Chapter 55 Chapter Fifty-Five

Dr. Coutras was an old French gentleman, tall and stout, his body shaped like a gigantic duck's egg.A pair of sharp blue eyes are full of kindness, and from time to time, their gaze falls on the poop's big belly with complacency.His face is red and his hair is all white. He is a person who can make people like him at first sight.He received us in a room that might have been the size of a house in a French backwoods town, and contained a curious Persian knick-knack or two.He took one of mine in both his own--they were large--and looked at me warmly, but shrewdly in his eyes.When he shook hands with Captain Bruno, he greeted the captain's wife and children politely.For a few minutes, everyone was exchanging greetings, chatting about some family affairs on the island, and the harvest of coconut and vanilla fruit this year, etc. Then we brought up the main topic of this visit.

I can't repeat Dr. Coutras's words now, but I can only express them in my own words, because his narration is so vivid that it loses its interest after I repeat it. This is a pity.His voice is deep, sonorous, and magnetic, which matches his huge body, and his tone of voice is vivid and dramatic.Listening to his narration, as the idiom says, is vivid, even more exciting than watching a good drama. The course of the matter is roughly like this.Dr. Kutras went to Taravao one day to see an old matriarch who was sick.He described the fat old lady vividly.She was lying on a huge bed, smoking a cigarette, surrounded by a group of dark-skinned attendants.After seeing her, he was ushered into another room where he was treated to a meal—sashimi, fried bananas, chicken, and something else he couldn't figure out, a typical native meal.While he was eating, he saw a tearful young girl being chased away from the door.He didn't pay attention at the time, but when he went out and boarded the carriage to go home, he saw her again, standing not far away.She looked at him with a sad expression, and tears streamed down her cheeks.He asked the person next to her what happened to her.Someone told him that the girl came down from the mountain and wanted him to see a sick white man.They've told her not to bother the doctor.He called her over and asked her himself what she wanted to do.She told him that Ata had sent her, and Ata, who had worked at the Flower Hotel before, said that Redbeard was ill.She gave him a crumpled newspaper, and when he opened it, he found a hundred-franc note inside.

"Who's 'Redbeard'?" he asked a man standing by the side of the road. The man told him that's what they called an Englishman, a painter, who lived with Ata in a valley about seven kilometers from here.From the descriptions of these people, he knew that "Redbeard" was Strickland.But he can only go there on foot, so he can't just go there, which is why they want to drive the little girl away. "Frankly," the doctor said, turning to me, "I was hesitant. I didn't want to go back and forth for fourteen kilometers on a very difficult trail, and there was no way I'd make it back to Papi that night. Mentioned. Plus I don't have a soft spot for Strickland either. He's an idle, useless thug who would rather live with a local woman than work for a living like the rest of us. My God, how did I know that one day the whole world came to the conclusion that he was a genius? I asked the little girl if he was very sick and why couldn't he come to the town to see me. I also asked her what he was like I was sick. She didn't answer, and I pressed her again, perhaps angrily, but she just kept her eyes on the ground and started crying again. Then I just shrugged. Anyway, maybe it's my duty as a doctor, I I can only run once, and I am very unhappy to ask her to lead the way."

When he arrived, the mood had visibly turned from bad to worse.He was sweating profusely, tired and thirsty.Ata was waiting for him, and walked a short way down the path to meet him. "Go get me something to drink before I see any patient, or I'm dying of thirst," he cried. "For God's sake, bring me a coconut." Ata yelled, and a boy ran out, and he climbed up the tree in two or three steps, and quickly dropped an overripe coconut.Ata made a hole in it, and the doctor took a deep breath of coconut water.Then he rolled himself a cigarette and felt much better. "Well, tell me where 'Redbeard' is?" he asked.

"He's in the house, painting. I didn't tell him you were coming. Go in and see him." "But, did he say something was wrong? If he's healthy enough to draw, he should be strong enough to go to Taravao to see me and save me the damn trip. Don't you think Is my time not as valuable as his time?" Ata said nothing, but followed him to the house with the boy.The little girl who had brought him was sitting on the terrace, where an old lady was lying with her back to the wall, rolling a local cigarette.Aita pointed to the door, the doctor was a little annoyed, and also curious why they behaved so strangely.On entering the door, the doctor found Strickland cleaning his palette and a picture on the easel.Strickland, wearing only the Palio, was standing with his back to the door, and at the sound of boots he turned and turned to the doctor with a sullen face.He was surprised to see the doctor, and a little annoyed at the intrusion.However, the doctor gasped, and his feet were nailed to the floor.He was stunned, this was something he hadn't expected at all, and his whole body was shrouded in fear.

