世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第10章Part 8

The news that Remedios Buendía was going to be the sovereign ruler of the festival went beyond the limits of the swamp in a few hours, reached distant places where the prestige of her beauty was not known, and it aroused the anxiety of those who still thought of her last name as a symbol of subversion. The anxiety was baseless. If anyone had become harmless at that time it was the aging and disillusioned Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía, who was slowly losing all contact with the reality of the nation. Enclosed in his workshop, his only relationship with the rest of the world was his business in little gold fishes. One of the soldiers who had guarded his house during the first days of peace would go sell them in the villages of the swamp and return loaded down with coins and news. That the Conservative government, he would say, with the backing of the Liberals, was reforming the calendar so that every president could remain in power for a hundred years. That the concordat with the Holy See had finally been signed and a cardinal had come from Rome with a crown of diamonds and a throne of solid gold, and that the Liberal ministers had had their pictures taken on their knees in the act of kissing his ring. That the leading lady of a Spanish company passing through the capital had been kidnapped by a band of masked highwaymen and on the following Sunday she had danced in the nude at the summer house of the president of the republic. "Don't talk to me about politics," the colonel would tell him. "Our business is selling little fishes." The rumor that he did not want to hear anything about the situation in the country because he was growing rich in his workshop made úrsula laugh when it reached her ears. With her terrible practical sense she could not understand the colonel's business as he exchanged little fishes for gold coins and then converted the coins into little fishes, and so on, with the result that he had to work all the harder with the more he sold in order to satisfy an exasperating vicious circle. Actually, what interested him was not the business but the work. He needed so much concentration to link scales, fit minute rubies into the eyes, laminate gills, and put on fins that there was not the smallest empty moment left for him to fill with his disillusionment of the war. So absorbing was the attention required by the delicacy of his artistry that in a short time he had aged more than during all the years of the war, and his position had twisted his spine and the close work had used up his eyesight, but the implacable concentration awarded him with a peace of the spirit. The last time he was seen to take an interest in some matter related to the war was when a group of veterans from both parties sought his support for the approval of lifetime pensions, which had always been promised and were always about to be put into effect. "Forget about it," he told them. "You can see how I refuse my pension in order to get rid of the torture of waiting for it until the day I died." At first Colonel Geri-neldo Márquez would visit him at dusk and they would both sit in the street door and talk about the past. But Amaranta could not bear the memories that that man, whose baldness had plunged him into the abyss of premature old age, aroused in her, and she would torment him with snide remarks until he did not come back except on special occasions and he finally disappeared, extinguished by paralysis. Taciturn, silent, insensible to the new breath of vitality that was shaking the house, Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía could understand only that the secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude. He would get up at five in the morning after a light sleep, have his eternal mug of bitter coffee in the kitchen, shut himself up all day in the workshop, and at four in the afternoon he would go along the porch dragging a stool, not even noticing the fire of the rose bushes or the brightness of the hour or the persistence of Amaranta, whose melancholy made the noise of a boiling pot, which was perfectly perceptible at dusk, and he would sit in the street door as long as the mosquitoes would allow him to. Someone dared to disturb his solitude once.
"How are you, Colonel?" he asked in passing.
"Right here," he answered. "Waiting for my funeral procession to pass."
So that the anxiety caused by the public reappearance of his family name, having to do with the coronation of Remedios the Beauty, was baseless. Many people did not think that way, however. Innocent of the tragedy that threatened it, the town poured into the main square in a noisy explosion of merriment. The carnival had reached its highest level of madness and Aureli-ano Segun-do had satisfied at last his dream of dressing up like a tiger and was walking along the wild throng, hoarse from so much roaring, when on the swamp road a parade of several people appeared carrying in a gilded litter the most fascinating woman that imagination could conceive. For a moment the inhabitants of Ma-condo took off their masks in order to get a better look at the dazzling creature with a crown of emeralds and an ermine cape, who seemed invested with legitimate authority, and was not merely a sovereign of bangles and crepe paper. There were many people who had sufficient insight to suspect that it was a question of provocation. But Aureli-ano Segun-do immediately conquered his perplexity and declared the new arrivals to be guests of honor, and with the wisdom of Solomon he seated Remedios the Beauty and the intruding queen on the same dais. Until midnight the strangers, disguised as bedouins, took part in the delirium and even enriched it with sumptuous fireworks and acrobatic skills that made one think of the art of the gypsies. Suddenly, during the paroxysm of the celebration, someone broke the delicate balance.
