鲸鱼之音 第4期
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夏艺玲 编译
[1]
“Leave him alone,” I yelled as I walked out of the orphanage gate and saw several of the Spring Park School bullies pushing the deaf kid around. I did not know the boy at all but I knew that we were about the same age, because of his size. He lived in the old white house across the street from the orphanage where I lived. I had seen him on his front porch several times doing absolutely nothing, except just sitting there making funny like hand movements.
In the summer time we didn’t get much to eat for Sunday supper, except watermelon and then we had to eat it outside behind the dining room so we would not make a mess on the tables inside. About the only time that I would see him was through the high chain-link fence that surrounded the orphanage when we ate our watermelon outside.
The deaf kid started making all kinds of hand signals, really fast like. “You are a stupid idiot,” said the bigger of the two bullies as he pushed the boy down on the ground. The other bully ran around behind the boy and kicked him as hard as he could in the back. The deaf boy’s body started shaking all over and he curled up in a ball trying to shield and hide his face. He looked like he was trying to cry, or something but he just couldn’t make any sounds, I don’t think.
I ran as fast as I could back through the orphanage gate and into the thick azalea bushes. I uncovered my home-made bow which I had constructed out of bamboo and string. I grabbed four arrows that were also made of bamboo and they had coca cola tops bent around the ends to make real sharp tips. Then I ran back out the gate with an arrow cocked in the bow and I just stood there quiet like, breathing really hard just daring either one of them to kick or touch the boy again.
“You’re a dumb freak just like him you big eared creep,” said one of the boys as he grabbed his friend and backed off far enough so that the arrow would not hit them. “If you’re so brave, kick him again now,” I said, shaking like a leaf. The bigger of the two bullies ran up and kicked the deaf boy in the middle of his back as hard as he could and then he ran out of arrow range again.
[2]
The boy jerked about and then made a sound that I will never forget for as long as I live. It was the sound like a whale makes when it has been harpooned and knows that it is about to die. I fired all four of my arrows at the two bullies as they ran away laughing about what they had done.
I pulled the boy up off the ground and helped him back to his house which was about two blocks down the street from the school building. When we reached his home his sister told me that her brother was deaf but that he was not dumb like the two bullies said. That he was very smart but could not say or hear anything. I told her that he did make a sound when the bully kicked him in the back. She told me that I must be mistaken because all her brother’s vocal cords had been removed during an experimental surgery, which had failed.
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The boy made one of those hand signs at me as I was about to leave. I asked his sister “if your brother is so smart then why is he doing things like that with his hands?” She told me that he was saying that he loved me with his hands. I didn’t say anything back to her at all because I didn’t believe her. People can’t talk with their hands and everybody knows that. People can only talk with their mouth.
Almost every Sunday for the next year or two I could see the boy through the chain-link fence as we ate watermelon outside behind the dining room, during the summer time. He always made that same funny hand sign at me and I would just wave back at him, not knowing what else to do.
On my very last day in the orphanage I was being chased by the police. They told me that I was being sent off to the Florida School for Boys Reform School, at Marianna so I ran to get away from them. They chased me around the dining room building several times and finally I made a dash for the chain-link fence and tried to climb over in order to escape. I saw the deaf boy sitting there on his porch just looking at me as they pulled me down from the fence and handcuffed me. The boy, now about twelve jumped up and ran across San Diego Road, placed his fingers through the chain-link fence and just stood there looking at us.
[3]
They dragged me by my legs, screaming and yelling for more than several hundred yards through the dirt and pine-straw to the waiting police car. All I could hear the entire time was the high pitched sound of that whale being harpooned again. As we pulled away in the police car I saw the deaf boy loosen his grip on the fence and slide very slowly to the ground and lower his head into the leaves and pine straw. That is when I realized that he probably really did love me and he wanted to save me because he thought that I too was making the whale sound.