"You came in without knocking," said Strickland. "Is there anything I can do for you?" The doctor came back to himself, but it was with great difficulty that he could speak, and all his unhappiness melted away, and he felt—oh, yes, I can't deny it—a sense of pity welling up in him. "I'm Dr. Kutras. I was treating the female chief in Taravao. Aita sent someone to find me and asked me to treat you." "She's a fucking idiot. I've been a little sore lately, and I've had a little fever, but it's nothing serious, and it's gone. The next time anyone goes to Papeete, I'm going to have some quince brought to me." Ning come."

"You better look in the mirror yourself." Strickland glanced at him with a smile, and went to the mirror on the wall.The mirror was cheap, mounted in a small wooden frame. "What's wrong?" "Don't you see the strange change in your face? You don't see your features swelled up, and this look—how shall I describe it?—is called a 'lion's face' in books. My poor friend , do I have to point out to you that you are suffering from a terrible disease?" "me?" "When you look at yourself in the mirror, you see the typical leper appearance."

"You're joking," said Strickland. "I hope it's a joke, too." "Are you going to tell me that I have leprosy?" "Unfortunately, this is beyond doubt." Dr. Coutras had pronounced death sentences on many patients, but each time he did so he could not overcome the terror that filled his heart.He felt that these condemned patients would compare themselves with the doctor, and that they must always be angry and resentful at the thought of the incalculable privileges the doctor enjoyed over life, both physically and mentally.Strickland looked at him in silence, and there was no change of emotion in his face, which was distorted by the hideous disease.

"Do they know?" he asked finally, pointing to the people on the terrace, where they were now sitting in an uncharacteristic, incomprehensible silence, instead of their usual bustle. "These locals are well aware of the symptoms of the disease," the doctor said, "and they are afraid to tell you." Strickland walked to the door and looked out.There must have been something terrible in his face, for suddenly they all burst into mournful weeping, and the wailing grew louder and louder.Strickland looked at them for a while without speaking, and then went back into the room again.

"How long do you think I'll live?" "Who knows? Sometimes the disease lasts twenty years. It would be God's mercy to die earlier." Strickland went to the easel and looked thoughtfully at the picture which stood there. "You have come a long way to get here. It is fitting that he who brings important news should be rewarded. Take this painting, it means nothing to you now, but there may be Then one day, you'll be happy to have it." Dr. Coutrass protested that he did not need to be paid to come here, and that he had returned the hundred francs to Eta, but Strickland insisted that he accept the painting.Then they both went out to the terrace together.The sobs of the natives grew louder.

