“Cassie, you better watch yourself, girl,” Big Ma cautioned, putting one rough, large hand against my back to make sure I didn’t fall.
“凯西，小心点。”奶奶粗糙的大手扶着我，防止我从摘棉花的木架上摔下来。
I looked down at my grandmother from midway up one of the wooden poles Papa had set out to mark the length of the cotton field. Big Ma was Papa’s mother, and like him she was tall and strongly built. Her clear, smooth skin was the color of a pecan shell. “Ah, Big Ma, I ain’t gonna fall.” I scoffed, then climbed onto the next strong spike and reached for a fibrous puff at the top of a tall cotton stalk.
我站在架子上，回头看了一眼奶奶。奶奶跟爸爸一样，又高又壮，健康光滑的皮肤透着山核桃色的光泽。“啊，奶奶，我不会掉下去的。”我爬到另一根竿子上，把高高地长在棉花茎上的棉花摘了下来。
“You she’ better not fall, girl,” grumbled Big Ma. “Sometimes I wish we had more low cotton like down ’round Vicksburg. I don’t like y’all children climbin’ them things.” She looked around, her hand on her hip. Christopher-John and Little Man farther down the field balanced skillfully on lower spikes of their own poles plucking the last of the cot- ton, but Stacey, too heavy now to climb the poles, was forced to remain on the ground. Big Ma eyed us all again, then with a burlap bag slung across her right shoulder and dangling at the left side of her waist she moved down the row toward Mama. “Mary, child. I think with what we picked today we oughta have ourselves another bale.”
“你最好别掉下来，孩子。”奶奶嘟哝道，“有时候我倒希望这些棉花长得矮一些，像维京伯格家的一样。我可不乐意老看着孩子们在上面爬。”她背着手，环顾着四周。克里斯托弗和小家伙在远处，以极好的平衡感，采摘着较矮的棉花。而斯泰西呢，因为太重了，只能留在地面。奶奶又看了我们一眼，才背起装满棉花的粗布袋，摇摇晃晃地走向妈妈：“玛丽，我想我们今天摘的要另外装一袋了。”
Mama was stooped over a low cotton branch. She stuffed one last puff into her bag and straightened. She was tawny- colored, thin and sinewy, with delicate features in a strong- jawed face, and though almost as tall as Big Ma, she seemed somewhat dwarfed beside her. “I expect you’re right, Mama,” she said. “Come Monday, we’d better haul it up to the Granger place and have it ginned. Then we can — Cassie, what’s the matter!”
妈妈站在一株低垂下来的棉花枝前，把最后一朵棉花摘下塞进粗布袋里，直起身。妈妈有些瘦，不过肌肉发达，黄褐色的皮肤透着光泽，脸庞柔美。她虽然和奶奶一样高，但站在一起时，她还是显得瘦小。“我也觉得，妈妈。”她回答道，“我们最好在周一前把棉花送到格兰杰那轧棉，然后我们就能——凯西，你怎么了？”
I didn’t answer Mama. I had moved to the very top of my pole and could now see above the field to the road where two figures, one much taller than the other, were walking briskly. As the men rounded a curve in the road, they became more distinct. There was in the easy fluid gait of the shorter man a familiarity that made me gasp. I squinted, shadowing my eyes from the sun, then slipped like lightning down the pole.
我没说话。我正往竿子顶端爬，远眺棉花田。棉花田外的道路上，出现了两个身影，其中一个特别高，步履轻快。他们拐弯后，我看得更清楚了。那个较矮的身影，走起来的样子异常熟悉。我眯着眼，抵挡着太阳的强光，心“咚咚”地跳得厉害，我像一道闪电般跳下竿子。
“David!” Mama questioned unbelievingly as Christopher- John and Little Man descended eagerly and dashed after Stacey and me toward the barbed-wire fence.
“大卫回来了？”妈妈难以置信，克里斯托弗和小家伙飞快地爬下来，跟着我和斯泰西跑向棉花田边缘的铁丝网。
“Cassie!”
“凯西！”
“It’s Papa!”
