诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第2章Part 14
Beloved looked at the sweet bread in Denver's hands and Denver held it out to her. She smiledthen and Denver's heart stopped bouncing and sat down — -relieved and easeful like a travelerwho had made it home.
From that moment and through everything that followed, sugar could always be counted on toplease her. It was as though sweet things were what she was born for. Honey as well as the wax itcame in, sugar sandwiches, the sludgy molasses gone hard and brutal in the can, lemonade, taffyand any type of dessert Sethe brought home from the restaurant. She gnawed a cane stick to flaxand kept the strings in her mouth long after the syrup had been sucked away. Denver laughed,Sethe smiled and Paul D said it made him sick to his stomach.
Sethe believed it was a recovering body's need — -after an illness — for quick strength. But it wasa need that went on and on into glowing health because Beloved didn't go anywhere. There didn'tseem anyplace for her to go. She didn't mention one, or have much of an idea of what she wasdoing in that part of the country or where she had been. They believed the fever had caused hermemory to fail just as it kept her slow-moving. A young woman, about nineteen or twenty, andslender, she moved like a heavier one or an older one, holding on to furniture, resting her head inthe palm of her hand as though it was too heavy for a neck alone.
"You just gonna feed her? From now on?" Paul D, feeling ungenerous, and surprised by it, heardthe irritability in his voice.
"Denver likes her. She's no real trouble. I thought we'd wait till herbreath was better. She still sounds a little lumbar to me."
"Something funny 'bout that gal," Paul Dsaid, mostly to himself.
宠儿看看丹芙手里的甜面包，丹芙递了过去。她随即笑了，丹芙的心也不再狂跳，落了下来———宽慰和轻松得如同游子回了家。
从那一刻起，一直到后来，糖总是能用来满足她。好像她天生就是为了甜食活着似的。蜂蜜和蜂蜡都时兴起来，还有白糖三明治、罐子里已经干硬的糖浆、柠檬汁、胶糖，以及任何一种塞丝从餐馆带回家来的甜点。她把甘蔗嚼成亚麻状，糖汁吮净后好长一段时间还把渣子含在嘴里。丹芙哈哈大笑，塞丝抿嘴微笑，而保罗·D说这让他难受得直反胃。
塞丝相信这是痊愈时———大病之后———为了迅速地恢复体力而必需的。然而这个需求一直坚持了下去，尽管后来宠儿健康得红光满面，她仍然赖着不走。似乎没有她去的地方。她没提起过一个地方，也不大明白她在这里干什么，或者她曾经在哪里待过。他们认为那次高烧造成了她的记忆丧失，同样也造成了她的行动迟缓。一个年纪轻轻的女人，也就十九、二十岁，长得又苗条，可她行动起来却像个更重、更老的人：扶着家具，用手掌托着脑袋休息，好像它对于脖子来说太沉了。
“你就这么养活着她？从今往后？”保罗·D听出自己声音里的不快，对自己的不够大度非常吃惊。
“丹芙喜欢她。她并不真添麻烦。我觉得我们应该等她的呼吸更好些再说。我听着她还有点毛病。”
“那姑娘有点怪。”保罗·D说道，更像是自言自语。