[一]
“放开他！”当我走出孤儿院大门看到几个泉水公园学校的恶棍在推搡一个聋儿时，我大叫一声。我根本不认识他，但是从外形看，我知道他和我是同龄的。他住在孤儿院对面一间很旧的白房子里。我好几次看到他在房子的门廊里无所事事，除了坐在那里做些可笑的手部动作。
在夏天，星期天的晚餐，除了西瓜我们没法弄到更多的食物，而且我们只能在餐厅的后面吃，以免把里面的餐桌弄得一团糟。我们只有在外面吃西瓜的时候才能透过高高的孤儿院的铁栅栏看到他。
那个聋哑儿飞快地打着手势。其中个头较高的那个恶棍对他说“你这笨蛋！”并把他推倒在地上，另一个就走到他的后面用力地踢他的背部。这个聋哑儿开始全身颤抖并蜷缩成一团来保护他的头部和面部。他好像是在哭又或者是其他什么的，但是我没听到声音。
我转身冲进孤儿院的大门，钻进杜花林里，挖出我自己用竹子和绳子做的弓，再拿上箭身是竹子但箭头用可乐罐盖边沿做的箭。我拿着上弦的弓箭再跑出大门口，站在那里一动不动，上气不接下气地盯着他们，看他们谁还敢动那小男孩一下。
“你和他一样都是有耳朵但听不见的聋鬼。”其中一个男孩边说边拉着他的朋友往后退，以便我的箭射不到他们。“有胆的话，你现在就再踢他一脚。”我说，身体摇晃得如同一片叶子。个头较高的那个冲过来在男孩的脊背中部狠狠地踢了一下，然后又急忙跑到弓箭的射程之外。
[二]
那小男孩猛地抽搐了一下，然后发出一声我这一辈子都不会忘记的声音。那声音听起来就像一条鲸鱼被鱼叉刺中感觉自己快要死的时候发出的声音一样。我把手上的四支箭射向这两个恶棍。对于他们的所作所为，他们居然大笑着跑远了。
我把小男孩从地上扶起来，然后搀扶着他回到那离教学楼有两个街区距离的屋里。当我们到他家的时候，他姐姐跟我说她弟弟是耳聋的，但并不像那两个恶棍所说的那样愚笨。他很聪明，但是他既不会说也听不见。我告诉她，那恶棍踢他背部的时候，他的确发出了声音。她说我肯定是听错了，因为她弟弟的声带在一次医疗事故中被摘除了。
在我要离开的时候，那小男孩向我打了一个手势。我对他姐姐说：“假如你弟弟真的那么聪明，那为什么他要那样用手来做事呢？”她说他弟弟是在通过手势来告诉我他爱我。我没说什么，因为我不相信她说的。人人都知道我们是不可能用手来说话的，我们只能用嘴巴来说话的。
接下来一两年的夏天里，几乎每个星期天，当我们在餐厅后面吃西瓜的时候，透过链条结成的围栏，我都可以看到那男孩。他总是对我做着同样的有趣的手势，除了向他挥手回答他外，我不知道我还可以做什么。
我在孤儿院的最后一天里，警察在追赶我。他们说要把我送到马里安那的佛罗里达男孩感化学校，于是我就跑开了。在餐厅的大楼内他们追了我好几回，最后我冲向链条结成的围栏，我想翻越围栏逃跑。当警察把我从围栏上拉下来，然后戴上手铐的时候，我看见那男孩坐在走廊里看着我。那男孩，现在大概12岁，跳了起来，冲过圣地亚哥大路，手抓着围栏，只是站在那里盯着我们。
[三]
他们拉着我的双腿，我大喊大叫地被拖过好几百码的泥土和松树林，到了在那等候的警车。在他们把我拖向警车的整个过程里，我都听到音调很高，好像鲸鱼又被鱼叉刺中而发出的声音。在警车开走的时候，我看见男孩抓着围栏的手松开了，他慢慢蹲下身来，一头钻进了叶子和松针里。那时候我意识到他可能真的是很爱我的，他想救我，因为他那时候肯定是认为我也一样在发出鲸鱼般的呼救声。
（责编：王莉娟）
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