日本科幻文学 经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第29章2

经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第29章2  

The cat seemed undecided on the matter. It pawed rather condescendingly at the piece of fish the man was holding out
and then got distracted by a piece of dust on the floor.
“Pussy not eat his fish
pussy get thin and waste away
I think
” said the man. Doubt crept into his voice.
“I imagine this is what will happen
” he said
“but how can I tell?”
He proffered the fish again.
“Pussy think
” he said
“eat fish or not eat fish. I think it is better if I don’t get involved.” He sighed.
“I think fish is nice
but then I think that rain is wet
so who am I to judge?”
He left the fish on the floor for the cat
and retired to his seat.
“Ah
I seem to see you eating it
” he said at last
as the cat exhausted the entertainment possibilities of the speck of dust and pounced on to the fish.
“I like it when I see you eat the fish
” said the man
“because in my mind you will waste away if you don’t.”
He picked up from the table a piece of paper and the stub of a pencil. He held one in one hand and the other in the other
and experimented with the different ways of bringing them together. He tried holding the pencil under the paper
then over the paper
then next to the paper. He tried wrapping the paper round the pencil
he tried rubbing the stubby end of the pencil against the paper and then he tried rubbing the sharp end of the pencil against the paper. It made a mark
and he was delighted with the discovery
as he was every day. He picked up another piece of paper from the table. This had a crossword on it. He studied it briefly and filled in a couple of clues before losing interest.
He tried sitting on one of his hands and was intrigued by the feel of the bones of his hip.
“Fish e from far away
” he said
“or so I’m told. Or so I imagine I’m told. When the men e
or when in my mind the men e in their six black ships
do they e in your mind too? What do you see pussy?”
He looked at the cat
which was more concerned with getting the fish down as rapidly as possible than it was with these speculations.
“And when I hear their questions
do you hear questions? What do their voices mean to you? Perhaps you just think they’re singing songs to you.” He reflected on this
and saw the flaw in the supposition.
“Perhaps they are singing songs to you
” he said
“and I just think they’re asking me questions.”
He paused again. Sometimes he would pause for days
just to see what it was like.