CHAPTER XXI DEATH BELLS

 “Madge?” Mimi said, putting her arm around her. She was wide awake now. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”

 

“I—know—it but I can’t stop. Every time I close my eyes I hear them—thump¹—thump—thump. Oh Mimi it’s awful! You don’t know unless you’ve heard them.”

 

“What’s up?” Betsy whispered. She scrawled² over Jill and poked³ her head between theirs. “Am I missing something?”

 

“Sh—sh—” Mimi said to Betsy, but she had her arm around Madge, patting her shoulder. “Madge—er, Madge doesn’t feel well.”

 

“Sumpthin’ she et?” Betsy asked with small boy impudence⁴.

 

“I wouldn’t make fun of you! I’d b-b—be ashamed!”

 

She was sobbing⁵ in earnest now.

 

“I’m sorry, Madge. I was just joking. If there’s really something the matter I want to help.”

 

“I wish you’d go back to sleep. I was about to tell Mimi something. I won’t tell you, because you’d laugh.”

 

There was a thin crescent moon tonight; the stars were shedding more light than it. The dim light made the figures of the tired girls look like discarded rag dolls that had been thrown helter-skelter on the junk pile. Arms and legs tangled⁶. A patchwork⁷ of pajamas⁸.

 

Mimi took it all in at one glance. The pale moon seemed to be casting a ghostly spotlight⁹ on Madge. She was pale as the young moon and her eyes were unnaturally¹⁰ bright. Mimi wondered why Madge had to be so different from those healthy, sound sleepers¹¹; why she was so tortured with her strange superstition¹²? Mimi had never heard of anything like it before. She wouldn’t hear now unless Madge volunteered. She wouldn’t ask or beg her to tell. Death bells? The very name made goose bumps up her spine¹³.

 

“Please, don’t you all think I’m queer, but it runs in my family. My grandmother always heard them when someone in our family died—I heard them when she died!”

 

Suddenly Madge put her hands to her ears and buried her head in Mimi’s lap.

 

“This doesn’t make sense to me,” Betsy said.

 

“To me either. But maybe it will.”

 

They were whispering over Madge.

 

Mimi felt Madge’s body grow rigid¹⁴; heard her voice, hoarse¹⁵ and half choked.

 

“Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty——”

 

“If she thinks she hears a bell ringing, she’s goofy,” Betsy whispered. She tapped her forehead as she finished and made a spinning gesture with her hands.

 

Madge sat up as suddenly as she had flopped¹⁶ down. She clutched Mimi’s wrist on one side and Betsy’s on the other.

 

“They’ve stopped!” she announced dramatically, but in the same breath added piteously, “but they’ll come back. They always do. Once they start, I always hear them—until somebody dies.”

 

Betsy was dumbfounded. Mimi was speechless.

 

“What do they sound like?” Betsy asked, moving closer to Madge. She wriggled¹⁷ around in front of her and the disturbed look on Madge’s face convinced her that whatever death bells were, Madge believed in them heart and soul.

 

“They don’t ring. I don’t know why they’re called bells at all unless they started calling them that way back when people used to toll¹⁸ the bell on the tower of the church when someone died. They’re mournful like that but more like a dull thud. When I first used to hear them, before Granny and Mama told me what they were, I thought someone was under the floor thumping¹⁹ with the end of a broomstick or tapping with a hammer which had a piece of cloth tied over the hammer head. They go thump, thump, thump, just as regular as that.”

 

Neither Mimi nor Betsy could utter a word by now. Mimi felt that if she moved as much as an inch things would crack and pop or icy hands would seize her from behind. She tried to tell herself this was tommyrot, but look at Madge. She was holding her head and counting again.

 

“Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three——”

 

Then for a terrible minute there was silence; Mimi’s heart was thumping loud enough to be mistaken for death bells.

 

“I’ll never forget the first time I heard them. We were at Granny’s because Grandpa was sick. Mother and I were sleeping upstairs in the room Mother had when she was a girl. We were so tired I couldn’t go to sleep. I tried counting sheep but it didn’t help. Soon I heard this dull tapping, so I began to count just for something to do. After I counted seventy-nine, they ceased. Not another one sounded. Next morning Grandpa was dead and he was seventy-nine years old!”

 

“Two years ago at school, I had a headache, so I leaned my head over on my desk. I had no more than settled down when a thump-thump-thumping began. I shook my head but I could still hear it. They were the clearest I ever heard. Sounded like someone was tapping on your desk with a ruler. I counted forty-three. That afternoon we had a telegram that my uncle had been killed in an automobile²⁰ wreck²¹ and he was forty-three years old.”

 

“Don’t ever count fourteen!” Mimi giggled²². She was so scared she was getting silly. Ridiculous, all of it, she kept telling herself, but every time she said ridiculous she believed Madge’s story truer and truer.

