諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第8章Part 3

Snakes came down from short-leaf pine and hemlock.
It rained.
Cypress, yellow poplar, ash and palmetto drooped under five days of rain without wind. By theeighth day the doves were nowhere in sight, by the ninth even the salamanders were gone. Dogslaid their ears down and stared over their paws. The men could not work. Chain-up was slow,breakfast abandoned, the two-step became a slow drag over soupy grass and unreliable earth.
It was decided to lock everybody down in the boxes till it either stopped or lightened up so awhiteman could walk, damnit, without flooding his gun and the dogs could quit shivering. Thechain was threaded through forty-six loops of the best hand-forged iron in Georgia.
It rained.

In the boxes the men heard the water rise in the trench and looked out for cottonmouths. Theysquatted in muddy water, slept above it, peed in it. Paul D thought he was screaming; his mouthwas open and there was this loud throat-splitting sound — but it may have been somebody he thought he was crying. Something was running down his cheeks. He lifted his hands towipe away the tears and saw dark brown slime. Above him rivulets of mud slid through the boardsof the roof. When it come down, he thought, gonna crush me like a tick bug. It happened so quickhe had no time to ponder. Somebody yanked the chain — once — hard enough to cross his legsand throw him into the mud. He never figured out how he knew — how anybody did — but he didknow — he did — and he took both hands and yanked the length of chain at his left, so the nextman would know too. The water was above his ankles, flowing over the wooden plank he slept then it wasn't water anymore. The ditch was caving in and mud oozed under and through thebars.
They waited — each and every one of the forty-six. Not screaming, although some of themmust have fought like the devil not to. The mud was up to his thighs and he held on to the bars. Then it came — another yank — from the left this time and less forceful than the first because ofthe mud it passed through.

蛇從短針鬆和鐵杉樹上爬下來。
下雨了。
柏樹、黃楊、白楊和棕櫚經歷了五天無風的大雨，垂下頭來。到了第八天，再也看不見鴿子了；到第九天，就連蠑螈都沒了。狗耷拉着耳朵，盯着自己的爪子出神。男人們沒法幹活了。鎖鏈鬆了，早飯廢除了，兩步舞變成了稀乎乎的草地和不堅實的泥漿地上面拖拖拉拉的步伐。
最後的決定是把所有人都鎖在地下的匣子裏，直到雨停下或者減弱，這樣，一個白人單獨就可以巡視，同時槍又挨不着雨淋，狗也不必打哆嗦了，他媽的。鎖鏈穿過四十六個佐治亞最好的手工鐐銬的鐵環。
下雨了。
匣子裏的人們一面聽着水在壕溝裏漲起來，一面當心着棉嘴蛇。他們蹲在泥水裏，泥水裏睡覺，泥水裏撒尿。保羅·D以爲自己在喊叫：他的嘴大張着，又能聽見劈裂的喊聲——不過那也可能是別人在喊。接着，他又以爲自己在哭。有什麼順着他的臉頰流下來。他擡起兩手去抹眼淚，看到的卻是深棕色的泥漿。在他頭頂上，小股的泥流穿透屋頂的木板滑下來。屋頂要是塌了，他想，它會像捻死一個臭蟲似的把我壓癟。事情發生得這麼快，他都來不及多想。有人在猛拽鎖鏈——一下——猛得簡直像要拉倒他的腿，讓他摔進泥漿裏。他始終沒想清楚自己是怎麼懂的——別人又是怎麼懂的——可他的確懂了——他懂了——於是他用兩隻手狠命地拽左邊的一截鎖鏈，下一個也就知道了。水沒過了他的腳踝，漫過了他睡覺的木板。然後就不再是水了。壕溝在塌陷，泥漿從柵欄下面和柵欄中間涌進來。
他們等着——所有四十六個都在等着。沒有人喊叫，儘管不少人肯定是在拼命忍住。泥漿沒到了腿根，他抓住柵欄。這時，又來了——又是一下猛拉——這下是從左邊來的，因爲要穿過泥漿，比剛纔那一下勁頭小些。