棒棒糖生日蜡烛(中英双语小说连载全球销量超1200万册的现象级小说沼泽深处的女孩)

Posted 2023-05-30

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棒棒糖生日蜡烛(中英双语小说连载全球销量超1200万册的现象级小说沼泽深处的女孩)

Croker Sacks Full 满满的麻袋

1956

In the winter of 1956, when Kya was ten, Pa came hobbling to the shack less and less often. Weeks passed with no whiskey bottle on the floor, no body sprawled on the bed, no Monday money. She kept expecting to see him limping through the trees, toting his poke. One full moon, then another had passed since she'd seen him.

一九五六年冬天，基娅十岁，爸爸一瘸一拐回棚屋的次数越来越少。连续好几周，地板上没有威士忌瓶子，床上没有蜷曲的身体，周一也没有钱。她一直在等，希望看见他穿过树林蹒跚走来，拄着棍子。然而，到了第二次满月，他还是没有出现。

Sycamore and hickories stretched naked limbs against a dull sky, and the relentless wind sucked any joy the winter sun might have spread across the bleakness. A useless, drying wind in a sea-land that couldn't dry.

美国梧桐和山核桃树向单调的天空伸出光秃秃的枝丫。风吹个不停，吸走了冬日暖阳为这萧索的景象带来的稀薄欢愉。干燥的风徒劳地吹着一片不可能干涸的海陆交界之地。

Sitting on the front steps, she thought about it. A poker-game fight could have ended with him beat up and dumped in the swamp on a cold, rainy night. Or maybe he just got fall-down drunk, wandered off into the woods, and fell face-first in the backwater bog.

基娅坐在门前的台阶上想着爸爸的事。他可能因为打牌起纠纷被打了，然后在冰冷的雨夜被扔在沼泽里。也可能他又喝得醉醺醺的，在林子里乱逛，一头栽进了死水区的泥塘里。

“I guess he's gone for good.”

“我猜他永远不会回来了。”

She bit her lips until her mouth turned white. It wasn't like the pain when Ma left—in fact, she struggled to mourn him at all. But being completely alone was a feeling so vast it echoed, and the authorities were sure to find out and take her away. She'd have to pretend, even to Jumpin', that Pa was still around.

她把嘴唇咬得发白。这和妈妈离开时的痛苦不一样——事实上，她需要努力让自己为他的离开感到悲伤。但完全孤身一人的感觉是如此空阔，甚至听得到回声。政府必然会发现，然后把她带走。她必须假装爸爸还在，甚至对老跳也要保密。

And there would be no Monday money. She'd stretched the last few dollars for weeks, surviving on grits, boiled mussels, and the occasional remnant egg from the rangy hens. The only remaining supplies were a few matches, a nubbin of soap, and a handful of grits. A fistful of Blue Tips wouldn't make a winter. Without them she couldn't boil the grits, which she fixed for herself, the gulls, and the chickens.

往后的周一也不会有钱了。最后剩的几美元还能撑几周，靠粗玉米粉、煮贻贝和瘦母鸡偶尔留下的蛋过日子。家里只剩下少量火柴、一小块肥皂和一些粗玉米粉。这点火柴不够过冬。没了火柴，她没法煮粗玉米粉——这是她自己、海鸥和鸡的主食。

“I don't know how to do life without grits.”

“我不知道没有粗玉米粉怎么活下去。”

At least, she thought, wherever Pa had disappeared to this time, he had gone on foot. Kya had the boat.

至少，她想，无论爸爸去了哪里，他是走着去的。她有船了。

Of course, she'd have to find another way to get food, but for right now she pushed the thought to a far corner of her mind. After a supper of boiled mussels, which she had learned to smash into a paste and spread on soda crackers, she thumbed through Ma's beloved books, play-reading the fairy tales. Even at ten she still couldn't read.

当然，她必须找到另一个获得食物的方法，但现在，她把这个问题放到了一边。晚饭吃了煮贻贝后——她已经学会把贻贝打成膏状，涂到苏打饼干上——基娅翻着妈妈珍爱的书，假装读童话故事。十岁了，她还是不认字。

Then the kerosene light flickered, faded, and died. One minute there was a soft circle of a world, and then darkness. She made an oh sound. Pa had always bought the kerosene and filled the lamp, so she hadn't thought much about it. Until it was dark.

