诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第8章Part 6

So he raced from dogwood to blossoming peach. When they thinned out he headed for the cherryblossoms, then magnolia, chinaberry, pecan, wAlnut and prickly pear. At last he reached a field ofapple trees whose flowers were just becoming tiny knots of fruit. Spring sauntered north, but hehad to run like hell to keep it as his traveling companion. From February to July he was on thelookout for blossoms. When he lost them, and found himself without so much as a petal to guide him, he paused, climbed a tree on a hillock and scanned the horizon for a flash of pink or white inthe leaf world that surrounded him. He did not touch them or stop to smell. He merely followed intheir wake, a dark ragged figure guided by the blossoming plums.
The apple field turned out to be Delaware where the weaver lady lived. She snapped him up assoon as he finished the sausage she fed him and he crawled into her bed crying. She passed him offas her nephew from Syracuse simply by calling him that nephew's name. Eighteen months and hewas looking out again for blossoms only this time he did the looking on a dray.
It was some time before he could put Alfred, Georgia, Sixo, schoolteacher, Halle, his brothers,Sethe, Mister, the taste of iron, the sight of butter, the smell of hickory, notebook paper, one byone, into the tobacco tin lodged in his chest. By the time he got to 124 nothing in this world couldpry it open.
SHE MOVED HIM.
Not the way he had beat off the baby's ghost — all bang and shriek with windows smashed andicily iars rolled in a heap. But she moved him nonetheless, and Paul D didn't know how to stop itbecause it looked like he was moving himself. Imperceptibly, downright reasonably, he wasmoving out of 124.
The beginning was so simple. One day, after supper, he sat in the rocker by the stove, bone-tired,river-whipped, and fell asleep. He woke to the footsteps of Sethe coming down the white stairs tomake breakfast.
"I thought you went out somewhere," she said.

于是，他从山茱萸跑向盛开的桃花。桃花稀疏、消失时，他就奔向樱桃花；然后是木兰花、苦楝花、山核桃花、胡桃花和刺梨花。最后他来到一片苹果树林，花儿刚刚结出小青果。春天信步北上，可是他得拼命地奔跑才能赶上这个旅伴。从二月到七月他一直在找花儿。当他找不见它们，发现再也没有一片花瓣来指引他，他便停下来，爬上土坡上的一棵树，在地平线上极力搜寻环绕的叶海中一点粉红或白色的闪动。他从未抚摸过它们，也没有停下来闻上一闻。他只是簇簇梅花指引下的一个黝黑、褴褛的形象，紧紧追随着它们的芳痕。
那片苹果地，原来就是那个女织工居住的特拉华。他刚刚吃完她给的香肠，她就一下子搂住了他，然后，他哭着爬上她的床。她让他假装成她在希拉库斯的外甥，直接用那外甥的名字称呼他。十八个月后，他再次出来找花儿，不过这回他是坐着大车找的。
过了好一段时间，他才把佐治亚的阿尔弗雷德、西克索、"学校老师"、黑尔、他的哥哥们、塞丝、"先生"、铁嚼子的滋味、牛油的情景、胡桃的气味、笔记本的纸，一个一个地锁进他胸前的烟草罐里。等他来到124号的时候，这个世界上已没有任何东西能够撬开它了。
她赶走了他。
不是他打跑婴儿鬼魂的那种方式——又摔又叫，砸碎了窗户，果酱罐滚作一堆。可她仍然赶走了他，而保罗·D不知道怎样制止她，因为看起来像是他自己搬走的。不知不觉地，完全合情合理地，他在搬出124号。
事情的开头简单极了。一天，晚饭以后，他坐在炉边的摇椅上，腰酸腿疼，出汗出得好像刚从水里捞出来，就那样睡着了。塞丝走下白楼梯来做早饭的声音吵醒了他。
"我以为你到外头什么地方去了。"她说。