3. Pâng-keng ke pâi chi̍t-téng chhn̂g
M̄-koh, kin-á-ji̍t ê hái soa-po͘ chin tiām. Téng-koân ê lâng-lâng lóng pêng-chēng, bâ-pì, a̍h sī ài-khùn. Siàu-lú hō͘-siong boah iâ-chí iû tī tùi-hong boah bē tio̍h ê só͘-chāi. Yin hoat chhut makaron ê khì-bī. Yin hian-khui ná lâ-á-khak ê hún-piáⁿ a̍p-á; kiàⁿ chiò tio̍h ji̍t-thâu, hoán-siā pe̍h-sek kng-sòaⁿ kòe he kim-ku̍t ê keng-kah-thâu. Yin kō͘ si-á-hoe se tâm thâu-mo͘, he sī ùi "Cha̍p-chhit Chheng-chhun" (Seventeen) tiān-sī-kio̍k o̍h tio̍h ê. Yin kek kok-chióng chu-sè.
Chi̍t-tīn kē-pôaⁿ ê chhia thêng óa teh khòaⁿ, chah chi̍t-chhiú bihlù. Tng chă-gín-á kiám-cha yi pha̍k o͘ ê sòaⁿ ê sî, in chhut siaⁿ hiu. Bihlù lim liáu, in mā lī-khui -- kā chhia sái chiūⁿ sam-sòaⁿ-lō͘.
Tī chit-chióng oa̍h-thiàu ê kiān-khong téng-koân, sī Palm Royale tōa-lâu chhat hóe-ho̍h hún-âng sek ê siang thih-kè pêⁿ-tâi. Tī hia, ta̍k-kái ōaⁿ chhn̂g-toaⁿ ê sî chóng hoat-hiān ū lâng sí khì. Chhia-tō téng thêng chi̍t-tâi kiù-hō͘ chhia, chhun-ê chū-hō͘ kui-pâi chē tī lō͘-tâi, iô-iô hàiⁿ-hàiⁿ, bô kóng bô tàⁿ, gāng-gāng.
In teh khòaⁿ ê hái chin hûi-hiám, m̄-nā ū àm-lâu, mā kiông boeh ē-tàng khòaⁿ tio̍h soa-hî ê bóe ia̍t-leh ia̍t-leh, án-ne lâi ûi-chhî sin-khu tī chúi-té siû-tāng.
Yi nā khòaⁿ kòe-lâi, yi tō ē-tàng ùi yi ê thang-á khòaⁿ tio̍h kî-tiong ê chi̍t pō͘-hūn. I khó-lêng ē sī tē-it ê kóng, boeh chhut tāi-chì sī gōa-nī-á pháiⁿ àn-sǹg.
*
Góa tńg lâi pâng-keng ê sî, hia ke pâi chi̍t-téng chhn̂g!
Ū chi̍t tiap-á kú góa bô hoán-èng. Jiân-āu, he ná hian-khui ê koaⁿ-chhâ kòng tio̍h góa.
Góa siūⁿ, yi ta̍k hun-cheng lóng su-iàu góa. Yi boeh kă khîⁿ sí.
"Lí bô tú tio̍h Gussie," yi kóng.
Gussie sī yin pē-bú ê khàn-hō͘, thé-tāng 300 pōng, hoān ū hoat-chok-sèng ài-khùn pēⁿ, óng-óng ē tī ut-saⁿ ê sî hoat-chok. Yin tau ê chím-thâu-thò sì-kho͘-liàn-tńg lóng ū tio̍h-hóe-sio jiah.
"Tùi yi lâi kóng, chit-chōa lō͘ chin sin-khó͘," góa kóng. "Yi hó bô?"
"Hmh, yi bô khùn khì, lí kám sī teh mn̄g che. Gussie chin hó -- lí kám chai yi kóng siáⁿ? Yi kóng, ‘Chhin-ài-ê, lí bián hoân-ló. Chí-iàu kî-tó, kūi lo̍h thô͘-kha’ -- góa, góa sīm-chì bô hoat-tō͘ lo̍h bîn-chhn̂g."
Yi kā keng-thâu giâ chi̍t-ē. "Góa ū chhò-kòe siáⁿ-mi̍h bô?"
"Chit-chūn sī tē-tāng khì-hāu," góa kā yi kóng.
"Kóng tio̍h tē-tāng," yi kóng, "siōng hó sī mài tòa tī California."
