Chapter 13 Chapter Six (2)

Two days later she received a very different letter from him, handwritten on linen paper, with the full name of the sender clearly visible on the back of the envelope.It was still the same as the first few letters, in swashbuckling.Ebullient as before, but only a brief paragraph thanking her for greeting him at church, especially when it was different from others.After reading this letter, Fermina was very excited for several days.The next Thursday, she went to ask that Lucreshin with a clear mind if she had met Florentino Ariza, the owner of the river steamer, by chance.Lucreshji answered in the affirmative, "A licentious devil." She repeated the usual remark that he was a very nice man who never courted women.She has a secret place where she takes boys she catches on the pier at night.Fermina had heard such legends since she could remember, and she didn't believe it, and never took it to heart.But when she heard Luke Rexiwan repeating this statement with such certainty, she was eager to make things clear.There was a time when it was rumored that Rukreshi Ash was also a man with different interests.Fermina told Rucresciki that she had known Florentino Ariza since she was a child, and that she remembered his mother running a haberdashery on Via Pentanas, where she bought used shirts and sheets during the Civil War, dismantled them and dismantled them. Sold as first aid cotton.Finally, she concluded with complete confidence: "He is a decent man, very cautious in his world." She was so impulsive that Lucretia retracted her statement: "In the end, that's what people say about me." Fermi Na had no interest in asking himself why he was so passionately protective of a man who was merely a shadow in his own life.She continued to miss him, especially when the postman came and did not bring the letter.

There had been no news for two full weeks, and one day a maid gently woke her from her nap in terror: "Ma'am," said the maid, 'Mr. Florentino is here. " It's really coming.Fermina's first reaction was panic.She thought, this won't work, let him find a suitable time to come another day, she can't receive him now, and there is nothing to talk about.But she immediately recovered her composure, and told the maid to take him into the drawing room, and serve him coffee first, and then she would see him after she cleaned up.Ariza waited at the door in the blazing sun at three o'clock in the afternoon, trying to control her emotions.The conviction that he was ready for Fermina's polite refusal also restored his composure.But the message that came out shocked him, and as he stepped into the cool shadows of the hall, he had little time to think about the miracle he was experiencing, and his stomach was immediately filled with painful bubbles.He sat down, holding his breath, the bloody memory of that first love letter being smeared with bird droppings stubbornly recurring in his mind.He sat motionless in the gloom, and after the first shiver passed, he resolved to accept any misfortune at the moment, so long as the bird droppings did not fall on him again.

Everyone knew that, although he was constipated from birth, three or four times over the years his stomach had openly betrayed him and forced him to submit.Only in these cases, and in other moments of extreme urgency, did he discover the truth of what he liked to say in jest: "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of God." He didn't have time to doubt: he thought of praying A word that came to mind, but couldn't find it anywhere.When he was young, a child once taught him a few very effective words when he used five heads to shoot birds: "Hit, hit, or if you don't hit, I will cut off your head and kill you." When he took a new slingshot up the mountain once, he tried it, and Wuzhen was hit all at once.He vaguely thought that one thing ought to have something to do with the other, and he repeated the words with prayerful zeal, but without the same effect.The intestines twisted like a spiral shaft, forcing him to stand up from the chair. The gas bubbles in his stomach became more and more painful, and finally he complained, making him break out in a cold sweat.The coffee maid was horrified by his deathly paleness.He sighed and said, "It's too hot." She opened the window, thinking it would suit him, but the afternoon sun happened to hit his face, and they had to close the window again.He knew in his heart that he couldn't bear it for even a minute.At this moment, Fermina suddenly appeared in Mengying, and she was also shocked to see him like this.

"You can take off your coat," she said. The pain in his stomach was unbearable, but what hurt him even more was that she would hear the gurgling in his stomach.He held back, said "no", and walked over to ask when he would see her again.She stood there, puzzled and said, "Aren't you here already?" She asked him to follow her to the flower bed in the courtyard, where it was cooler.He said, in what seemed to her more like a sigh of regret: "I beg you, I'll come tomorrow." She remembered that tomorrow was Thursday, her regular visit to Lucresh, and then she made a decision that he could not argue with: "Five o'clock in the afternoon the day after tomorrow." Ariza thanked her and made a hasty gesture with her hat in hand. Saying goodbye, he left without taking a sip of coffee.She stood in the middle of the hall, not understanding what happened just now, the sound of the car began to disappear at the end of the hall.Ariza sat in the back seat of the car, found a position that relieved the pain, closed her eyes, relaxed her muscles, and pulled her belly hard.It was like coming back to life again.The driver, who had been driving for him for many years, was not surprised by this, but when he got to the door, the driver opened the door for him and said to him: "Be careful, Mr. Florentino, this looks like cholera!"

However, that is an ordinary thing.When the maid led Florentino Ariza through the dark hall and into the garden flower beds on Friday afternoon, he thanked God for his gift and saw Fermina sitting at a small table for two.She asked him what tea he would like, chocolate or coffee.Florentino Ariza ordered a hot, strong coffee.She told the maid, "I'm the same as usual." The so-called normal is to drink various mixed oriental strong drinks, which are specially used for refreshing after a nap.He finished his coffee when she finished her tea.They talked about a few things, and interrupted several times, not because they were really interested in these new topics, but because they wanted to avoid other topics that neither he nor she dared to touch.Both were a little frightened, neither of them knowing what to do with the things they faced, so far from their youth, on the tessellated flower beds of the house that still smelled of cemetery flowers.This was the first time after half a century that the two sat face to face, watching each other peacefully for a long time.They all saw the mystery: they had become two half-buried old men with nothing in common except a memory of a brief past.The past belonged not to them, but to two young men who had disappeared, who might have become their children.He would finally believe his dreams were impossible, she thought, and that would save him from his inappropriate words and actions.

