殘忍而美麗的情誼:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(175)

We both looked.
“Please, no more.”
I remembered something the orphanage director had said when he’d opened the door to me and Farid. What had been his name? Zaman? He’s inseparable from that thing, he had said. He tucks it in the waist of his pants everywhere he goes.
“No more.”
Twin trails of black mascara, mixed with tears, had rolled down his cheeks, smeared the rouge. His lower lip trembled. Mucus seeped from his nose. “Bas,” he croaked.
His hand was cocked above his shoulder, holding the cup of the slingshot at the end of the elastic band which was pulled all the way back. There was something in the cup, something shiny and yellow. I blinked the blood from my eyes and saw it was one of the brass balls from the ring in the table base. Sohrab had the slingshot pointed to Assef’s face.
“No more, Agha. Please,” he said, his voice husky and trembling. “Stop hurting him.”Assef’s mouth moved wordlessly. He began to say something, stopped. “What do you think you’re you doing?” he finally said.
“Please stop,” Sohrab said, fresh tears pooling in his green eyes, mixing with mascara.
“Put it down, Hazara,” Assef hissed. “Put it down or what I’m doing to him will be a gentle ear twisting compared to what I’ll do to you.”
The tears broke free. Sohrab shook his head.

“Please, Agha,” he said. “Stop.”
“Put it down.”
“Don’t hurt him anymore.”
“Put it down.”
“Please.”

我們都看着。
“求求你，別再打了。”
我想起在恤孤院的時候，負責人給我和法裏德開門，說了一句話。他叫什麼名字來着？察曼？那東西跟他形影不離。他說，他無論走到那兒，都會將它塞在褲帶上。
“別再打了。”

眼影混着淚珠，在他臉上衝出兩道黑色的痕跡，弄糊了胭脂。他下脣顫抖着，流着鼻涕，“別打了。”他哽咽道。
彈弓被拉滿，他的手高舉過肩，握着橡皮筋末端的弓杯。弓杯裏面有個東西，黃色的，閃閃發光。我將血從眼上眨落，看到那是一個銅球，從桌子的底座取下來的。索拉博將彈弓瞄準阿塞夫的臉。
“別再打了，老爺。”他說，嘶啞的聲音顫抖着，“別再傷害他。”阿塞夫的嘴巴無言地扭曲，欲言又止。“你知道你自己在幹什麼嗎？”最後他說。
“求求你，停下來。”索拉博說，淚水又從綠色的眼睛涌出，和眼影混在一起。

“把它放下，哈扎拉人。”阿塞夫氣急敗壞，“把它放下，不然我會處置你，相比之下，我剛纔對他做的，不過是溫柔地擰擰耳朵罷了。”
淚水流個不停。索拉博搖搖頭。
“求求你，老爺，”他說， “停下來。”
“放下。”
“別再傷害他了。”
“放下。”
“求求你。”