Chapter 14 Chapter Six (3)

In January 1824, Commodore Juan Bernardo Elbers, the inventor of inland waterway shipping, registered the first steamship to sail the Magdalena River, a forty Ma Li's original gadget, named "Loyalty".More than a century later, at six o'clock in the afternoon on July 7th, Dr. Urbino Daza and his wife accompanied Fermina aboard the ship that would take her on her first journey along the river.This was the first ship built by the local shipyard, and Ariza named it "New Loyalty" in honor of its glorious predecessor.Fermina could never believe that the name that meant so much to them was an accident of history and not another masterpiece of Ariza Chang's romanticism.

At any rate, unlike all other riverboats, old and new, the New Allegiance has a spacious and comfortable auxiliary cabin adjoining the captain's cabin.In the cabin, there is a living room with colorful bamboo furniture, a double bedroom completely decorated with Chinese patterns, a bathroom with bathtub and shower equipment, and a spacious covered observation deck. The color plants, the front and sides of the ship can be seen clearly, and there is also a set of silent refrigeration equipment, which can keep the whole environment free from the influence of external sounds. The temperature is neither high nor low, always like spring.This luxurious room was called the "Presidential Cabin" because three Presidents of the Republic had traveled there so far.This cabin is not used to make money, but reserved for high-ranking officials and dignitaries.Ariza had this sleeping cabin built immediately after he became the chairman of the Caribbean Inland Shipping Company, publicly saying that it was for the above purpose, but what he thought in his heart was that sooner or later it would become a happy refuge for his wedding trip with Fermina , of which he is confident.

The day finally came when she occupied the "Presidential Cabin" as hostess and lady.The captain entertained Dr. and Mrs. Urbino Daza, as well as Florentino Ariza, with incense cores and smoked salmon.The captain's name is Diego Samaritano. He is dressed in a white linen uniform. From the tip of his boots to his hat with the insignia of the Caribbean Inland Shipping Company embroidered with gold thread, he is neat, clean and well-bred. .Like other riverboat captains, he had a body as strong as a ceiba tree, a resolute and sonorous voice, and the air of a Cardinal of Florence. At seven o'clock in the evening, the first departure siren was sounded.Fermina felt the sound of the siren hurt her left ear.

She had had dreams the night before, so full of bad omens that she dared not explain them.Early in the morning she had someone take her to the Seminary Cemetery near what was then called La Manga Cemetery.She stood in front of her husband's grave and muttered to herself, rebuked him properly, poured out all the words that were pent up in her heart, and then reconciled with her deceased husband.She then told him about her travel plans and said "goodbye" as a farewell.As she always did on her trips to Europe, she didn't want to tell anyone about her trip to avoid endless send-offs.Although she had traveled many times, it still felt like she was traveling for the first time.As time passed, her restlessness grew.As soon as she got on the boat, she felt as if she had been abandoned, and her heart was so desolate that she really wanted to stay alone and cry happily.

When the last whistle sounded, Dr. Urbino Daza and his wife said goodbye to Fermina cheerfully.Florentino Ariza accompanied them to the gangway.Dr. Urbino Daza made way for him behind his wife and only then did he understand that Florentino Ariza was also traveling.Dr. Urbino Daza could not conceal his panic. "But we don't know that!" said he.Ariza showed him his sleeping key, with the most obvious intention: to let him know that he was occupying an ordinary cabin on the public deck.However, Dr. Urbino Daza did not feel that this was enough to prove his innocence.He cast a victim's gaze on his wife, as if looking for a support for his panic, but what he met was a cold gaze. She said to him in a very low and stern voice: "You too ...? "Yes, he also, like his sister Ofelia, believed that love had its age limit, beyond which it began to be unseemly. But he was good at responding at the right time. He shook hands with Florentino Ariza farewell, not so much It's gratitude, rather than helplessness.

Ariza watched them disembark from the railing of the hall.As he had expected and expected, Dr. Urbino Daza and his wife turned their backs to look at him before boarding the car, and he waved them goodbye. They waved to him too.He continued to stand at the rail until the car disappeared in the dust in the yard. Then he went to his berth and put on a suit more suitable for eating his first dinner on board in the captain's private dining room. It was a beautiful evening and Captain Diego Samaritano spiced it up with informative stories from his forty years on the river.However, Fermina had to go to great lengths to pretend to be happy.Although the last sailing whistle was blown at eight o'clock, and all the people who saw us off got off the ship and removed the stanchions, the ship did not set sail until the captain walked up to the command platform after eating and began to operate.Fermina and Ariza stood by the railing of the hall, looking out.The rowdy travelers, who take pleasure in discerning the city lights, huddle with them.In this way, the ship slowly drove out of the harbor, entered the invisible waterway and the swamp covered with dots of fishing lights, and finally accelerated freely on the wide main channel of the Magdalena River.At this time, the band played a popular folk music, the passengers were jubilant, and the dance began in a chaotic manner.

