世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第2章Part 5

His father gave him a blow with the back of his hand that brought out blood and tears. That night Pilar Ternera put arnica compresses on the swelling, feeling about for the bottle and cotton in the dark, and she did everything she wanted with him as long as it did not bother him, making an effort to love him without hurting him. They reached such a state of intimacy that later, without realizing it, they were whispering to each other.
"I want to be alone with you," he said. "One of these days I'm going to tell everybody and we can stop all of this sneaking around."
She did not try to calm him down.
"That would be fine," she said "If we're alone, we'll leave the lamp lighted so that we can see each other, and I can holler as much as I want without anybody's having to butt in, and you can whisper in my ear any crap you can think of."
That conversation, the biting rancor that he felt against his father, and the imminent possibility of wild love inspired a serene courage in him. In a spontaneous way, without any preparation, he told everything to his brother.
At first young Aureliano understood only the risk, the immense possibility of danger that his brother's adventures implied, and he could not understand the fascination of the subject. Little by little he became contaminated with the anxiety. He wondered about the details of the dangers, he identified himself with the suffering and enjoyment of his brother, he felt frightened and happy. He would stay awake waiting for him until dawn in the solitary bed that seemed to have a bottom of live coals, and they would keep on talking until it was time to get up, so that both of them soon suffered from the same drowsiness, felt the same lack of interest in alchemy and the wisdom of their father, and they took refuge in solitude. "Those kids are out of their heads," úrsula said. "They must have worms."

José Arcadio paid no attention. While the sad interrogation of the snakeman was taking place, he made his way through the crowd up to the front row, where the gypsy girl was, and he stooped behind her. He pressed against her back. The girl tried to separate herself, but José Arcadio pressed more strongly against her back. Then she felt him. She remained motionless against him, trembling with surprise and fear, unable to believe the evidence, and finally she turned her head and looked at him with a tremulous smile. At that instant two gypsies put the snakeman into his cage and carried him into the tent. The gypsy who was conducting the show announced:

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to show the terrible test of the woman who must have her head chopped off every night at this time for one hundred and fifty years as punishment for having seen what she should not have."

父親用手背在他嘴脣上碰了一下，碰得很重，霍·阿卡蒂奧嘴裏竟然流出血來，眼裏流出淚來。夜裏，皮拉·苔列娜在黑暗中摸到一小瓶藥和棉花，拿浸了亞爾尼加碘酒的壓布貼在腫處，爲霍·阿卡蒂奧盡心地做了一切，而沒有使他產生仟何不舒服之感，竭力愛護他，而不碰痛他。他倆達到了那樣親密的程度，過了一會兒，他倆就不知不覺地在夜間幽會中第一次低聲交談起來：
“我只想跟你在一起，”他說。“最近幾天內，我就要把一切告訴人家，別再這麼捉迷藏了。”
皮拉·苔列娜不想勸阻他。
“那很好嘛，”她說。“如果咱倆單獨在一塊兒，咱們就把燈點上，彼此都能看見，我想叫喊就能叫喊，跟別人不相干；而你想說什麼蠢話，就可在我耳邊說什麼蠢話。”
霍·阿卡蒂奧經過這場談話，加上他對父親的怨氣，而且他認爲作法的愛情在一切情況下都是可以的，他就心安理得、勇氣倍增了。沒有任何準備，他自動把一閉告訴了弟弟。
起初，年幼的奧雷連諾只把霍·阿卡蒂奧的豔遇看做是哥哥面臨的可怕危險，不明白什麼力量吸引了哥哥。可是，霍·阿卡蒂奧的煩躁不安逐漸傳染了他。他要哥哥談談那些細微情節，跟哥哥共苦同樂，他感到自己既害怕又快活，現在，他卻等首霍·阿卡蒂奧回來，直到天亮都沒閤眼，在孤單的牀上輾轉反側，彷彿躺在一堆燒紅的炭上；隨後，兄弟倆一直談到早該起牀的時候，很快陷入半昏迷狀態；兩人都同樣厭惡鍊金術和父親的聰明才智，變得孤僻了。“孩子們的樣兒沒有一點精神，”烏蘇娜說。“也許腸裏有蟲子。”
霍·阿卡蒂奧根本沒看這個不幸的人。當觀衆向“蛇人”詢問他那悲慘的故事細節時，年輕的霍·阿卡蒂奧就擠到第一排吉卜賽姑娘那兒去，站在她的背後，然後緊貼着她。她想挪開一些，可他把她貼得更緊。於是，她感覺到了他。她愣着沒動，驚恐得發顫，不相信自己的感覺，終於回頭膽怯地一笑，瞄了霍·阿卡蒂奧一眼，這時，兩個吉卜賽人把“蛇人”裝進了籠子，搬進帳篷。指揮表演的吉卜賽人宣佈：
“現在，女士們和先生們，我們將給你們表演一個可怕的節目——每夜這個時候都要砍掉一個女人的腦袋，連砍一百五十年，以示懲罰，因爲她看了她不該看的東西。”