世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第14章Part5
On the following day at six in the afternoon, Fernanda recognized the voice of the man who came to call on her. He was young, sallow, with dark and melancholy eyes which would not have startled her so much if she had known the gypsies, and a dreamy air that to any woman with a heart less rigid would have been enough to make her understand her daughter's motives. He was wearing a shabby linen suit with shoes that showed the desperate defense of superimposed patches of white zinc, and in his hand he was carrying a straw hat he had bought the Saturday before. In all of his life he could never have been as frightened as at that moment, but he had a dignity and presence that spared him from humiliation and a genuine elegance that was defeated only by tarnished hands and nails that had been shattered by rough work. Fernanda, however, needed only one look to guess his status of mechanic. She saw that he was wearing his one Sunday suit and that underneath his shirt he bore the rash of the banana company. She would not let him speak. She would not even let him come through the door, which a moment later she had to close because the house was filled with yellow butterflies.
"Go away," she told him. "You've got no reason to come calling on any decent person."
His name was Mauricio Babilonia. He had been born and raised in Macon-do, and he was an apprentice mechanic in the banana company garage. Meme had met him by chance one afternoon when she went with Patricia Brown to get a car to take a drive through the groves. Since the chauffeur was sick they assigned him to take them and Meme was finally able to satisfy her desire to sit next to the driver and see what he did. Unlike the regular chauffeur, Mauricio Babilonia gave her a practical lesson. That was during the time that Meme was beginning to frequent Mr. Brown's house and it was still considered improper for a lady to drive a car. So she was satisfied with the technical information and she did not see Mauricio Babilonia again for several months. Later on she would remember that during the drive her attention had been called to his masculine beauty, except for the coarseness of his hands, but that afterward she had mentioned to Patricia Brown that she had been bothered by his rather proud sense of security. Thefirst Saturday that she went to the movies with her father she saw Mauricio Babilonia again, with his linen suit, sitting a few seats away from them, and she noticed that he was not paying much attention to the film in order to turn around and look at her. Meme was bothered by the vulgarity of that. Afterward Mauricio Babilonia came over to say hello to Aureli-ano Segun-do and only then did Meme find out that they knew each other because he had worked in Aureli-ano Triste's early power plant and he treated her father with the air of an employee. That fact relieved the dislike that his pride had caused in her. They had never been alone together nor had they spoken except in way of greeting, the night when she dreamed that he was saving her from a shipwreck and she did not feel gratitude but rage. It was as if she had given him the opportunity he was waiting for, since Meme yearned for just the opposite, not only with Mauricio Babilonia but with any other man who was interested in her. Therefore she was so indignant after the dream that instead of hating him, she felt an irresistible urge to see him. The anxiety became more intense during the course of the week and on Saturday it was so pressing that she had to make a great effort for Mauricio Babilonia not to notice that when he greeted her in the movies her heart was in her mouth. Dazed by a confused feeling of pleasure and rage, she gave him her hand for the first time and only then did Mauricio Babilonia let himself shake hers. Meme managed to repent her impulse in a fraction of a second but the repentance changed immediately into a cruel satisfaction on seeing that his hand too was sweaty and cold. That night she realized that she would not have a moment of rest until she showed Mauricio Babilonia the uselessness of his aspiration and she spent the week turning that anxiety about in her mind. She resorted to all kinds of useless tricks so that Patricia Brown would go get the car with her. Finally she made use of the American redhead who was spending his vacation in Macon-do at that time and with the pretext of learning about new models of cars she had him take her to the garage. From the moment she saw him Meme let herself be deceived by herself and believed that what was really going on was that she could not bear the desire to be alone with Mauricio Babilonia, and she was made indignant by the certainty that he understood that when he saw her arrive.
"I came to see the new models," Meme said.