“爸爸回来啦！”
When Papa saw us, he began running swiftly, easily, like the wind. Little Man, the first to reach him, was swept lightly upward in Papa’s strong hands as Christopher-John, Stacey, and I crowded around.
当爸爸看见我们，他像一阵风一样轻快地跑了起来。小家伙最先跑到爸爸身边，爸爸用粗壮的臂膀将他高高地举向天空。而我们则围在爸爸身边。
“Papa, what you doing home!” asked Little Man.
“爸爸，你怎么回来啦？”小家伙问。
Putting Little Man down, Papa said, “Just had to come home and see “bout my babies.” He hugged and kissed each of us, then stood back. “Just look at y’all,” he said proudly. “Ain’t y’all something! Can’t hardly call y’all babies no more.” He turned. “Mr. Morrison, what you think ’bout these children of mine!”
把小家伙放回地上，爸爸回答道：“回来看你们呀。”他拥抱并亲吻了我们，然后直起身，“看看你们，渐渐长大了，小不点要变大孩子啦。”他回过身说，“莫里森先生，这是我的孩子们，不错吧？”
In our excitement, we had taken no notice of the other man standing quietly at the side of the road. But now, gazing upward at the most formidable-looking being we had ever encountered, we huddled closer to Papa.
沉浸在爸爸回来的激动中，我们都没注意到公路一侧还站着一个人。等到我们听到爸爸的话时，瞧了一眼看起来很凶的高个子，然后全都害怕地挤到了爸爸身边。
The man was a human tree in height, towering high above Papa’s six feet two inches. The long trunk of his massive body bulged with muscles, and his skin, of the deepest ebony, was partially scarred upon his face and neck, as if by fire. Deep lifelines were cut into his face and his hair was splotched with gray, but his eyes were clear and penetrating. I glanced at the boys and it was obvious to me that they were wondering the same thing as I: Where had such a being come from!
那男人高得像一棵大树一样，高过了一米八几的爸爸。他身上肌肉发达，皮肤黝黑，脸上和脖子上有像是被火烧过的伤痕。他头发灰白夹杂，脸上布满岁月的痕迹，但他的眼睛干净而清澈。我瞥了一眼男孩子们，他们此刻心里大概和我想的一样，都有这样一个疑问：“他到底是从哪里来的？”
“Don’t y’all go through that fence!” Big Ma called after us. But we pretended not to hear. We held the second and third rows of the prickly wire wide for each other to climb through: then all four of us sped down the road toward Papa.
“你们不要穿过铁丝网！”奶奶警告我们，但我们假装没有听到。我们分开了第二和第三道铁丝网，然后从中间的空隙钻了出去，接着冲向公路，向爸爸奔去。
“You got my letter?”
“你是收到我的信啦？”
“David. is something the matter!” she asked.
“大卫，你怎么回来啦？”妈妈问道。
“Children,” said Papa, “meet Mr. L. T. Morrison.” Each of us whispered a faint hello to the giant, then the six of us started up the road toward home. Before we reached the house, Mama and Big Ma met us. When Papa saw Mama, his square, high-cheekboned face opened to a wide smile and, lifting Mama with spirited gusto, he swung her around twice before setting her down and kissing her.
“孩子们，这是莫里森先生。”我们小声地跟莫里森先生打了招呼后，便往家的方向走去。还没走到家，奶奶和妈妈就在半路和我们会合了。当爸爸见到妈妈第一眼时，笑得嘴都合不拢了，他把妈妈抱了起来，旋转了两圈，并亲吻了妈妈。
When we reached the house we climbed the long, sloping lawn to the porch and went into Mama and Papa’s room, which also served as the living area. Mama offered Mr. Morrison Grandpa Logan’s chair, a cushioned oak rocker skillfully crafted by Grandpa himself; but Mr. Morrison did not sit down immediately. Instead, he stood gazing at the room.
我们一回家，就一块儿挤进了爸爸妈妈的起居室里，有时这儿也被当作客厅。妈妈拿了一把爷爷亲手做的橡木摇椅给莫里森先生坐，但他并没有坐下，只是站着，环顾着整个房间。
Papa laughed. “Something gotta be wrong, woman, for me to come see ’bout you!”