"Án-ne chin ū-hāu," góa kóng. "Lí ê kháu-khì kài sêng Ike Bo̍k-su -- ‘Kóng tio̍h sàn-liông-lâng, siōng hó sī lán lóng m̄-thang sàn.’"
Goán lóng teh siáu Ike Bo̍k-su.
Góa chù-ì tio̍h yi ê bīn hàng-hàng.
"Lí chai bô," yi kóng, "góa ê kám-kak chin bái. Góa tit-boeh bē-sái koh kún-sńg ah."
"Kó͘-chá lâng bat án-ne kóng," góa kóng. "Iá lông ū-sî mā ē tiām; goe̍h-niû ū-sî mā ē pūi."
"He sī siáⁿ, Navaho?"
"Palm Royale tōa-thiaⁿ ê loān-ōe," góa kóng. "Góa tī hia bé chi̍t-hūn pò-chóa. Góa lâi liām che siáⁿ hō͘ lí thiaⁿ."
"Chún-kóng góa siáⁿ to bô koan-sim?"
Góa hian kàu ū sió tì-sek choan-nôa hit ia̍h. Góa kóng, "Lí kám chai, hóe-ho̍h chia̍h lú chē hê-á, in ê ú-mô͘ ê sek tō lú hún-âng?" Góa kóng, "Lí kám chai, Eskimo lâng mā su-iàu peng-siuⁿ? Lí kám chai, sī án-nóa in su-iàu peng-siuⁿ? Lí kám chai, Eskimo lâng su-iàu peng-siuⁿ, in-ūi nā bô án-ne, in boeh án-nóa pó-chhî si̍t-bu̍t mài kiat-peng?"
Góa hian kàu tē-3 ia̍h, sī UPI sin-bûn-siā ê chi̍t-tiâu Mexico Chhī ê sin-bûn. Góa tha̍k hō͘ thiaⁿ: LÂNG KŌ͘ KE-Á CHHIÚⁿ GÎN-HÂNG, kóng ū chi̍t-ê cha-po͘-lâng ùi lī gîn-hâng bô hn̄g ê lō͘-piⁿ-tàⁿ bé chi̍t-chiah hang hó ê ke. Keng-kòe gîn-hâng ê sî, i hiông-hiông tit-tio̍h chit-ê siūⁿ-hoat. I ji̍p-khì gîn-hâng, kiâⁿ ǹg chi̍t-ê kūi-tâi-oân. I kō͘ hit-ê chang-sek ê chóa-tē-á pí yi, iá yi tō kā hit-ji̍t siu-tio̍h ê chîⁿ kau hō͘ i. Lo̍h-bóe sī in-ūi hang ke ê khì-bī i chiah khì hông lia̍h tio̍h.
*
Chit-ê kò͘-sū hō͘ yi kám-kak iau, yi án-ne kóng -- chū án-ne, góa tah tiān-thui lo̍h la̍k chàn lâu, lâi chū-chō͘ chhan-thiaⁿ, bé kok-chióng yi ài chia̍h ê ais-krím tńg-lâi. Goán sio-keh-piah tó lo̍h-lâi, kā bîn-chhn̂g ká koân kàu sek-ha̍p khòaⁿ tiān-sī ê kak-tō͘, phōe-toaⁿ téng pho͘ móa "Hó Chhiò-khoe" ê pau-chong chóa, ná ùi se-pò͘ ni hang hēng-jîn lâi chia̍h. Goán tō ná chhiūⁿ Lucy kap Ethel, Mary kap Rhoda tī kek-toan ê chōng-thài. Pah-hio̍h-thang koaiⁿ tio̍h, bián-tit kng-sòaⁿ chiò tio̍h gîn-bō͘.
Goán khòaⁿ chi̍t-chhut tiān-iáⁿ, nn̄g-ê lâm chú-kak sī kòe-khì goán kah-ì hō͘ i khùn ê cha-po͘. Yi kah-ì ê sī chi̍t-ê nāi-chhau ê hêng-sū, iân-lō͘ chó͘-tòng góa só͘ kah-ì ê, chi̍t-ê siâ-ok kiông-kan hoān, choan-bûn chhōe ke-bóe-chiú ho̍k-bū-oân hē-chhiú.
"Che sī chi̍t-chhut hó tiān-iáⁿ," tī in nn̄g-lâng lóng hō͘ siā-kek-chhiú tōaⁿ sí ê sî, yi án-ne kóng.
Góa í-keng teh su-liām yi ah.
