世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第19章Part6

In spite of their disordered life, the whole group tried to do something permanent at the urging of the wise Catalonian. It was he, with his experience as a former professor of classical literature and his storehouse of rare books, who got them to spend a whole night in search of the thirty-seventh dramatic situation in a town where no one had any interest any more in going beyond primary school. Fascinated by the discovery of friendship, bewildered by the enchantments of a world which had been forbidden to him by Fernanda’s meanness, Aureliano abandoned the scrutiny of the parchments precisely when they were beginning to reveal themselves as predictions in coded lines of poetry. But the subsequent proof that there was time enough for everything without having to give up the brothels gave him the drive to return to Melquíades?room, having decided not to flag in his efforts until he had discovered the last keys. That was during the time that Gaston began to wait for the airplane and Amaranta ?rsula was so lonely that one morning she appeared in the room.
“Hello, cannibal,?she said to him. “Back in your cave again??
She was irresistible, with a dress she had designed and one of the long shad-vertebra necklaces that she herself had made. She had stopped using the leash, convinced of her husband’s faithfulness, and for the first time since her return she seemed to have a moment of ease. Aureliano did not need to see her to know that she had arrived. She put her elbows on the table, so close and so helpless that Aureliano heard the deep sound of her bones, and she became interested in the parchments. Trying to overcome his disturbance, he grasped at the voice that he was losing, the life that was leaving him, the memory that was turning into a petrified polyp, and he spoke to her about the priestly destiny of Sanskrit, the scientific possibility of seeing the future showing through in time as one sees what is written on the back of a sheet of paper through the light, the necessity of deciphering the predictions so that they would not defeat themselves, and the Centuries of Nostradamus and the destruction of Cantabria predicted by Saint Milanus. Suddenly, without interrupting the chat, moved by an impulse that had been sleeping in him since his origins, Aureliano put his hand on hers, thinking that that final decision would put an end to his doubts. She grabbed his index finger with the affectionate innocence with which she had done so in childhood, however, and she held it while he kept on answering questions. They remained like that, linked by icy index fingers that did not transmit anything in any way until she awoke from her momentary dream and slapped her forehead with her hand. “The ants!?she exclaimed. And then she forgot about the manuscripts, went to the door with a dance step, and from there she threw Aureliano a kiss with the tips of her fingers as she had said good-bye to her father on the afternoon when they sent her to Brussels.
“You can tell me later,?she said. “I forgot that today’s the day to put quicklime on the anthills.?

這夥人雖然在生活上亂七八糟，可是在博學的加泰隆尼亞人催促下，總還想做些固定的工作。博學的加泰隆尼亞人憑他古典文學老教師的資格和一間沒有多少書籍的書庫，領着他們整夜探討這個小鎮的第三十六次戲劇性變化，而這個小鎮的人除了對小學校以外，對什麼都不感興趣。奧雷連諾。 布恩蒂亞對新的友誼如癡似狂，同菲蘭達的冷漠相比，這種友誼就更可貴了。就在那些羊皮紙手稿開始以密碼的詩句向他揭示預言的內容時，他卻不再孜孜不倦地閱讀了。但是後來的事實表明，他有足夠的時間既出入妓院，又能做其他的事情，這就給了他一種動力，使他重返梅爾加德斯的書房，並且決心下苦功， 不消沉，一定要解開這最後的謎。在加斯冬開始等待飛機的那個時期，有一天早上，阿瑪蘭塔·烏蘇娜感到非常孤寂，跑進屋來。
“喂，吃人的傢伙，”她對他說。“還不回到你的窩裏去嗎？”
她真是令人傾倒，穿了一身自己設計的服裝，掛了一長串她親手做的河鮮脊骨項鍊。她相信丈夫是忠實於她的，就不再使用那條絲帶了。自從回來以後，她好象第一次有了片刻的安逸，奧雷連諾·布恩蒂亞不看就知道她來了。她雙肘支在桌上，捱得那麼近，奧雷連諾·布恩蒂亞連她骨頭的響動都能聽到。她對羊皮紙手稿發生了興趣。他努力剋制自己的慌亂，糾正自己變了調的聲音，使激盪的心情安定下來，喚起僵化了的記憶。他同她談到梵文的神聖用途，談到科學上預測未來的可能性，這種未來就象人們透過光亮能看到紙背面的字一樣：而且談到必須解開預言之謎。這樣，他們就不會完蛋。此外還談到諾斯特拉達馬斯的《世紀》，談到聖米勒納斯預言過的坎塔布里亞的毀滅。他們談話雖未中斷，但他出生以來就隱伏在身上的那種衝動卻突然出現了。奧雷連諾·布恩蒂亞把字放在她的手上，以爲最後的決心會結束他的疑慮。她也滿懷柔情立即抓住他的食指，不過這種純真的感情是從孩提時代就有的，她在他回答問題的時候，一直握着他的手指。他們就那樣冷冰冰地呆着，什麼東西也傳遞不了的手指彼此勾連着。後來她從短暫的夢幻中甦醒過來，伸手摸了摸自己的前額。“螞蟻！”她叫道。於是她忘了那些手稿，邁着舞步走到門口。在那兒，就象往日下午家裏的人送她去布魯塞爾時她的表示一樣，用指尖向奧雷連諾·布恩蒂亞送去一個飛吻。
“你以後再講給我聽吧，”她說，“我忘了今天是該往蟻冢上撒石灰的日子了。”