In order to avoid unpleasant silences or unwilling subjects, she asked some easy-to-answer questions about inland navigation.Incredibly, as the owner, he had only sailed on the river once many years ago, and at that time he had no connection with the company.For some reason, she thought he would tell her everything. Nor did she know anything about inland shipping.Her husband was disgusted with the Andean air, and he found all sorts of reasons why the mountains were bad for the heart, about the danger of pneumonia, about the cunning of the people, about the injustice of centralized power, and so on.So they travel halfway around the world without knowing their own country.

At present, there is a Junker, with two pilots, carrying six passengers and mailbags, flying from one village to another in the Magdalena River Valley like an ant bomb made of aluminum.“It was like a coffin in the sky,” Ariza commented. She had been on her first balloon ride and wasn’t frightened at all, but she could hardly believe that she was the one who took the risk."It's changed," she said. She meant that she had changed, not that the way she traveled had changed. The sound of the plane often surprised her.She had seen the Dagger fly low and perform acrobatics at the centenary of the Liberator's death.Eleven of them, as black as a giant dumpling, flew over the roofs of the La Manga area, touched a wing on a nearby tree, and hung on an electric wire.In this way, Fermina still did not feel the existence of the plane.In recent years, she has not even been interested in enjoying the beauty of Manzanillo Harbor.There, guard boats drove away a growing number of fishing boats and pleasure boats to allow seaplanes to anchor.And so, when she was so old and chosen to bring a bouquet of roses to welcome Charles Lindbergh, who flew joyfully, she could not understand how such a tall and handsome man with such golden hair could do so at such a time. One like corrugated tin.How can it rise in a machine that is helped by two mechanics pushing the tail!Such a small plane can accommodate eight people, she thought over and over again, but couldn't figure it out.On the contrary, she had heard that river boat travel was a pleasant thing, because they didn't rock as much as seagoing ships, but there were other, more serious dangers, like sand steamers running aground and robbers robbing them.

Ariza told her that those were all legends of the past.Today's ships have dance halls and spacious and luxurious sleeping cabins like hotel rooms, with toilets and electric fans in the sleeping cabins.Armed robbery hasn't happened since the last civil war.He also told her confidently that these advances can be said to be all due to the freedom of navigation he advocated and the encouragement of competition.As competition broke the previous exclusivity, three shipping lines emerged. They are all active and thriving.However, the rapid development of the aviation industry constitutes a real threat to the entire inland shipping industry.She tried to reassure him, saying that steamships would always exist, because airplanes seemed unnatural, and not many lunatics would go into them after all.Finally, Florentino Ariza spoke of the development of the postal service, both in transport and in distribution, and tried to get her to talk about his letters, but without success.

However, after a while, the opportunity came.Their conversation has strayed far away.At this point the maid interrupted their conversation and handed Fermina an urgent letter that had just arrived by the postman.This type of express mail was invented only recently and used the same classification system as the telegraph.As usual, she couldn't find the glasses to read the letter for a while, and Florentino Ariza was calm. "No need," said he, "I wrote the letter." This is true. He wrote that letter the day before. At that time, he felt an indelible shame for the failure of the first meeting, and his mood was very depressed.In it, he asked her to forgive him for visiting without prior permission and said he would never go again.Zhou Xiang threw the letter into the mailbox without thinking about it.When he regained consciousness, it was too late to retrieve the letter.However, he felt that there was no need for so much explanation.Just beg Fermina not to read the letter.

"Of course," she said, "the letter belongs to the sender after all. Doesn't it?" He took a firm step. "Yes," he said, "so when the relationship breaks down, the letter is the first thing returned." She didn't pay attention to his intention, and returned the letter to him, saying: "It's a pity that I don't read the letter, because the previous letter has benefited me a lot." He took a deep breath, and she said it so naturally, it made him Big surprise."You can't imagine how happy I am!" he said to her, but she changed the subject again, and he failed to mention the letter all afternoon.

