百年孤独(英文版)-第90部分
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the stealthy beauty of a serpent of the Nile gave him the medicine the name of which Jos?Arcadio had written down on a piece of paper。 The second view of the deserted town; barely illuminated by the yellowish bulbs of the street lights; did not awaken in Aureliano any more curiosity than the first。 Jos?Arcadio; had e to think that he had run away; when he reappeared; panting a little because of his haste; dragging legs that enclosure and lack of mobility had made weak and heavy。 His indifference toward the world was so certain that a few days later Jos?Arcadio violated the promise he had made to his mother and left him free to go out whenever he wanted to。
“I have nothing to do outside;?Aureliano answered him。
He remained shut up; absorbed in the parchments; which he was slowly unraveling and whose meaning; nevertheless; he was unable to interpret。 Jos?Arcadio would bring slices of ham to him in his room; sugared flowers which left a springlike aftertaste in his mouth; and on two occasions a glass of fine wine。 He was not interested in the parchments; which he thought of more as an esoteric pastime; but his attention was attracted by the rare wisdom and the inexplicable knowledge of the world that his desolate kinsman had。 He discovered then that he could understand written English and that between parchments he had gone from the first page to the last of the six volumes of the encyclopedia as if it were a novel。 At first he attributed to that the fact that Aureliano could speak about Rome as if he had lived there many years; but he soon became aware that he knew things that were not in the encyclopedia; such as the price of items。 “Everything is known;?was the only reply he received from Aureliano when he asked him where he had got that information from。 Aureliano; for his part; was surprised that Jos?Arcadio when seen from close by was so different from the image that he had formed of him when he saw him wandering through the house。 He was capable of laughing; of allowing himself from time to time a feeling of nostalgia for the past of the house; and of showing concern for the state of misery present in Melquíades?room。 That drawing closer together of two solitary people of the same blood was far from friendship; but it did allow them both to bear up better under the unfathomable solitude that separated and united them at the same time。 Jos?Arcadio could then turn to Aureliano to untangle certain domestic problems that exasperated him。 Aureliano; in turn; could sit and read on the porch; waiting for the letters from Amaranta ?rsula; which still arrived with the usual punctuality; and could use the bathroom; from which Jos?Arcadio had banished him when he arrived。
One hot dawn they both woke up in alarm at an urgent knocking on the street door。 It was a dark old man with large green eyes that gave his face a ghostly phosphorescence and with a cross of ashes on his forehead。 His clothing in tatters; his shoes cracked; the old knapsack on his shoulder his only luggage; he looked like a beggar; but his bearing had a dignity that was in frank contradiction to his appearance。 It was only necessary to look at him once; even in the shadows of the parlor; to realize that the secret strength that allowed him to live was not the instinct of selfpreservation but the habit of fear。 It was Aureliano Amador; the only survivor of Colonel Aureliano Buendía’s seventeen sons; searching for a respite in his long and hazardous existence as a fugitive。 He identified himself; begged them to give him refuge in that house which during his nights as a pariah he had remembered as the last redoubt of safety left for him in life。 But Jos?Arcadio and Aureliano did not remember him。 Thinking that he was a tramp; they pushed him into the street。 They both saw from the doorway the end of a drama that had began before Jos?Arcadio had reached the age of reason。 Two policemen who had been chasing Aureliano Amador for years; who had tracked him like bloodhounds across half the world; came out from among the almond trees on the opposite sidewalk and took two shots with their Mausers which neatly penetrated the cross of ashes。
Ever since he had expelled the children from the house; Jos?Arcadio was really waiting for news of an ocean liner that would leave for Naples before Christmas。 He had told Aureliano and had even made plans to set him up in a business that would bring him a living; because the baskets of food had stopped ing since Fernanda’s burial。 But that last dream would not be fulfilled either。 One September morning; after having coffee in the kitchen with Aureliano; Jos?Arcadio was finishing his daily bath when through the openings in the tiles the four children he had expelled from the house burst in。 Without giving him time to defend himself; they jumped into the pool fully clothed; grabbed him by the hair; and held his head under the water until the bubbling of his death throes ceased on the surface and his silent and pale dolphin body dipped down to the bottom of the fragrant water。 Then they took out the three sacks of gold from the hiding place which was known only to them and their victim。 It was such a rapid; methodical; and brutal action that it was like a military operation。 Aureliano; shut up in his room; was not aware of anything。 That afternoon; having missed him in the kitchen; he looked for Jos?Arcadio all over the house and found him floating on the perfumed mirror of the pool; enormous and bloated and still thinking about Amaranta。 Only then did he understand how much he had began to love him。
Chapter 19
AMARANTA ?RSULA returned with the angels of December; driven on a sailor’s breeze; leading her husband by a silk rope tied around his neck。 She appeared without warning; wearing an ivorycolored dress; a string of pearls that reached almost to her knees; emerald and topaz rings; and with her straight hair in a smooth bun held behind her ears by swallowtail brooches。 The man whom she had married six months before was a thin; older Fleming with the look of a sailor about him。 She had only to push open the door to the parlor to realize that her absence had been longer and more destructive than she had imagined。
“Good Lord;?she shouted; more gay than alarmed; “it’s obvious that there’s no woman in this house!?
The baggage would not fit on the porch。 Besides Fernanda’s old trunk; which they had sent her off to school with; she had two upright trunks; four large suitcases; a bag for her parasols; eight hatboxes; a gigantic cage with half a hundred canaries; and her husband’s velocipede; broken down in a special case which allowed him to carry it like a cello。 She did not even take a day of rest after the long trip。 She put on some worn denim overalls that her husband had brought along with other automotive items and set about on a new restoration of the house。 She scattered the red ants; who had already taken possession of the porch; brought the rose bushes back to life; uprooted the weeds; and planted ferns; oregano; and begonias again in the pots along the railing。 She took charge of a crew of carpenters; locksmiths; and masons; who filled in the cracks in the floor; put doors and windows back on their hinges; repaired the furniture; and whitewashed the walls inside and out; so that three months after her arrival one breathed once more the atmosphere of youth and festivity that had existed during the days of the pianola。 No one in the house had ever been in a better mood at all hours and under any circumstances; nor had anyone ever been readier to sing and dance and toss all items and customs from the past into the trash。 With a sweep of her broom she did away with the funeral mementos and piles of useless trash and articles of superstition that had been piling up in the corners; and the only thing she spared; out of gratitude to ?rsula; was the daguerreotype of Remedios in the parlor。 “My; such luxury;?she would shout; dying with laughter。 “A fourteenyearold grandmother!?When one of the masons told her that the house was full of apparitions and that the only way to drive them out was to look for the treasures they had left buried; she replied amid loud laughter that she did not think it was right for men