殘忍而美麗的情誼:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(32)

"Well," Dr. Kumar said, "my job is to fix things on people's bodies. Sometimes their faces."

"這麼說吧，"庫瑪大夫說，"我的工作是修理人們的身體，有時是人們的臉龐。"

"Oh,"Hassan said. He looked from Dr. Kumar to Baba to Ali. His hand touched his upper lip. "Oh,"he said again.

"噢，"哈桑說，他看看庫瑪大夫，看看爸爸，又看看阿里，伸手遮住上脣。"噢。"他又說。

"It's an unusual present, I know," Baba said. "And probably not what you had in mind, but this present will last you forever."

"這不是份尋常的禮物，我知道。"爸爸說，"也許不是你想要的，但這份禮物會陪伴你終生。"

"Oh,"Hassan said. He licked his lips. Cleared his throat. "Agha sahib, will it... will it--"

"噢，"哈桑說，他舔舔嘴脣，清清喉嚨，說:"老爺，這……這會不會……"

"Nothing doing,"Dr. Kumar intervened, smiling kindly. "It will not hurt you one bit. In fact, I will give you a Medicine and you will not remember a thing."

"別擔心，"庫瑪大夫插嘴說，臉上帶着微笑,"不會讓你覺得很痛的。實際上，我會給你用一種藥，你什麼都不會記得。"

"Oh,"Hassan said. He smiled back with relief. A little relief anyway. "I wasn't scared, Agha sahib, I just..." Hassan might have been fooled, but I wasn't. I knew that when doctors said it wouldn't hurt, that's when you knew you were in trouble. With dread, I remembered my circumcision the year prior. The doctor had given me the same line, reassured me it wouldn't hurt one bit. But when the numbing Medicine wore off later that night, it felt like someone had pressed a red hot coal to my loins. Why Baba waited until I was ten to have me circumcised was beyond me and one of the things I will never forgive him for.

"噢。"哈桑說。他鬆了一口氣，微笑着，但也只是鬆了一口氣。"我不是害怕，老爺，我只是……"哈桑也許是個傻瓜，我可不是。我知道要是醫生跟你說不會痛的時候，你的麻煩就大了。我心悸地想起去年割包皮的情形，醫生也是這麼對我說，安慰說那不會很痛。但那天深夜，麻醉藥的藥性消退之後，感覺像有人拿着又紅又熱的木炭在燙我的下陰。爸爸爲什麼要等到我十歲才讓我割包皮呢?我百思不得其解，這也是我永遠無法原諒他的事情之一。

I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba's sympathy. It wasn't fair. Hassan hadn't done anything to earn Baba's affections; he'd just been born with that stupid harelip.

我希望自己身上也有類似的殘疾，可以乞換來爸爸的憐憫。太不公平了，哈桑什麼都沒幹，就得到爸爸的愛護，他不就是生了那個愚蠢的兔脣嗎?

The surgery went well. We were all a little shocked when they first removed the bandages, but kept our smiles on just as Dr. Kumar had instructed us. It wasn't easy, because Hassan's upper lip was a grotesque mesh of swollen, raw tissue. I expected Hassan to cry with horror when the nurse handed him the mirror. Ali held his hand as Hassan took a long, thoughtful look into it. He muttered something I didn't understand. I put my ear to his mouth. He whispered it again.

手術很成功。他們剛解掉繃帶的時候，我們多少都有點吃驚，但還是像庫瑪大夫先前交代的那樣保持微笑。但那並不容易，因爲哈桑的上脣看起來又腫又怪，沒有表皮。護士遞給哈桑鏡子的時候，我希望他哭起來。哈桑深深地看着鏡子，若有所思，阿里則緊緊握住他的手。他咕噥了幾句，我沒聽清楚。我把耳朵湊到他脣邊，他又低聲說了一遍。

"Tashakor." Thank you.

"謝謝。"

Then his lips twisted, and, that time, I knew just what he was doing. He was smiling. Just as he had, emerging from his mother's womb.

接着他的嘴脣扭曲了，當時，我完全知道他在幹什麼。他在微笑。就像他從母親子宮裏出來時那樣微笑着。

The swelling subsided, and the wound healed with time. Soon, it was just a pink jagged line running up from his lip. By the following winter, it was only a faint scar. Which was ironic. Because that was the winter that Hassan stopped smiling.

隨着時間的過去，腫脹消退，傷口彌合。不久，他的嘴脣上就只剩下一道彎彎曲曲的縫合線。到下一個冬天，它變成淡淡的傷痕。說來諷刺，正是從那個冬天之後，哈桑便不再微笑了。