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Chapter 19
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The cold hand squeezed harder. Molly felt for the door-frame behind her and held it tightly. “Why do you come here?” she whispered. “Why?”

“It’s all your fault! You spoiled everything. They laugh at me and lock me up. . .”

“And you still come here. Why?”

Suddenly he darted1 to the workbench and swept it clean. The elephant, the heads, the foot, hands, everything crashed to the floor and he jumped up and down on the pieces, sobbing2 incoherently, screaming sounds that were not words. Molly didn’t move. The rampage stopped as abruptly3 as it began. Mark looked down at the gray dust, the fragments that remained.

“I’ll tell you why you come back,” Molly said quietly. She still held the doorframe hard. “They punish you by locking you up in a small room, don’t they? And it doesn’t frighten you. In the small room you can hear yourself, can’t you? In your mind’s eye you see the clay, the stone you will shape. You see the form emerging, and it is almost as if you are simply freeing it, allowing it to come into being. That other self that speaks to you, it knows what the shape is in the clay. It tells you through your hands, in dreams, in images that no one but you can see. And they tell you this is sick, or bad, or disobedient. Don’t they?”

He was watching her now. “Don’t they?” she repeated. He nodded.

“Mark, they’ll never understand. They can’t hear that other self whispering, always whispering. They can’t see the pictures. They’ll never hear or get a glimpse of that other self. The brothers and sisters overwhelm it. The whisper becomes fainter, the images dimmer, until finally they are gone, the other self gives up. Perhaps it dies.” She paused and looked at him, then said softly, “You come here because you can find that self here, just as I could find my other self here. And that’s more important than anything they can give you, or take away from you.”

He looked down at the floor, at the shambles4 of the pieces he had made, and wiped his face with his arm. “Mother,” he said, and stopped.

Now Molly moved. Somehow she reached him before he could speak again and she held him tightly and he held her, and they both wept.

“I’m sorry I busted5 everything.”

“You’ll make more.”

“I wanted to show you.”

“I looked at them all. They were very good. The hands especially.”

“They were hard. The fingers were funny, but I couldn’t make them not funny.”

“Hands are the hardest of all.”

He finally pushed away from her slightly, and she let him go. He wiped his face again. “Are you going to hide here?”

“No. They’ll be back looking for me.”

“Why did you come here?”

“To keep a promise,” she said softly. “Do you remember our last walk up the hill, you wanted to climb to the top, and I said next time? Remember?”

“I’ve got some food we can take,” he said excitedly. “I hide it here so when I get hungry I’ll have something.”

“Good. We’ll use it. We’ll start as soon as it gets light enough to see.”

 

 

It was a beautiful day, with high thin clouds in the north, the rest of the sky unmarred, breathtakingly clear. Each hill, each mountain in the distance, was sharply outlined; no haze6 had formed yet, the breeze was gentle and warm. The silence was so complete that the woman and boy were both reluctant to break it with speech, and they walked quietly. When they paused to rest, she smiled at him and he grinned back and then lay with his hands under his head and stared at the sky.

“What’s in your big pack?” he asked as they climbed later. She had made a small pack for him to carry, and she still carried the laundry bag, now strapped7 to her back.

“You’ll see,” she said. “A surprise.”

And later he said, “It’s farther than it looked, isn’t it? Will we get there before dark?”

“Long before dark,” she said. “But it is far. Do you want to rest again?”

He nodded and they sat under a spruce tree. The spruces were coming down the mountains, she thought, recalling in detail old forestry8 maps of the region.

“Do you still read much?” she asked.

Mark shifted uneasily and looked at the sky, then at the trees, and finally grunted9 noncommittally.

“So did I,” she said. “The old house is full of books, isn’t it? They’re so brittle10, though, you have to be careful with them. After you went to sleep every night I sat up and read everything in the house.”

“Did you read the one about Indians?” he asked, and rolled over on his stomach and propped11 his head up in his cupped hands. “They knew how to do everything, make fires, make canoes, tents, everything.”

“And there’s one about how boys, a club or something, used to go camping and relearn all the Indian methods. It can still be done,” she said dreamily.

“And what you can eat in the woods, and stuff like that? I read that one.”

They walked, rested, talked about the books in the old house, talked about the things Mark planned to make, climbed some more, and late in the afternoon they came to the summit of the mountain and looked down over the entire valley, all the way to the Shenandoah River in the distance.

Molly found a spot that was level and sheltered, and Mark finally got to see the surprise she had prepared for him: blankets, some preserved food, fruits, meat, six pieces of cornbread, and corn to pop over the open fire. After they ate, they pushed spruce needles into mounds12 and Mark rolled up in his blanket and yawned.

“What’s that noise?” he asked after a moment.