"Long live the Liberal party!" he shouted. "Long live Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía!"
The rifle shots drowned out the splendor of the fireworks and the cries of terror drowned out the music and joy turned into panic. Many years later there were those who still insisted that the royal guard of the intruding queen was a squad of regular army soldiers who were concealing government-issue rifles under their rich Moorish robes. The government denied the charge in a special proclamation and promised a complete investigation of the bloody episode. But the truth never came to light, and the version always prevailed that the royal guard, without provocation of any kind, took up combat positions upon a signal from their commander and opened fire without pity on the crowd. When calm was restored, not one of the false bedouins remained in town and there were many dead and wounded lying on the square: nine clowns, four Columbines, seventeen playing-card kings, one devil, three minstrels, two peers of France, and three Japanese empresses. In the confusion of the panic José Arcadio Segun-do managed to rescue Remedios the Beauty and Aureli-ano Segun-do carried the intruding queen to the house in his arms, her dress torn and the ermine cape stained with blood. Her name was Fernanda del Carpio. She had been chosen as the most beautiful of the five thousand most beautiful women in the land and they had brought her to Macon-do with the promise of naming her Queen of Madagascar. úrsula took care of her as if she were her own daughter. The town, instead of doubting her innocence, pitied her candor. Six months after the massacre, when the wounded had recovered and the last flowers on the mass grave had withered, Aureli-ano Segun-do went to fetch her from the distant city where she lived with her father and he married her in Macon-do with a noisy celebration that lasted twenty days.