After six o'clock, the lights in the house were all turned on, and he said goodbye and went home.He felt very confident, but he dared not think otherwise, because he had not forgotten Fermina's changeable character and unpredictable resistance when she was twenty, and he had no reason to think that she had changed.Therefore, he took the courage to ask her sincerely and humbly if he could come again some other day. The answer he got was beyond his expectations. "Come whenever you want," she said. "I'm almost always alone." Four days later, on Tuesday, he arrived at Fermina's house unannounced.Before the servant brought her tea, she told him how useful his letters had been to her.Strictly speaking, he said, they were not letters, but episodes from a book he wanted to write.She understands that too.She wanted, therefore, to return the letters to him, in order to put them to better use, assuming he did not take it as a contempt.She went on to speak of the great strength those letters gave her during her difficult days.She spoke with such enthusiasm, so grateful, perhaps with affection, that Florentino Ariza dared to take a big step forward on the basis of a firm one. "We used to be called 'you'," he said. "Once upon a time" is a taboo word.She felt that the illusory angel from the past came to Yi I again, and she wanted to avoid him, but he said more bluntly: "I mean it was called so in our previous letters." She was not happy with this remark, Great efforts had to be made to keep him unaware.But he noticed it, and he knew that he should be more cautious and tentatively move forward.Although the soft nails he met told him that she was still as unapproachable as when she was young, she had learned to use a gentle expression to conceal her violent character. "I mean," he said, "the letters from the past are a whole other thing." "Everything has changed in the world," she said. "But I haven't changed," he said. "and you?" She didn't drink her second cup of tea, scolding him with the same undisguised look in her past. "I asked for nothing more," she said. "I'm seventy-two years old." Ariza was hit hard.He really wanted to find a word to refute her immediately.But he is too old and has more than enough energy.He had never been so tired from such a short conversation.He felt his heart throbbing, and with each beat the arteries made a metallic sound.He feels old, sad and useless.He was so anxious that he wanted to cry, so that he could not speak.They drank their second cup of tea in foreboding silence.When she began to speak again, she was already asking the servant to get the envelope.He had almost begged her to keep the letters because he had a copy, but in retrospect it would have seemed less noble to keep a copy.They had nothing left to say. Before leaving, he proposed to meet again at the same time on the following Tuesday.Fermina wondered whether he should promise him. "I don't know what's the point of seeing each other all the time." "I didn't even think it was interesting," he said. So he went again at 5 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, and all Tuesdays thereafter, without notice as usual, because by the end of the second month, the weekly meeting had become the habit of the two of them.When going, Ariza always brought English pastries for tea, candied chestnuts, Greek olives, and delicious bacon and salted fish on ocean liners.One Tuesday he brought her a picture of her with Hildebranda.It was a photograph taken half a century ago by a Belgian photographer who had bought it for a quarter at a postcard auction at Mr. Ghostwriter's Doorway. Fermina did not understand how the photographs had ended up there.He can't understand it either, it can only be said to be a miracle of love.One morning when Florentino Ariza was cutting the roses in the garden, she couldn't help thinking of bringing one to Fermina the next time she went.Because sending flowers to a newly widowed woman, expressing her feelings with flowers has become a problem.A red rose symbolizes fiery passion, which may be an offense to her mourning.Yellow roses sometimes symbolize good luck, but more often than not, they are a sign of jealousy.Someone had talked to him about Turkish black roses, maybe that would be the best, but he didn't have any in his yard.After much deliberation, he finally decided to take the risk of taking a white rose, which he himself did not like as much as the other roses, because it was plain and meaningless.At the last moment, in order to prevent Fermina from worrying about the meaning of the rose thorns, he broke off all the