諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第3章Part 8
In the evening when he came home and the three of them were all there fixing the supper table, hershine was so pronounced he wondered why Denver and Sethe didn't see it. Or maybe they did.
Certainly women could tell, as men could, when one of their number was aroused. Paul D lookedcarefully at Beloved to see if she was aware of it but she paid him no attention at all — frequentlynot even answering a direct question put to her. She would look at him and not open her mouth.
Five weeks she had been with them, and they didn't know any more about her than they did whenthey found her asleep on the stump.
They were seated at the table Paul D had broken the day he arrived at 124. Its mended legs stronger than before. The cabbage was all gone and the shiny ankle bones of smoked pork werepushed in a heap on their plates. Sethe was dishing up bread pudding, murmuring her hopes for it,apologizing in advance the way veteran cooks always do, when something in Beloved's face, somepetlike adoration that took hold of her as she looked at Sethe, made Paul D speak.
"Ain't you got no brothers or sisters?"Beloved diddled her spoon but did not look at him. "I don't have nobody.""What was you looking for when you came here?" he asked her.
"This place. I was looking for this place I could be in.""Somebody tell you about this house?""She told me. When I was at the bridge, she told me.""Must be somebody from the old days," Sethe said. The days when 124 was a way station wheremessages came and then their senders. Where bits of news soaked like dried beans in spring water— until they were soft enough to digest. "How'd you come? Who brought you?"Now she looked steadily at him, but did not answer.
He could feel both Sethe and Denver pulling in, holding their stomach muscles, sending out stickyspiderwebs to touch one another.
He decided to force it anyway.
晚上，他回到家裏，她們仨都在那兒擺飯桌時，她的光芒如此逼人，他奇怪塞絲和丹芙怎麼看不見。或許她們看見了。
如果女人們中間有一個春情萌動，她們當然能看得出來，就像男人一樣。保羅·D仔細地觀察寵兒，看她是否有所察覺，可她對他一點也不留意———連直截了當的提問都常常不作回答。她能做到看着他連嘴都不張。
她和他們相處已經有五個星期，可他們對她的瞭解一點也不比他們發現她在樹樁上睡着的那天更多。
他們在保羅·D到達124號當日曾經摔壞的桌子旁就坐。重新接好的桌腿比以前更結實。捲心菜都吃光了，薰豬肉油亮亮的踝骨在他們的盤子裏堆成一堆。塞絲正在上面包布丁，嘟囔着她的祝願，以老練的廚子慣用的方式事先向大家致歉。這時，寵兒臉上現出的某種東西———她眼盯塞絲時攫住她的某種寵物式的迷戀———使得保羅·D開口了。
“你就沒啥兄弟姐妹嗎？”寵兒擺弄着勺子，卻沒看他。“我誰都沒有。”“你來這兒到底是找什麼呢？”他問她。
“這個地方。我是在找這個我能待的地方。”“有誰給你講過這房子嗎？”“她講給我的。我在橋上的時候，她講給我的。”“肯定是早先的人。”塞絲道。早先的那些日子裏，124號是口信和捎信人的驛站。在124號，點滴的消息就像泡在泉水裏的幹豆子———直泡到柔軟得可以消化。“你怎麼來的？誰帶你來的？”現在她鎮定地看着他，但沒有回答。
他能感覺到塞絲和丹芙兩人都後退了，收縮腹肌，放出黏糊糊的蛛網來相互觸摸。
他決定無論如何也要逼逼她。
