諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第1章Part 21

"So I heard." She smiled. "He talked to Mr. Garner about it. Are you already expecting?""No, ma'am.""Well, you will be. You know that, don't you?""Yes, ma'am.""Halle's nice, Sethe. He'll be good to you.""But I mean we want to get married.""You just said so. And I said all right.""Is there a wedding?"Mrs. Garner put down her cooking spoon. Laughing a little, she touched Sethe on the head, saying,"You are one sweet child." And then no more.
Sethe made a dress on the sly and Halle hung his hitching rope from a nail on the wall of her cabin.
And there on top of a mattress on top of the dirt floor of the cabin they coupled for the third time,the first two having been in the tiny cornfield Mr. Garner kept because it was a crop animals coulduse as well as humans. Both Halle and Sethe were under the impression that they were nched down among the stalks they couldn't see anything, including the corn tops waving overtheir heads and visible to everyone else.
Sethe smiled at her and Halle's stupidity. Even the crowsknew and came to look. Uncrossing her ankles, she managed not to laugh aloud.
The jump, thought Paul D, from a calf to a girl wasn't all that mighty. Not the leap Halle believedit would be. And taking her in the corn rather than her quarters, a yard away from the cabins of theothers who had lost out, was a gesture of tenderness. Halle wanted privacy for her and got publicdisplay. Who could miss a ripple in a cornfield on a quiet cloudless day? He, Sixo and both of thePauls sat under Brother pouring water from a gourd over their heads, and through eyes streamingwith well water, they watched the confusion of tassels in the field below. It had been hard, hard,hard sitting there erect as dogs, watching corn stalks dance at noon. The water running over theirheads made it worse.
Paul D sighed and turned over. Sethe took the opportunity afforded by his movement to shift aswell. Looking at Paul D's back, she remembered that some of the corn stalks broke, folded downover Halle's back, and among the things her fingers clutched were husk and cornsilk hair.
How loose the silk. How jailed down the juice.

“我聽說了。”她微笑道，“他跟加納先生說了這事兒。你是不是已經懷上了？” “沒有，太太。”“嗯，你會的。你知道的，對嗎？”“是，太太。”“黑爾不錯，塞絲。他會好好待你的。”“可我的意思是我們想結婚。”“你剛剛說了。我說可以。”“能有婚禮嗎？”加納太太放下勺子。她大笑了一會兒，摸着塞絲的頭，說：“你這孩子真可愛。”就沒再說什麼。
塞絲偷偷縫了件裙衣；黑爾把套馬索掛在她小屋的牆壁上。
在小屋泥地面的草荐上，他們第三次結合。前兩次是在那一小塊玉米地裏，加納先生之所以保留它，是因爲這種莊稼牲口和人都能食用。黑爾和塞絲都以爲自己很隱蔽。他們伏在玉米稈中間，什麼也看不見，包括誰都看得見的、在他們頭頂波動的玉米穗。
塞絲笑自己和黑爾有多笨。連烏鴉都知道了，還飛過來看。她把疊着的腳放下，忍着不笑出聲來。
從一隻小牛到一個小妞的飛躍，保羅·D心想，並沒有那麼巨大。不像黑爾相信的那麼巨大。不在她屋裏，而把她帶到玉米地，離開競爭失敗者們的小屋一碼遠，這是溫存的表示。黑爾本想給塞絲保密，不料弄成了公共展覽。誰願意在寧靜無雲的一天錯過玉米地裏的一場好戲呢？他、西克索和另外兩個保羅坐在“兄弟”下面，用瓢往腦袋上澆水，眼睛透過流淌下來的井水，觀看下邊田裏遭殃的玉米穗。大晌午觀看玉米稈跳舞，坐在那兒像狗一樣勃起，是那麼那麼那麼地難受。從頭頂流下的水讓情況更糟。
保羅·D嘆了口氣，轉過身去。塞絲也趁他挪動的當兒換了個姿勢。看着保羅·D的後背，她想起了那些被碰壞的玉米稈，它們折倒在黑爾的背上，而她滿手抓的都是玉米包皮和花絲鬚子。
花絲多麼鬆散。汁水多麼飽滿。