【正文】 hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing。ve no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has made it is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage. (A Pleasant surprise, of course: What would they do if parent and child came on the show only to curse out and insult each other?) On TV mother and child embrace and smile into each other39。s a woman now, though sometimes I forget. How long ago was it that the other house burned? Ten, twelve years? Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie39。d wanted to ask her. She had hated the house that much.　　I used to think she hated Maggie, too. But that was before we raised the money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school. She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks39。d made from an old suit somebody gave me. She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a time. Often I fought off the temptation to shake her. At sixteen she had a style of her own39。t ask me why. in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along goodnaturedly but can39。49. Cows are soothing and slow and don39。s hair. It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep. It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtails that rope about like small lizards disappearing behind her ears.　　WasuzoTeano! she says, ing on in that gliding way the dress makes her move. The short stocky fellow with the hair to his navel is all grinning and he follows up with Asalamalakim, my mother and sister! He moves to hug Maggie but she falls back, right up against the back of my chair. I feel her trembling there and when I look up I see the perspiration falling off her chin.　　Don39。t know how people shake hands. Anyhow, he soon gives up on Maggie.　　Well, I say. Dee.　　No, Mama, she says. Not 39。? I wanted to know.　　She39。Dicie39。t I? I asked. If that39。t really think he was, so I don39。t ask, whether Wangero (Dee) had really gone and married him.)　　We sat down to eat and right away he said he didn39。s it! she said. I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have. She jumped up from the table and went over in the corner where the churn stood, the milk in it clabber by now. She looked at the churn and looked at it.　　This churn top is what I need, she said. Didn39。s brain is like an elephants, Wanglero said, laughing. I can use the churn top as a center piece for the alcove table,”she said, sliding a plate over the churn, and I39。t even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood. In fact, there were a lot of small sinks。t you take one or two of the others?” 1 asked. These old things was just done by me and Big Dee from some tops your grandma pieced before she died.　　No, said Wangero. I don39。t reach the quilts. They already belonged to her. Imagine! she breathed again, clutching them closely to her bosom.　　