诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第1章Part 21

"So I heard." She smiled. "He talked to Mr. Garner about it. Are you already expecting?""No, ma'am.""Well, you will be. You know that, don't you?""Yes, ma'am.""Halle's nice, Sethe. He'll be good to you.""But I mean we want to get married.""You just said so. And I said all right.""Is there a wedding?"Mrs. Garner put down her cooking spoon. Laughing a little, she touched Sethe on the head, saying,"You are one sweet child." And then no more.
Sethe made a dress on the sly and Halle hung his hitching rope from a nail on the wall of her cabin.
And there on top of a mattress on top of the dirt floor of the cabin they coupled for the third time,the first two having been in the tiny cornfield Mr. Garner kept because it was a crop animals coulduse as well as humans. Both Halle and Sethe were under the impression that they were nched down among the stalks they couldn't see anything, including the corn tops waving overtheir heads and visible to everyone else.
Sethe smiled at her and Halle's stupidity. Even the crowsknew and came to look. Uncrossing her ankles, she managed not to laugh aloud.
The jump, thought Paul D, from a calf to a girl wasn't all that mighty. Not the leap Halle believedit would be. And taking her in the corn rather than her quarters, a yard away from the cabins of theothers who had lost out, was a gesture of tenderness. Halle wanted privacy for her and got publicdisplay. Who could miss a ripple in a cornfield on a quiet cloudless day? He, Sixo and both of thePauls sat under Brother pouring water from a gourd over their heads, and through eyes streamingwith well water, they watched the confusion of tassels in the field below. It had been hard, hard,hard sitting there erect as dogs, watching corn stalks dance at noon. The water running over theirheads made it worse.
Paul D sighed and turned over. Sethe took the opportunity afforded by his movement to shift aswell. Looking at Paul D's back, she remembered that some of the corn stalks broke, folded downover Halle's back, and among the things her fingers clutched were husk and cornsilk hair.
How loose the silk. How jailed down the juice.

“我听说了。”她微笑道，“他跟加纳先生说了这事儿。你是不是已经怀上了？” “没有，太太。”“嗯，你会的。你知道的，对吗？”“是，太太。”“黑尔不错，塞丝。他会好好待你的。”“可我的意思是我们想结婚。”“你刚刚说了。我说可以。”“能有婚礼吗？”加纳太太放下勺子。她大笑了一会儿，摸着塞丝的头，说：“你这孩子真可爱。”就没再说什么。
塞丝偷偷缝了件裙衣；黑尔把套马索挂在她小屋的墙壁上。
在小屋泥地面的草荐上，他们第三次结合。前两次是在那一小块玉米地里，加纳先生之所以保留它，是因为这种庄稼牲口和人都能食用。黑尔和塞丝都以为自己很隐蔽。他们伏在玉米秆中间，什么也看不见，包括谁都看得见的、在他们头顶波动的玉米穗。
塞丝笑自己和黑尔有多笨。连乌鸦都知道了，还飞过来看。她把叠着的脚放下，忍着不笑出声来。
从一只小牛到一个小妞的飞跃，保罗·D心想，并没有那么巨大。不像黑尔相信的那么巨大。不在她屋里，而把她带到玉米地，离开竞争失败者们的小屋一码远，这是温存的表示。黑尔本想给塞丝保密，不料弄成了公共展览。谁愿意在宁静无云的一天错过玉米地里的一场好戏呢？他、西克索和另外两个保罗坐在“兄弟”下面，用瓢往脑袋上浇水，眼睛透过流淌下来的井水，观看下边田里遭殃的玉米穗。大晌午观看玉米秆跳舞，坐在那儿像狗一样勃起，是那么那么那么地难受。从头顶流下的水让情况更糟。
保罗·D叹了口气，转过身去。塞丝也趁他挪动的当儿换了个姿势。看着保罗·D的后背，她想起了那些被碰坏的玉米秆，它们折倒在黑尔的背上，而她满手抓的都是玉米包皮和花丝须子。
花丝多么松散。汁水多么饱满。