Fermina preferred to hide in the cabin.She was silent throughout the evening and Florentino Ariza allowed her to meditate quietly, interrupting only when he said goodbye to her in front of the cabin.But she wasn't sleepy, just a little cold.She suggested that the two of them sit together for a while in front of the observation deck of the cabin, looking at the river.Florentino Ariza carried two wicker chairs to the railing, turned off the light, wrapped her in a blanket, and sat down beside her.She took tobacco leaves from the little box he gave her and rolled a cigarette.Her proficiency in rolling cigarettes is astonishing.She inhaled leisurely, the smoke remained in her mouth, and she did not speak.Then I rolled two more and sucked them uninterruptedly.Ariza ordered two thermoses of bitter coffee one after another.

The lights of the city disappeared on the horizon.From the dark watchtower, the river is gentle and quiet, and the pastures along the banks "in the moonlight" become a phosphorescent plain. From time to time, there is a grass hut next to a large pile of yellow fires, telling people that there It was possible to buy firewood for the ship. Ariza still had memories of the trip he had made in his youth, and what he saw along the river brought back those memories as if it had just happened yesterday. He told Fermina Some of the scenes at the time thought it could cheer her up, but she just smoked, as if she didn't hear anything.

Florentino Ariza gave up her memories and left her to think alone.At this time, she continued to roll, light, and smoke cigarettes until she had rolled and smoked all the tobacco leaves in the box. After midnight, the music stopped, and the noisy passengers dispersed, only the whispers of falling asleep were heard.At that time, there were only the two of them sitting alone on the dark watchtower, two hearts beating together, and two people breathing together with the rhythm of the ship. After a while Ariza glanced at Fermina in the reflection of the river.She was lost in thought, her expression enigmatic, and the faint reflection of the river made her statuesque silhouette soft and sweet.He found her weeping silently.But instead of comforting her or waiting for her tears to dry up, as she had hoped, he panicked with fright.

"Do you want to be alone?" he asked. "In that case I wouldn't have called you in," she said. So, he stuck out his fingers in the dark, groping for the other hand.He found it, and the hand was waiting for him.At the same moment, both of them realized very clearly that neither of the two hands was what they imagined before they touched, but two old bones.But, after a while, it becomes the hand of their imagination.She begins with the present tense of the verb about her deceased husband as if he were still alive.Florentino Ariza understood that, for her too, the moment had come when she had to ask herself, with dignity, nobility and an irrepressible desire to live, what she should do with her own love without a master.

