世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第17章Part6

Two months later Amaranta ?rsula went to Brussels. Aureliano Segundo gave her not only the money from the special raffle, but also what he had managed to put aside over the previous months and what little he had received from the sale of the pianola, the clavichord, and other junk that had fallen into disrepair. According to his calculations, that sum would be enough for her studies, so that all that was lacking was the price of her fare back home. Fernanda was against the trip until the last moment, scandalized by the idea that Brussels was so close to Paris and its perdition, but she calmed down with the letter that Father Angel gave her addressed to a boardinghouse run by nuns for Catholic young ladies where Amaranta ?rsula promised to stay until her studies were completed. Furthermore, the parish priest arranged for her to travel under the care of a group of Franciscan nuns who were going to Toledo, where they hoped to find dependable people to accompany her to Belgium. While the urgent correspondence that made the coordination possible went forward, Aureliano Segundo, aided by Petra Cates, prepared Amaranta ?rsula’s baggage. The night on which they were packing one of Fernanda’s bridal trunks, the things were so well organized that the schoolgirl knew by heart which were the suits and cloth slippers she could wear crossing the Atlantic and the blue cloth coat with copper buttons and the cordovan shoes she would wear when she landed. She also knew how to walk so as not to fall into the water as she went up the gangplank, that at no time was she to leave the company of the nuns or leave her cabin except to eat, and that for no reason was she to answer the questions asked by people of any sex while they were at sea. She carried a small bottle with drops for seasickness and a notebook written by Father Angel in his own hand containing six prayers to be used against storms. Fernanda made her a canvas belt to keep her money in, and she would not have to take it off even to sleep. She tried to give her the chamberpot, washed out with lye and disinfected with alcohol, but Amaranta ?rsula refused it for fear that her schoolmates would make fun of her. A few months later, at the hour of his death, Aureliano Segundo would remember her as he had seen her for the last time as she tried unsuccessfully to lower the window of the second-class coach to hear Fernanda’s last piece of advice. She was wearing a pink silk dress with a corsage of artificial pansies pinned to her left shoulder, her cordovan shoes with buckles and low heels, and sateen stockings held up at the thighs with elastic garters. Her body was slim, her hair loose and long, and she had the lively eyes that ?rsula had had at her age and the way in which she said good-bye, without crying but without smiling either, revealed the same strength of character. Walking beside the coach as it picked up speed and holding Fernanda by the arm so that she would not stumble, Aureliano scarcely had time to wave at his daughter as she threw him a kiss with the tips of her fingers. The couple stood motionless under the scorching sun, looking at the train as it merged with the black strip of the horizon, linking arms for the first time since the day of their wedding.
On the ninth of August, before they received the first letter from Brussels, Jos?Arcadio Segundo was speaking to Aureliano in Melquíades?room and, without realizing it, he said:
“Always remember that they were more than three thousand and that they were thrown into the sea.?
Then he fell back on the parchments and died with his eyes open. At that same instant, in Fernanda’s bed, his twin brother came to the end of the prolonged and terrible martyrdom of the steel crabs that were eating his throat away. One week previously he had returned home, without any voice, unable to breathe, and almost skin and bones, with his wandering trunks and his wastrel’s accordion, to fulfill the promise of dying beside his wife. Petra Cotes helped him pack his clothes and bade him farewell without shedding a tear, but she forgot to give him the patent leather shoes that he wanted to wear in his coffin. So when she heard that he had died, she dressed in black, wrapped the shoes up in a newspaper, and asked Fernanda for permission to see the body. Fernanda would not let her through the door.
“Put yourself in my place,?Petra Cotes begged. “Imagine how much I must have loved him to put up with this humiliation.?
“There is no humiliation that a concubine does not deserve,?Fernanda replied. “So wait until another one of your men dies and put the shoes on him.?
In fulfillment of her promise, Santa Sofía de la Piedad cut the throat of Jos?Arcadio Segundo’s corpse with a kitchen knife to be sure that they would not bury him alive. The bodies were placed in identical coffins, and then it could be seen that once more in death they had become as Identical as they had been until adolescence. Aureliano Segundo’s old carousing comrades laid on his casket a wreath that had a purple ribbon with the words: Cease, cows, life is short. Fernanda was so indignant with such irreverence that she had the wreath thrown onto the trash heap. In the tumult of the last moment, the sad drunkards who carried them out of the house got the coffins mixed up and buried them in the wrong graves.