thorns. Fermina felt that the white rose was not a gift with ulterior motives, so she happily accepted it.This has since enriched the content of their meeting on Tuesday.Whenever Florentino Ariza arrived with white roses in her hand, she had prepared a vase of water in the center of the coffee table.One Tuesday, when he was putting roses in a vase, he asked as if by accident: "When we were young, we didn't send roses, but camellias." "Yes," she said, "but with a different meaning, you know." It was always like this: he wanted to move forward, and she blocked the way.But this time, although she answered perfectly, Florentino Ariza saw that he had hit the mark, because she had to turn her face away so that he could not see the flush on her face: it was a fiery flush, full of life. The flush of youth.He had tugged at her heart, made her displeased with herself.Florentino Ariza was careful to turn the conversation to less provocative questions, but he was so polite, so humble, that she knew that he had been found out, which added to her anger.They had a bad day this Tuesday.She almost begged him not to come again.But after thinking about it, at their age, it would be absurd to still quarrel like an unmarried couple.So she couldn't help laughing herself.The next Tuesday, when Florentino Ariza put the roses in the vase, they asked themselves and were pleased to find that the events of the previous week had left her not even the slightest complaint. The meeting soon grew into an uncomfortable situation, and Fermina's sons and daughters also participated.Her son, Dr. Urbino Daza, and his wife often appeared unexpectedly and stayed to play cards.Ariza didn't know how to play cards, but Fermigan taught him in just one Tuesday, so the two wrote a challenging invitation letter to Urbino Daza and his wife, asking them to come to play cards on the next Tuesday .Everyone felt that they were having a good time, and soon they would play cards together every time they met, and they had agreed on what everyone would play when they played cards.Urbino Daza and his wife—she is an excellent pastry chef, and each time brings a strange big cake that is different from the last time.Florentino Ariza brought fresh food from European ships.Fermina also racked his brains and came up with something new and unexpected every week. There is a poker tournament every third Tuesday of the month, not for money, but the loser has to make a special contribution at the next poker poker session. Everyone's impression of Dr. Urbino Daza is: his demeanor is reserved, whether he is happy or angry, he seems to be suddenly frightened, and his untimely blush makes people worry about his sanity.But there was no doubt, and it was obvious at a glance, that what Ariza cared most about was right: he was a decent man.His wife, on the other hand, was lively, with a commonplace wit, and everything was done in time and just right, which made her elegance more human.You can't find a better opponent to play poker with than this.Being with them was like being with family, and Ariza's insatiable need for love was satisfied. One evening, as they walked out of the house together, Dr. Urbino Daza asked him to have lunch with him: "Tomorrow at half-past twelve at the Social Club." Poisoned wine.That is to say, it is a desirable place, but it can determine whether a person can enter it for various reasons: one of the most important regulations is that illegitimate children cannot enter.Uncle Leon XII had a very irritating experience in this regard, and Florentino Ariza herself had been insulted.On one occasion, he was invited to dinner by one of the club's founding shareholders, only to be kicked out after sitting down.Ariza had been so helpful to the shareholder in his river-navigation business that the shareholder had to take him to another place for dinner. "We who make the rules are more bound to enforce them," he told him. Nevertheless, Florentino Ariza decided to take the risk with Dr. Urbino Daza.Unexpectedly, he received special treatment. Although he was not required to sign the guest book, it was very honorable.It was just the two of them having lunch, and it was short and of a low standard.Ariza had been apprehensive about the meeting since the afternoon before, and now with an aperitif of Oporto, it all disappeared.Dr. Urbino Daza wanted to talk to him about his mother.After he had been talking for a while, Ariza discovered that she had told her son about him. What is even more surprising is that Fermina lied to his son for him.She told her son that they had been friends since