評(píng)論
打印
While you're' at it, she said, would you change the newspaper in Carnie's cage?
正好你在弄，幫我把卡尼籠子里的報(bào)紙換了吧？她說。
As approached the cage, the bird let out a piercing cry, his black beak open. I held my hand up. Cut it, I said.
當(dāng)我靠近籠子的時(shí)候，這只鳥就開始慘叫。我把手舉起來對(duì)著他說：“閉嘴。”
Put your hand down, Mom said. You're scaring him.
把手放下，你嚇著他了，媽媽說。
Carnie continued to scream. It was a pleading, horrifying sound. He cocked his head and danced across his bar, shrieking. Ike began to cry.
卡尼繼續(xù)叫，發(fā)出乞求又可怕的聲音。他翹著腦袋在籠子里來回亂跳，聲嘶力竭地喊著。艾克終于被他弄哭了。
Never mind, Mom said. I'll do it.
算了，我來吧，媽媽說。
She thrust Ike in my arms and marched toward the cage. When she opened the door, Carnie scampered onto her finger, and she brought him to her shoulder. He was silent. Mom pulled the newsprint from the bottom of his cage with bare hands. Dried bird shit fell to the carpet; she didn't seem to notice.
她把艾克甩到我懷里，趕緊跑到籠子那。當(dāng)她把籠子門打開的時(shí)候，卡尼立刻跳到了她手上，她順勢(shì)把他放到了肩膀上。這只鳥終于安靜下來了。媽媽熟練地把籠子下面的報(bào)紙拿出來，鳥尿掉到了地毯上，可是她和沒看見一樣。
Let me help you, I said.
我?guī)湍惆桑艺f。
Sit down. I can do this.
坐著吧，我自己來。
Sit down, Carnie said. Sit down. Sit down.
坐下，坐下，坐下，卡尼趕緊跟著說。
Mom ignored me and moved to the kitchen, stuffing the soiled papers into the trash can.
媽媽完全不理我，自己走到了廚房把臟紙扔進(jìn)垃圾桶。
You should wash your hands, I said.
你應(yīng)該洗洗手，我說。
Don't tell me what to do, she said.
不用你告訴我該干什么，她說。
Sit down, Carnie said. Sit down.
坐下，坐下，卡尼又叫。
I'm sorry, I said. I don't know about birds.
對(duì)不起，我不知道怎么弄，我說。
You'll learn, Mom said. Soon.
你以后就知道了，她說。
Ike and I arrive in Myrtle Beach at eight p.m. I know the zoo will be closed at this hour, so we find Day's inn. Theres' something about the hum of an ice machine that takes me back to childhood.
艾克和我晚上8點(diǎn)才到沙灘。這個(gè)時(shí)間動(dòng)物園都關(guān)門了，我們找了一個(gè)旅館住下。旅館碎冰機(jī)嗡嗡的聲音讓我想到了小時(shí)候。
Ike face-plants onto the bed before I can remove the comforter.
還沒等我把被拿走艾克就趴在了床上。
Wait a second, baby, I say. Let me get that dirty thing off.
等等，寶貝，我把這些臟東西拿下去。
We get in bed and flip channels.
我倆躺在床上換著電視頻道。
I remember a hotel I stayed with my mother during her own mother's funeral, Downtown Norfolk, 1986. There was a rotating bucket of chicken on a sign pole below our window: I watched it spin. Even when the lights were off and my mother cried into her plllow, I watched that bucket of chicken rotate like the world itself.
我記得1986年姥姥葬禮的時(shí)候我們就住在旅店里。我們窗戶下面的指示桿上有一筐旋轉(zhuǎn)的小雞。最后燈關(guān)了，媽媽倒在枕頭上痛哭，我還在看著小雞轉(zhuǎn)。
At the time I thought that moms were not allowed to be sad, that surely women grew out of sadness by the time they had children.
那時(shí)候我感覺媽媽不應(yīng)該傷心，因?yàn)楫?dāng)了母親的人已經(jīng)不會(huì)傷心了。
Mom, Ike says. I don't want to move.
媽媽，我不想搬走，艾克說。
His eyes flicker and he fades. The news is on. A lipstick-shellacked anchor tells of a new breed of aggressive python in southern Florida that strangled toddler in his sleep. Maybe one will come to our hotel, I think. And I will have to fight it off with my pocket knife, club it with the glass lamp on the bedside table, offer it my own body.
他疲倦地眨著眼睛。電視里在播新聞。一個(gè)涂了紫膠般口紅的主持人說南佛羅里達(dá)一條新品種的極具攻擊性的蟒蛇把一個(gè)剛剛會(huì)走路的小孩勒死了。當(dāng)時(shí)孩子還在睡覺。我想要是這個(gè)屋子里面跑出一條蟒蛇怎么辦？我一定要用包里面的刀和它對(duì)抗，用床頭的燈泡打死它。讓它傷害我，不能傷害我的兒子。
