殘忍而美麗的情誼:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(26)

"Good morning, 'kunis'!?Assef exclaimed, waving. "Fag,"that was another of his favorite insults. Hassan retreated behind me as the three older boys closed in. They stood before us, three tall boys dressed in jeans and T-shirts. Towering over us all, Assef crossed his thick arms on his chest, a savage sort of grin on his lips. Not for the first time, it occurred to me that Assef might not be entirely sane. It also occurred to me how lucky I was to have Baba as my father, the sole reason, I believe, Assef had mostly refrained from harassing me too much.

"早上好，苦哈哈!"阿塞夫說，擺擺手。"苦哈哈"是另外一個阿塞夫喜歡用來侮辱人的詞語。他們三個都比我們大，看到他們走近，哈桑躲在我後面。他們站在我們面前，三個穿着牛仔褲T恤的高大男生。阿塞夫身材最魁梧，雙臂抱胸，臉上露出兇殘的笑容。我已經不止一次覺得阿塞夫不太像個正常人。幸運的是，我有爸爸這樣的父親，我相信正是因爲這個，阿塞夫對我不敢太過放肆造次。

He tipped his chin to Hassan. "Hey, Flat-Nose,"he said. "How is Babalu?"

他朝哈桑揚起下巴。"喂，塌鼻子，"他說，"巴巴魯可好嗎?"

Hassan said nothing and crept another step behind me.

哈桑一言不發，在我身後又退了一步。

"Have you heard the news, boys?"Assef said, his grin never faltering. "The king is gone. Good riddance. Long live the president! My father knows Daoud Khan, did you know that, Amir?"

"你們聽到消息了嗎，小子?"阿塞夫說，臉上還是帶着那副邪惡的笑容，"國王跑掉了，跑得好!總統萬歲!我爸爸跟達烏德汗相熟。你認識他嗎，阿米爾?"

"So does my father,"I said. In reality, I had no idea if that was true or not.

"我爸爸跟他也熟。"我說，實際上連我自己都不知道那是不是真的。

"Well, Daoud Khan dined at our house last year,"Assef went on. "How do you like that, Amir?"

"好吧，達烏德汗去年還在我家吃過晚飯。"阿塞夫繼續說，"怎麼樣啊，阿米爾?"

I wondered if anyone would hear us scream in this remote patch of land. Baba's house was a good kilometer away. I wished we'd stayed at the house.

我在想，如果我們在這片荒地高聲求救，會不會有人聽到?爸爸的房子距這兒足足有一公里。要是我們留在家裏就好了!

"Do you know what I will tell Daoud Khan the next time he comes to our house for dinner?"Assef said. "I'm going to have a little chat with him, man to man, 'mard' to 'mard'. Tell him what I told my mother. About Hitler. Now, there was a leader. A great leader. A man with vision. I'll tell Daoud Khan to remember that if they had let Hitler finish what he had started, the world be a better place now."

"你知道下次達烏德汗到我們家裏吃晚飯我會對他說什麼嗎?"阿塞夫說，"我會跟他稍作交談，男人和男人的交談。將我跟媽媽說過的那些告訴他，關於希特勒的。現在我們有位偉大的領袖，偉大的領袖，一個志向遠大的男人。我會告訴達烏德汗，提醒他記住，要是希特勒完成他那未竟的事業，這個世界會變得比現在更好。"