次日下午六時，有個人來拜訪菲蘭達，她聽出了他的聲音。這人年紀挺輕，臉色發黃，如果菲蘭達以前見過吉卜賽人，他那悒鬱的黑眼睛是不會叫她那麼吃驚的：任何一個心腸不硬的婦女，只要看見這人臉上那副恍惚的神情，都能理解梅梅的動機。客人穿着破舊的亞麻布衣服和皮鞋，爲了使皮鞋象個樣子，他在鞋上拼命塗了幾層鋅白，但是鋅白已經出現了裂紋；他手裏拿着上星州六買的一頂草帽。在他的一生中，他從來不象現在這麼畏縮，但他態度尊嚴，鎮定自若，這就使他沒有丟臉。在他身上可以感到一種天生的高尚氣度——只有一雙手骯裏骯髒，他幹粗活時已把指甲弄裂了。然而，菲蘭達一眼就猜到他是個機修工人。她看出，他穿的是一件星期日穿的衣服，他那襯衣下面的肉體染上了香蕉公司的皮疹。她不讓他開口，甚至不准他進門，過了片刻，她就不得不把門關上，因爲整座房子都是黃蝴蝶。
“走開，”她說。“規矩人家用不着你來串門。”
他叫毛裏西奧·巴比洛尼亞，出生在馬孔多，是香蕉公司汽車庫的徒工。梅梅是偶然跟他認識的，有一天下午，她和帕特衛西婭。 布勞恩去要汽車到種植園去，司機病了，毛裏西奧·巴比洛尼亞接受了開車的任務，梅梅終於達到了自己的願望——坐在司機身邊，看他怎樣開車。跟正式的司機不同，毛裏西奧。 巴比洛尼亞用實物向他作了一切解釋。這件事情發生的時候，梅梅剛開始到布勞恩先生家裏去作容，而且駕駛汽車被認爲是婦女不配乾的事情。因此，她滿足於理論上的解釋，好幾個月都沒跟毛裏西奧。 巴比洛尼亞重新見面，她隨後想起，在種植園裏乘車遊逛的時候，他那男性的美曾經引起她的注意（她不喜歡的只是他那雙粗糙的手）。而且後來她還向帕特里西婭·布勞恩提到，他那幾乎自高自大的態度給她留下了討厭的印象。另一個星期六，梅梅和父親去電影院，又看見了毛裏西奧·巴比洛尼亞，他仍然穿着那件亞麻布衣服，坐在離她和父親不遠的地方。姑娘發現，他不太注意電影，老是掉頭看她。這種粗俗的樣兒使梅梅感到厭惡。散場以後，毛裏西奧·巴比洛尼亞走來招呼奧雷連諾第二，這時梅梅才知道他倆彼此認識，因爲毛裏西奧。 巴比洛尼亞從前在奧雷連諾·特里斯特的小電站上工作，——他在她父親面前象下屬一般畢恭畢敬。這個發現消除了他的高傲在梅梅身上引起的惡感。她跟他沒有私會過，除了打打招呼，還沒聊過什麼。有一天夜裏她忽然做了個夢：他在船舶失事時救了她，可她沒有感激之情，只有憤怒。在夢中，彷彿她自己給了他期待的機會，而她渴望的卻是相反的情況，不僅要求毛裏西奧·巴比洛尼亞這樣，要求對她發生興趣的其他男人也是這樣。但是，她那麼氣憤，醒來之後卻沒恨他，反而感到非去見他不可。在一個星期中，她的焦渴越來越厲害，星期六就變得難以忍受了；隨後，當毛裏西奧·巴比洛尼亞在電影院裏招呼她的時候，她不得不作出極大的剋制，不讓他發現她的心快要跳出胸口。在高興和嗔怒摻在一起的心情下，她第一次伸手給他，他也第一次握着它。在某一瞬間，她懊悔自己的衝動，但她發覺他的手也汗溼、冰冷時，她的懊悔立即變成了極大的滿足。梅梅夜裏開始明白，如果不向毛裏西奧·巴比洛尼亞說明他的希望完全枉然，她就不會有一分鐘的寧靜；隨後整整一個星期，她都心急火燎，再也無法去想其它事人爲了促使帕特里西婭·布勞恩跟他一塊兒女要汽車，她使出了各種無用的花招。最後，利用一個紅髮美國人前來馬孔多度假的機會，並且藉口參觀新式汽車，她請這個美國人帶她去汽車庫。梅梅剛一看見毛裏西奧·巴比洛尼亞，就不再期騙自己，知道實際情況是她自己巴望跟他單獨呆在一起。她剛出現在門口，他就明白了一切；他的這種信心使得梅梅十分氣惱。
“我是來參觀新式汽車的，”梅侮說。
