諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第12章Part 2

AT THE BACK of Baby Suggs' mind may have been the thought that if Halle made it, God dowhat He would, it would be a cause for celebration. If only this final son could do for himself whathe had done for her and for the three children John and Ella delivered to her door one summernight. When the children arrived and no Sethe, she was afraid and grateful. Grateful that the part ofthe family that survived was her own grandchildren — the first and only she would know: twoboys and a little girl who was crawling already.
But she held her heart still, afraid to formquestions: What about Sethe and Halle; why the delay? Why didn't Sethe get on board too?
Nobody could make it alone. Not only because trappers picked them off like buzzards or nettedthem like rabbits, but also because you couldn't run if you didn't know how to go. You could belost forever, if there wasn't nobody to show you the way.
So when Sethe arrived — all mashed up and split open, but with another grandchild in her arms —the idea of a whoop moved closer to the front of her brain. But since there was still no sign ofHalle and Sethe herself didn't know what had happened to him, she let the whoop lie-not wishingto hurt his chances by thanking God too soon.
It was Stamp Paid who started it. Twenty days after Sethe got to 124 he came by and looked at the baby he had tied up in his nephew's jacket, looked at the mother he had handed a piece of fried eelto and, for some private reason of his own, went off with two buckets to a place near the river'sedge that only he knew about where blackberries grew, tasting so good and happy that to eat themwas like being in church. Just one of the berries and you felt anointed. He walked six miles to theriverbank; did a slide-run-slide down into a ravine made almost inaccessible by brush. He reachedthrough brambles lined with blood-drawing thorns thick as knives that cut through his shirt sleevesand trousers. All the while suffering mosquitoes, bees, hornets, wasps and the meanest lady spidersin the state. Scratched, raked and bitten, he maneuvered through and took hold of each berry withfingertips so gentle not a single one was bruised. Late in the afternoon he got back to 124 and puttwo full buckets down on the porch. When Baby Suggs saw his shredded clothes, bleeding hands,welted face and neck she sat down laughing out loud.

在貝比·薩格斯的思想深處可能一直存着這個想法：要是上帝發恩，黑爾能夠虎口逃生，那就可以好好慶祝一番了。只要這個最小的兒子肯爲他自己賣命，就像當初爲她、隨後又爲三個孩子賣命那樣。三個孩子是約翰和艾拉在一個夏夜送到她的門前的。他們到達的時候，塞絲卻沒到，這讓她既害怕又感激。感激是因爲活下來的那幾個親人是她自己的孫兒——最初幾個，也是據她所知僅有的幾個：兩個男孩和一個都會爬了的小女孩。
但是她的心還懸着，不敢去想這些問題：塞絲和黑爾怎麼了？爲何拖延？塞絲爲什麼不同時跟着上車？
沒有人能單靠自己成功。不僅因爲追捕者會像老鷹一樣把他們抓走，像捕兔子一樣向他們撒網，還因爲你如果不知道怎麼走就跑不了。你可能會永遠迷失，如果沒有人給你帶路的話。
所以塞絲抵達的時候——渾身都被搗爛、割裂，懷裏卻抱着另一個孫女——高聲歡呼的念頭在她腦子裏又進了一步。可是，由於仍然不見黑爾的蹤影，而塞絲本人又不知道他的下落，她嚥住了叫聲——不希望因過早地謝了上帝而減少他的機會。
是斯坦普·沛德開始的。塞絲到達124號二十天之後，他來看望他曾用外甥的外套包裹起來的嬰兒，看望他曾遞給過一塊炸鱔魚的母親，然後爲了某些個人緣故，拎着兩隻桶去了河沿一個只有他自己知道的地方。那兒長着黑莓，味道鮮美可喜，吃起來彷彿置身教堂一樣。只需一顆莓子，你就會覺得像是塗了膏。他走了六英里路來到河畔，半滑半跑地下到一道因灌木叢生而難以接近的深溝。他在荊棘叢中摸索着，一排排刀刃般嗜血的利刺劃破了他的襯衫袖子和褲子。同時他還一直忍受着蚊子、蜜蜂、大黃蜂、黃蜂和本州最毒的母蜘蛛。他渾身都被劃破、擦傷和叮咬，卻乾得很巧妙，用指尖那樣輕地夾住每顆莓子，沒有碰損一顆。下午的晚些時候，他回到124號，把兩隻裝得滿滿的桶放在門廊上。貝比·薩格斯看到他撕成一條一條的衣裳、血淋淋的雙手、傷痕累累的臉和脖子，坐下來放聲大笑。