爸爸笑了：“嘿，一定要有什么事情我才能回来看你吗？”
It was a warm, comfortable room of doors and wood and pictures. From it a person could reach the front or the side porch, the kitchen, and the two other bedrooms. Its walls were made of smooth oak, and on them hung gigantic photographs of Grandpa and Big Ma. Papa and Uncle Hammer when they were boys, Papa’s two eldest brothers, who were now dead, and pictures of Mama’s family. The furniture, a mixture of Logan-crafted walnut and oak, included a walnut bed whose ornate headboard rose halfway up the wall toward the high ceiling, a grand chiffonier with a floor- length mirror, a large rolltop desk which had once been Grandpa’s but now belonged to Mama, and the four oak chairs, two of them rockers, which Grandpa had made for Big Ma as a wedding present.
房间舒适而温暖，摆放着一些木柜和照片。房间可以通到前后门廊、厨房和其他两间卧室。墙壁是光滑的橡木，上面挂着几张大照片，有爷爷奶奶年轻时的照片、爸爸和哈默大伯的合照、爸爸的最大的两个哥哥（现在已经不在人世了）的照片，还有妈妈一家人的照片。家里的家具，都是爷爷用胡桃木和橡木做的，包括一张床头装饰华丽的胡桃木床、一个镶着落地镜的大衣柜、一张可活动的桌子。这张桌子原来是奶奶用的，现在属于妈妈了。还有四把椅子，其中有两把摇椅，是当初爷爷送给奶奶的结婚礼物。
He nodded, then hugged and kissed Big Ma before introducing them both to Mr. Morrison.
爸爸点了点头，他和奶奶亲吻、拥抱后，把莫里森先生介绍给了奶奶和妈妈。
The boys and I pulled up straight-backed chairs near Papa as Big Ma asked, “How long you gonna be home, son!”
我和男孩们拿了高背椅坐在爸爸旁边，奶奶开了口：“儿子，这次回来你要待多久？”
Mr. Morrison nodded when he had t’aken it all in, as if he approved, then sat across from Papa in front of the unlit fireplace.’
莫里森先生环顾后点了点头，似乎很满意的样子，然后在爸爸旁边没有生火的火炉前坐了下来。
Papa looked across at her. “Till Sunday evening,” he said quietly.
爸爸看向她，“这个星期天晚上就走。”他语气很平静。
“Sunday!” Mama exclaimed. “Why, today’s already Saturday.”
“星期天？”妈妈很惊讶，“今天已经是星期六了呀。”
Christopher-John, Little Man, and I groaned loudly, and Papa turned to us. “Papa, can’t you stay no longer than that! Last time you come home, you stayed a week,” I said.
我、克里斯托弗和小家伙一下子哀声连连，爸爸回头看着我们，我问：“爸爸，就不能再待久一点吗？上次你回家的时候，待了一个星期呢。”
If Mama and Big Ma were surprised by Papa’s words. they did not show it, but the boys and I looked with wide eyes at each other, then at the giant.
妈妈和奶奶是不是很吃惊我不知道，因为她们的脸上看不出一点惊讶的神情。不过我和男孩们互相冲着彼此瞪大了眼睛，然后望向了那个大个子。
Papa gently pulled one of my pigtails. “Sorry, Cassie girl, but I stay any longer, I might lose my job.”
爸爸轻轻地拉了拉我的辫子：“对不起，凯西，要是我多待一天，我的工作就没了。”
“But, Papa –“
“但是，爸爸——”
“I know, baby,” Papa said, taking her hand, “but I gotta get that night train out of Vicksburg so I can get back to work by Monday morning.”
“我知道，亲爱的。”爸爸一边说，一边握住妈妈的手，“但我要坐上星期天晚上的火车，才能赶在星期一早上上班。”
“Listen, all of y’all,” he said, looking from me to the boys to Mama and Big Ma, “I come home special so I could bring Mr. Morrison. He’s gonna stay with us awhile.”
