世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第15章Part5

The people in front had already done so, swept down by the wave of bullets. The survivors, instead of getting down, tried to go back to the small square, and the panic became a dragon’s tail as one compact wave ran against another which was moving in the opposite direction, toward the other dragon’s tail In the street across the way, where the machine guns were also firing without cease. They were Penned in. swirling about in a gigantic whirlwind that little by little was being reduced to its epicenter as the edges were systematically being cut off all around like an onion being peeled by the insatiable and methodical shears of the machine guns. The child saw a woman kneeling with her arms in the shape of a cross in an open space, mysteriously free of the stampede. Jos?Arcadio Segundo put him up there at the moment he fell with his face bathed in blood, before the colossal troop wiped out the empty space, the kneeling woman, the light of the high, drought-stricken sky, and the whorish world where ?rsula Iguarán had sold so many little candy animals.
When Jos?Arcadio Segundo came to he was lying face up in the darkness. He realized that he was riding on an endless and silent train and that his head was caked with dry blood and that all his bones ached. He felt an intolerable desire to sleep. Prepared to sleep for many hours, safe from the terror and the horror, he made himself comfortable on the side that pained him less, and only then did he discover that he was lying against dead people. There was no free space in the car except for an aisle in the middle. Several hours must have passed since the massacre because the corpses had the same temperature as a plaster in autumn and the same consistency of petrified foam that it had, and those who had put them in the car had had time to pile them up in the same way in which they transported bunches of bananas. Trying to flee from the nightmare, Jos?Arcadio Segundo dragged himself from one car to an other in the direction in which the train was heading, and in the flashes of light that broke through the woodenslats as they went through sleeping towns he saw the man corpses, woman corpses, child corpses who would be thrown into the sea like rejected bananas. He recognized only a woman who sold drinks in the square and Colonel Gavilán, who still held wrapped in his hand the belt with a buckle of Morelia silver with which he had tried to open his way through the panic. When he got to the first car he jumped into the darkness and lay beside the tracks until the train had passed. It was the longest one he had ever seen, with almost two hundred freight cars and a locomotive at either end and a third one in the middle. It had no lights, not even the red and green running lights, and it slipped off with a nocturnal and stealthy velocity. On top of the cars there could be seen the dark shapes of the soldiers with their emplaced machine guns.
After midnight a torrential cloudburst came up. Jos?Arcadio Segundo did not know where it was that he had jumped off, but he knew that by going in the opposite direction to that of the train he would reach Macondo. After walking for more than three hours, soaked to the skin, with a terrible headache, he was able to make out the first houses in the light of dawn. Attracted by the smell of coffee, he went into a kitchen where a woman with a child in her arms was leaning over the stove.
“Hello,?he said, exhausted. “I’m Jos?Arcadio Segundo Buendía.?
He pronounced his whole name, letter by letter, in order to convince her that he was alive. He was wise in doing so, because the woman had thought that he was an apparition as she saw the dirty, shadowy figure with his head and clothing dirty with blood and touched with the solemnity of death come through the door. She recognized him. She brought him a blanket so that he could wrap himself up while his clothes dried by the fire, she warmed some water to wash his wound, which was only a flesh wound, and she gave him a clean diaper to bandage his head. Then she gave him a mug of coffee without sugar as she had been told the Buendías drank it, and she spread his clothing out near the fire.
Jos?Arcadio Segundo did not speak until he had finished drinking his coffee.
“There must have been three thousand of them?he murmured.
"What?"
“The dead,?he clarified. “It must have been an of the people who were at the station.?
The woman measured him with a pitying look. “There haven’t been any dead here,?she said. “Since the time of your uncle, the colonel, nothing has happened in Macondo.?In the three kitchens where Jos?Arcadio Segundo stopped before reaching home they told him the same thing. “There weren’t any dead. He went through the small square by the station and he saw the fritter stands piled one on top of the other and he could find no trace of the massacre. The streets were deserted under the persistent rain and the houses locked up with no trace of life inside. The only human note was the first tolling of the bells for mass. He knocked at the door at Colonel Gavilán’s house. A pregnant woman whom he had seen several times closed the door in his face. “He left,?she said, frightened. “He went back to his own country.?The main entrance to the wire chicken coop was guarded as always by two local policemen who looked as if they were made of stone under the rain, with raincoats and rubber boots. On their marginal street the West Indian Negroes were singing Saturday psalms. Jos?Arcadio Segundo jumped over the courtyard wall and entered the house through the kitchen. Santa Sofía de la Piedad barely raised her voice. “Don’t let Fernanda see you,?she said. “She’s just getting up.?As if she were fulfilling an implicit pact, she took her son to the “chamberpot room.?arranged Melquíades?broken-down cot for him and at two in the afternoon, while Fernanda was taking her siesta, she passed a plate of food in to him through the window.
