“Are you thirsty?” Assef said, smirking.
“I think you’re thirsty.”
“I’m fine,” I said. The truth was, the room felt too hot suddenly--sweat was bursting from my pores, prickling my skin. And was this really happening? Was I really sitting across from Assef?
“As you wish,” he said. “Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, how I joined the Taliban. Well, as you may remember, I wasn’t much of a religious type. But one day I had an epiphany. I had it in jail. Do you want to hear?”
I said nothing.

“你在這裏幹什麼？ ”我說，明知自己這個問題蠢得無以復加，可是想不出有其他可說的。
“我？”阿塞夫眉毛一揚，“這裏是我的地盤，問題是，你在這裏幹什麼？”
“我已經告訴過你了，”我說，聲音顫抖。我希望話不是這麼說出口，希望自己沒有渾身發抖。
“這個男孩？”
“是的。”
“爲什麼？”
“我可以爲了他付錢給你，”我說， “我可以匯錢給你。”
“錢？”阿塞夫說，忍不住狂笑起來。“你聽說過洛金漢嗎？在澳大利亞西部，天堂般的地方。你應該去看看，沙灘連綿不絕，綠色的海水，藍色的天空。我父母在那兒，住在海濱別墅裏面。別墅後面有高爾夫球場，有個小小的湖泊。爸爸每天打高爾夫球，我媽媽比較喜歡網球——爸爸說她打得很棒。他們開着一家阿富汗餐廳、兩間珠寶店，生意非常興隆。”他揀起一顆葡萄，慈愛地放進索拉博口裏。“所以，如果我需要錢，我會讓他們匯給我。”他親吻索拉博脖子的側邊。男孩身子稍微一縮，又閉上雙眼。“再說，我跟俄國佬幹仗不是爲了錢。加入塔利班也不是爲了錢。你想知道我爲什麼加入他們嗎？”我嘴脣已經變幹了，舔了舔，這才發現舌頭也變幹了。
“你口渴嗎？”阿塞夫說，滿臉壞笑。
“不。”
“我認爲你很渴。”“還好。”我說。事情的真相是，房間突然之間變熱了——汗水從我的毛孔冒出來，浸溼我的皮膚。這是真的嗎？我真的坐在阿塞夫對面嗎？
“隨便你，”他說，“不管怎麼說，我講到哪裏了？哦，對了，我爲什麼加入塔利班。嗯，也許你還記得，我過去不是那麼虔誠。但有一天，我看到真主顯靈了，在監獄裏看到。你想聽嗎？”
我默默無語。