突然，煤油灯闪了闪，接着变暗、熄灭了。有那么一分钟，浮现出一个温柔的小世界，然后是完全的黑暗。她“啊”了一声。一直都是爸爸买煤油装灯，她没想过这事，直到它燃尽。

She sat for a few seconds, trying to squeeze light from the leftovers, but there was almost nothing. Then the rounded hump of the Frigidaire and the window frame began to take shape in the dimness, so she touched her fingers along the countertop until she found a candle stub. Lighting it would take a match and there were only five left. But darkness was a right-now thing.

她坐了几秒钟，想从残留的煤油中挤出一点光来，但几乎不剩什么了。冰箱的圆形凸起和窗框渐渐在昏暗中显出形状。她在工作台上摸索，找到了一个蜡烛根。点亮蜡烛需要一根火柴，而火柴只剩下五根。但黑暗迫在眉睫。

Swish. She struck the match, lit the candle, and the blackness retreated to the corners. But she'd seen enough of it to know she had to have light, and kerosene cost money. She opened her mouth in a shallow pant. “Maybe I oughta walk to town and turn myself in to the authorities. At least they'd give me food and send me to school.”

唰。她擦燃火柴，点起蜡烛，黑暗退回角落。她很清楚自己需要灯，但煤油要花钱买。她轻叹了一声。“或许我应该走去镇上，把自己交给政府。至少他们会给我食物，把我送去学校。”

But after thinking a minute she said, “No, I cain't leave the gulls, the heron, the shack. The marsh is all the family I got.”

考虑了一分钟，她说：“不行，我不能离开海鸥、苍鹭和棚屋。湿地是我唯一的家人。”

Sitting in the last of the candlelight, she had an idea.

坐在最后的烛光中，她想到了一个主意。

Earlier than usual, she got up the next morning when the tide was low, pulled on her overalls, and slipped out with a bucket, claw knife, and empty tow bags. Squatting in mud, she collected mussels along the sloughs like Ma had taught her, and in four hours of crouching and kneeling had two croker sacks full.

第二天一早，她起得比平时早，此时潮水还很低。她穿上工装裤，拿着桶、钳刀和两个空麻袋溜了出去。她蹲在泥里，沿着泥沼收集贻贝，像妈妈教过的那样。弯腰、跪坐四小时换来了满满两麻袋贻贝。

The slow sun pulled from the sea as she motored through dense fog up to Jumpin's Gas and Bait. He stood as she neared.

她开船穿过浓厚的雾到老跳那儿时，太阳正慢吞吞地从海里升起。看到她靠近，老跳站了起来。

“Hello, Miss Kya, ya wantin' some gas?”

“你好，基娅小姐，要加油吗？”

She tucked her head. Hadn't spoken a word to anyone since her last trip to the Piggly Wiggly, and her speech was slipping some. “Maybe gas. But that depends. I hear tell you buy mussels, and I got some here. Can you pay me cash money and some gas throwed in?” She pointed to the bags.

她低下头。自从上次去超市后，她还没跟任何人说过话，有点结巴。“或许加一点。不过得看情况。听说你收贻贝，我这儿有一些。你能付我现金，然后给船加一点油吗？”她指了指麻袋。

“Yessiree, you sho' do. They fresh?”

“是的，没问题。这些新鲜吗？”

“I dug 'em 'fore dawn. Just now.”

“我天亮前挖的。就刚刚。”

“Well, then. I can give ya fifty cent for one bag, a full tank for the other.”

“那好。一袋给你五十五分，另一袋给你一罐汽油。”

Kya smiled slightly. Real money she made herself. “Thank ya” was all she said.

基娅笑了。这是她自己挣的钱。她只说了句“谢谢你”。

As Jumpin' filled the tank, Kya walked into his tiny store there on the wharf. She'd never paid it much mind because she shopped at the Piggly, but now she saw that besides bait and tobacco, he sold matches, lard, soap, sardines, Vienna sausages, grits, soda crackers, toilet paper, and kerosene. About everything she needed in the world was right here. Lined up on the counter were five one-gallon jars filled with penny candy—Red Hots, jawbreakers, and Sugar Daddys. It seemed like more candy than would be in the world.