"Quiet, woman, dry your tears," said Strickland to Ata. "It's no big deal. I'll be leaving you soon." "They won't take you away?" she cried. At that time, there were no strict isolation measures for leprosy patients in the islands. If the patients wanted to, they could move freely. "I'm going into the mountains," said Strickland. Ata stood up, facing him. "If others choose to leave, let them go, but I will not leave you, you are my man, I am your woman, if you leave me, I will hang myself on the big tree behind the house .I swear to God, I will do what I say." When she said this, there was a kind of indomitable stubbornness in her tone.She was no longer the docile, weak little native girl, but a strong-willed woman who had undergone a radical change. "Why are you staying with me? You can go back to Papeete and soon you'll find another white man for a husband. The old lady at home can take care of the kids and Tiari sees you go back Will be very happy." "You are my man, I am your woman. Wherever you go, I will follow you." For a moment Strickland's hard heart was shaken and softened, and tears filled his eyes and streamed slowly down his cheeks.After a while he broke into his usual sarcastic smile again. "Women are strange creatures," he said to Dr. Kutesla. "You can treat them like dogs, you can whip them until your arms are sore, and they still love you." He shrugged. , "Of course, Christianity thinks they have souls too, which is really absurd and whimsical." "What are you talking to the doctor about?" Ata asked suspiciously, "You're not leaving, are you?" "If you won't let me go, I'll stay, poor boy." Ata fell on her knees before him, wrapped her arms around his legs, and kissed them.Strickland looked at Dr. Coutras and smiled slightly. "At the end of the day, they'll still grab you, and you won't be able to break free in their hands. Whether it's a white woman or a brown woman, they're all the same." Dr. Coutrass felt that it would be absurd to express regret in the face of such a terrible disaster, and he decided to take his leave.Strickland called Tanai, the boy who picked coconuts, and told him to show the doctor back to the village.Dr. Coutras paused for a moment, then said to me as if talking to himself: "I don't like him, as I told you, I don't like him. But as I walked slowly back to Taravao, I couldn't help admiring his stoic courage. Facing Perhaps the most dreadful disease of mankind, he still remains calm and courageous. When Tane broke up with me, I told him that I would send some medicine over there, which might be of some use. But I don't count on Strick Lan would be happy to take these medicines, and of course, I don't expect his condition to improve after taking them. I also sent a message from the little boy to Ata that whenever she sent someone for me, I would come. Life is It is hard, and nature sometimes takes pleasure in torturing its own children. It is with a heavy heart that I drive back to my warm and cozy home in Papeete." For a long time, neither of us spoke. "But Ata didn't send for me afterwards," the doctor continued at last, "and it just so happens that I haven't been to that part of the island for a long time, so I haven't heard from Strickland either. Once or twice I heard that Ata came to Papeete to buy some painting materials, but I never met her. It was more than two years before I went to Taravao again, After seeing the elderly chiefwoman again, I asked them if they had heard anything of Strickland. By this time the news of his leprosy had spread everywhere. At first , it was the little boy Tane who left the house, and a short time later the old lady and her granddaughter. There were only Strickland and Ata and their children left. No one dared to go near their plantations. Because, as you know, the locals had a real fear of the disease, and, in the old days, if anyone was found to have it, the sick would have been killed. But sometimes When the boys in the village climbed up the hill, they would see the white man with the red beard wandering on the hill. The children would run away in fright. Sometimes, Ata would come to the village in the dark , knocked on the door of the grocery store, and bought all the things she needed. She knew that the local villagers regarded her with the same terrible disgust as Strickland, so Ata avoided them. Once, several A woman ventured closer to the plantation than usual, and when they saw her washing clothes in the stream, they threw stones at her. From then on, the villagers gave way to the grocer to send a message to Ata: If she used that creek again, the men of the village would go and burn her house down." "These bastards," I said. "Don't say that, my dear sir, men are all alike. Fear makes them cruel... I decided to go and see Strickland, and when I had seen the sheikh I had a boy show me I have lost my way, but no one is willing to go with me, so I have to bite the bullet and grope my way alone." When Dr. Coutras arrived at the plantation, a feeling of unease settled over him.Although it was very hot to walk, I couldn't help shivering.There was something hostile in the air that made him hesitate, and he felt unseen forces standing in his way, invisible hands that seemed to be pulling him back.Now no one dares to come close to pick up coconuts, so the coconuts have rotted on the ground, and every place is a desolate and dilapidated scene.The brush was eating away at the cleared land, and it looked as if the virgin forest would soon reclaim the land that must have been laboriously cleared before.He vaguely felt that this was the place where pain resided.As he approached the house, he was overwhelmed by an otherworldly silence.At first he thought the house was abandoned, but then he saw Ata.She was sitting cross-legged in the sloping kitchen shed, staring at a huge pile of cooking pots, and beside her, a little boy was playing quietly in the dirt.When she saw the doctor, she didn't smile. "I'll come and see Strickland," he said. "I'll go and tell him." She walked to the house, went up a few steps to the terrace, and went inside.Dr. Coutras followed her, but waited outside the house for her gesticulation before entering.When she opened the door he caught a fishy-sweet smell, that sickening smell always found in leper districts.He heard her talking, and then Strickland's answer, but he could hardly recognize the voice, it was hoarse and indistinct.Dr. Coutras raised his eyebrows. He judged that the disease had invaded the patient's vocal cords.Then Ata came out. "He doesn't want to see you, so you have to go." Dr. Coutras insisted on seeing Strickland, but she would not let him in.Dr. Coutras shrugged, thought for a while, then turned and walked away.She came out with him, and he felt that Ata wanted him to leave too. "Is there nothing I can do to help you?" he asked. "You can send him some paints," she said, "he needs nothing else." "Can he still draw?" "He's painting on the walls in the house." "Life is terrible for you, my poor child." Then at last she smiled, and in her eyes there was a light beyond human love.Dr. Coutras was startled, then amazed, then awed by it.He found himself speechless. "He's my man," she said. "Where's your other kid?" he asked. "You had two kids the last time I was here." "Yes. Another child died, and we buried him under that mango tree." Ata walked a little way with him, and she said she must go back.Dr. Coutras understood that she was afraid of going too far, and that she would be in trouble if she ran into someone from the village.He told her again that if she needed him, she just had to send a message and he would be there at once.