諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第2章Part 5
"Hang around?" Paul D didn't even look at the mess he had made.
"Denver! What's got into you." Sethe looked at her daughter, feeling more embarrassed thanangry.
Paul D scratched the hair on his chin. "Maybe I should make tracks.""No!" Sethe was surprised by how loud she said it. "He know what he needs," said Denver.
"Well, you don't," Sethe told her, "and you must not know what you need either. I don't want tohear another word out of you.""I just asked if — ""Hush! You make tracks. Go somewhere and sit down."Denver picked up her plate and left the table but not before adding a chicken back and more breadto the heap she was carrying away.
Paul D leaned over to wipe the spilled coffee with his blue handkerchief.
"I'll get that." Sethe jumped up and went to the stove. Behind itvarious cloths hung, each in some stage of drying. In silence she wiped the floor and retrieved thecup. Then she poured him another cupful, and set it carefully before him. Paul D touched its rimbut didn't say anything — as though even "thank you" was an obligation he could not meet and thecoffee itself a gift he could not take.
Sethe resumed her chair and the silence continued. Finally she realized that if it was going to bebroken she would have to do it.
"I didn't train her like that."Paul D stroked the rim of the cup.
"And I'm as surprised by her manners as you are hurt by em."Paul D looked at Sethe. "Is there history to her question?""History? What you mean?""I mean, did she have to ask that, or want to ask it, of anybody else before me?"
“混？”保羅·D對他闖的那攤禍連看都沒看。
“丹芙!你中了什麼邪？”塞絲看着女兒，與其說是生氣，不如說是尷尬。
保羅·D搔了搔下巴上的鬍子。“也許我該開路了。”“不行!”塞絲被自己說話的音量嚇了一跳。“他知道他自己需要什麼。”丹芙說。
“可你不知道，”塞絲對她說，“你肯定也不知道你自己需要什麼。我不想再從你嘴裏聽見一個字。”“我只不過問了問———”“住嘴!你開路去吧。到別處待着去。”丹芙端起盤子離開飯桌，可臨走時又往她端走的那一堆上添了一塊雞後背和幾片面包。
保羅·D彎下腰，用他的藍手帕去擦灑掉的咖啡。
“我來吧。”塞絲跳起身走向爐子。爐子後面搭着好幾塊抹布，在不同程度地晾乾。她默默地擦了地板，拾回杯子，然後又倒了一杯，小心地放到他面前。保羅·D碰了碰杯沿，但什麼也沒說———好像連聲“謝謝”都是難盡的義務，咖啡更是件接受不起的禮物。
塞絲坐回她的椅子，寂靜持續着。最後她意識到，必須由她來打破僵局。
“我可不是那樣教她的。”保羅·D敲了一下杯沿。
“我對她的做法真感到吃驚，跟你覺得受的傷害差不多。”保羅·D看着塞絲。“她的問題有歷史嗎？”“歷史？你什麼意思？”“我是說，她是不是對我以前的每個人都要問，或者想要問那個？”
