諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第14章Part4

Baby Suggs shook her head. "One ata time," she said and traded the living for the dead, which she carried into the keeping room. Whenshe came back, Sethe was aiming a bloody nipple into the baby's mouth. Baby Suggs slammed herfist on the table and shouted, "Clean up! Clean yourself up!"They fought then. Like rivals over the heart of the loved, they fought. Each struggling for thenursing child. Baby Suggs lost when she slipped in a red puddle and fell. So Denver took hermother's milk right along with the blood of her sister. And that's the way they were when thesheriff returned, having commandeered a neighbor's cart, and ordered Stamp to drive it.
utside a throng, now, of black faces stopped murmuring. Holding the living child, Sethe walkedpast them in their silence and hers. She climbed into the cart, her profile knife-clean against acheery blue sky. A profile that shocked them with its clarity. Was her head a bit too high? Herback a little too straight? Probably. Otherwise the singing would have begun at once, the momentshe appeared in the doorway of the house on Bluestone Road. Some cape of sound would havequickly been wrapped around her, like arms to hold and steady her on the way. As it was, theywaited till the cart turned about, headed west to town. And then no words. Humming. No words atall.
Baby Suggs meant to run, skip down the porch steps after the cart, screaming, No. No. Don't lether take that last one too. She meant to. Had started to, but when she got up from the floor andreached the yard the cart was gone and a wagon was rolling up. A red-haired boy and a yellow-haired girl jumped down and ran through the crowd toward her. The boy had a half-eaten sweetpepper in one hand and a pair of shoes in the other.
"Mama says Wednesday." He held them together by their tongues. "She says you got to have thesefixed by Wednesday." Baby Suggs looked at him, and then at the woman holding a twitching leadhorse to the road.

貝比·薩格斯搖了搖頭。"一次一個。"她說着用活的換了死的，把死的抱進起居室。她回來時，塞絲正要將一個血淋淋的奶頭塞進嬰兒的嘴裏。貝比·薩格斯一拳砸在桌上，大叫道："洗乾淨!你先洗乾淨!"於是她們廝打起來。彷彿在爭奪一顆愛心，她們廝打起來。都在搶那個等着吃奶的嬰兒。貝比·薩格斯一腳滑倒在血泊之中，輸掉了。於是丹芙就着姐姐的血喝了媽媽的奶。她們就那樣待着，直到警官徵用了一輛鄰居的運貨馬車回來，命令斯坦普來趕車。
這時，外面的一大羣黑臉孔停止了嘀嘀咕咕。塞絲抱着那個活着的孩子，在他們和她自己的靜默中走過他們面前。她爬進車廂，刀鋒般光潔的側影映入歡快的藍天。那側影的明晰使他們震驚。她的頭是否昂得有點太高了？她的背是否挺得有點太直了？也許。否則，在她從房子門口出現的那一刻，藍石路上的歌聲就會馬上響起來了。某種聲音的披肩就會迅速地裹上她，像手臂一樣一路攙扶她、穩住她。然而在這樣的情形下，他們一直等到貨車朝西掉頭、向城裏開去，才唱起來。然後也沒有歌詞。哼唱着。一句歌詞也沒有。
貝比·薩格斯本來想跑，跳下門廊的臺階去追運貨馬車，尖叫着：不。不。別讓她把那個最小的也帶走。她本來要這樣做，也已經開始了，可是當她從地上站起來，走進院子，運貨馬車已經沒影了，而一輛大車隆隆而至。一個紅髮男孩和一個金髮女孩跳下車，穿過人羣向她跑來。男孩一手拿着吃了一半的甜椒，一手提着一雙鞋。
"媽媽說星期三。"他提着鞋舌頭，"她說你得在星期三之前修好。"貝比·薩格斯看了他一眼，又看了看大路上拽着繮繩的女人。