老跳加油时，基娅走进他码头上的小店里。她还从没认真看过这家店，因为之前都是去小猪扭扭买杂货。现在她发现，除了饵料和烟草，这儿也卖火柴、猪油、肥皂、沙丁鱼、维也纳香肠、玉米粉、苏打饼、厕纸和煤油。她在世上所需的一切东西这儿都有。柜台上一溜放了五个一加仑广口瓶，里面装满了便士糖——红色硬糖、糖球和棒棒糖。感觉比全世界的糖加起来还要多。

With the mussel money she bought matches, a candle, and grits. Kerosene and soap would have to wait for another croker full. It took all her might not to buy a Sugar Daddy instead of the candle.

她用卖贻贝挣的钱买了火柴、蜡烛和粗玉米粉。柴油和肥皂得等下一个装满的麻袋。她用所有毅力控制住自己不买棒棒糖，买蜡烛。

“How many bags you buy a week?” she asked.

“你一周买几袋？”她问。

“Well now, we striking up a bidness deal?” he asked as he laughed in his particular way—mouth closed, head thrown back. “I buy 'bout forty pounds ever' two-three days. But mind, others bring 'em in, too. If ya bring 'em in, and I already got some, well, you'd be out. It's first come, first serve. No other way of doing it.”

“我们是在谈一笔生意吗？”他问，露出招牌笑容——嘴巴抿紧，头向后仰，“每两三天买大概四十磅。提醒你一下，别人也会过来卖。如果你来的时候我已经收够了，那你就出局了。先到先得。没有别的办法。”

“Okay. Thank you, that'd be fine. Bye, Jumpin'.” Then she added, “Oh, by the way, my pa sends his regards to ya.”

“好的，谢谢，这样很好。再见，老跳，”然后她又补充道，“对了，我爸爸向你问好。”

“That so, well then. Ya do the same from me, if ya please. Bye yourself, Miss Kya.” He smiled big as she motored away. She almost smiled herself. Buying her own gas and groceries surely made her a grown-up. Later, at the shack when she unpacked the tiny pile of supplies, she saw a yellow-and-red surprise at the bottom of the bag. Not too grown-up for a Sugar Daddy Jumpin' had dropped inside.

“那就这样。也麻烦向你爸爸问好。再见，基娅小姐。”她开船离开时，老跳冲她咧嘴而笑。基娅暗自发笑。给自己买汽油和杂货，这确实让她成熟了一些。后来，在棚屋里，她打开买来的那一小堆东西，看到了袋子底下黄红相间的惊喜——她还没成熟到能抵挡住一颗棒棒糖，那是老跳放的。

To stay ahead of the other pickers, Kya slipped down to the marsh by candle or moon—her shadow wavering around on the glistening sand—and gathered mussels deep in the night. She added oysters to her catch and sometimes slept near gullies under the stars to get to Jumpin's by first light. The mussel money turned out to be more reliable than the Monday money ever had, and she usually managed to beat out other pickers.

为了比其他人都早，基娅总是就着蜡烛或月光下湿地——她的影子在亮晶晶的沙地上摇晃——深夜采集贻贝。她把牡蛎也加入采集名单。有时候她就睡在星光下的水沟旁，这样天一亮她就能赶到老跳那儿。卖贻贝挣的钱比周一的例钱可靠多了，而且她通常比其他采集者到得早。

She stopped going to the Piggly, where Mrs. Singletary always asked why she wasn't in school. Sooner or later they'd grab her, drag her in. She got by with her supplies from Jumpin's and had more mussels than she could eat. They weren't that bad tossed into the grits, mashed up beyond recognition. They didn't have eyes to look at her like the fish did.

她不再去杂货店了，因为辛格尔特里夫人总是问她为什么不去学校。他们迟早会抓住她，把她拖进学校。她在老跳店里买补给，还有吃不完的贻贝。把它们捣烂到认不出来，再混进玉米粉，就没那么可怕了。它们不像鱼，会拿眼睛瞪她。

棒棒糖生日蜡烛(中英双语小说连载 全球销量超1200万册的现象级小说 沼泽深处的女孩)

棒棒糖生日蜡烛(中英双语小说连载 全球销量超1200万册的现象级小说 沼泽深处的女孩)

棒棒糖生日蜡烛(中英双语小说连载全球销量超1200万册的现象级小说沼泽深处的女孩)

棒棒糖生日蜡烛(中英双语小说连载全球销量超1200万册的现象级小说沼泽深处的女孩)