The truth is, I said, I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas.　　She gasped like a bee had stung her.　　Maggie can39。t want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were oldfashioned, out of style.　　But they39。t mad at her. This was Maggie39。s lap. Maggie just sat there on my bed with her mouth open.　　Take one or two of the others, I said to Dee.　　But she turned without a word and went out to Hakimabarber.　　You just don39。d never know it.　　She put on some sunglasses that hid everything above the tip of her nose and her chin.　　Maggie smiled。 我就在這院子里等候她的到來。 你一定從電視片上看到過“闖出了江山”的兒女突然出乎意料地出現(xiàn)在那跌跌撞撞從后臺(tái)走出來的父母面前的場(chǎng)面。屋里有許多人，其中一個(gè)身材高大威武，滿面微笑，并對(duì)我說我養(yǎng)了個(gè)好女兒。 在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中，我是一個(gè)大塊頭、大骨架的婦女，有著干男人活兒的粗糙雙手。我能整天在戶外干活兒，敲碎冰塊，取水洗衣。不過，這一切當(dāng)然都沒有在電視上出現(xiàn)過。不過，迪伊就不這樣。 你有沒有見到過一個(gè)跛了腿的動(dòng)物，比如說一只狗，被一個(gè)粗心莽撞的有錢買得起汽車的人壓傷后側(cè)著身子向一個(gè)愚昧的對(duì)它表示關(guān)切的人走去時(shí)的樣子？我的麥姬走路時(shí)就是那個(gè)樣子。 迪伊生的比麥姬白一些，頭發(fā)也好看一些，身材也豐滿一些。還有迪伊，我遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)看見她站在她經(jīng)常從其中挖樹膠的那棵香楓膠樹底下，望著屋上最后一塊燒成灰黑色的木板朝著燒紅了的滾燙的磚砌煙囪方向塌下來時(shí)，她臉上呈現(xiàn)出一幅非常專注的神色。我和麥姬毫無辦法，一無所知地困坐在那里，她的聲音凌駕于我們之上。我常常是費(fèi)了好大的勁才克制住自己沒把她抓著使勁搖抖。 我自己從未受過教育。她溫厚地、結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地讀者，因?yàn)樗床磺宄｛溂ЫY(jié)婚后，我將閑坐在家里，也許只對(duì)自己唱唱教堂歌曲，盡管我從來唱不好，總是走調(diào)，我對(duì)于男人活兒倒是更在行。房子沒有真正的窗戶，只是側(cè)面墻上挖了幾個(gè)洞，有點(diǎn)像船上的舷窗，但又不是圓的，也不是方形的。她曾寫信告訴我說，無論我們“選擇”何處定居，她都會(huì)設(shè)法來看我們，但卻不會(huì)帶她的朋友上門。 她有過幾個(gè)朋友的。當(dāng)時(shí)她難過得很，冷靜不下來。她的腿看起來總是那么齊整，好像是上帝親自為她特意定做的似的。”裙子的顏色也花哨的耀眼，大塊大塊的黃色和橙色，亮得可以反射太陽(yáng)的光線。衣裙長(zhǎng)大寬松，迎風(fēng)飄蕩。隨著她的一句“阿薩拉馬拉吉姆，我母親和妹妹！”那位頭發(fā)垂至肚臍眼的矮胖男人也笑著走上前來。她轉(zhuǎn)身往汽車方向走回去。她每拍一張照片總要認(rèn)認(rèn)真真地選好鏡頭把屋子拍進(jìn)去?？雌饋戆⑺_拉馬拉吉姆是想同她握手，但又想把握手的動(dòng)作做的時(shí)髦花哨一點(diǎn)?！笨寺鼏獭?！”“我無法忍受照那些壓迫我的人的名字個(gè)我取名。迪茜是我的妹妹，她名叫迪伊。 “但她的名字又是依照誰的名字取得呢？”萬杰羅追問道。 “她的名字又是照誰的名字取得呢？”萬杰羅逼問道?！霸龠h(yuǎn)的我就記不得了，”我說。他還和萬杰羅在我的頭頂上空頻遞眼色。 “我知道這名字起初聽起來有點(diǎn)別扭，”萬杰羅說。我試著念了兩三次都念錯(cuò)了，于是他就叫我干脆稱呼他哈吉姆阿巴波就行了。他們總是忙忙碌碌的：喂牲口，修籬笆，扎帳篷，堆草料，等等?！?他們沒有告訴我，我也沒開口去問，萬杰蘿(迪伊)究竟是不是同他結(jié)婚了。一切都令她高興，就連我們?nèi)栽谑褂弥?dāng)初她爸爸因?yàn)橘I不起椅子而做的條凳這種事情也令她感興趣。接著，她嘆了一口氣，她的手放在迪伊外婆的黃油碟上捏攏了。她看了看攪乳器，又望了望里面的酸奶?！拔疫€想要那根攪乳棒。“他的名字叫亨利，但人們總叫他史大西?！?　　 她將攪乳棒包裹起來，把柄還露在外頭。攪乳棒的木料取自大迪伊和史大西住過的庭院中長(zhǎng)的一棵樹，木質(zhì)呈淺黃色，甚是好看。這兩床被子是迪伊外婆用一塊塊小布片拼起來，然后由迪伊姨媽和我兩人在前廳的縫被架上絎縫而成的。 “你何不拿另外一兩床呢?”我問道。那些被子的邊線都是機(jī)縫的。想想看吧!”她生怕別人會(huì)搶去似的牢牢抓住被子，一邊用手在上面撫摸?！　　澳憧炊嗖缓?jiǎn)單!”她又低聲贊嘆了一句，一邊把被子緊緊抱在懷里。“她可能會(huì)蠢得將它們當(dāng)成普通被子來使用。她當(dāng)時(shí)對(duì)我說那被子老掉牙了，沒個(gè)樣子?！?　　迪伊(萬杰蘿)惡狠狠地看著我?！　　白屗萌グ?，媽媽，”她說著，就像一個(gè)已經(jīng)習(xí)慣于從來也得不到什么，或從來沒有什么東西屬于她一樣。她能自己縫制被子是迪伊外婆和大迪伊教的。 　我這樣看著她時(shí)，突然產(chǎn)生了這樣一種感覺：似乎頭頂上受了什么東西的敲擊，其力量白頭頂直透腳心。 “你拿兩床別的被子吧，”我對(duì)迪伊說。　　“你的遺產(chǎn)，”她說?！?　她戴上一副大太陽(yáng)鏡，把下巴和鼻尖以上的整個(gè)面孔全遮住了。