诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第4章Part 8

On a riverbank in the cool of a summer evening two women struggled under a shower of silveryblue. They never expected to see each other again in this world and at the moment couldn't careless. But there summer night surrounded by bluefern they did something togetherappropriatelyandwe(on) ll.(a) A pateroller passing would have sniggered to see two throw-away people,two lawless outlaws — a slave and a barefoot whitewoman with unpinned hair — wrapping a tenminute-old baby in the rags they wore. But no pateroller came and no preacher. The water suckedand swallowed itself beneath them. There was nothing to disturb them at their work. So they did itappropriately and well.
Twilight came on and Amy said she had to go; that she wouldn't be caught dead in daylight on abusy river with a runaway. After rinsing her hands and face in the river, she stood and lookeddown at the baby wrapped and tied to Sethe's chest.
"She's never gonna know who I am. You gonna tell her? Who brought her into this here world?"She lifted her chin, looked off into the place where the sun used to be. "You better tell her. Youhear? Say Miss Amy Denver. Of Boston."
Sethe felt herself falling into a sleep she knew would be deep. On the lip of it, just before goingunder, she thought, "That's pretty. Denver. Real pretty."
IT WAS TIME to lay it all down. Before Paul D came and sat on her porch steps, words whisperedin the keeping room had kept her going. Helped her endure the chastising ghost; refurbished thebaby faces of Howard and Buglar and kept them whole in the world because in her dreams she sawonly their parts in trees; and kept her husband shadowy but there — somewhere. Now Halle's facebetween the butter press and the churn swelled larger and larger, crowding her eyes and makingher head hurt. She wished for Baby Suggs' fingers molding her nape, reshaping it, saying, "Lay emdown, Sethe. Sword and shield.
Down. Down. Both of em down. Down by the riverside. Swordand shield. Don't study war no more. Lay all that mess down. Sword and shield." And under thepressing fingers and the quiet instructive voice, she would. Her heavy knives of defense againstmisery, regret, gall and hurt, she placed one by one on a bank where dear water rushed on below.

在一个夏夜微凉的河岸上，两个女人在银蓝色的光芒下挣扎着。她们根本没想过在这个世界上还有重逢的机会，而且在那个时刻也毫不在意。可是，在一个夏夜，在蓝羊齿中间，她们一道把一件事情做得很恰当、很好。如果有个过路的纠察看到这样两个被遗弃的人，两个无法无天的亡命徒———一个奴隶和一个散发跣足的白女人———用她们穿的破衣裳包着一个刚刚出生十分钟的婴儿，他肯定会哧哧窃笑。可是既没有纠察，也没有牧师。河水在她们身下吮吸、吞噬着自己。她们工作的时候没有任何干扰。于是她们把事情做得很恰当、很好。
曙光来临，爱弥说她得走了；她不能大白天在人来人往的河边跟一个逃犯一起让人一把抓住。她在河里洗净了手和脸，然后站起身来，低头看着系在塞丝胸前襁褓中的婴儿。
“她永远也不会知道我是谁。你会对她讲吗？是谁把她带到这个世界上来的？”她扬起下巴，把目光转向太阳曾经驻足的地方，“你最好告诉她。你听见了吗？就说是爱弥·丹芙小姐。波士顿人。”
塞丝感觉到自己正在睡去，而且知道这一次会睡得很沉。在梦的边缘，在坠落之前，她想：这名字好听。丹芙。真好听。
是全部放下的时候了。在保罗·D到来并坐在她门廊的台阶上之前，一直是起居室里的喃喃低语给了她活下去的勇气。帮她忍受那个向她大施惩罚的鬼；为她重新擦亮霍华德和巴格勒儿时的脸庞，保持它们在这个世界上的完整，因为在梦里她只见到它们在树木中间支离破碎的样子；并且确保她的丈夫虽然形象模糊却仍旧存在———在某个地方。现在，黑尔的脸在榨牛油机和搅乳机之间越胀越大，越胀越大，挤满了她的眼睛，让她头痛欲裂。她渴望贝比·萨格斯还能用手指来捏着她的后颈，一边重塑它，一边说：“放下吧，塞丝。剑和盾。
放下吧。放下吧。两样都放下吧。放在河边吧。剑和盾。别再研究战争了。把这一切污七八糟的东西都放下吧。剑和盾。”在那紧压的手指和平静的教诲下，她会的。所有抵御苦难、悔恨、苦恼和伤痛的沉重的刀子，她将它们一把一把地放在岸上，清澈的河水在下面奔涌。