childhood, had played together since she had come from San Juan in the Everglades, that he had first taught her to read, and that she had been grateful to him over the years.She also told her son that when she came out of school, she used to spend hours with his mother, Transito, who was a famous embroiderer, doing embroidery work in the department store.She did not continue to associate with Florentino Ariza, not because of her will, but because they took different paths in life. Dr. Urbino Daza began to ramble about old age before discussing his own intentions.He believed that the world would develop faster without the hindrance of old people.He said: "Human beings are like a field army, advancing at the speed of the slowest man." He predicted that there will be a future society that emphasizes humanity and is therefore more civilized. At that time, people will be isolated in remote cities, One cannot rely on oneself to avoid the shame, pain, and dreadful loneliness of old age, but on society.According to the doctor, he thinks it will take at most sixty years to reach this society.But until this good society comes, the only way out is to build nursing homes, where old people can comfort each other, combine according to their own interests, likes and dislikes, eccentricities and pains, and avoid the natural differences with the generations to come. and.He said: "Old people appear younger among old people." That is to say, Dr. Urbino Daza thanked Ariza for the good help he had given his mother in her widowed solitude, and begged Ariza, for their sake. For the benefit of the two old people, and for everyone to live comfortably, continue to do this, and ask him to be patient with the old mother's strange temper.The result of this meeting made Florentino Ariza feel extremely relieved. "please do not worry," He said, "I'm four years older than her, not just now, but a long time ago, long before you were born." Then, just wanting to say it briskly, he reminded him sarcastically. "In the future society," he concluded, "probably you'll have to go to the cemetery by now, and you'll have to send her and me a bouquet of flowers for lunch." It was then that Dr. Urbino Daza noticed that his prediction was inappropriate.So he quickly explained, but the more he explained, the less clear he was.But Ariza helped him out.He was beaming because he said that sooner or later there would be another meeting like this one with Urbino Daza.It was to fulfill an unavoidable social formality: to formally woo his mother.The lunch was encouraging, not only for the reason itself, but because it showed him how easily an unalterable request would be gladly accepted.If Fermina's permission had been obtained, there would be no more suitable opportunity than this moment.Also, after that historic lunch talk, the demands of conformity seemed superfluous. Even in his youth Ariza took special care when going up and down stairs, because he always believed that old age begins with the first minor fall and death follows the second.He felt that the staircase in his office was more dangerous than all staircases because it was steep and narrow.For a long time, he had to make great efforts to climb the stairs, not only to see each step clearly, but also to hold on to the railing with both hands so as not to stumble and fall to the ground.He has been advised several times to switch to a less dangerous staircase, but each time he puts off making a decision until next month, as he sees it as a surrender to old age.As the years went by, it took him longer to climb the stairs, not because of increasing effort, as he hastily explained, but because he was becoming more careful.However, having dined with Dr. Urbino Daza that afternoon, drank an aperitif of Oporto wine and half a glass of claret with dinner, especially since the conversation was so encouraging, he was delighted to be back. He even tried to jump up the third step with a young man's dance steps, but he sprained his left foot and fell on his back. It's a miracle that he didn't fall to his death!At the moment when he fell, he was still very clear-headed. He thought that he would not be a man who fell and died, because in the logic of life, two people who have loved the same woman so passionately for so many years Men, it is impossible to die in the same way just one year apart.He had a point.His feet and back were put in plaster casts and he was forced to stay in bed.But he is more energetic than before wrestling.When the doctor told him to be immobilized for sixty days, he couldn't believe it would be so unfortunate. "Don't