“大家听着，”爸爸环顾了所有人，“我这次回来，是要带莫里森先生来我们家的，他会在我们家住一阵子。”
“Miz Logan.” said Mr. Morrison in a deep, quiet voice like the roll of low thunder. “I think you oughta know I got fired off my job. Got in a fight with some men… beat’em up pretty bad.”
莫里森先生用低沉如闷雷的声音说道：“洛根太太，我想大概你也猜到了，我是被开除的。因为我和人打架了…把他们打得很惨。”
Mama turned to Mr. Morrison, studied him for a moment, and said, “Welcome to our home, Mr. Morrison.”
妈妈转向了莫里森，看了好一会儿：“欢迎你，莫里森先生。”
Mama stared into Mr. Morrison’s deep eyes. “Whose fault was it!”
妈妈盯着莫里森深邃的眼睛：“是谁的错？”
“Mr. Morrison lost his job on the railroad a while back.” Papa continued. “and he ain’t been able to find anything else. When I asked him if he wanted to come work here as a hired hand, he said he would. I told him we couldn’t afford much — food and shelter and a few dollars in cash when I come home in the winter.”
“莫里森先生之前在铁路工作，前不久失业了。”爸爸继续说道，“现在他暂时还没找到工作，我问他愿不愿意来我们家帮忙，他答应了。我跟他说，我们家提供不了工钱，但可以提供食宿，到了冬天我回来时，还可以给他一些钱。”
“No. ma’am,” answered Mr. Morrison. “They was white.”
“没有，太太。”莫里森回答道，“他们是白人。”
“Did the other men get fired!”
“其他人呢？有没有被开除？”
Mr. Morrison stared back. “I’d say theirs.”
莫里森也直视着妈妈：“他们的错。”
Mama nodded and stood. “Thank you for telling me. Mr. Morrison. You’re lucky no worse happened and we’re glad to have you here.,. especially now.” Then she turned and went into the kitchen with Big Ma to prepare supper, leaving the boys and me to wonder about her last words.
妈妈点了点头：“谢谢你告诉我这些，莫里森先生。还好事情不是那么严重，我们也很欢迎你来，尤其是这个时候。”然后她和奶奶一块儿到厨房准备晚餐去了。我们留在原处，心里一阵疑惑，妈妈最后那句话，是什么意思呢？
I glared at him. “I ain’t worrying. I just wanna know, that’s all, and I betcha anything Mr. Morrison come here to do more’n work. Sure wish I knew for sure.
我看着他：“我没担心，我只是想知道事实，仅此而已。我打赌，莫里森来这里，绝对不只是来工作的，真希望我能知道真正的原因。”
“Stacey, what you think!” I asked as we milked the cows in the evening. “How come Papa come home and brung Mr. Morrison!”
“斯泰西，你怎么想？”晚上我们一块儿去挤牛奶时，我问斯泰西，“爸爸怎么会把莫里森先生带回来呢？”
“Burnings!” piped Little Man, who had interrupted his feeding of the chickens to visit with Lady, our golden mare. “What’s burnings gotta do with anything!”
“什么放火？”小家伙一下子放下喂鸡的活儿，插了进来，“放火跟什么有关？”
“You think.,, Stacey, you think it’s cause of them burnings T. J. was talking ’bout!”
“你觉得…斯泰西，你觉得会跟提杰说的放火有关系吗？”
Stacey shrugged. “Like he said, I guess.”
斯泰西耸了耸肩：“大概就跟爸爸说的那样吧。”
“Think what!” I asked.
“担心什么？”我问道。
“That happened way over by Smellings Creek,” said Stacey slowly, ignoring Little Man. “Papa got no need to think…” His voice trailed off and he stopped milking.
“但它是发生在斯梅林河那边…”斯泰西轻声自言自语，“爸爸其实没必要担心…”他的声音拖得很长，都忘了挤牛奶。
I thought on that a moment, “Papa ain’t never brung nobody here before.”
