高行健 诺贝尔文学 诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第1章Part 17

诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第1章Part 17  

They ate no potatoes that day
sweet or white. Sprawled near Brother
his flame-red tongue hiddenfrom them
his indigo face closed
Sixo slept through dinnerlike a corpse. Now there was a man
and that was a tree. Himself lying in the bed and the "tree"lying next to him didn't pare.
Paul D looked through the window above his feet and folded hishands behind his head. An elbow grazed Sethe's shoulder. The touch of cloth on her skin startledher. She had fotten he had not taken off his shirt. Dog
she thought
and then remembered thatshe had not allowed him the time for taking it off. Nor herself time to take off her petticoat
andconsidering she had begun undressing before she saw him on the porch
that her shoes andstockings were already in her hand and she had never put them back on; that he had looked at herwet bare feet and asked to join her; that when she rose to cook he had undressed her further;considering how quickly they had started getting naked
you'd think by now they would be. Butmaybe a man was nothing but a man
which is what Baby Suggs always said. They encouragedyou to put some of your weight in their hands and soon as you felt how light and lovely that was
they studied your scars and tribulations
after which they did what he had done: ran her childrenout and tore up the house.
She needed to get up from there
go downstairs and piece it all back together. This house he toldher to leave as though a house was a little thing — a shiraist or a sewing basket you could walkoff from or give away any old time. She who had never had one but this one; she who left a dirtfloor to e to this one; she who had to bring a fistful of salsify into Mrs. Garner's kitchen everyday just to be able to work in it
feel like some part of it was hers
because she wanted to love thework she did
to take the ugly out of it
and the only way she could feel at home on Sweet Homewas if she picked some pretty growing thing and took it with her. The day she fot was the daybutter wouldn't e or the brine in the barrel blistered her arms.
At least it seemed so. A few yellow flowers on the table
some myrtle tied around the handle of theflatiron holding the door open for a breeze calmed her
and when Mrs. Garner and she sat down tosort bristle
or make ink
she felt fine. Fine. Not scared of the men beyond. The five who slept inquarters near her
but never came in the night. Just touched their raggedy hats when they saw herand stared.
And if she brought food to them in the fields
bacon and bread wrapped in a piece of clean sheeting
they never took it from her hands. They stood back and waited for her to put it onthe ground (at the foot of a tree) and leave. Either they did not want to take anything from her
ordid not want her to see them eat. Twice or three times she lingered. Hidden behind honeysuckleshe watched them. How different they were without her
how they laughed and played and urinatedand sang. All but Sixo
who laughed once — at the very end. Halle
of course
was the nicest. BabySuggs' eighth and last child
who rented himself out all over the county to buy her away fromthere. But he too
as it turned out
was nothing but a man.
"A man ain't nothing but a man
" said Baby Suggs. "But a son? Well now
that's somebody."