do this to me, doctor," he begged, "my two months are like your ten years However, when he finally started to walk again with his still aching foot and his back still exposed, he had every reason to believe that fate rewarded his perseverance with an unexpected fall. The most irritating day is the first Monday.The pain had subsided, the doctor's predictions had been encouraging, and the next afternoon, for the first time in four months, he was bitter about not being able to see Fermina.However, after a resigned nap, he resigned himself to reality and wrote her a letter begging for forgiveness.It was a handwritten letter, written on fragrant paper, in glowing ink so that she could see it in the dark.In the letter he was thick-skinned, embellished, and exaggerated the facts in a dramatic way in an attempt to arouse her sympathy.She wrote back to him two days later, writing very affectionately and very kindly, but not one word more or one word less, as if in love.He immediately seized the opportunity to write her another letter.When she wrote back to him a second time, he decided to push beyond the limit of his weekly hesitation forever, and put a phone in front of his bed under the pretense of keeping track of the company's daily progress.He asked the switchboard operator to connect him to the three-digit number that had been in his mind since the first call.Due to the long distance, the silver bell-like voice seemed a bit deep, mysterious and tense.But he recognized that it was his lover's voice, and after a few or two usual greetings, he said "goodbye" to him.Ariza was hurt by her indifference.B: They are the same as at the beginning. However, two days later, a letter arrived from Fermina begging him to stop calling her.Her reasons are valid enough.There were only a handful of telephones in the city, and they were connected through an operator who knew all the subscribers, their lives and their anecdotes, and could be found anywhere whether the subscriber was at home or not.Too high work efficiency also has a bad side. She masters all the conversations of users and knows the secrets of their private lives. Even the best-covered dramatic conversations cannot be hidden from her ears. She sometimes even intervenes in users' conversations to express her own opinions. Or to appease their emotions, it is not a rare thing.On the other hand, an evening newspaper called "Ren Yi Bao" was founded in that year. Its sole purpose was to criticize those famous families, and they had no scruples about naming names.It was the revenge of the owner of the newspaper, for his sons had not been admitted to the social club.Although his life is aboveboard, Fermina is more careful than ever about his words and deeds, even with his closest friends.So she still kept in touch with Florentino Ariza through the anachronistic means of letters.Their correspondence was so frequent and tense that Florentino Ariza forgot about his feet and the punishment he had received from his bed, forgot everything else, and concentrated on writing letters on the kind of light table that is used in hospitals for patients to eat. . They addressed each other as "you" again, and exchanged views on their lives as in the previous letters.But Florentino Ariza tried again to go into overdrive: he stabbed her name on a camellia petal with the point of a pin and sent it to her in a letter.The letter was returned two days later without a single word of comment.Fermina couldn't help but think that it was all about children.Especially when Florentino Ariza insisted on recalling those evenings when they recited sentimental verses in the Gospel Park, hiding letters on the way to school, and embroidering under the almond tree, she felt that it was what children did.With anguish in her heart, she puts him in his rightful place, asking him a question that seems accidental in a well-known remark: "Why do you insist on talking about something that doesn't exist?" Later she And blamed him for his obstinate obstinacy in vain disregard for the laws of nature. In her opinion, this was the reason for his recklessness and his failures and misfortunes in the past.She couldn't understand a man who was so good at thinking, whose thinking had supported her so much in her lonely and widowed life, but when he applied these thinking to his own life, he seemed like a child. Childish enough to cocoon itself.So the two fell apart.It was her effort to give him new courage to see the future.She used a sentence he couldn't understand in his haste and bewilderment: let time pass, and we will see what time brings