世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第15章Part6

“When the rain stops,?he said. “As long as the rain lasts we’re suspending all activities.?
It had not rained for three months and there had been a drought. But when Mr. Brown announced his decision a torrential downpour spread over the whole banana region. It was the one that caught Jos?Arcadio Segundo on his way to Macondo. A week later it was still raining. The official version, repeated a thousand times and mangled out all over the country by every means of communication the government found at hand, was finally accepted: there were no dead, the satisfied workers had gone back to their families, and the banana company was suspending all activity until the rains stopped. Martial law continued with an eye to the necessity of taking emergency measures for the public disaster of the endless downpour, but the troops were confined to quarters. During the day the soldiers walked through the torrents in the streets with their pant legs rolled up, playing with boats with the children. At night after taps, they knocked doors down with their rifle butts, hauled suspects out of their beds, and took them offon trips from which there was no return. The search for and extermination of the hoodlums, murderers, arsonists, and rebels of Decree No. 4 was still going on, but the military denied it even to the relatives of the victims who crowded the commandant’s offices in search of news. “You must have been dreaming,?the officers insisted. “Nothing has happened in Macondo, nothing has ever happened, and nothing ever will happen. “This is a happy town.?In that way they were finally able to wipe out the union leaders.
The only survivor was Jos?Arcadio Segundo. One February night the unmistakable blows of rifle butts were heard at the door. Aureliano Segundo, who was still waiting for it to clear, opened the door to six soldiers under the command of an officer. Soaking from the rain, without saying a word, they searched the house room by room, closet by closet, from parlor to pantry. ?rsula woke up when they turned on the light in her room and she did not breathe while the march went on but held her fingers in the shape of a cross, pointing them to where the soldiers were moving about. Santa Sofía de la Piedad managed to warn Jos?Arcadio Segundo, who was sleeping in Melquíades?room, but he could see that it was too late to try to escape. So Santa Sofía de la Piedad locked the door again and he put on his shirt and his shoes and sat down on the cot to wait for them. At that moment they were searching the gold workshop. The officer made them open the padlock and with a quick sweep of his lantern he saw the workbench and the glass cupboard with bottles of acid and instruments that were still where their owner had left them and he seemed to understand that no one lived in that room. He wisely asked Aureliano Segundo if he was a silversmith, however, and the latter explained to him that it had been Colonel Aureliano Buendía’s workshop. “Oho,?the officer said, turned on the lights, and ordered such a minute search that they did not miss the eighteen little gold fishes that had not been melted down and that were hidden behind the bottles Is their tin can. The officer examined them one by one on the workbench and then he turned human. “I’d like to take one, if I may,?he said. “At one time they were a mark of subversion, but now they’re relics.?He was young, almost an adolescent, with no sign of timidity and with a natural pleasant manner that had not shown itself until then. Aureliano Segundo gave him the little fish. The officer put it in his shirt pocket with a childlike glow in his eyes and he put the others back in the can and set it back where it had been.
“It’s a wonderful memento,?he said. “Colonel Aureliano Buendía was one of our greatest men.?

“等雨停以後，”他說。“只要還在下雨，我們就暫停一切活動。”
整整三個月沒有降雨，出現了乾旱的季節。可是布勞恩先生剛剛宣佈自己的決定，整個香蕉地區就下起了滂沱大雨。這就是霍。 阿卡蒂奧第二返回馬孔多的路上遇到的大雨。一個星期之後，暴雨還在繼續。政府的說法重複了多次，通過官方的各種消息渠道傳到居民們耳朵裏，居民們終於相信：沒有死人，滿意的工人回到了自己家裏，香蕉公司暫停一切活動，直到暴雨終止。戒嚴令繼續有效，如果連綿的暴雨引起什麼災禍，就得采取非常措施，但是軍隊撤回了兵營。白天，士兵們捲起褲腿，在變成了洪流的街道上逛來逛去，並且和孩子們一起划着小船玩耍。夜間，宵禁開始之後，他們就用槍托砸開人家的房門，把可疑的人拖出牀鋪，送到一去不復返的地方去。士兵們仍在搜查和消滅罪犯、殺人犯、縱火犯和第四號命令的破壞分子，可是軍事當局即使在犧牲者的親人面前也否認這種情形，這些家屬擠滿了警備隊長的接待室，希望知道被捕者的命運。“我相信你們不過是做了個夢，”警備隊長硬說。“馬孔多過去沒有發生、現在沒有發生、將來也不會發生任何事情。這是一個幸福的市鎮嘛。”工會頭頭們就這樣被消滅了。
唯一的倖存者是霍。阿卡蒂奧第二。二月裏的一個夜晚，房門被敲得震動起來，是用槍托敲的——這種聲音不會跟任何聲音相混。奧雷連諾第二仍在等候天氣晴了就出去，他開了門，看見了一個軍官率領下的六名士兵，全都穿着溼淋淋的雨衣。他們二話沒說，就在房子裏搜查起來，從一個房間到一個房間，從一個櫥櫃到一個櫥櫃，從客廳到儲藏室。房間裏的燈扭亮時，烏蘇娜醒了過來，士兵們翻箱倒櫃，她都沒有吭聲，但是雙手合十地對着士兵們搜查的地方。聖索菲婭。 德拉佩德已經喚醒霍·阿卡蒂奧第二，他是睡在梅爾加德斯房間裏的，但他立即明白，企圖逃跑已經太遲了。聖索菲婭。 德拉佩德重新鎖上房門，他就穿上襯衫和鞋子，坐在牀沿等着他們進來。這時，他們正要搜查首飾作坊。軍官命令打開掛鎖，舉起燈來朝房間裏很快掃視一遍，便看見了工作臺、盛放酸類瓶子的玻璃櫃以及各種器械，這些器械仍在主人原來放置的地方，他似乎明白這個房間是無人居住的，然而詭譎地詢問奧雷連諾第二是不是首飾匠，奧雷連諾第二說明這兒是奧雷連諾上校的作坊。“啊哈！”軍官說着扭開了電燈，命令徹底搜查，因此，就連十幾只金魚也沒瞞過他們的眼睛——這些金魚沒有熔化，仍在瓶子後面的鐵罐子裏。軍官把金魚倒在工作臺上，仔細地瞧了瞧每一隻，然後顯然溫和了一些。“如果你們允許的話，我想要一隻。”他說，“從前，它們是叛亂分子的識別標誌，可現在是珍貴的紀念品了。”他很年輕，幾乎是個少年，但是態度沉着，現在才顯出他身上有點討人喜歡的東西。奧雷連諾第二給了他一隻金魚。這個軍官象孩子似的高興得兩眼發亮，把一隻金魚放進襯衣口袋，而將其餘的投入罐裏，把罐子放在原處。
“這東西是無價之寶，”他說。“奧雷連諾上校是一個最偉大的人物嘛。”