诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第1章Part 30

Below her bloody knees, there was no feeling at all; her chest was two cushions of pins. It was thevoice full of velvet and Boston and good things to eat that urged her along and made her think thatmaybe she wasn't, after all, just a crawling graveyard for a six-month baby's last hours.
The lean-to was full of leaves, which Amy pushed into a pile for Sethe to lie on. Then she gatheredrocks, covered them with more leaves and made Sethe put her feet on them, saying: "I know awoman had her feet cut off they was so swole." And she made sawing gestures with the blade ofher hand across Sethe's ankles.
"Zzz Zzz Zzz Zzz.""I used to be a good size. Nice arms and everything. Wouldn't think it, would you? That wasbefore they put me in the root cellar. I was fishing off the Beaver once. Catfish in Beaver Riversweet as chicken. Well I was just fishing there and a nigger floated right by me. I don't likedrowned people, you? Your feet remind me of him. All swole like."Then she did the magic: lifted Sethe's feet and legs and massaged them until she cried salt tears.
"It's gonna hurt, now," said Amy. "Anything dead coming back to life hurts."A truth for all times, thought Denver. Maybe the white dress holding its arm around her mother'swaist was in pain. If so, it could mean the baby ghost had plans. When she opened the door, Sethewas just leaving the keeping room.
"I saw a white dress holding on to you," Denver said.

她血淋淋的膝盖以下根本没有知觉；她的乳房成了两个插满缝衣针的软垫。是那充满天鹅绒、波士顿和好吃的东西的声音一直激励着她，使她觉得，她到底并不仅仅是那个六个月婴儿弥留之际的爬行的墓地。
披屋里满是树叶，爱弥把它们堆成一堆，让塞丝躺上去；然后她找来几块石头，又铺上些树叶给塞丝垫脚，一边说道：“我知道有一个女人，让人把肿得不像样的两只脚给截掉了。”她装成锯东西的样子，用手掌在塞丝的脚踝上比画：
“吱吱吱，吱吱吱，吱吱吱，吱吱吱。”“我以前身量挺好的。胳膊什么的，都挺好看。你想不到，是吧？那是他们把我关进地窖之前。那回我在比佛河上钓鱼来着。比佛河里的鲇鱼像鸡肉一样好吃。我正在那儿钓鱼呢，一个黑鬼从我身边漂了过去。我不喜欢淹死的人，你呢？你的脚让我又想起了他。全都肿起来了。”然后她来了个绝活儿：提起塞丝的腿脚按摩，疼得她哭出了咸涩的眼泪。
“现在该疼了，”爱弥说，“所有死的东西活过来时都会疼的。”永恒的真理，丹芙想道。也许用袖子绕着妈妈腰身的白裙子是痛苦的。倘若如此，这可能意味着那小鬼魂有计划。她打开门，这时塞丝正要离开起居室。
“我看见一条白裙子搂着你。”丹芙说。