Fermina had to stop smoking in order not to take his hand out of his.She wallowed in a yearning for understanding.She couldn't imagine a better husband than hers.Yet when she recalls her life, she thinks more of frustration and misfortune than of satisfaction and joy.They had so much mutual understanding, so many pointless disputes, so many unresolved resentments.Suddenly, she sighed: "I really can't believe that after so many years and so many quarrels and unpleasant things happened, she can still be so happy. God, I don't even know if it's love!" Speaking out of his heart, Fermina felt extremely melancholy.The ship moved very slowly, like a huge animal looking for food, crawling quietly.Fermina woke up from worry. "Now, you go!" she said. Florentino Ariza squeezed her hand tightly, leaned over her, and wanted to kiss her on the cheek.But she avoided him, and said in a hoarse and gentle voice, "No, I'm an old woman!" She heard him coming out of the darkness, heard his footsteps on the stairs, heard his voice disappearing.Fermina lit another cigarette.While sucking, he saw Dr. Urbino.He was dressed in immaculate sackcloth, with professional dignity and evident sympathy, and courteous love.Waving a white hat to her goodbye from another passing boat. "We men are slaves to some miserable prejudices," he told her once. "On the contrary, when a woman decides to sleep with a man, there is no wall she cannot jump over, no fortress she cannot tear down. , nor any morality she can't deal with: to hell with everything." Fermina sat there without moving until dawn.She kept thinking of Florentino Ariza, not the gloomy Sentinel in the Evangelist Park, who no longer inspired any nostalgia in her, but Florentino Florentino Ariza at this moment, old but real. Ariza, who had been within reach but not recognized in time.As the steamer dragged her panting toward the first rosy light reflected in the horizon, the only thing she asked God was to let Ariza know where to start again the next day. Ariza knew what to do the next day.Fermina told the wounded on board to let her sleep well and not to disturb her.When she woke up, there was already a vase on the bedside table, and a white rose was stuck in the vase. It was so fresh, and there were still morning dewdrops.Next to the roses was a letter from Florentino Ariza, many pages long, which he had been writing since he had said goodbye to her.It was a sober letter, expressing nothing but my feelings since the night before.It is as lyrical as any other letter, as carefully chosen as all letters, but grounded in reality.Fermina felt ashamed as she read, her heart beating violently.The letter ended with a plea to her to inform the stewards when she was ready, for the captain was waiting for them on the podium and wanted to show them the maneuvering of the steamer. At eleven o'clock she was ready, bathed, smelling of soap, and dressed in a very plain gray muslin widow's dress, fully recovered from the ordeal of the previous night.She sent a breakfast to the captain's waiter in white, but she didn't send a message that they should come to her.She went onto the deck by herself.The cloudless sky was shining brightly, and she saw Florentino Ariza talking to the captain on the podium. She felt that he had changed, not only because she saw him differently now, but because he had indeed changed.Uncharacteristically, he took off the dark clothes he had worn all his life, and put on a pair of comfortable white leather shoes and linen shirt and pants.He also wears a Scottish hat on his head, which is also white, and there are eye lenses in the frame of myopia.Apparently, it was a first for all of that, and they had all been bought just for that trip, except for the very old brown belt.When Fermina saw the belt, it was like finding a dead fly in his soup.Thinking that the outfit was obviously for her to see, her cheeks couldn't help feeling hot, and they immediately became like a red cloth.She seemed a little flustered when she greeted him, and he became even more flustered when he saw her flustered. At the same time, they realized that the two of them were acting like an unmarried couple, and they became even more flustered. It became more and more flustered, so that Captain Samaritano realized that he felt a little pity for them.In order to extricate them from their embarrassment, he explained to them the operation of the command system and the mechanics of the ship for two full hours.This section of the Magdalena has no banks, and the wide beach stretches to the horizon.The ship sailed very slowly.The water here is completely different from the turbid water where it enters the sea D. It flows quietly and is very clear, shining with a metallic luster under the blazing sun.Fermina remembered the delta full of sandbars. "The river is getting narrower," the captain told her. Ariza has indeed marveled at the change.He was even more amazed when the sailing became more difficult the next day.He found that the original channel of the Magdalena River, one of the world's great rivers, is now just a dream in memory.Captain Samaritano explained to them that fifty years of deforestation had destroyed the river.The steamer's boilers engulfed the dense primeval forest with towering trees that Ariza had oppressed on his first trip.Fermina could no longer see the animals in her dreams: the hunters at the leather factory in New Orleans killed all the crocodiles that spent hours playing dead with their mouths open on the cliffs of the river bank, waiting for an opportunity to catch butterflies; As the luxuriant foliage dies down, so does the clamor of the parrots, the vervet monkeys with their frenzied howls; The hunters who hunted for fun killed them all with armor bullets. Captain Samaritano had an almost maternal love for manatees, because he thought they were like wives convicted of misbehavior in love, and he believed in the myth that manatees are the only animals in the animal kingdom. Animals with only females and no males.He had always been against people shooting manatees from boats—some people did it regularly despite laws against shooting them.A North Carolina hunter, wearing legal papers, disobeyed his orders and smashed the head of a manatee cow with a well-placed shot from his Springfield, sending the calf mad with agony , lying on the carcass of the female manatee and crying.The captain had the "orphan" taken aboard to take care of himself, while the hunter was left on the wasteland with