世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第16章Part2

“Good-bye, Gerineldo, my son,?she shouted. “Say hello to my people and tell them I’ll see them when it stops raining.?
Aureliano Segundo helped her back to bed and with the same informality with which he always treated her, he asked her the meaning of her farewell.
“It’s true,?she said. “I’m only waiting for the rain to stop in order to die.?
The condition of the streets alarmed Aureliano Segundo. He finally became worried about the state of his animals and he threw an oilcloth over his head and sent to Petra Cotes’s house. He found her in the courtyard, in the water up to her waist, trying to float the corpse of a horse. Aureliano Segundo helped her with a lever, and the enormous swollen body gave a turn like a bell and was dragged away by the torrent of liquid mud. Since the rain began, all that Petra Cotes had done was to clear her courtyard of dead animals. During the first weeks she sent messages to Aureliano Segundo for him to take urgent measures and he had answered that there was no rush, that the situation was not alarming, that there would be plenty of time to think about something when it cleared. She sent him word that the horse pastures were being flooded, that the cattle were fleeing to high ground, where there was nothing to eat and where they were at the mercy of jaguars and sickness. “There’s nothing to be done,?Aureliano Segundo answered her. “Others will be born when it clears.?Petra Cates had seen them die in dusters and the was able to butcher only those stuck in the mud. She saw with quiet impotence how the deluge was pitilessly exterminating a fortune that at one time was considered the largest and most solid in Macondo, and of which nothing remained but pestilence. When Aureliano Segundo decided to go see what was going on, he found only the corpse of the horse and a squalid mule in the ruins of the stable. Petra Cotes watched him arrive without surprise, joy, or resentment, and she only allowed herself an ironic smile.
“It’s about time!?she said.
“That’s not true,?Aureliano Segundo interrupted her. “He was already beginning to smell when they brought him here.?
He had the patience to listen to her for a whole day until he caught her in a slip. Fernanda did not pay him any mind, but she lowered her voice. That night at dinner the exasperating buzzing of the singsong had conquered the sound of the rain. Aureliano, Segundo ate very little, with his head down, and he went to his room early. At breakfast on the following day Fernanda was trembling, with a look of not having slept well, and she seemed completely exhausted by her rancor. Nevertheless, when her husband asked if it was not possible to have a soft-boiled egg, she did not answer simply that they had run out of eggs the week before, but she worked up a violent diatribe against men who spent their time contemplating their navels and then had the gall to ask for larks?livers at the table. Aureliano Segundo took the children to look at the encyclopedia, as always, and Fernanda pretended to straighten out Meme’s room just so that he could listen to her muttering, of course, that it certainly took cheek for him totell the poor innocents that there was a picture of Colonel Aureliano Buendía in the encyclopedia. During the afternoon, while the children were having their nap, Aureliano Segundo sat on the porch and Fernanda pursued him even there, provoking him, tormenting him, hovering about him with her implacable horsefly buzzing, saying that, of course, while there was nothing to eat except stones, her husband was sitting there like a sultan of Persia, watching it rain, because that was all he was, a slob, a sponge, a good-for-nothing, softer than cotton batting, used to living off women and convinced that he had married Jonah’s wife, who was so content with the story of the whale. Aureliano Segundo listened to her for more than two hours, impassive, as if he were deaf. He did not interrupt her until late in the afternoon, when he could no longer bear the echo of the bass drum that was tormenting his head.
“Please shut up,?he begged.

“再見吧，格林列爾多，我的孩子，”烏蘇娜叫了一聲。“向咱們的人轉達我的問候吧，並且告訴他們，天一晴我就要去看望他們了。”
奧雷連諾第二把爲祖母扶回牀上，用往常那種不禮貌的態度問她這些話是什麼意思。
“那是真的，”烏蘇娜回答。“雨一停，我就要去了。”
淹沒街道的泥流引起了奧雷連諾第二的不安。他終於擔心起自己的牲畜，把一塊油布披在頭上，就到佩特娜·柯特家裏去了。佩特娜。 柯特站在院裏齊腰深的水中，正在推動一匹死馬。奧雷連諾第二拿着一根木棍幫助她。脹鼓鼓的巨大屍體象鐘擺一樣晃晃蕩蕩，立亥就被泥流捲走了。大雨剛一開始，佩特娜。柯特就在清除院子裏死了的牲畜。最初幾個星期，她曾捎信給奧雷連諾第二，要他迅速採取什麼措施，可他回答說，不必着急，情況並不那麼壞，雨一停，他就想辦法。佩特娜·柯特又請人告訴他，牧場給淹沒了，牲口都跑到山裏去了，它們在那兒沒有吃的，還會被豹於吃掉，或者病死。“甭擔心，”奧雷連諾第二回答她。“只要雨停，其他的牲畜又會生下來了。”在佩特娜。柯特眼前，牲畜成羣死去，她好不容易纔把陷在泥淖裏的剁成了塊。她束手無策地望着洪水無情地消滅了她的財產——以前被認爲是馬孔多最可靠的財產，現在剩下的只是臭氣了。當奧雷連諾第二終於決定去看看那裏的情況時，他在畜欄的廢墟里僅僅發現了一匹死馬和一匹衰竭的騾子。佩特娜·柯特見他來了，既沒表示驚訝，也沒表示高興或怨恨，，光是譏笑了一聲。
“歡迎光臨！”佩特娜·柯特說。
“這說得不準確，”奧雷連諾第二打斷她。“人家把你父親送到這兒的時候，他已經臭得相當厲害了。”
他耐着性子聽了整整一天，最後才揭穿菲蘭達說得不準。菲蘭達什麼也沒回答，只是降低了嗓門。這天吃晚飯的時候，她那惱怒的聒噪聲把雨聲都給壓住了。奧雷連諾第二耷拉着腦袋，坐在桌邊，吃得很少，很早就到自己的臥室裏去了。第二天早餐時，菲蘭達渾身發抖，顯然過了一個不眠之夜，她反覆回憶過去受到的委屈，似乎已經精疲力盡。然而，奧雷連諾第二問她能不能給他一個煮熟的雞蛋時，她不只是說前一個星期就沒有雞蛋了，而且尖酸刻薄地指摘一幫男人，說他們只會把時間用來欣賞自己骯髒的肚臍眼，然後恬不知恥地要求別人把百靈鳥的心肝給他們送上桌子。奧雷連諾第二照舊和孩子們一起瀏覽百科全書裏的圖畫，可是菲蘭達假裝拾掇梅梅的臥室，其實她只想讓他聽見她嘮叨，自然羅，只有失去了最後一點羞恥心的人才會告訴天真無邪的孩子，彷彿百科全書裏有奧雷連諾上校的畫像。白天午休時刻，孩子們睡覺的時候，奧雷連諾第二坐在長廊上，可是菲蘭達又在那兒找到了他，刺激他，揶揄他，在他周圍轉來轉去，象牛虻一樣不停地轟轟嗡嗡，說了又說，家裏除了石頭什麼吃的都沒有了，而她漂亮的丈夫卻象波斯蘇丹那麼坐着，盯着下雨，因爲他是個懶漢、食客、廢物、孱頭，靠女人過活已經習慣了，以爲他討了約拿②的老婆，那②見《聖經》。“約拿的老婆”意即不祥的人，帶來壞運氣的人。個女人只要聽聽鯨魚的故事就滿足了。奧雷連諾第二聽菲蘭達羅唆了兩個多小時，無動於衷，象個聾子。他一直沒有打斷她的絮聒，直到傍晚才失去了耐心。
她的話象鼓聲似地震動着他的腦筋。
“看在基督的面上，請你住嘴。”他央求道。