我想了一会儿：“爸爸以前从没有带什么人回来呀。”
Stacey made no reply, but Christopher-John, his pudgy hands filled with dried corn for the chickens and his lower lip quivering, said, “I — I know what I wish. I wish P-Papa didn’t never have to go ‘way no more. I wish he could just stay… and stay…”
斯泰西没说话，克里斯托弗一边用他胖乎乎的小手撒着喂鸡的玉米粒，一边悄声说：“我只希望爸爸别再离开家了，我只希望他能一直、一直、一直待在家里。”
Stacey did not reply,
斯泰西没回答。
“Nothin’.” he muttered, turning back to the cow.”Don’t worry ’bout it.”
“没什么，你别担心。”斯泰西喃喃道，转身挤牛奶去了。
“The way I hears it,” said Mr. Lanier, “they been after John Henry ever since he come back from the war and settled on his daddy’s place up by Smellings Creek. Had a nice little place up there too, and was doing pretty well. Left a wife and six children.”
拉尼尔先生说：“我听说，亨利从战场归来后，就回到他爸爸曾经住的地方斯梅林河旁，日子过得还不错。可如今，发生了这么悲惨的事，留下了六个孩子和他的妻子，可怎么办呢？”
Big Ma shook her head. “Just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
奶奶摇了摇头：“真是走得不是时候啊。”
When the announcement was made to the congregation, the deacons prayed for the soul of John Henry Berry and the recovery of his brother, Beacon, and his uncle, Mr. Samuel Berry. But after church, when some of the members stopped by the house to visit, angry hopeless words were spoken.
这个消息在人群中散播开来。牧师做礼拜时，为约翰·亨利·贝瑞的死祈祷，也为他的兄弟贝肯和他的叔叔塞缪尔·贝瑞的早日康复祈祷。但礼拜结束后，有些教友停驻在教堂前，言辞带着愤怒与绝望。
At church the next morning, Mrs… Silas Lanier leaned across me and whispered to Big Ma, “John Henry Berry died last night.”
第二天，我们去教堂做礼拜，西拉斯·拉尼尔夫人对着奶奶耳语：“约翰·亨利·贝瑞昨晚去世了。”
“Henrietta Toggins,” said Mrs. Lanier, “you know, Clara Davis’s sister that live up there in Strawberry! Well, she’s kin to the Berrys and she was with John Henry and Beacon when the trouble got started. They was gonna drop her off at home — you know John Henry had him one of them old Model-T pickups — but they needed some gas so they stopped by that fillin’ station up there in Strawberry. They was waitin’ there for they gas when some white men come up messin’ with them — been drinkin’, you know. And Henrietta heard ’em say, ‘That’s the nigger Sallie Ann said was flirtin with her.’ And when she heard that, she said to John Henry, ‘Let’s get on outa here.’ He wanted to wait for the gas, but she made him and Beacon get in that car, and them men jus’ watched them drive off and didn’t mess with ’em right then.”
拉尼尔夫人接着说：“你们知道汉丽埃塔·托金斯吗？她是克拉拉·戴维斯的姐姐，住在斯特罗贝里，是贝瑞的亲戚。事情发生的时候，她正好和约翰·亨利、贝肯在一起。他们原本打算送汉丽埃塔回家，但因为要给车加油，他们把车停在了斯特罗贝里的加油站旁。在等着加油的过程中，几个喝醉了的白人过来找麻烦了，汉丽埃塔听见他们说：‘沙莉安说，就是那个黑鬼骚扰了她。’汉丽埃塔赶紧对约翰·亨利说：‘我们赶快离开这里吧！’但亨利还在等着加油。于是汉丽埃塔就把他俩推到车里，那些白人看着他们远去，也没有追上来。
The boys and I sat at our study table pretending not to listen, but listening still.
我和男孩们坐在桌旁，假装没在听他们说话，其实我们竖着耳朵，一直在听。
“It’s she’ a shame, all right,” said T. J.’s father, a frail, sickly man with a hacking cough. “These folks gettin’ so bad in here. Heard tell they lynched a boy a few days ago at Crosston.”