兩個月後，阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜準備去布魯塞爾。奧雷連諾第二交給女兒的錢，不僅有他從不同尋常的抽彩中賺得的一切，而且包括他在一生的最後幾個月裏的全部積蓄，還有他賣掉自動鋼琴、舊式風琴和各種不再討人喜歡的舊傢俱所得到的一小筆錢。根據他的計算，這些錢足夠她整個唸書時期花銷，不清楚的只有一點——口來的路費是不是夠。菲蘭達一想到布魯塞爾距離罪惡的巴黎那麼近，內心深處就冒火，她堅決反對女兒的布魯塞爾之行。不過安格爾神父的一封推薦信使她心裏又平靜了。信是寫給一個修道院附設的天主教女青年寄宿中學的，這個學校答應阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜在那兒一直住到學習結束。另外，神父還找到一羣去托萊多的聖芳濟派的修女，她們同意帶着姑娘一起去，在托萊多再給她聯繫直接到布魯塞爾去的可靠旅伴。當這件事正在書來信往地加緊進行時，奧雷連諾第二就在佩特娜·柯特的幫助下，爲阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜作準備。等到那天晚上，她的東西放進菲蘭達年輕時放置嫁妝的一隻大箱子以後，一切都已考慮周到了，未來的女大學生也已記住：該穿怎樣的衣服和絨布拖鞋橫渡大西洋；她上岸時要穿的配有銅鈕釦的天藍色呢大衣和那雙精製的山羊皮鞋應當放在哪兒。她又牢牢地記住，從舷梯上船時應該怎樣邁步，免得摔到水裏；記住自己不可離開那些女修士一步，記住自己只能吃飯時走出自己的船艙；在公海上，無論遇到怎樣的景緻，她都不該回答男男女女可能向她提出的一切問題。她隨身帶了一瓶預防暈船的藥水和一個小本子，小本子上有安格爾神父親筆記的六段抵禦暴風雨的禱詞。菲蘭達給她縫了一條藏錢的帆布腰帶，並且示範了一下怎樣束在腰裏，晚上也可以不取下來；她還想送給女兒一隻金便盆，是用漂白劑洗淨、用酒精消過毒的，可是阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜沒有接受她的禮品，說她擔心大學裏的女同學會取笑她。再過幾個月，奧雷連諾第二在臨死的牀上將回憶起的女兒，就跟他最後一次見到的阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜一樣。她身穿一件粉紅色綢上衣，右肩上彆着一朵假三色繭，腳上穿着一雙精製的薄膜乎底的山羊皮鞋和一雙有橡皮圓吊帶的絲襪。她身材不高，披着長頭髮，她那滴溜溜的目光，就象烏蘇娜年輕時的目光，她那既無眼淚又無笑容的告別舉止，證明她繼承了高祖母的堅毅性格。她聽完菲蘭達最後的教誨，沒來得及放下二等車廂那扇滿是灰塵的玻璃窗，列車就開動了。隨着列車速度的逐漸加快，奧雷連諾第二也加緊了腳步，他在列車旁邊小跑，拉着菲蘭達的一隻手，免得她跌跤。女兒用手指尖向他投來一個飛吻，他好不容易趕了上去，揮了揮手，表示回答。一對老夫婦一動不動地長久站在灼人的太陽下，望着列車怎樣變成地平線上的一個小黑點——他們婚後還是頭一次手攜着手地站在一起哩。
八月九日，布魯塞爾來的第一封信還沒到達之前，霍·阿卡蒂奧第二在梅爾加德斯的房間裏跟小奧雷連諾談話，談着談着，他就前言不搭後語地說：
“你要永遠記住：他們有三千多人，全部扔進了海里。”
說完，他便一頭撲倒在羊皮紙手稿上，睜着眼睛死了。同一時刻，在菲蘭達牀上也結束了一場長時間的痛苦鬥爭，那是霍·阿卡蒂奧第二的孿生兄弟跟挾住他咽喉的蟹螯之間進行的一場鬥爭。一星期之前，皮包骨的奧雷連諾第二帶着自己的旅行箱和破手風琴，悄然無聲地回到了父母親的房子裏，他是回來履行自己死在妻子身旁的諾言的。佩特娜·柯特幫他收拾好了衣服，一滴眼淚也沒落，就跟他分了手，但是忘記把他躺在棺材裏要穿的一雙漆皮鞋裝進旅行箱了。所以，在知道奧雷連諾第二去世之後，她穿上喪服，用報紙把漆皮鞋包好，便來要求菲蘭達同意她跟遺體告別，菲蘭達連門坎都不讓她跨過。
“請您爲我考慮考慮吧，”佩特娜·柯特懇求她。“我這麼屈辱地來，可見我多麼愛他。”
“姘頭活該受到這種屈辱，”菲蘭達答道。“跟你睡過覺的許多男人中間，還有人要死的，你就等他死時拿這雙皮鞋給他穿吧。”
爲了履行自己的誓言，聖索菲婭·德拉佩德拿來一把菜刀，割斷霍。 阿卡蒂奧第二屍體的喉管，這才相信他不是被活埋的。一對孿生兄弟的屍體安放在兩個同樣的棺材裏，這時，只見他們死後又變得象青年時代那樣相象了。奧雷連諾第二的酒友們在他的棺材上放了一個花圈，花圈上繫着一條深紫色緞帶，上面寫着一句題詞：“繁殖吧，母牛，生命短促呀！”這種污辱死者的行爲激怒了菲蘭達，她忙叫人把花圈扔到污水坑裏去。幾個傷心的酒徒從房子裏擡出棺材，在最後一陣倉促的準備中把它們搞錯了，把奧雷連諾第二的屍體埋在爲霍·阿卡蒂奧第二挖掘的墳墓裏，而將霍·阿卡蒂奧第二的屍體埋葬在他兄弟的墳墓裏了。