 

“I’d be afraid to make fun of it,” Betsy said so seriously Mimi knew she believed Madge, too.

 

“I used to not hear them for anyone but my family, but I get more and more of them all the time. In the last year I have counted them three different times and the next day found in the paper that a person as old as I had counted, was dead. Gee²³! My head aches.”

 

Mimi’s common sense was returning by degrees.

 

“I’ll get you an aspirin²⁴ and then we’ll go to sleep.”

 

She hoped she would. Right now she was more wide awake than ever she had been since the wild cat screamed at camp.

 

It took a great deal of nerve for her to tiptoe across the tin roof, climb in the window, and feel her way across the sitting room to the bathroom. She did not dare turn on a light until she reached the bathroom. Click! The light was on and, in some miraculous²⁵ way, fear fled with the darkness. Mimi was almost herself when she reappeared on the roof, aspirin in one hand and a glass of water in the other.

 

Madge’s head was in Betsy’s lap. She was stroking her forehead with her finger tips.

 

“She counted to twenty-nine while you were gone.”

 

Betsy was weak with fright.

 

Mimi lifted Madge’s weary head and gave her the aspirin.

 

“Now we’re going to sleep. Betsy, get over there where you belong. Now Madge, honey, close your eyes and rest.”

 

Mimi began humming softly as Mammy Cissy would. Poor little Madge! Thank goodness Mother Dear never let her believe a lot of old wives’ tales. Madge was relaxing.

 

Finally all on the roof but Mimi were quiet. She could not get comfortable. She could not turn to cuddle down for fear of waking Madge who had dozed²⁶ off against her. Mimi began to cramp²⁷ from being so long in such an uncomfortable position. She sat up to ease Madge over. There was a queer light now.

 

Had the party lasted all night?

 

The town clock answered. It boomed out two o’clock. No, it wasn’t dawn. What could the light be?

 

Standing²⁸ up slowly, Mimi tiptoed to the edge of the porch roof. The tin roof crackled under her bare feet but she went on toward the increasing brightness. Climbing on the rail and leaning over, she saw.

 

The kitchen roof was on fire!

1 thump   

v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声

参考例句：

• The thief hit him a thump on the head.贼在他的头上重击一下。
• The excitement made her heart thump.她兴奋得心怦怦地跳。

2 scrawled   

乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I tried to read his directions, scrawled on a piece of paper. 我尽量弄明白他草草写在一片纸上的指示。
• Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it -- I got more." 汤姆在他的写字板上写了几个字：“请你收下吧，我多得是哩。”

3 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 impudence   

n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼

参考例句：

• His impudence provoked her into slapping his face.他的粗暴让她气愤地给了他一耳光。
• What knocks me is his impudence.他的厚颜无耻使我感到吃惊。

5 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

6 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

7 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

8 pajamas   

n.睡衣裤

参考例句：

• At bedtime,I take off my clothes and put on my pajamas.睡觉时，我脱去衣服，换上睡衣。
• He was wearing striped pajamas.他穿着带条纹的睡衣裤。

9 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

10 unnaturally   

adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地

参考例句：

• Her voice sounded unnaturally loud. 她的嗓音很响亮，但是有点反常。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her eyes were unnaturally bright. 她的眼睛亮得不自然。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 sleepers   

n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环

参考例句：

• He trod quietly so as not to disturb the sleepers. 他轻移脚步，以免吵醒睡着的人。 来自辞典例句
• The nurse was out, and we two sleepers were alone. 保姆出去了，只剩下我们两个瞌睡虫。 来自辞典例句

12 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

13 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

14 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

15 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

16 flopped   

v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽，一屁股坐到椅子上。
• It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地，出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 wriggled   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）

参考例句：

• He wriggled uncomfortably on the chair. 他坐在椅子上不舒服地扭动着身体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A snake wriggled across the road. 一条蛇蜿蜒爬过道路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

19 thumping   

adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持

参考例句：

• Her heart was thumping with emotion. 她激动得心怦怦直跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was thumping the keys of the piano. 他用力弹钢琴。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

21 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

22 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

24 aspirin   

n.阿司匹林

参考例句：

• The aspirin seems to quiet the headache.阿司匹林似乎使头痛减轻了。
• She went into a chemist's and bought some aspirin.她进了一家药店，买了些阿司匹林。

25 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

26 dozed   

v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He boozed till daylight and dozed into the afternoon. 他喝了个通霄，昏沉沉地一直睡到下午。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• I dozed off during the soporific music. 我听到这催人入睡的音乐，便不知不觉打起盹儿来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 cramp   

n.痉挛；[pl.](腹)绞痛；vt.限制，束缚

参考例句：

• Winston stopped writing,partly because he was suffering from cramp.温斯顿驻了笔，手指也写麻了。
• The swimmer was seized with a cramp and had to be helped out of the water.那个在游泳的人突然抽起筋来，让别人帮着上了岸。

28 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。