諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第14章Part7

So who was this woman with a mouth that was not Sethe's, but whose eyes were almost as calm ashers? Whose head was turned on her neck in the manner he loved so well it watered his eye to seeit. And he said so. "This ain't her mouth. I know her mouth and this ain't it." Before Stamp Paidcould speak he said it and even while he spoke Paul D said it again. Oh, he heard all the old manwas saying, but the more he heard, the stranger the lips in the drawing became.
Stamp started with the party, the one Baby Suggs gave, but stopped and backed up a bit to tellabout the berries — where they were and what was in the earth that made them grow like that.
"They open to the sun, but not the birds, 'cause snakes down in there and the birds know it, so theyjust grow — fat and sweet — with nobody to bother em 'cept me because don't nobody go in thatpiece of water but me and ain't too many legs willing to glide down that bank to get them. Meneither. But I was willing that day. Somehow or 'nother I was willing. And they whipped me, I'mtelling you. Tore me up. But I filled two buckets anyhow. And took em over to Baby Suggs' house. It was on from then on. Such a cooking you never see no more. We baked, fried and stewedeverything God put down here. Everybody came. Everybody stuffed. Cooked so much there wasn'ta stick of kirdlin left for the next day. I volunteered to do it. And next morning I come over, like Ipromised, to do it." "But this ain't her mouth," Paul D said. "This ain't it at all." Stamp Paid lookedat him. He was going to tell him about how restless Baby Suggs was that morning, how she had alistening way about her; how she kept looking down past the cornto the stream so much he lookedtoo. In between ax swings, he watched where Baby was watching. Which is why they both missedit: they were looking the wrong way — toward water — and all the while it was coming down theroad. Four. Riding close together, bunched-up like, and righteous. He was going to tell him that,because he thought it was important: why he and Baby Suggs both missed it. And about the partytoo, because that explained why nobody ran on ahead; why nobody sent a fleet-footed son to cut'cross a field soon as they saw the four horses in town hitched for watering while the riders asked questions. Not Ella, not John, not anybody ran down or to Bluestone Road, to say some newwhitefolks with the Look just rode in. The righteous Look every Negro learned to recognize alongwith his ma'am's tit. Like a flag hoisted, this righteousness telegraphed and announced the faggot,the whip, the fist, the lie, long before it went public. Nobody warned them, and he'd alwaysbelieved it wasn't the exhaustion from a longday's gorging that dulled them, but some other thing— like, well, like meanness — that let them stand aside, or not pay attention, or tell themselvessomebody else was probably bearing the news already to the house on Bluestone Road where apretty woman had been living for almost a month. Young and deft with four children one of whichshe delivered herself the day before she got there and who now had the full benefit of Baby Suggs' bounty and her big old heart. Maybe they just wanted to know if Baby really was special, blessedin some way they were not. He was going to tell him that, but Paul D was laughing, saying, "Uhuh. No way. A little semblance round the forehead maybe, but this ain't her mouth."

那麼這個嘴不像塞絲、但眼睛幾乎同樣平靜的女人是誰呢？她的頭以一種令他如此迷戀的姿態從脖子上扭開，看得他熱淚盈眶。而他還是這句話。"這不是她的嘴。我認識她的嘴，可不是這樣子。"斯坦普·沛德沒來得及開口他就這樣說，甚至在斯坦普原原本本娓娓道來的時候，保羅·D又說了一遍。噢，老人的話他全聽見了，可聽得越多，畫像上的嘴就越陌生。
斯坦普先從宴會講起，貝比·薩格斯舉辦的那個，又停下來，倒回去一點，講起了莓子——它們在哪兒，以及是土裏的什麼東西讓它們長成那樣。
"它們生長的地方朝陽，可是鳥又吃不着，因爲鳥知道底下有蛇，所以它們只管長——又肥又甜——除了我沒人去打擾它們，因爲除了我誰也不下那灘水，再說也沒有什麼人願意滑下懸崖去摘它們。我也不願意。可是那天我願意。不知怎麼回事，就是願意。它們可把我抽了一頓，我跟你說。把我劃了個稀巴爛。可是我還是裝了滿滿兩桶，把它們帶到貝比·薩格斯家。就是從那會兒開始的。你再也見不到那種場面了。我們把上帝賜給這地方的所有東西都又烤又炸又燉。大夥兒全來了。每個人都撐着了。那頓飯做得太多了，沒給第二天剩下一根劈柴。是我自告奮勇去劈劈柴的。第二天早晨我就過來了，我答應過的，來幹活兒。" "可這不是她的嘴，"保羅·D說，"這根本不是。" 斯坦普·沛德看着他。他要告訴他那天早晨貝比·薩格斯是怎樣地坐立不安，她是怎樣地側耳傾聽；她是怎樣地透過玉米凝望小溪，搞得他也忍不住去看。每掄一下斧子，他就望一眼貝比·薩格斯望的地方。所以他們倆都錯過了它——他們看錯了方向——向着溪水——而同時它卻從大路上趕來。四個。並排騎着馬，像是一夥的，而且鐵面無私。他要告訴保羅·D那件事，因爲他認爲它很重要：爲什麼他和貝比·薩格斯都錯過了它。還要談談那次宴會，因爲宴會能夠解釋，爲什麼沒有人提前跑來；爲什麼看見城裏來的四匹馬飲着水、騎馬的問着問題時，就沒有一個人派個飛毛腿兒子穿過田野來報信。艾拉沒有，約翰沒有，誰都沒有沿着或者朝着藍石路跑來，來跟他們說有幾個陌生的帶"相"的白人剛剛騎馬進來。每個黑人一降生就跟媽媽的奶頭一起認得的那種鐵面無私"相"。早在公開發作之前，這種鐵面無私就像一面高舉的旗幟，流露和顯示出荊條、鞭子、拳頭、謊言的跡象。沒有人來警告他們，他也根本不相信是一整天累死人的胡吃海塞讓他們變得遲鈍了，而是別的什麼——比如，唉，比如卑鄙——使得他們袖手旁觀，或者置若罔聞，或者對他們自己說，別人可能已經把消息傳到了藍石路上一個漂亮女人住了將近一個月的那所房子裏。她年輕、能幹，有四個孩子，其中一個是她到那兒的前一天自己分娩的；她現在正享受着貝比·薩格斯的慷慨和她那顆偉大蒼老的心靈的恩澤。也許他們只是想知道貝比是否真的與衆不同，比他們多點什麼福氣。他想對他講這一切，可是保羅·D大笑着說："啊不。不可能。沒準腦門周圍有點相像，可這不是她的嘴。"