諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第7章Part 5

It was the second question that made it impossible for so long to ask Sethe about the first. Thething that leapt up had been coiled in just such a place: a darkness, a stone, and some other thingthat moved by itself. She went deaf rather than hear the answer, and like the little four o'clocks thatsearched openly for sunlight, then closed themselves tightly when it left, Denver kept watch for thebaby and withdrew from everything else. Until Paul D came. But the damage he did came undonewith the miraculous resurrection of Beloved.
Just ahead, at the edge of the stream, Denver couldsee her silhouette, standing barefoot in the water, liking her black skirts up above her calves, thebeautiful head lowered in rapt attention.
Blinking fresh tears Denver approached her — eager for a word, a sign of forgiveness.
Denver took off her shoes and stepped into the water with her. It took a moment for her to drag hereyes from the spectacle of Beloved's head to see what she was staring at.
A turtle inched along the edge, turned and climbed to dry ground. Not far behind it was anotherone, headed in the same direction. Four placed plates under a hovering motionless bowl. Behindher in the grass the other one moving quickly, quickly to mount her. The impregnable strength ofhim — earthing his feet near her shoulders. The embracing necks — hers stretching up toward hisbending down, the pat pat pat of their touching heads. No height was beyond her yearning neck,stretched like a finger toward his, risking everything outside the bowl just to touch his face. Thegravity of their shields, clashing, countered and mocked the floating heads touching.
Beloveddropped the folds of her skirt. It spread around her. The hem darkened in the water.

是那第二個問題，使得她過了那麼長時間纔去找塞絲問第一個問題。那跳將起來的東西，曾經在這樣一個地方被捲了起來：一片漆黑，有塊石頭，還有某種能自己動彈的東西。她還沒聽到回答，耳朵就聾了；同那些盛開着追隨陽光、當陽光離去時又緊緊關閉自己的小茉莉花一樣，丹芙一直守候着那個嬰兒，對旁的一切事物都不管不顧。直到保羅·D到來。不過，他造成的破壞因爲寵兒奇蹟般的復活而自動失效了。
就在前面，在小溪邊，丹芙能看見她的剪影：她赤腳立在水中，黑裙子提到腿肚上，美麗的頭全神貫注地低垂着。
丹芙眨落新鮮的眼淚，靠近她——渴盼着一句話，一個寬恕的信號。
丹芙脫下鞋子，在她身旁將雙腳踏入水中。過了一會兒，她才把目光從寵兒奇妙的頭上移開，去看她正在盯着什麼看。
一隻烏龜沿着河岸徐行，拐了個彎，爬向乾燥的地面。身後不遠處是另一隻，頭朝着同一個方向。四隻盤子各就各位，安置在一隻踟躕不前的碗鉢下面。從雌龜身後的草叢裏，那隻雄龜飛快地爬出來，飛快地騎在她的背上。他勇不可擋——就在她的肩膀旁，他把腳埋進土裏。脖子糾纏起來——她的往上伸，他的朝下彎，他們相親的頭拍打，拍打，拍打。她焦渴的脖頸擡得比什麼都高，宛如一根手指，伸向他的脖頸，冒着伸出碗鉢外面的一切危險，只是爲了觸到他的臉。沉甸甸的甲殼彼此撞擊，抗議並嘲笑着他們那遊離出來相親的龜頭。
寵兒撂下裙褶。裙子在她周圍展開。裙襬浸在河水中，顏色暗了下來。