诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第2章Part 5
"Hang around?" Paul D didn't even look at the mess he had made.
"Denver! What's got into you?" Sethe looked at her daughter, feeling more embarrassed thanangry.
Paul D scratched the hair on his chin. "Maybe I should make tracks.""No!" Sethe was surprised by how loud she said it. "He know what he needs," said Denver.
"Well, you don't," Sethe told her, "and you must not know what you need either. I don't want tohear another word out of you.""I just asked if — ""Hush! You make tracks. Go somewhere and sit down."Denver picked up her plate and left the table but not before adding a chicken back and more breadto the heap she was carrying away.
Paul D leaned over to wipe the spilled coffee with his blue handkerchief.
"I'll get that." Sethe jumped up and went to the stove. Behind itvarious cloths hung, each in some stage of drying. In silence she wiped the floor and retrieved thecup. Then she poured him another cupful, and set it carefully before him. Paul D touched its rimbut didn't say anything — as though even "thank you" was an obligation he could not meet and thecoffee itself a gift he could not take.
Sethe resumed her chair and the silence continued. Finally she realized that if it was going to bebroken she would have to do it.
"I didn't train her like that."Paul D stroked the rim of the cup.
"And I'm as surprised by her manners as you are hurt by em."Paul D looked at Sethe. "Is there history to her question?""History? What you mean?""I mean, did she have to ask that, or want to ask it, of anybody else before me?"
“混？”保罗·D对他闯的那摊祸连看都没看。
“丹芙!你中了什么邪？”塞丝看着女儿，与其说是生气，不如说是尴尬。
保罗·D搔了搔下巴上的胡子。“也许我该开路了。”“不行!”塞丝被自己说话的音量吓了一跳。“他知道他自己需要什么。”丹芙说。
“可你不知道，”塞丝对她说，“你肯定也不知道你自己需要什么。我不想再从你嘴里听见一个字。”“我只不过问了问———”“住嘴!你开路去吧。到别处待着去。”丹芙端起盘子离开饭桌，可临走时又往她端走的那一堆上添了一块鸡后背和几片面包。
保罗·D弯下腰，用他的蓝手帕去擦洒掉的咖啡。
“我来吧。”塞丝跳起身走向炉子。炉子后面搭着好几块抹布，在不同程度地晾干。她默默地擦了地板，拾回杯子，然后又倒了一杯，小心地放到他面前。保罗·D碰了碰杯沿，但什么也没说———好像连声“谢谢”都是难尽的义务，咖啡更是件接受不起的礼物。
塞丝坐回她的椅子，寂静持续着。最后她意识到，必须由她来打破僵局。
“我可不是那样教她的。”保罗·D敲了一下杯沿。
“我对她的做法真感到吃惊，跟你觉得受的伤害差不多。”保罗·D看着塞丝。“她的问题有历史吗？”“历史？你什么意思？”“我是说，她是不是对我以前的每个人都要问，或者想要问那个？”
