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Chapter 43
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    Sethe looked at Beloved's face and smiled.

  Quietly, carefully she stepped around her to wake the fire. First a bit of paper, then a little kindlin— not too much — just a taste until it was strong enough for more. She fed its dance until it waswild and fast. When she went outside to collect more wood from the shed, she did not notice theman's frozen footprints. She crunched1 around to the back, to the cord piled high with snow. Afterscraping it clean, she filled her arms with as much dry wood as she could. She even looked straightat the shed, smiling, smiling at the things she would not have to remember now. Thinking, "Sheain't even mad with me. Not a bit."Obviously the hand-holding shadows she had seen on the road were not Paul D, Denver andherself, but "us three." The three holding on to each other skating the night before; the threesipping flavored milk. And since that was so — if her daughter could come back home from thetimeless place — certainly her sons could, and would, come back from wherever they had gone to.

  Sethe covered her front teeth with her tongue against the cold. Hunched2 forward by the burden inher arms, she walked back around the house to the porch — not once noticing the frozen tracks she stepped in.

  Inside, the girls were still sleeping, although they had changed positions while she was gone, bothdrawn to the fire. Dumping the armload into the woodbox made them stir but not wake. Sethestarted the cooking stove as quietly as she could, reluctant to wake the sisters, happy to have themasleep at her feet while she made breakfast. Too bad she would be late for work — -too, too bad.

  Once in sixteen years? That's just too bad.

  She had beaten two eggs into yesterday's hominy, formed it into patties and fried them with someham pieces before Denver woke completely and groaned4.

  "Back stiff?""Ooh yeah.""Sleeping on the floor's supposed to be good for you.""Hurts like the devil," said Denver.

  "Could be that fall you took."Denver smiled. "That was fun." She turned to look down at Beloved snoring lightly. "Should Iwake her?""No, let her rest.""She likes to see you off in the morning."I'll make sure she does," said Sethe, and thought, Be nice to think first, before I talk to her, let herknow I know. Think about all I ain't got to remember no more. Do like Baby said: Think on it thenlay it down — for good. Paul D convinced me there was a world out there and that I could live init. Should have known better. Did know better. Whatever is going on outside my door ain't for me.

  The world is in this room. This here's all there is and all there needs to be.

  They ate like men, ravenous5 and intent. Saying little, content with the company of the other andthe opportunity to look in her eyes. When Sethe wrapped her head and bundled up to go to town, itwas already midmorning. And when she left the house she neither saw the prints nor heard thevoices that ringed 124 like a noose6. Trudging7 in the ruts left earlier by wheels, Sethe was excited togiddiness by the things she no longer had to remember.

  I don't have to remember nothing. I don't even have to explain. She understands it all. I can forgethow Baby Suggs' heart collapsed8; how we agreed it was consumption without a sign of it in theworld. Her eyes when she brought my food, I can forget that, and how she told me that Howardand Buglar were all right but wouldn't let go each other's hands. Played that way: stayed that way especially in their sleep. She handed me the food from a basket; things wrapped small enough toget through the bars, whispering news: Mr. Bodwin going to see the judge — in chambers9, shekept on saying, in chambers, like I knew what it meant or she did. The Colored Ladies ofDelaware, Ohio, had drawn3 up a petition to keep me from being hanged. That two white preachershad come round and wanted to talk to me, pray for me. That a newspaperman came too. She toldme the news and I told her I needed something for the rats. She wanted Denver out and slapped herpalms when I wouldn't let her go. "Where your earrings10?" she said. I'll hold em for you." I told herthe jailer took them, to protect me from myself. He thought I could do some harm with the wire.

  Baby Suggs covered her mouth with her hand. "Schoolteacher left town," she said. "Filed a claimand rode on off. They going to let you out for the burial," she said, "not the funeral, just the burial,"and they did. The sheriff came with me and looked away when I fed Denver in the wagon11. NeitherHoward nor Buglar would let me near them, not even to touch their hair. I believe a lot of folkswere there, but I just saw the box. Reverend Pike spoke12 in a real loud voice, but I didn't catch aword — -except the first two, and three months later when Denver was ready for solid food andthey let me out for good, I went and got you a gravestone, but I didn't have money enough for thecarving so I exchanged (bartered, you might say) what I did have and I'm sorry to this day I neverthought to ask him for the whole thing: all I heard of what Reverend Pike said. Dearly Beloved,which is what you are to me and I don't have to be sorry about getting only one word, and I don'thave to remember the slaughterhouse and the Saturday girls who worked its yard. I can forget thatwhat I did changed Baby Suggs' life. No Clearing, no company. Just laundry and shoes. I canforget it all now because as soon as I got the gravestone in place you made your presence known inthe house and worried us all to distraction13. I didn't understand it then. I thought you were mad withme. And now I know that if you was, you ain't now because you came back here to me and I wasright all along: there is no world outside my door. I only need to know one thing. How bad is thescar?


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 crunched adc2876f632a087c0c8d7d68ab7543dc     
v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 );嘎吱作响;(快速大量地)处理信息;数字捣弄
参考例句:
  • Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头,使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命
2 hunched 532924f1646c4c5850b7c607069be416     
(常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦)耸肩弓身的,伏首前倾的
参考例句:
  • He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。
  • Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。
3 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
4 groaned 1a076da0ddbd778a674301b2b29dff71     
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦
参考例句:
  • He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
  • The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 ravenous IAzz8     
adj.极饿的,贪婪的
参考例句:
  • The ravenous children ate everything on the table.饿极了的孩子把桌上所有东西吃掉了。
  • Most infants have a ravenous appetite.大多数婴儿胃口极好。
6 noose 65Zzd     
n.绳套,绞索(刑);v.用套索捉;使落入圈套;处以绞刑
参考例句:
  • They tied a noose round her neck.他们在她脖子上系了一个活扣。
  • A hangman's noose had already been placed around his neck.一个绞刑的绳圈已经套在他的脖子上。
7 trudging f66543befe0044651f745d00cf696010     
vt.& vi.跋涉,吃力地走(trudge的现在分词形式)
参考例句:
  • There was a stream of refugees trudging up the valley towards the border. 一队难民步履艰难地爬上山谷向着边境走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Two mules well laden with packs were trudging along. 两头骡子驮着沉重的背包,吃力地往前走。 来自辞典例句
8 collapsed cwWzSG     
adj.倒塌的
参考例句:
  • Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
  • The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。
9 chambers c053984cd45eab1984d2c4776373c4fe     
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅
参考例句:
  • The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间:Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网
10 earrings 9ukzSs     
n.耳环( earring的名词复数 );耳坠子
参考例句:
  • a pair of earrings 一对耳环
  • These earrings snap on with special fastener. 这付耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 wagon XhUwP     
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
参考例句:
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
12 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
13 distraction muOz3l     
n.精神涣散,精神不集中,消遣,娱乐
参考例句:
  • Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注,不能有丝毫分神。
  • Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。


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