us.However, he was never such a good student as Di.The forced immobility, the growing sense of the passing of time, the feverish desire to see her, all showed him that his fear of falling was more legitimate and more tragic than he had expected.For the first time he began to think rationally about the reality of death. Casciani comes every two days to help him take a bath and change his pajamas.She gave him enemas, fetched him a urinal, applied arnica anthers to the sores on his back, and gave him massages as prescribed to prevent immobility from bringing him other, more serious ailments.She was replaced on Saturdays and Sundays by America Vicuña, who was to be awarded the title of teacher in December of that year, and Ariza promised to send her to the high school in Arabau at the expense of the river shipping company.This was partly for the consolation of his own conscience, above all to avoid her reproaches, and also to spare her the explanations which should have been given to her.He could never imagine the sleepless nights at boarding school, the weekends without him, the pain she endured in life without him.Because he never imagined how much she loved him!He had learned from an official letter from the school that she had dropped from the top of the list to the last, and had barely passed her final exam.However, he evaded his duties as guardian outside the school: in order to avoid being reprimanded for his own fault, he did not report anything to the parents of America Vicuña, nor did he mention it to the girl herself, knowing that She knew, well, that if he blamed her, she would argue that he was responsible for her failure.So, he simply let everything take its course.He did not realize that he had begun to put things off, hoping that death would solve all his problems. Not only the two women who had come to take care of him, but Florentino Ariza himself was amazed by the change in him. Ten years ago, he attacked a maid in a sudden manner behind the stairs in his house, while she was standing there fully clothed, and with a quicker movement than a Filipino cock, he brought her to The state of mind shaking.He had to give her a furnished house to make her swear not to tell the truth by an ordinary fiancé who had never even kissed her.Her father and uncle, both experts at chopping sugar cane, forced her to marry this fiancé.It was unbelievable that to this same man, two women who had made him tremble with love just a few months ago, "now turned him over, soaped him up and down, and put Egyptian cotton towels on him." Drying off and giving him a full body massage, he didn't show any emotional response, nor did he breathe freely. The two women had their own explanations for his incompetence. Casiani thought it was the prelude to death. America Vicuña attributed it to an internal cause that she could hardly catch the signs of.Only he knows the truth, and it has its own name.无论如何，这是不公正的，她们无微不至地侍奉他却忍受痛苦，而他得到如此细心的照料却对一切无动于衷。 仅仅三个星期二阿里萨没有来访，费尔米纳便发觉自己需要他了。她与经常来信的朋友们相处甚佳，随着时间的推移，她早已忘却了丈夫的习惯，她们在一起过得更愉快了。鲁克雷希哑因耳疾去巴拿马治疗，一个月后回来时疼痛减轻了许多，可在耳朵上放了个小助听器，反而使她听力不如以前了。费尔米纳是对她所答非所问、说话乱打岔最有耐心的朋友，使鲁克雷希败十分高兴，每天说不定哪会儿就到费尔米纳家中来了。但是，费尔米纳盼望同阿里萨一起度过的那些平静的下午。是任何人不能代替的。 正如阿里萨坚持认为的那样，对过去的记忆拯救不了未来。相反，它更加使费尔米纳坚信，二十岁时那种年轻人的狂热行为是十分高尚而美好的，但不是爱情。 尽管她生性坦率，她还是无意向他表明这一点，无论是通过信件还是当面。她也没有勇气告诉他，在了解了他写在纸上的对老年的种种思考，并从其中得到莫大安慰后，她认为他信中的缠绵悱恻是多么虚伪，他那抒情诗般的谎言是如何地贬低了他，他那固执地要把过去失去的东西收回来的想法对于他的事业是多么的有害。不，他昔日的信中没有一行字，他自己令人厌恶的年轻时代中没有一刻钟曾使她感到一个星期二的下午由于没有他在身旁而显得如此漫长，如此孤独，如此难以忍受。 有一次，她一时心血来潮，把丈夫在某一个结婚周年纪念日送给她的落地式电唱收音两用机搬到了马厩里去。这台两用机他们曾打算送给博物馆，因为是本城的第二架。在服丧期间，她曾决心不再用它，因为象她这种门第的寡妇，出于对死者的尊重，是不能听任何音乐的，即便私下也不行。但是，过了第三个无聊的星期二之后，她又让人将两用机搬回了大厅，她不愿象从前那样欣赏里奥班巴广播电台的情意缠绵的歌曲，而是为了以古巴圣地亚哥催人泪下的小说来消磨她无事可干的空闲时间。她这样做是对的，自从女儿出生以后，她就开始丢掉丈夫从新婚旅行时就努力在她身上培养的读书习惯，而随着眼力的逐渐衰退，这一习惯她也完全丢弃了。 她甚至到了这样的地步，好几个月都不知眼镜放在何处。 她对古巴圣地亚哥广播小说喜欢得着了谜，天天焦急地等待这一联播节目。有时她也听听新闻，了解一下天下大事。偶尔她一个人在家时，她便将音量放到最低，遥远而清晰地听听圣多明各的梅伦盖舞曲或波多黎各的普列纳舞曲。一天晚上，她突然听到了一个陌生电台的声音，声音又大又清楚，就跟在邻居家里似的。这家电台广播了一条令人心碎的消息、：两个从四十年前开始就在同一个地方重温他们的蜜月的老人，被带他们去游玩的船夫用浆打死了，为的是抢走他们身上所带的十四个美元。当鲁克雷希姐给她讲述了发表在当地报上的事情的全部过程时，她的感触就更为深刻了。警察发现两个老人是被活活打死的，女的七十八岁，男的八十四岁，他们是一对情人，四十年来，一直偷偷地在一块度假，但是他们都有自己的配偶，夫妻关系稳定而幸福，且有众多的子女。 在听广播小说时，费尔米纳从来没哭过，此时她却不得不强忍住泪水。在接着而来的信中，阿里萨将这条消息的简报寄给了她，但没做任何评论。 这不是费尔米纳的最后泪水。本等阿里萨六十无伤愈出门，《任义报》就用整个第一版的篇幅登出了所谓乌尔比诺医生与鲁克雷希姬私通的事，并且登了他们的照片。费尔米纳推测着他们私通的细节、次数，方式以及丈夫与他们蔗糖厂的黑人干这种见不得人的勾当时的细节。用血红的大字体登出来的这篇报道，象一声灾难性轰雷，震动厂本地散居的贵族阶层。报道中没有一行字是真实的：乌尔比诺医生与鲁克雷希娘结婚前就是十分要好的朋友，结婚后仍是如此，但从来不是情人。不管怎么说，发表这篇文章不象是为了玷污乌尔比诺医生的名声，因为想起他，人人都会肃然起敬，而是为了损害鲁克雷希她的丈夫，上个星期他被选为社会俱乐部主任。丑闻没过几个小时就被压下去了。鲁克雷希娘再也未去拜访费尔米纳。费尔米纳认为这等于默认了这一过错。 然而事情很快就清楚了，费尔米纳也未能免遭她那个阶级对她的攻击。《任义报》对她的薄弱之点肆意进行了攻击，这就是她父亲的生意。