殘忍而美麗的情誼:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(62)

“Actually, I switched to center forward this year,” Assef said. “You get to score more that way. We’re playing the Mekro-Rayan team next week. Should be a good match. They have some good players.”
Baba nodded. “You know, I played center forward too when I was young.”
“I’ll bet you still could if you wanted to,”Assef said. He favored Baba with a good-natured wink.
Baba returned the wink. “I see your father has taught you his world-famous flattering ways.” He elbowed Assef’s father, almost knocked the little fellow down. Mahmood’s laughter was about as convincing as Tanya’s smile, and suddenly I wondered if maybe, on some level, their son frightened them. I tried to fake a smile, but all I could manage was a feeble upturning of the corners of my mouth--my stomach was turning at the sight of my father bonding with Assef.
Assef shifted his eyes to me. “Wali and Kamal are here too. They wouldn’t miss your birthday for anything,” he said, laughter lurking just beneath the surface. I nodded silently.
“We’re thinking about playing a little game of volleyball tomorrow at my house,” Assef said. “Maybe you’ll join us. Bring Hassan if you want to.”
“That sounds fun,” Baba said, beaming. “What do you think, Amir?”
“I don’t really like volleyball,” I muttered. I saw the light wink out of Baba’s eyes and an uncomfortable silence followed.
“Sorry, Assefjan,” Baba said, shrugging. That stung, his apologizing for me.
“Nay, no harm done,” Assef said. “But you have an open invitation, Amir jan. Anyway, I heard you like to read so I brought you a book. One of my favorites.” He extended a wrapped birthday gift to me. “Happy birthday.”
He was dressed in a cotton shirt and blue slacks, a red silk tie and shiny black loafers. He smelled of cologne and his blond hair was neatly combed back. On the surface, he was the embodiment of every parent’s dream, a strong, tall, well-dressed and well-mannered boy with talent and striking looks, not to mention the wit to joke with an adult. But to me, his eyes betrayed him. When I looked into them, the facade faltered, revealed a glimpse of the madness hiding behind them.
“Aren’t you going to take it, Amir?” Baba was saying. “Huh?”
“Your present,” he said testily. “Assefjan is giving you a present.”
“Oh,” I said. I took the box from Assef and lowered my gaze. I wished I could be alone in my room, with my books, away from these people.
“Well?” Baba said.
“What?”

“是的，我今年改踢中場了。”阿塞夫說，“那樣我就可以多進一些球了。我們下個星期跟梅寇拉揚隊比賽。那會很精彩，他們有幾個球員很棒。”
爸爸點點頭:“你知道，我年輕的時候也踢中場。”
“我敢打賭，現在你要是願意，也能踢。”阿塞夫說，他一臉天真地眨眨眼，拍爸爸的馬屁。
爸爸也朝他眨眼:“我看你老爸已經把他舉世聞名的拍馬屁技術傳給你了。”他用手肘碰碰阿塞夫的父親，差點把那個小傢伙撞倒。馬赫穆德的笑聲就像譚雅的微笑那樣虛僞。突然之間，我在想，也許從某種程度上說，他們害怕自己的兒子。我試圖裝出一個笑容，但我所能做到的，只是勉強讓嘴角往上翹了翹——看到爸爸和阿塞夫這麼投機，我的胃翻動着。
阿塞夫把眼光移向我。“瓦里和卡莫也來了，他們怎麼也不會錯過你的生日。”他皮笑肉不笑地說。我默默點頭。
“我們打算明天在我家玩排球，”阿塞夫說，“也許你可以來一起玩，如果你願意，也可以帶上哈桑。”
“聽起來很有趣。”爸爸說，雙眼放光。“你覺得呢，阿米爾?”
“我真的不喜歡排球。”我喃喃說，看到爸爸眼裏的光芒消失了，接着是一陣令人不適的沉默。
“很抱歉，親愛的阿塞夫。”爸爸說，聳聳肩。他替我道歉!那刺痛了我。
“不，沒關係。”阿塞夫說，“不過大門隨時爲你開放，親愛的阿米爾。不管怎樣，我聽說你喜歡看書，所以我給你帶了一本，我最喜歡的。”他將一份包紮好的禮物遞給我，“生日快樂。”
他穿着棉布襯衣、藍色褲子，繫着紅色領帶，腳上是一雙閃亮的黑色皮鞋。他身上散發着古龍水的香味，金黃色的頭髮整齊地梳向後面。就外表而言，他是每個父母夢想中的兒子：強壯，高大，衣冠楚楚，舉止得體，英俊得令人吃驚，還富有才華，更不用說還能機智地跟大人打趣。但在我看來，他的眼睛出賣了他。我看着他的眼睛，看穿他虛有其表，有一種瘋狂隱藏在他身內。
“怎麼不收下，阿米爾?”爸爸說。“嗯?”
“你的禮物啊，”他不耐煩地說，“親愛的阿塞夫給你送禮物呢。”
“哦。”我說，從阿塞夫手裏接過那個盒子，放低視線。要是我能獨自在房間裏，陪着我的書，遠離這些人就好了。
“喂?”爸爸說。
“什麼?”