*
- -
3. 房間加排一頂床
M̄-koh, 今仔日 ê 海沙埔真恬. 頂懸 ê 人人 lóng 平靜, 麻痺, a̍h 是愛睏. 少女互相抹椰子油 tī 對方抹袂著 ê 所在. 姻發出 makaron ê 氣味. 姻掀開 ná 蜊仔殼 ê 粉餅盒仔; 鏡照著日頭, 反射白色光線過彼金滑 ê 肩胛頭. 姻 kō͘ 絲仔花梳澹頭毛, 彼是 ùi "十七青春" (Seventeen) 電視劇學著 ê. 姻激各種姿勢.
一陣低盤 ê 車停倚 teh 看, 扎一手 bihlù. Tng chă 囡仔檢查她曝烏 ê 線 ê 時, in 出聲咻. Bihlù 啉了, in mā 離開 -- kā 車駛上三線路.
Tī 這種活跳 ê 健康頂懸, 是 Palm Royale 大樓漆火鶴粉紅色 ê 雙鐵架平台. Tī hia, 逐改換床單 ê 時總發現有人死去. 車道頂停一台救護車, 賰 ê 住戶規排坐 tī 露台, 搖搖幌幌, 無講無呾, 愣愣.
In teh 看 ê 海真危險, 毋但有暗流, mā 強欲會當看著鯊魚 ê 尾擛 leh 擛 leh, án-ne 來維持身軀 tī 水底泅動.
她若看過來, 她 tō 會當 ùi 她 ê 窗仔看著其中 ê 一部份. 伊可能會是第一个講, 欲出代誌是 gōa-nī-á 歹按算.
*
我轉來房間 ê 時, hia 加排一頂床!
有一霎仔久我無反應. 然後, he ná 掀開 ê 棺柴摃著我.
我想, 她逐分鐘攏需要我. 她欲 kă khîⁿ 死.
"你無拄著 Gussie," 她講.
Gussie 是姻爸母 ê 看護, 體重 300 磅, 患有發作性愛睏病, 往往會 tī 熨衫 ê 時發作. 姻兜 ê 枕頭套四箍輾轉 lóng 有著火燒跡.
"對她來講, 這逝路真辛苦," 我講. "她好無?"
"Hmh, 她無睏去, 你敢是 teh 問這. Gussie 真好 -- 你敢知她講啥? 她講, ‘親愛 ê, 你免煩惱. 只要祈禱, 跪落塗跤’ -- 我, 我甚至無法度落眠床."
她 kā 肩頭夯一下. "我有錯過啥物無?"
"這陣是地動氣候," 我 kā 她講.
"講著地動," 她講, "上好是莫蹛 tī California."
"Án-ne 真有效," 我講. "你 ê 口氣蓋成 Ike 牧師 -- ‘講著 sàn-liông 人, 上好是咱 lóng 毋通 sàn.’"
阮 lóng teh 痟 Ike 牧師.
我注意著她 ê 面 hàng-hàng.
"你知無," 她講, "我 ê 感覺真䆀. 我得欲袂使 koh 滾耍 ah."
"古早人 bat án-ne 講," 我講. "野狼有時 mā 會恬; 月娘有時 mā 會吠."
"彼是啥, Navaho?"
"Palm Royale 大廳 ê 亂畫," 我講. "我 tī hia 買一份報紙. 我來念 che 啥予你聽."
"準講我啥 to 無關心?"
我掀到有小智識專欄彼頁. 我講, "你敢知, 火鶴食 lú 濟蝦仔, in ê 羽毛 ê 色 tō lú 粉紅?" 我講, "你敢知, Eskimo 人 mā 需要冰箱? 你敢知, 是 án-nóa in 需要冰箱? Lí kám 知, Eskimo 人需要冰箱, 因為若 bô án-ne, in 欲 án-nóa 保持食物莫結冰?"
我掀到第 3 頁, 是 UPI 新聞社 ê 一條 Mexico 市 ê 新聞. 我讀予聽: 人 KŌ͘ 雞仔搶銀行, 講有一个查埔人 ùi 離銀行無遠 ê 路邊擔買一隻烘好 ê 雞. 經過銀行 ê 時, 伊雄雄得著這个想法. 伊入去銀行, 行 ǹg 一个櫃台員. 伊 kō͘ 彼个棕色 ê 紙袋仔比她, iá 她 tō kā 彼日收著 ê 錢交予伊. 落尾是因為烘雞 ê 氣味伊才去 hông 掠著.