“真是太过分了！”提杰的爸爸咳嗽着，“这些人总在这附近为非作歹。几天前他们还对一个男孩行了私刑。”
“John Henry, he took her on home then headed back for his own place, but evidently them men caught up with him and Beacon again and starts rammin’ the back of they car — least that’s what Beacon and John Henry told they aunt and uncle when they seed ’em. John Henry knowed he was runnin’ outa gas and he was ‘fraid he couldn’t make it to his own place, so he stopped at his uncle’s, But them men dragged him and Beacon both outa that house, and when old man Berry tried to stop it, they lit him afire with them boys.”
“把汉丽埃塔送回家后，亨利和贝肯开车回家。但是在半路上，他们遇到了开着车追过来的那群白人，那群白人故意撞了亨利的车——这是亨利和贝肯告诉叔叔和婶婶的。亨利担心车里的汽油不够支撑他回家，就把车停在了叔叔家。而那些白人强行把亨利和贝肯拖到了屋外。老贝肯要制止他们时，他们却把汽油泼到了三个人身上。”
“And ain’t a thing gonna be done ’bout it,” said Mr. Lanier. “That’s what’s so terrible! When Henrietta went to the sheriff and told him what she’d seed, he called her a liar and sent her on home. Now I hear tells that some of them men that done it been ’round braggin’ ’bout it, Sayin’ they’d do it again if some uppity nigger get out of line.”
“就是因为我们没办法，他们才越来越嚣张的！”拉尼尔先生说，“汉丽埃塔去找警长说明情况时，他却说她在撒谎，叫她赶快滚回家。现在我依然发现那些白人还在到处宣扬这些事，还叫黑人们别乱出风头。”
Mrs. Avery asked, “Lord have mercy!”
艾弗里太太叹息着：“上帝啊，保佑我们吧！”
The room became silent. The boys and I stared at the adults wondering why, The Laniers and the Averys looked uneasily about them and when the silence was broken, the subject had changed to the sermon of the day.
房间里一下子安静了。我和男孩们望着大人，疑惑不解。拉尼尔和艾弗里两家人看起来局促不安。后来沉默被打破了，大家又讨论起布道的事情。
After the Laniers and the Averys had left. Papa called us to him. “Your mama tells me that a lot of the older children been going up to that Wallace store after school to dance and buy their bootleg liquor and smoke cigarettes. Now she said she’s already told y’all this, but I’m gonna tell y’all again, so listen good. We don’t want y’all going to that place. Children going there are gonna get themselves in a whole lot of trouble one day. There’s drinking up there and I don’t like it — and I don’t like them Wallaces either. If I ever find out y’all been up there, for any reason, I’m gonna wear y’all out. Y’all hear me!”
拉尼尔和艾弗里两家离开后，爸爸把我们叫到他跟前：“你们的妈妈告诉我，有很多孩子放学后会到华莱士商店里跳舞、买酒和抽烟。她说已经警告过你们了，但我还得再说一遍，听好了，我不许你们去那家店。去那里的小孩总有一天会惹上大麻烦的。我不喜欢去那里的人，也不喜欢华莱士一家。如果你们去了那里，被我知道的话，我会打断你们的腿，听到了没有？”
Papa sat very quietly while the Laniers and the Averys talked, studying them with serious eyes. Finally, he took the pipe from his mouth and made a statement that seemed to the boys and me to be totally disconnected with the conversation. “In this family, we don’t shop at the Wallace store.”
当拉尼尔和艾弗里这两家在讨论时，爸爸在一边静静地听着，神情严肃。最后，他放下吸着的烟斗，说了一句：“我们家从来不去华莱士店里买东西。”这话好像是说给我和男孩们听的。
The rest of us agreed: Papa always meant what he said — and he swung a mean switch.
我们也跟着应和了一声，因为爸爸总是会说到做到。
“Yes sir, Papa.” piped Christopher-John readily. “I ain’t never going up there.”
“听到了，爸爸。”克里斯托弗大声说，“我永远不会去那里。”
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