“The trees,” Molly said softly. “The wind moves up there even when we can’t feel it down here, and the trees and wind tell each other secrets.”

Mark laughed and yawned again. “They’re talking about us,” he said. Molly smiled in the dark. “I can almost hear the words,” he said.

“We’re the first human beings they’ve seen in a long time,” she said. “They’re probably surprised that there are any more of us around.”

 

 

“I won’t go back either!” Mark shouted at her. They had eaten the last of the cornbread and dried apples, and the fire was out, the ground smoothed around it.

“Mark, listen to me. They will put me back in the breeders’ compound. Do you understand? I won’t be allowed out again. They will give me medicines that will keep me very quiet and I won’t know anything or anyone. That will be my life back there. But you? You have so much to learn. Read all the books in the old house, learn everything you can from them. And one day you might decide to leave, but not until you’re a man, Mark.”

“I’m staying with you.”

She shook her head. “Remember the voices of the trees? When you’re lonely, go into the woods and let the trees talk to you. Maybe you’ll hear my voice there too. I’ll never be far away, if you listen.”

“Where are you going?”

“Down the river, to the Shenandoah, to look for your father. They won’t bother me there.”

Tears stood in his eyes, but he didn’t shed them. He lifted his pack and put his arms through the harness. They started down the mountain again. Midway down they stopped. “You can see the valley from here,” Molly said. “I won’t go any farther with you.”

He didn’t look at her.

“Good-bye, Mark.”

“Will the trees talk to me if you’re not there?”

“Always. If you listen. The others are looking to the cities to save them, and the cities are dead and ruined. But the trees are alive, and when you need them, they’ll talk to you. I promise you that, Mark.”

Now he came to her and hugged her hard. “I love you,” he said. Then he turned and started down the hill, and she stood watching him until her tears blinded her and she could no longer see him.

She waited until he emerged from the woods and started across the cleared valley. Then she turned and walked south, toward the Shenandoah. All that night the trees whispered to her. When she awakened13, she knew the trees had accepted her; they didn’t stop their murmuring as they had always done in the past when she stirred about. Over and under and through their voices she could hear the voice of the river, still far off, and beyond it, she was certain she could hear Ben’s voice, growing stronger as she hurried toward him. She could smell the fresh water now; and the voices of the river and the trees and Ben’s voice blended as they called to her to hurry. She ran toward him joyously14. He caught her and together they floated down, down into the cool, sweet water.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 darted d83f9716cd75da6af48046d29f4dd248     
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔
参考例句:
  • The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了,瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 sobbing df75b14f92e64fc9e1d7eaf6dcfc083a     
<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。
3 abruptly iINyJ     
adv.突然地,出其不意地
参考例句:
  • He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
  • I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。
4 shambles LElzo     
n.混乱之处;废墟
参考例句:
  • My room is a shambles.我房间里乱七八糟。
  • The fighting reduced the city to a shambles.这场战斗使这座城市成了一片废墟。
5 busted busted     
adj. 破产了的,失败了的,被降级的,被逮捕的,被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了!
  • It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。
6 haze O5wyb     
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊
参考例句:
  • I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中,我看不见她。
  • He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。
7 strapped ec484d13545e19c0939d46e2d1eb24bc     
adj.用皮带捆住的,用皮带装饰的;身无分文的;缺钱;手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词);用皮带抽打;包扎;给…打绷带
参考例句:
  • Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 forestry 8iBxk     
n.森林学;林业
参考例句:
  • At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
  • Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。
9 grunted f18a3a8ced1d857427f2252db2abbeaf     
(猪等)作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 ); (指人)发出类似的哼声; 咕哝着说
参考例句:
  • She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声,继续看书,不屑抬起头来看一眼。
  • She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。
10 brittle IWizN     
adj.易碎的;脆弱的;冷淡的;(声音)尖利的
参考例句:
  • The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
  • She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。
11 propped 557c00b5b2517b407d1d2ef6ba321b0e     
支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
  • This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。
12 mounds dd943890a7780b264a2a6c1fa8d084a3     
土堆,土丘( mound的名词复数 ); 一大堆
参考例句:
  • We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
  • Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊,这就是同墓,”——我想他要说的一定是公墓,“看到那些土墩了吗?
13 awakened de71059d0b3cd8a1de21151c9166f9f0     
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到
参考例句:
  • She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
  • The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 joyously 1p4zu0     
ad.快乐地, 高兴地
参考例句:
  • She opened the door for me and threw herself in my arms, screaming joyously and demanding that we decorate the tree immediately. 她打开门,直扑我的怀抱,欣喜地喊叫着要马上装饰圣诞树。
  • They came running, crying out joyously in trilling girlish voices. 她们边跑边喊,那少女的颤音好不欢快。 来自名作英译部分


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