俏姑娘雷麥黛絲將要成爲節日女工的消息，幾小時就傳遍了沼澤地帶，傳到了還不知道這個姑娘超凡之美的遙遠地區，使得那些認爲布恩蒂亞家族仍然是叛亂象徵的人惴惴不安。他們的不安是沒有根據的。如果這時誰可以叫做良民，那就是這個衰老、絕望的奧雷連諾上校，他逐漸失去了跟現實生活的聯繫。他把自己關在作坊裏，跟外界唯一的接觸就是出售小金魚。在停戰的最初幾天派來監視他家的士兵中，有一個人曾經留在他家中，這個人經常拿着小金魚到沼澤地帶的村鎮去賣，然後帶着金幣和消息回來。他說，保守黨政府在自由黨支持下，準備修訂曆書，以便每屆總統都能掌權一百年。他還說，政府終於跟教廷簽訂了條約，羅馬派來了一位紅衣主教，他的教冠嵌滿了鑽石，他的寶座是純金作成的；自由黨部長們跪在主教面前，吻着他的寶石戒指拍照；在首都巡迴演出的西班牙劇團一名女主角，在化妝室裏被一夥戴着面罩的強盜搶走了，第二天——星期日——早晨竟在共和國總統的夏宮裏跳裸體別跟我談政治，“上校回答他。”咱們的事就是賣金魚。“上校一點也不想知道國內的局勢，光是呆在自己的作坊裏，靠小金魚發財。這個消息傳到烏蘇娜耳裏，她卻笑了起來。她那很講實際的頭腦，簡直無法理解上校的生意有什麼意義，因爲他把金魚換成金幣，然後又把金幣變成金魚，就這樣沒完沒了，賣得越多，活兒就幹得越多，繼續保持這種惡性循環。其實，奧雷連諾上校感到興趣的不是生意，而是工作。把鱗片連接起來，將小紅寶石嵌入眼眶，精琢魚鰓，安裝魚尾，這些事情需要他全神貫注，他就沒有一點空閒時間去回想戰爭以及戰爭的空虛了。首飾技術的精細程度要求他集中注意力，以致在短時期內，奧雷連諾上校比整個戰爭年代還衰老得快；由於長時間坐着幹活，他的背駝了，由於精雕細琢的工作，他的視力弱了，但他卻得到了心靈的寧靜。奧雷連諾上校最後一次涉及與戰爭有關的問題，是自由黨和保守黨的一羣老兵來找他的時候，他們要求他幫助弄到政府許諾的終身養老金，因爲此種養老金的批准事宜始終沒有進展，”忘掉它吧，“奧雷連諾上校說。”你們看：我就放棄了養老金，免得爲了盼它而苦惱到死。“起初，格林列爾多·馬克斯上校每天黃昏都來看他，兩人坐在當街的門口，閒聊往事。可是，阿瑪蘭塔卻忍受不了這個睏倦的人在她心裏激起的回憶，他那不斷擴大的禿頂已經把他推到早衰的深淵，她毫無道理地蔑視他；後來，除了特殊情況，格林列爾多就不來了，終於完全消失了——癱瘓了。奧雷連諾上校沉默、孤僻，對於家中新的生活氣息無動於衷；他逐漸明白，安度晚年的祕訣不是別的，而是跟孤獨簽訂體面的協議。每天，他總是昏迷似的睡了一陣之後，早晨五點起牀，照例在廚房裏喝一杯黑咖啡，就整天關在作坊裏，到了下午四點才拖着一條小凳子走過長廊，既沒看看火紅的玫瑰花叢，也沒注意落日的霞光，更沒理睬阿瑪蘭塔傲慢的樣幾；她那由於苦悶發出的嘆息，在黃昏將臨的沉寂中，彷彿鍋裏的沸水十分清晰的聲響，然後，奧雷連諾上校就坐在臨街的門口，直到蚊子向他撲來的時候，有一次，一個過路的人大膽地打破了他的孤寂。
“你在作何貴幹呀，上校？”
“在這兒坐坐，”他回答。“等候我的送葬隊伍過去。”
可見，由於俏姑娘雷麥黛絲的加冕，奧雷連諾的名字雖然重新出現在大家嘴裏，但這種情況引起的不安卻是沒有現實根據的，然而許多人卻持另外的看法。馬孔多的居民們不知道臨頭的悲劇，都興高采烈地糜集在市鎮廣場上。狂歡節的熱勁兒已經達到了高潮，奧雷連諾第二終於如願地扮成了一隻老虎，在亂嘈嘈的人羣中行進，吼叫得聲音都啞了；這時，從沼澤地伸來的道路上突然出現了一大羣化裝的人：他們用金光閃閃的轎子擡着一個無比美麗的女人。馬孔多的居民們一下子摘掉了自己的面具，竭力想看清這個光耀奪目的女人。她戴着綠寶石王冠，披着貂皮斗篷，彷彿真正擁有合法的權力，而不止是一個用金屬片和皺紙假扮的女王，不少的人相當敏銳，懷疑這是一個詭計。然而，奧雷連諾第二立即克服了自己的慌亂：他宣佈新來的人爲貴賓，並且以所羅門王的智慧把俏姑娘雷麥黛絲和冒充的女王放在同一個臺座上。到了半夜，扮成貝都英人（注：阿拉伯遊牧民族）的外來者參回了狂歡，甚至用壯觀的焰火和雜技表演豐富了遊藝節目，他們的表演使得大家想起了早已忘卻的吉卜賽人的高超技藝。忽然，在狂歡的高潮中有人打破了脆弱的平衡。
“自由黨萬歲，”這人叫道。“奧雷連諾上校萬歲！”
槍彈的閃光遮沒了焰火的光彩，恐怖的叫聲壓倒了音樂，狂歡變成了混亂，多年以後人們還說，那個冒牌女王的衛隊其實是一小隊正規軍，在貝都英人華麗的斗篷裏面藏着政府發給的卡賓槍。政府在一道特別通告中否定了這一指責，並且答應對這一流血事件進行徹底的調查。可是真相始終未弄清楚。普遍的說法是，女王的衛隊沒有受到任何挑釁，就在隊長的暗示下展開戰鬥隊形，向人羣無情地開火。恢復平靜以後，鎮上已經沒有一個假扮的貝都英人，廣場上卻躺着死者和傷者：九個小丑、四個哥倫比亞人、十六個紙牌老K、一個魔鬼、三個樂師、兩個法國紳士和三個日本皇后（注：這些都是化裝的人物）。在一片混亂中，霍·阿卡蒂奧第二設法救出了俏姑娘雷麥黛絲，而奧雷連諾第二卻把冒牌女王抱回家中，她的衣服已經撕破，貂皮斗篷沾滿了血。她叫菲蘭達。 德卡皮奧，是從全國五千名最美的女人中選出的頭號美女，他們答應宣佈她爲馬達加斯加女王，就送她到馬孔多來了。烏蘇娜照顧她就象照顧親生女兒一樣。鎮上的人不僅沒有懷疑她的清白無辜，反而同情她的天真。大屠殺之後過了六個月，當傷者已經康復、公墓上最後的花朵已經枯萎時，奧雷連諾第二就到一個遙遠的城市去找菲蘭達·德卡皮奧，因爲她是跟她父親住在那兒的。隨後，他把她帶到了馬孔多，舉行了整整二十天的熱鬧婚禮。