九味书屋 > 文学经管电子书 > 百年孤独(英文版) >

第94部分

百年孤独(英文版)-第94部分

小说: 百年孤独(英文版) 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



he only one who did not think that he was making fun of somebody。 Even the proprietress; who normally did not take part in the conversation argued with a madam’s wrathful passion that Colonel Aureliano Buendía; of whom she had indeed heard speak at some time; was a figure invented by the government as a pretext for killing Liberals。 Gabriel; on the other hand; did not doubt the reality of Colonel Aureliano Buendía because he had been a panion in arms and inseparable friend of his greatgreatgrandfather Colonel Gerineldo Márquez。 Those fickle tricks of memory were even more critical when the killing of the workers was brought up。 Every time that Aureliano mentioned the matter; not only the proprietress but some people older than she would repudiate the myth of the workers hemmed in at the station and the train with two hundred cars loaded with dead people; and they would even insist that; after all; everything had been set forth in judicial documents and in primaryschool textbooks: that the banana pany had never existed。 So that Aureliano and Gabriel were linked by a kind of plicity based on real facts that no one believed in; and which had affected their lives to the point that both of them found themselves off course in the tide of a world that had ended and of which only the nostalgia remained。 Gabriel would sleep wherever time overtook him。 Aureliano put him up several times in the silver workshop; but he would spend his nights awake; disturbed by the noise of the dead people who walked through the bedrooms until dawn。 Later he turned him over to Nigromanta; who took him to her wellused room when she was free and put down his account with vertical marks behind the door in the few spaces left free by Aureliano’s debts。
   In spite of their disordered life; the whole group tried to do something permanent at the urging of the wise Catalonian。 It was he; with his experience as a former professor of classical literature and his storehouse of rare books; who got them to spend a whole night in search of the thirtyseventh dramatic situation in a town where no one had any interest any more in going beyond primary school。 Fascinated by the discovery of friendship; bewildered by the enchantments of a world which had been forbidden to him by Fernanda’s meanness; Aureliano abandoned the scrutiny of the parchments precisely when they were beginning to reveal themselves as predictions in coded lines of poetry。 But the subsequent proof that there was time enough for everything without having to give up the brothels gave him the drive to return to Melquíades?room; having decided not to flag in his efforts until he had discovered the last keys。 That was during the time that Gaston began to wait for the airplane and Amaranta ?rsula was so lonely that one morning she appeared in the room。
   “Hello; cannibal;?she said to him。 “Back in your cave again??
   She was irresistible; with a dress she had designed and one of the long shadvertebra necklaces that she herself had made。 She had stopped using the leash; convinced of her husband’s faithfulness; and for the first time since her return she seemed to have a moment of ease。 Aureliano did not need to see her to know that she had arrived。 She put her elbows on the table; so close and so helpless that Aureliano heard the deep sound of her bones; and she became interested in the parchments。 Trying to overe his disturbance; he grasped at the voice that he was losing; the life that was leaving him; the memory that was turning into a petrified polyp; and he spoke to her about the priestly destiny of Sanskrit; the scientific possibility of seeing the future showing through in time as one sees what is written on the back of a sheet of paper through the light; the necessity of deciphering the predictions so that they would not defeat themselves; and the Centuries of Nostradamus and the destruction of Cantabria predicted by Saint Milanus。 Suddenly; without interrupting the chat; moved by an impulse that had been sleeping in him since his origins; Aureliano put his hand on hers; thinking that that final decision would put an end to his doubts。 She grabbed his index finger with the affectionate innocence with which she had done so in childhood; however; and she held it while he kept on answering questions。 They remained like that; linked by icy index fingers that did not transmit anything in any way until she awoke from her momentary dream and slapped her forehead with her hand。 “The ants!?she exclaimed。 And then she fot about the manuscripts; went to the door with a dance step; and from there she threw Aureliano a kiss with the tips of her fingers as she had said goodbye to her father on the afternoon when they sent her to Brussels。
   “You can tell me later;?she said。 “I fot that today’s the day to put quicklime on the anthills。?
   She continued going to the room occasionally when she had something to do in that part of the house and she would stay there for a few minutes while her husband continued to scrutinize the sky。 Encouraged by that change; Aureliano stayed to eat with the family at that time as he had not done since the first months of Amaranta ?rsula’s return。 Gaston was pleased。 During the conversations after meals; which usually went on for more than an hour; he plained that his partners were deceiving him。 They had informed him of the loading of the airplane on board a ship that did not arrive; and although his shipping agents insisted; that it would never arrive because it was not on the list of Caribbean ships; his partners insisted that the shipment was correct and they even insinuated that Gaston was lying to them in his letters。 The correspondence reached such a degree of mutual suspicion that Gaston decided not to write again and he began to suggest the possibility of a quick trip to Brussels to clear things up and return with the airplane。 The plan evaporated; however; as soon as Amaranta ?rsula reiterated her decision not to move from Macondo even if she lost a husband。 During the first days Aureliano shared the general opinion that Gaston was a fool on a velocipede; and that brought on a vague feeling of pity。 Later; when he obtained deeper information on the nature of men in the brothels; he thought that Gaston’s meekness had its origins in unbridled passion。 But when he came to know him better and realized his true character was the opposite of his submissive conduct; he conceived the malicious suspicion that even the wait for the airplane was an act。 Then he thought that Gaston was not as foolish as he appeared; but; quite the contrary; was a man of infinite steadiness; ability; and patience who had set about to conquer his wife with the weariness of eternal agreement; of never saying no; of simulating a limitless conformity; letting her bee enmeshed in her own web until the day she could no longer bear the tedium of the illusions close at hand and would pack the bags herself to go back to Europe。 Aureliano’s former pity turned into a violent dislike。 Gaston’s system seemed so perverse to him; but at the same time so effective; that he ventured to warn Amaranta ?rsula。 She made fun of his suspicions; however; without even noticing the heavy weight of love; uncertainty; and jealousy that he had inside。 It had not occurred to her that she was arousing something more than fraternal affection in Aureliano until she pricked her finger trying to open a can of peaches and he dashed over to suck the blood out with an avidity and a devotion that sent a chill up her spine。
   “Aureliano!?She laughed; disturbed。 “You’re too suspicious to be a good bat。?
   Then Aureliano went all out。 Giving her some small; orphaned kisses in the hollow of her wounded hand; he opened up the most hidden passageways of his heart and drew out an interminable and lacerated intestine; the terrible parasitic animal that had incubated in his martyrdom。 He told her how he would get up at midnight to weep in loneliness and rage over the underwear that she had left to dry in the bathroom。 He told her about the anxiety with which he had asked Nigromanta to howl like a cat and sob gaston gaston gaston in his ear; and with how much astuteness he had ransacked her vials of perfume so that he could smel

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的