*
這个故事予她感覺枵, 她 án-ne 講 -- 自 án-ne, 我搭電梯落六層樓, 來自助餐廳, 買各種她愛食 ê ais-krím 轉來. 阮相隔壁倒落來, kā 眠床絞懸到適合看電視 ê 角度, 被單頂鋪滿 "好笑詼" ê 包裝紙, ná ùi 紗布 ni 烘杏仁來食. 阮 tō ná 像 Lucy kap Ethel, Mary kap Rhoda tī 極端 ê 狀態. 百葉窗關著, 免得光線照著銀幕.
阮看一齣電影, 兩个男主角是過去阮佮意予伊睏 ê 查埔. 她佮意 ê 是一个耐操 ê 刑事, 沿路阻擋我所佮意 ê, 一个邪惡強姦犯, 專門揣雞尾酒服務員下手.
"這是一齣好電影," tī in 兩人 lóng 予射擊手彈死 ê 時, 她 án-ne 講.
我已經 teh 思念她 ah.
*
- -
3.
But the beach is standing still today. Everyone on it is tranquilized, numb, or asleep. Teenaged girls rub coconut oil on each other's hard-to-reach places. They smell like macaroons. They pry open compacts like clam-shells; mirrors catch the sun and throw a spray of white rays across glazed shoulders. The girls arrange their wet hair with silk flowers the way they learned in Seventeen. They pose.
A formation of low-riders pulls over to watch with a six-pack. They get vocal when the girls check their tan lines. When the beer is gone, so are they—flexing their cars on up the boulevard.
Above this aggressive health are the twin wrought-iron terraces, painted flamingo pink, of the Palm Royale. Someone dies there every time the sheets are changed. There's an ambulance in the driveway, so the remaining residents line the balconies, rocking and not talking, one-upped.
The ocean they stare at is dangerous, and not just the undertow. You can almost see the slapping tails of sand sharks keeping cruising bodies alive.
If she looked, she could see this, some of it, from her window. She would be the first to say how little it takes to make a thing all wrong.
*
There was a second bed in the room when I got back to it!
For two beats I didn't get it. Then it hit me like an open coffin.
She wants every minute, I thought. She wants my life.
"You missed Gussie," she said.
Gussie is her parents' three-hundred-pound narcoleptic maid. Her attacks often come at the ironing board. The pillowcases in that family are all bordered with scorch.
"It's a hard trip for her," I said. "How is she?"
"Well, she didn't fall asleep, if that's what you mean. Gussie's great—you know what she said? She said, ‘Darlin', stop this worriation. Just keep prayin', down on your knees'—me, who can't even get out of bed."
She shrugged. "What am I missing?"
"It's earthquake weather," I told her.
"The best thing to do about earthquakes," she said, "is not to live in California."
"That's useful," I said. "You sound like Reverend Ike—‘The best thing to do for the poor is not to be one of them.' "
We're crazy about Reverend Ike.
I noticed her face was bloated.
"You know," she said, "I feel like hell. I'm about to stop having fun."
"The ancients have a saying," I said. "'There are times when the wolves are silent; there are times when the moon howls.'"
"What's that, Navaho?"
"Palm Royale lobby graffiti," I said. "I bought a paper there. I'll read you something."
"Even though I care about nothing?"
I turned to the page with the trivia column. I said, "Did you know the more shrimp flamingos birds eat, the pinker their feathers get?" I said, "did you know that Eskimos need refrigerators? Do you know why Eskimos need refrigerators? Did yo now that Eskimos need refrigerators because how else would they keep their food from freezing?"
I turned to page three, to a UPI filler datelined Mexico City. I read her MAN ROBS BANK WITH CHICKEN, about a man who bought a barbecued chicken at a stand down the block from a bank. Passing the bank, he got the idea. He walked in and approached a teller. He pointed the brown paper bag at her and she handed over the day's receipts. It was the smell of barbecue sauce that eventually led to his capture.
*
The story had made her hungry, she said—so I took the elevator down six floors to the cafeteria, and brought back all the ice cream she wanted. We lay side by side, adjustable beds cranked up for optimal TV-viewing, littering the sheets with Good Humor wrappers, picking toasted almonds out of the gauze. We were Lucy and Ethel, Mary and Rhoda in extremis. The blinds were closed to keep light off the screen.
We watched a movie starring men we used to think we wanted to sleep with. Hers was a tough cop out to stop mine, a vicious rapist who went after cocktail waitresses.
"This is a good movie," she said when snipers felled them both.
I missed her already.
*
- -
No comments:
Post a Comment