經典科幻文學:《 再見 多謝你們的魚》第24章2

Would you like to try?
She bit her lip and shook her head, not so much to say no, but just in sheer bewilderment. She was shaking like a leaf.
It’s quite easy, urged Arthur, if you don’t know how. That’s the important bit. Be not at all sure how you’re doing it.
Just to demonstrate how easy it was he floated away down the alley, fell upwards quite dramatically and bobbed back down to her like a banknote on a breath of wind.
Ask me how I did that.
How… did you do that?
No idea. Not a clue.
She shrugged in bewilderment.
So how can I?…
Arthur bobbed down a little lower and held out his hand.
I want you to try, he said, to step on my hand. Just one foot.
What?
Try it.
Like this?
Like that.
Nervously, hesitantly, almost, she told herself, as if She stopped telling herself what what she was doing was like because she had a feeling she didn’t altogether want to know.
She fixed her eyes very very firmly on the guttering of the roof of the decrepit warehouse opposite which had been annoying her for weeks because it was clearly going to fall off and she wondered if anyone was going to do anything about it or whether she ought to say something to somebody, and didn’t think for a moment about the fact that she was standing on the hands of someone who wasn’t standing on anything at all.
Now, said Arthur, take your weight off your left foot.
She thought that the warehouse belonged to the carpet company who had their offices round the corner, and took the weight off her left foot, so she should probably go and see them about the gutter.
Now, said Arthur, take the weight off your right foot.
I can’t.
Try.
She hadn’t seen the guttering from quite this angle before, and it looked to her now as if as well as the mud and gunge up there there might also be a bird’s nest. If she leaned forward just a little and took her weight off her right foot, she could probably see it more clearly.
Arthur was alarmed to see that someone down in the alley was trying to steal her bicycle. He particularly didn’t want to get involved in an argument at the moment and hoped that the guy would do it quietly and not look up.
He had the quiet shifty look of someone who habitually stole bicycles in alleys and habitually didn’t expect to find their owners hovering several feet above them. He was relaxed by both these habits, and went about his job with purpose and concentration, and when he found that the bike was unarguably bound by hoops of tungsten carbide to an iron bar embedded in concrete, he peacefully bent both its wheels and went on his way.
Arthur let out a long-held breath.
See what a piece of eggshell I have found you, said Fenchurch in his ear.

“想不想試試？”
她咬着嘴脣搖了搖頭，不完全是否定，只是完全懵了。她哆嗦得像一片樹葉。
“很簡單的，”阿瑟說，“要是你不知道該怎麼做的話。這一點很重要。千萬不要弄清楚你怎麼做。”
爲了證明有多簡單，他沿着巷子飄走，急劇地上升，然後起伏着飛回她跟前，就像一陣風吹着一張鈔票。
“問問我是怎麼做到的。”
“你是……怎麼做到的？”
“不知道。完全不知道。”
她困惑地聳聳肩。
“那我怎麼才能……？”阿瑟
阿瑟向下飄落了一點，伸出了手。
“我想讓你試着，”他說，“先踩在我手上。只用一隻腳。”
“什麼？”
“試一下。”
“像這樣？”
“像那樣。”
緊張，猶豫，她對自己說，這簡直像是——她還是沒告訴自己正在做的事情像什麼，因爲她有種感覺，覺得她自己根本不想知道。
她的眼睛牢牢盯着對面廢棄倉庫房頂上的排水系統，這套系統讓她這幾個星期以來一直很生氣，因爲它看起來很明顯快垮了，她不知道會不會有人爲此採取點措施，或者自己該不該找人說一說。有那麼一會兒她完全沒有去想她現在正站在一個懸在空中的人的手裏。
“現在，”阿瑟說，“移開你加在左腳上的體重。”
她想這個倉庫屬於那個辦公室設在街角拐彎的地方的那家地毯公司，她移去了加在左腳上的體重，那麼她可能應該就排水系統的事情去找他們。
“現在，”阿瑟說，“移開你加在右腳上的體重。”
“我做不到。”
“試試。”
她以前從來沒有從這個角度看過那排水系統，現在她看見它上面又是泥巴又是些黏糊糊的東西，還有可能有一個鳥窩。如果她再向前傾一點點，並且把右腳上的體重移開，那麼她就可能會看得更加清楚。
阿瑟有些驚恐地發現下面巷子裏面有人正在試圖偷她的自行車。他特別不希望在這個時侯捲入一樁爭吵中去，他希望那人能夠安安靜靜的偷，而且不要向上看。
那個人長着一副平靜而狡猾的樣子，這種長相的人習慣於在巷子裏偷自行車而且習慣性地沒有想過自行車的主人正在他頭上幾英尺的地方盤旋。這兩種習慣讓他很放鬆，明確而專注地投入到自己的工作中，當他發現那自行車被碳化鎢鋼圈牢牢地鎖在混凝土裏伸出的一根鐵棒上的時候，他平靜地把兩個車輪都扭彎，然後接着走了。
阿瑟籲出一口憋了很久的氣。
“你看我給你找了一片什麼樣的蛋殼。”芬切琪在他耳邊說。