Aureliano Segundo had slept at home because the rain had caught him time and at three in the afternoon he was still waiting for it to clear. Informed in secret by Santa Sofía de la Piedad, he visited his brother in Melquíades?room at that time. He did not believe the version of the massacre or the nightmare trip of the train loaded with corpses traveling toward the sea either. The night before he had read an extraordinary proclamation to the nation which said that the workers had left the station and had returned home in peaceful groups. The proclamation also stated that the union leaders, with great patriotic spirit, had reduced their demands to two points: a reform of medical services and the building of latrines in the living quarters. It was stated later that when the military authorities obtained the agreement with the workers, they hastened to tell Mr. Brown and he not only accepted the new conditions but offered to pay for three days of public festivities to celebrate the end of the conflict. Exceptthat when the military asked him on what date they could announce the signing of the agreement, he looked out the window at the sky crossed with lightning flashes and made a profound gesture of doubt.

前面的人已給機槍子彈擊倒了，活着的人沒有臥倒，試圖回到廣場上去。於是，在驚惶失措的狀態中，好象有一條龍的尾巴把人羣象浪濤似的掃去，迎頭碰上了另一條街的另一條龍尾掃來的浪濤，因爲那兒的機槍也在不停地掃射。人們好象欄裏的牲畜似的給關住了：他們在一個巨大的漩渦中旋轉，這個漩渦逐漸向自己的中心收縮，因爲它的周邊被機槍火力象剪刀似的毫不停輟地剪掉了——就象剝洋蔥頭那樣。孩子看見，一個女人雙手合成十字，跪在空地中間，神祕地擺脫了蜂擁的人羣。霍。 阿卡蒂奧第二也把孩子摔在這兒了，他倒在地上，滿臉是血，洶涌的巨大人流掃蕩了空地，掃蕩了跪着的女人，掃蕩了酷熱的天穹投下的陽光，掃蕩了這個卑鄙齷齪的世界；在這個世界上，烏蘇娜曾經賣過那麼多的糖動物啊。
