諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第3章Part 18
"Nowhere. Look at me do this." Beloved put her fists on her hips and commenced to skip on barefeet. Denver laughed.
"Now you. Come on," said Beloved. "You may as well just come on." Her black skirt swayed fromside to side.
Denver grew ice-cold as she rose from the bed. She knew she was twice Beloved's size but shefloated up, cold and light as a snowflake.
Beloved took Denver's hand and placed another on Denver's shoulder. They danced then. Roundand round the tiny room and it may have been dizziness, or feeling light and icy at once, that madeDenver laugh so hard. A catching laugh that Beloved caught. The two of them, merry as kittens,swung to and fro, to and fro, until exhausted they sat on the floor. Beloved let her head fall back on the edge of the bed while she found her breath and Denver saw the tip of the thing she always sawin its entirety when Beloved undressed to sleep. Looking straight at it she whispered, "Why youcall yourself Beloved?"
Beloved closed her eyes. "In the Dark my name is Beloved."
Denver scooted a little closer. "What's it like over there, where you were before? Can you tell me?"
"Dark," said Beloved. "I'm small in that place. I'm like this here."She raised her head off the bed, lay down on her side and curled up.
Denver covered her lips with her fingers. "Were you cold?"
Beloved curled tighter and shook her head. "Hot. Nothing to breathe down there and no room tomove in."
"You see anybody?"
"Heaps. A lot of people is down there. Some is dead."
"You see Jesus? Baby Suggs?"
"I don't know. I don't know the names." She sat up.
"Tell me, how did you get here?"
“在哪兒都沒學過。瞧我這一招兒。”寵兒把拳頭放在屁股上，開始光著腳蹦躂。丹芙大笑起來。
“該你了。來吧，”寵兒道，“你最好也來吧。”她的黑裙子左右搖擺。
丹芙從床上站起來，覺得渾身變得冰冷。她知道自己有寵兒兩個大，可她竟然飄了起來，好像一片雪花一樣冰涼而輕盈。
寵兒一隻手拉起丹芙的手，另一隻放上丹芙的肩頭。於是她們跳起舞來。在小屋裡一圈又一圈地轉著，不知是因為眩暈，還是因為一下子感到輕盈和冰冷，丹芙縱聲大笑起來。這富於感染力的笑聲也感染了寵兒。她們兩個像小貓一樣快活，悠來蕩去，悠來蕩去，直到疲憊不堪地坐倒在地。寵兒把頭靠在床沿上，上氣不接下氣；這時丹芙看見了那個東西①的一端。寵兒解衣就寢的時候她總能看見它的全部。她直盯著它，悄聲問：“你幹嗎管自己叫寵兒？”
寵兒合上眼睛。“在黑暗中我的名字就叫寵兒。”
丹芙湊近一些。“那邊什麼樣兒，你過去待的地方？能告訴我嗎？”
“漆黑，”寵兒說，“在那裡我很小。就像這個樣子。”她把頭從床沿上抬起來，側身躺下，蜷成一團。
丹芙用手指遮住嘴脣。“你在那兒冷嗎？”
寵兒蜷得更緊，搖搖頭。“滾熱。下邊那兒沒法呼吸，也沒地方待。”
“你看見什麼人了嗎？”
“成堆成堆的。那兒有好多人，有些是死人。”
“你看見耶穌了嗎？還有貝比·薩格斯？”
“我不知道，我沒聽說過這些名字。”她坐了起來。
“告訴我，你是怎麼來這兒的？”
