當好奇害死貓

譯◎蹇友萊 繪◎馬豆子

I t w a s drizzling①the day we named our dog Curiosity after he killed the Siamese cat that belonged to the lady down the street. My mother had said the dog couldn't stay, but after it got its name, it was too late．

You can banish②it but once the cat has a name, it is family. My mother had hated that Siamese cat. She always said it looked down its nose at her. She wasn't sorry it was dead. My mother didn't like the Cat Lady, either. She liked the Cat Lady even less when the Cat Lady showed up at the front door in her bathrobe③and required$1,000 to buy a new cat. My mother suggested that she should go to Siam and get a homeless cat off the street for free. From the living room, my father suggested that she should go to hell.

But the Cat Lady did not go anywhere. Ignoring the suggestions, she sat down on our front steps and settled in for a long stay. My parents adopted the same principle for dealing with the Cat Lady as they used with my brothers when they did something they should not have: They ignored her. When it started to pour, I decided to bring her a cup of tea. The Cat Lady invited me to sit with her, and she cried because I was such a dear and because her cat was dead and because rain was getting into her tea and because she did not want to go home to her empty house with Pansy's blood on the kitchen fl oor. Pansy was the cat．

那 天，天空飄灑著綿綿細雨，在那只狗咬死了女街坊的暹羅貓之后，我們給它取了個名字——好奇。媽媽曾說過不能收留那只狗，但當它有了我們給它的名字后，媽媽就來不及反對了。

在它沒有名字的時候，你可以拋棄它。一旦你給了它一個名字，它就是你家的一分子了。媽媽不喜歡暹羅貓，因為她說暹羅貓總是愛在她面前擺出一副瞧不起人的樣子。因此，那只貓的死沒有讓她感到一絲的惋惜。媽媽同樣也不喜歡那只貓的主人，尤其是當她穿著浴袍站在我家門前，要求我們賠償—千美元給她重新買只貓的時候。媽媽建議她去暹羅的大街上免費撿一只流浪貓。正在起居室的爸爸聽到她們的對話后，直接叫她滾。

但是女街坊卻沒有就此離開，她沒有聽進去我爸媽的話，甚至還在我們門前的臺階上坐了很久。爸爸和媽媽采取了通常用來應付我和兄弟們的原則來應付她：他們忽視她。當雨開始越下越大的時候，我決定給她泡一杯茶。她讓我坐在她的身邊，哭了起來。或許是因為我的親切，也或許是因為她的貓的死去，又或許是因為雨滴落入了她的茶里，也或許只是因為她不想回到那空蕩蕩的屋子里，看到廚房中那浸染了潘西血的地板。潘西是那只被咬死的暹羅貓的名字。

父親送我和兄弟們去她家里幫她把房子收拾干凈，她才愿意離開。好奇緊跟在我們的后面，當它看到貓的尸體時，它竟大聲地叫了起來。兄弟們蹲在潘西身體的旁邊，戳了戳她，看看她是否會有什么反應。當然，什么反應都不會有。

在我抹廚房地板的時候，我的腦海中閃現了一個決定：我寧愿自己在淋漓的鮮血中死去，也不愿在平淡乏味的人生中茍活。我不想躺在床上，把頭埋進枕頭里，直到有一天在一堆皺巴巴的白毯子和床單里死去。不，我想讓我的死亡充滿色彩，充滿激情。人生就是一場斗爭，有斗爭就應該有死亡，死亡的存在或許是為了更好的斗爭吧。

兄弟們將潘西埋在庭院里，并在她的墓地上種了一些快要枯萎的杜鵑花。在兄弟們打算蓋上那用作潘西的棺材的紙盒時，我注意到了印在盒子上面的話：請用心對待，否則一切都會太晚。

My father sent my brothers and me to clean up the Cat Lady's house, so she would go away. The dog followed behind the boys, and he barked loudly when he saw the cat. My brothers crouched④over Pansy's body, poking⑤and prodding⑥to see what she would do. Nothing．

As I mopped the Cat Lady's kitchen floor, I decided I would rather my death be bloody than boring. I did not want to lie in my bed fading into the pillow until I disappeared into a pile of wrinkled white blankets and sheets．No, I wanted there to be color and excitement in my death. Life is a struggle; it seems only appropriate that death should be, too.

My brothers planted Pansy in the backyard. They lowered her into the ground, alongside some drooping azaleas⑦. Before the boys covered the cardboard⑧box that was Pansy's coffin with dirt, I noticed the words printed on top of the box: Handle with Care. Too late.

① drizzle 英 ['dr?z(?)l] 美 ['dr?zl]vi. 下毛毛雨 vt. 下毛毛雨 n. 細雨，毛毛雨

② banish 英 ['b?n??] 美 ['b?n??] vt. 放逐；驅逐

③ bathrobe 英 ['bɑ?θr??b] 美 ['b?θrob] n. 浴衣；睡衣

④ crouch 英 [kra?t?] 美 [kra?t?]vi. 蹲伏，蜷伏；卑躬屈膝 vt. 低頭；屈膝 n. 蹲伏

⑤poke 英 [p??k] 美 [pok] vi. 刺，捅；戳；伸出；刺探；閑逛 vt. 刺，捅；戳；撥開n. 戳；刺；袋子；懶漢

⑥ prod 英 [pr?d] 美 [prɑd]n. 刺針；刺棒；刺激，激勵 vt. 刺，戳；刺激 vi. 刺；捅

⑦ azalea 英 [?'ze?l??] 美 [?'zel??] n. 杜鵑花

⑧ cardboard 英 ['kɑ?db??d] 美 ['kɑrdb?rd]n. [紙] 硬紙板；紙板箱；卡紙板 adj. 不真實的；硬紙板制的