霍。阿卡蒂奧第二蘇醒的時候，是仰面躺着的，周圍一片漆黑。他明白自己是在一列頎長、寂靜的火車上，他的頭上凝着一塊血，渾身的骨頭都在發痛。他耐不住想睡。他想在這兒連續睡它許多小時，因爲他離開了恐怖場面，在安全的地方了，於是他朝不太痛的一邊側過身去，這才發現自己是躺在一些屍體上的。屍體塞滿了整個車廂，只是車廂中間留了一條通道。大屠殺之後大概已過了幾個小時，因爲屍體的溫度就象秋天的石膏，也象硬化的泡沫塑料。把他們搬上車來的那些人，甚至還有時間把他們一排排地堆疊起來，就象通常運送香蕉那樣。霍·阿卡蒂奧第二打算擺脫這種可怕的處境，就從一個車廂爬到另一個車廂，爬到列車前去；列車駛過沉睡的村莊時，壁板之間的縫隙透進了閃爍的亮光，他便看見死了的男人、女人和孩子，他們將象報廢的香蕉給扔進大海。他只認出了兩個人：一個是在廣場上出售清涼飲料的女人，一個是加維蘭上校——上校手上依然繞着莫雷利亞（注：墨西哥地名）銀色釦子的皮帶，他曾試圖在混亂的人羣中用它給自己開闢道路。到了第一節車廂，霍。 阿卡蒂奧第二往列車外面的黑暗中縱身一跳，便躺在軌道旁邊的溝裏，等着列車駛過。這是他見過的最長的列車——幾乎有二百節運貨車廂，列車頭尾各有一個機車，中間還有一個機車。列車上沒有一點兒燈光，甚至沒有紅色和綠色信號燈，他沿着鋼軌悄悄地、迅捷地溜過去。列車頂上隱約現出機槍旁邊士兵的身影。
半夜以後，大雨傾盆而下。霍·阿卡蒂奧第二不知道他跳下的地方是哪兒，但他明白，如果逆着列車駛去的方向前進，就能到達馬孔多。經過三個多小時的路程，渾身溼透，頭痛已極，他在黎明的亮光中看見了市鎮邊上的一些房子。受到咖啡氣味的引誘，他走進了一戶人家的廚房，一個抱着孩子的婦人正俯身在爐竈上。
“您好，”他精疲力盡地說。“我是霍·阿卡蒂奧第二·布恩蒂亞。”
他逐字地說出自己的整個姓名，想讓她相信他是活人。他做得挺聰明，因爲她看見他走進屋來時，面色陰沉，疲憊不堪，渾身是血，死死板板，還當他是個幽靈哩。她認出了霍·阿卡蒂奧第二。她拿來一條毯子，讓他裹在身上，就在竈邊烘乾他的衣服，燒水給他洗傷口（他只是破了點皮），並且給了他一塊乾淨尿布纏在頭上。然後，她又把一杯無糖的咖啡放在他面前（因爲她曾聽說布恩蒂亞家的人喜歡喝這種咖啡），便將衣服掛在爐竈旁邊。
霍。 阿卡蒂奧第二喝完咖啡之前，一句話也沒說。
“那兒大概有三千，”他咕噥着說。
“什麼？”
“死人，”他解釋說，“大概全是聚在車站上的人。”
婦人憐憫地看了看他。“這裏不曾有過死人，”她說。“自從你的親戚——奧雷連諾上校去世以來，馬孔多啥事也沒發生過。”在回到家裏之前，霍·阿卡蒂奧第二去過三家人的廚房，人家都同樣告訴他：“這兒不曾有過死人。”他經過車站廣場，看見了一些亂堆着的食品攤子，沒有發現大屠殺的任何痕跡。雨還在下個不停，街道空蕩蕩的，在一間間緊閉的房子裏，甚至看不出生命的跡象。唯一證明這裏有人的，是叫人去做早禱的鐘聲。霍·阿卡蒂奧第二敲了敲加維蘭上校家的門。他以前見過多次的這個懷孕的女人，在他面前砰地把門關上。“他走啦，”她惶惑地說，“回他的國家去啦。”在“電氣化養雞場”的大門口，照常站着兩個本地的警察，穿着雨衣和長統膠靴，活象雨下的石雕像。在鎮郊的小街上，印第安黑人正在唱聖歌。霍。 阿卡蒂奧第二越過院牆，鑽進布恩蒂亞家的廚房。聖索菲婭。 德拉佩德低聲向他說：“當心，別讓菲蘭達看見你。她已經起牀啦。”彷彿履行某種無言的協議，聖索菲婭·德拉佩德領着兒子進了“便盆間”，把梅爾加德斯那個破了的摺疊牀安排給他睡覺；下午兩點，當菲蘭達睡午覺的時候，她就從窗口遞給他一碟食物。
奧雷連諾第二留在家裏過夜，因爲遇到了雨，下午三點他還在等候天晴。聖索菲婭·德拉佩德把他兄弟回來的事祕密地告訴了他，他就到梅爾加德斯的房間裏去了。奧雷連諾第二既不相信廣場上的大屠殺事件，也不相信夜間列車載着屍體開往海邊的惡夢。前一天晚上，馬孔多宣佈了政府的特別通告，說工人們服從命令離開了車站，成羣地安然回家去了。通告中還說，工人領袖們懷着崇高的愛國熱情，把他們的要求歸結爲兩點：改革醫療設施，棚區修建公共廁所。隨後，奧雷連諾第二知道，軍事當局和工人達成協議之後，就急忙通知布勞恩先生，他不僅同意滿足新的要求，甚至建議由公司出錢舉行三天的羣衆遊藝會，藉以慶祝和解。然而，軍事當局問他哪一天可以在協議上簽字的時候，他望了望窗外電光閃閃的天空，裝出一副意味深長的疑慮樣兒。