当父亲被迫出走时，她仅了解他的可疑生意的一段插曲，那是普拉西迪姬告诉她的。后来，当乌尔比诺医生会见省长证实了那件事时，她才相信父亲干了见不得人的事。事情是这样的：两名政府的警察带着搜查令，到了她在福音公园的家，从上到下严格搜了一遍，然而没找到他们要找的东西。最后他们命令打开费尔米纳原来住的房间里的那个带镜子的衣柜。当时只有普拉西迪姐一人在家，又无法告知任何人，她便以没有钥匙为由拒绝打开。那时，一个警察用左轮手枪柄砸碎了门上的玻璃，发现镜子与木板之间塞满了一百美元一张的假钞票。这是一连串跟踪行动的终点，证明了洛伦索?达萨是一笔巨大的国际交易的最后一个环节。这是一次巧妙的诈骗行为，纸币上还带有原钞票的水印：将原值一美元的纸币经过魔术般的化学处理抹去旧版面，印成了一百美元面值的纸币。洛伦索?达萨辩解说，衣柜是女儿结婚后很久才买来的，买来时纸币就应该已藏在里边。但是，警察证实那衣柜从费尔米纳上中学时就在那儿。 除了他之外，不可能有任何人把那些假钱藏入镜子里。这就是乌尔比诺医生与省长说定将岳文送回故土以掩盖丑行后告诉妻子的唯一情况。但报纸上讲的比这要多得多。 报纸说，上一世纪如此频繁的内战中的一次，洛伦索?达萨曾经是自由党人总统阿吉列奥?帕拉政府与一个名叫约瑟夫?克?科泽尼奥夫斯基的波兰人之间的牵线人。后者乘控法国国旗的圣安东尼号商船在此逗留数月，试图做成一笔不明不白的武器生意。这位后来以约瑟夫?孔拉德的名字闻名于世的科泽尼奥夫斯基不知怎么与洛伦索?达萨接上了头。洛伦索?达萨用政府的钱买下了这批武器，他持有政府的委任状和正式收据，而且是用纯金支付的。根据报纸的说法，洛伦索?达萨硬说那批武器在一次偷袭中丢失了，其实那次偷袭根本是不可能的，实际上他是以双倍的价钱把武器卖给了保守党人，供他们跟政府作战。 任义报》还说，洛伦索?达萨以很低的价钱买下了英国军队多余的一批皮靴，那时正值拉斐尔?雷耶斯将军建立了海军。仅此一项交易，他在六个月中就把财富增加了一倍。报纸说，当货物到达港口时，洛伦索?达萨拒收，因为运来的全是右脚的靴子。当海关按现行法律将这批货物拍卖时，又是只有他一个人去购卖，所以只以一百比索的象征性价格成交。与此同时，他的一个同伙以相同的条件买下了另一批左脚穿的靴子，那是在里约阿查到港的。两批靴子配在一起后，洛伦索?达萨便利用与乌尔比诺?德?拉卡列家族的亲戚关系，以百分之两千的利润卖给了新建的海军。 《任义报》的报道最后说，洛伦索?达萨上世纪末离开大沼泽地圣?胡安市并非象他喜欢说的那样，是为了给女儿的未来寻找更好环境，而是由于被发现在他兴隆的烟草生意中掺假，他在进口烟中掺进剁碎的纸屑，干得如此巧妙，连最精明的吸烟者都未曾察觉而受骗。报纸还披露了他与一家地下国际企业的联系。这家企业在上世纪末最后赚钱的业务就是从巴拿马非法引进中国移民。相反，那项如此损他名誉的。人们议论纷纷的贩买骡子的生意，倒象是他所做过的唯一诚实的生意。 当阿里萨伤势未意，生平第一次用手杖代替雨伞出门时，他首先去看的就是费尔米纳。他几乎认不出她来了，年龄使她的皮肤皱皱巴巴，悲愤的心情使她痛不欲生。乌尔比诺?达萨大夫在阿里萨养伤期间曾两次去看望他，告诉了他《任义报》的两篇文章使他母亲多么的痛苦和沮丧。看了第一篇文章，她对丈夫的不忠和女友的背叛愤想已极，几乎失去了理智，以致放弃了每月在星期天去家墓祭奠的习惯，因为他在棺材里听不到她的高声辱骂，她感到肺都气炸了，她要和死人进行决斗。 至于鲁克雷希妞，她让愿意带口信的人告诉她，在那么多睡过她的床的人中间，起码有一个男子汉，她应该为此心满意足了。有关洛伦索?达萨的文章，不知道哪方面对她影响更大，是文章本身，还是发现她父亲的真正身分为时过晚。但是，不管是两者之一，或者两者兼备，反正足以使她垂头丧气了。那为她的容颜大增光彩的灰白色头发，此时变得象黄玉米缨子，那双美丽的母豹眼睛，即使在她暴怒时也不再象昔日那般晶莹发亮。一举一动都表现出不想活下去的决心：本来，吸烟的习惯她早就放弃了，不管是把自己关在卫生间里或采取其它什么方式，可现在她居然第一次在公共场所吸起烟来，而且吸得很凶，开始是吸她自己卷的烟，这是她一直喜欢抽的烟，后来就吸市上最普通常见的烟，因为她已没有时间和耐心去卷了。一个男人，假若不是阿里萨，肯定会问自己，象他这样一位如驴一般生着褥疮的破腿老人，象费尔米纳这样一位除了死亡之外不再渴望别的幸福的女人，未来能给予他们什么呢？可阿里萨不这么想，他从瓦砾中夺回了一线希望之光，他认为费尔米纳的灾难使她显得气度不凡，暴怒使她更为美丽动人，对人世的怨恨必将使她恢复二十岁时的倔强性格。 她感激阿里萨又增加了一个新的理由，那两篇污蔑性的文章发表后，阿里萨给《任义报》去了一封抗议信，提出报纸应对发表的文章负道德责任，对别人的名誉应该尊重。此信未能在该报发表，但他将信抄了一份寄给加勒比海岸历史最久、态度最严肃的报纸摘报》。这家报纸在头版以显著位置把它登了出来。信上的笔名是朱庇特，信中的道理说得那么透沏，那么尖锐，写得那么感人，以致被读者认为是出自省内最有名的作家之手。那是大洋中一个孤独的声音，但传得很远，听起来很深沉。费尔米纳无须打听就知道作者是谁，她看出了阿里萨的一些观点，甚至看出他有关道德见解的原话。因此，尽管她心灰意懒，她还是怀着一种重新复苏的亲切感接待了他。就在这段时间，一个星期六下午，阿美利卡?维库尼亚单独一人在彭塔纳斯大街的寝室中，无意中在一个没上锁的柜子里发现了阿里萨打字信的副本及费尔米纳手写的信。 阿里萨的重新登门，大大振奋了费尔米纳的精神，乌尔比诺?达萨医生甚感高兴。他的妹妹奥费利亚却相反，当她得知费尔米纳与一个品德不好的男人保持一种奇怪的友谊，立刻乘新奥尔良第一艘运输水果的轮船返回来。回家的第一周她就看出了阿里萨在这个家里的作用，并且发现他跟母亲喊喊喳喳一直到深夜，有时还象两个情人似的发生暂短的争执。对这一切，她真是怕极了。在乌尔比诺?达萨大夫看来，两位孤独老人情投意合是件好事，她却认为那是一种秘密同居的放荡行为。 奥费利亚总是这样，她更象祖母布兰卡夫人，仿佛是布兰卡夫人的女儿，而不是她的孙女。她跟她一样出类拔萃，跟她一样自负，跟她一样为偏见所左右。在她看来，一个男人和一个女人之间存在白努无假的友谊是不可思议的，即使年仅五岁的女孩都不可能，更不用说八十岁的女人了。有一次她和哥哥激烈争论时说，阿里萨就差没有最后到她母亲的寡妇床上去安慰她了。乌尔比诺?达萨大夫没有勇气与她对峙，在她面前，他从没有过这种勇气，但是他的妻子插了进来，以平静的语调解释说。 任何年龄的爱情都是合情合理的。奥费利亚听了这话之后气得暴跳如雷。 “我们这种年纪谈爱情已属可笑，”她冲着她喊道，“到他们这种年纪还谈爱情，简直是卑鄙。” 她吵吵嚷嚷，十分激动，坚持要把阿里萨从家中赶出去。她的话终于传到了费尔米纳的耳朵里。象平常一样，费尔米纳不愿佣人们听到她们的谈话，她把女儿叫到寝室去，让她把那指责性的话重说一遍。奥费利亚的话依然是那么严厉，她说，她敢肯定，阿里萨是个浪子，这已是人所共知，他到这个家来是怀有什么不可告人的目的，这对家庭名声的损害要比洛伦索?达萨的种种卑劣行为和乌尔比诺的天真冒险更为严重。费尔米纳一声不吭，甚至连眼皮都不眨一眨地听她讲述。但是，待她讲完时，她可就完全变成了另一个人。 “我难过的是没有力气油价一顿鞭子，你如此大胆放肆，心术不正，实在该这样收拾你。”她说，“但是，你必须马上就从这个家里滚出去。我在面对我母亲的尸骨发誓，只要我还活着，你就别再踏进这个家门。” 没有什么力量能说服她。这样，奥费利亚就只好搬到她哥哥家中去住，从那儿她通过有身分的人向母亲带信，百般央求，希望得到她的原谅。然而，一切都是枉然。就连儿子的调停和好友的介入都未能使她心软。最后，她对一向与之保持某种庸俗同谋关系的儿媳妇吐露出真情：“当年就因为我同这个可怜的男人的关系，人们糟践了我的生活，破坏了我的幸福，因为我们太年轻了，而现在，人们又想把这幕剧重演，因为我们太老了。”想到自己青春年华已被葬送，她真是感慨不已。她用一支烟蒂点着了另一支烟，终于将折磨她五脏六腑的毒汁清除干净了。 “去它的吧！”她说，“如果说我们这些寡妇有什么优趣性的话，那就是再也没有人对我们发号施令了。” 没有什么办法。当奥费利亚最后确信她的一切请求都无济于事的时候，就回到新奥尔良去了。她从母亲那儿唯一得到的是跟她道别，在她多次恳求后，费尔米纳答应了这件事，但不允许她进家。那是她向死去的母亲发了誓的，对她来说，在那些天昏地暗的日子里，母亲的尸骨是唯一干净的东西。 在最后几次造访中，他们常常谈到船只。有一次，阿里萨向费尔米纳发出正式邀请，请她乘船沿河做一次休息性旅行。再乘一天火车，即可到达共和国首都。他们象同时代的大部分加勒比人一样，把首都仍称做圣菲，其实这个名字只是上个世纪才用的。费尔米纳还保留着丈夫的坏毛病，不想去游览那座冰冷阴郁的城市。有人告诉她，在那座城市里，女人们除去听五点钟的弥撒外，都足不出户，即使在公共事务场所也不能进冷饮店。而且，街上时时刻刻都挤满送葬队伍，从驮骡钉铁掌的年代起地面上就留下了一个个的小坑，简直比巴黎还糟糕。相反，河流却强烈地吸引着她，她想看看在沙滩上晒太阳的鳄鱼，想在夜间被海牛的女人般的哭声惊醒。 但是，一想到自己上了年纪，又是个孤身一人的寡妇，去做如此艰难的旅行总有点不大现实。 后来，当她决心没有丈夫也要活下去时，阿里萨又重申了他的邀请，那时她觉得可能性大了些。后来，由于报上文章的事，她痛骂她的父亲，怨恨她的丈夫，多年来她把鲁克雷希妞一直当成自己最好的朋友，此时发现了她的虚伪的阿谀奉承，自然更是怒火冲天。这一切本已弄得她十分痛苦，不想又跟女儿发生了争吵，结果，她自己都觉得在这个家里成了多余的人了。一个下午，她一面喝着那各种茶叶泡的饮料，一面看一眼院子里的泥塘，在那儿，她的不幸之树再也不会重新发芽了。 “我想离开这个家，一直往前走，往前走，往前走，永远不再回来。”她说。 “你乘船去吧。”阿里萨说。 费尔米纳沉思地瞅了他一眼。 “好的，你看看办吧，这是完全可能做到的。”她说。 在说出这句话之前，她从未认真考虑过这次旅行，如今话已出口，她就当真事对待了。儿子和儿媳听了高兴得什么似的，表示理解母亲的心情。阿里萨忙不迭地说明，费尔米纳在他的船上将作为贵宾接待，给她专门布置一间寝室，让她过得跟家里一样舒适，服务将是无可挑剔的，船长亲自负责她的安全及生活。为了振奋她的精神，他给她送去了路线图、绚丽的黄昏景色的明信片和赞颂马格达莱纳河昔日天堂的诗篇。那些诗是有才华的旅客写的，也许正是由于这些杰出的诗篇，马格达莱纳河畔才真的成了天堂。她心绪好的时候就翻一翻这些东西。 “你用不着象哄小孩那样哄我。”她说，“我去旅行是因为我自己决定要去，并不是对风景有兴趣。” 当儿子建议让她妻子陪伴她时，她断然拒绝了：“我不是小孩子，用不着别人照顾。”她自己收拾行装。一想到八天上行。五天下行的旅途，她感到是一次很好的休息，除了不可少的东西之外，别的什么都不带。只带了五、六件棉布衣服、梳洗用品。一双上下船穿的鞋和路上穿的拖鞋，仅此而已。这样的旅行，也是她一生中的幻梦。