評論
打印
Secrets
秘密
Bernard Maclaverty
伯納德•麥克萊弗蒂
He had been called to be there at the end. His Great Aunt Mary had been dying for some days now and the house was full of relatives.
他是最后被叫去那里的。他的叔祖母瑪麗已經病危好幾天了，滿屋子都是親戚。
He knelt at the bedroom door to join in the prayers. His knees were on the wooden threshold and he edged them forward onto the carpet. They had tried to wrap her fingers around a crucifix but they kept loosening. She lay low on the pillow and her face seemed to have shrunk by half since he had gone out earlier in the night. Her white hair was damped and pushed back from her forehead. She twisted her head from side to side, her eyes closed. The prayers chorused on, trying to cover the sound she was making deep in her throat. Someone said about her teeth and his mother leaned over her and took her dentures from her mouth. The lower half of her face seemed to collapse. She half opened her eyes but could not raise her eyelids enough and showed only crescents of white.
他跪在臥室門口，和眾人一同禱告。他的膝蓋跪在了木頭門檻上，于是他慢慢向前移動到了地毯上。他們試圖讓她的手拿住耶穌受難像的十字架，然而她的手卻松開著。她平躺在枕頭上，和他晚上早些時候出去時相比，她的臉看上去皺縮了一半。她的白發被弄濕了，從前額梳到了后面。她來回扭動著頭，眼睛閉著。禱告者們繼續合唱著，盡力壓過她喉嚨深處發出的聲音。有人說到她的牙齒，他的媽媽便傾身向前，從她的嘴里取出了假牙。她的臉的下半部分似乎要凹陷了。她的眼睛半睜著，眼皮卻無法抬高，只露著月牙狀的眼白。