the manatee he had killed.He spent six months in jail and nearly lost his sailing license because of diplomatic protests.But after he got out of prison, no matter how many similar incidents he encountered, he was still ready to do it.However, that event became a historical interlude: the orphaned manatee grew up in the San Nicolas Rare Zoo in Barrancas and lived for years to become the manatee seen on the river. The last manatee. "When I passed the beach," said the captain, "I begged God to let that Yankee come in my boat again, that I might leave him on the beach again." Fermina didn't like the captain at first, but after hearing this great story with a compassionate heart, she was so moved that she recognized him that afternoon and put him in a special place in her heart.She's doing it right, the travel side begins, and she'll have ample opportunity to find out she's right later on. Fermina and Ariza remained on the podium until lunch time, just after the town of Calamar.This town was very prosperous a few years ago, with constant entertainment, but now the streets have become desolate and desolate, and it has become a port in ruins.Only a woman in white was seen from the boat, waving a handkerchief and gesturing to the people on the shore.Fermina does not understand why this woman is not allowed on board, she looks very distressed.But the captain explained that it was the ghost of a drowned man, who was gesticulating there to lure the ship into the dangerous eddies on the other side.They passed very close to her and Fermina saw everything about her in the sunlight.She didn't doubt that the woman didn't actually exist, but she thought she looked familiar. It was a long, hot day.After lunch, Fermina went back to her cabin to take her indispensable nap, but she didn't sleep well because of her earache.When the ship met another ship of the Caribbean Inland Waterway Company at a distance of more than ten kilometers above the old Barranca and whistled to each other, her eardrums were shaken violently, and her ear problems became more serious.Florentino Ariza took a nap in the lobby, and most of the passengers who did not buy a cabin ticket also slept there like midnight.He dreamed that Rosalba had boarded a ship not far away.She traveled alone, dressed in Mombos costumes from the last century, and it was she, not a child, who took her afternoon nap in a wicker basket hanging from the eaves of the porch.It was a puzzling and interesting dream, and he spent the whole afternoon playing dominoes with the captain and two passengers, reminiscing about it. As the sun sets, the heat recedes a bit.There was activity again on the ship.The passengers, as if waking up from a slumber, just got out of the shower and changed into clean clothes, and sat on the wicker chair L in the hall waiting for dinner.A preacher, ringing the sexton's bell to the mocking applause, walked from one deck to the other, announcing that supper began at five o'clock, and while they ate, the band played fandango, and the dance lasted until midnight. Fermina had no appetite for dinner because of his earache.She saw the first firewood brought from the shore for the boiler. It was on a bare cliff with nothing but tree trunks piled there.An elderly man was tending the business.For a long distance, nothing seemed to be seen.Fermina felt that it was a long and boring stay, which was unimaginable on European ocean liners.There is air-conditioning equipment in the observation deck, but it is still unbearably hot.After the ship weighed anchor again, the music became more cheerful.A lone light shines from a lone window of a lone house in the town of Sitio Noevo.The port office did not give the ship the customary signal of whether it was carrying cargo or passengers, so the ship passed without a compliment. All afternoon Fermina asked herself how Ariza would find her without knocking on her hatch. After eight o'clock, she couldn't bear it anymore, and she wanted to be with him.She walked into the aisle, hoping to bump into him in what seemed to be an accidental way.She did not have to go far to achieve her goal. Ariza was sitting in a long chair in the corridor, silent and sad, as in the Evangelist Park, and he asked himself over and over again how to meet him two hours ago. to her.Both showed the same surprised expression, but both knew it was fake.Together they went up to the first-class deck and paced there.The decks were full of young people and rowdy college students who were reaching the end of their holidays and wishing to have a good time and use up their remaining energy.In the dining room, Ariza and Fermina stood at the counter like students and drank a cold drink when the latter suddenly found himself in a terrible situation and exclaimed: "How terrible!" asked Ariza. What was she thinking and what did she see. "I was thinking of those poor old men," she said, "the two old men who were oared to death on the yacht." After a long, uninterrupted conversation on the dimly lit lookout, the music stopped and they went to bed.There was no moon, the sky was gloomy, and the sky was flickering, illuminating them from time to time, but there was no thunder.Florentino Ariza rolled cigarettes for her, and she smoked only four, when the earache eased.When the steamer met other ships or slowed down to test the depth of the river and sounded its whistle, her earache intensified again, torturing her so much that she dared not smoke any more.He told her how excited he had been to see her at poetry ceremonies, balloon rides, and acrobatic two-wheelers, and how he had been waiting all year for public festivities just to see her.She had seen him many times too, but it never occurred to her that he was there just to see her.However, when she read his letter almost a year ago, she suddenly asked herself, why has he never participated in the poetry competition? If he participates, he will surely win.Florentino Ariza lied to her that the poems were written for her, especially for her, and that he was the only one who read them besides her.It was she who had taken the initiative then, searching for his hand in the dark, but not like the night before.Instead of one hand waiting for the other to grab it slowly, it grabs it all at once.Florentino Ariza was stunned for a moment, and her heart became cold. "How strange women are!" he said. She let out a deep laugh, like a little dove, but then she thought of the old man on the yacht.That was the will of God, and that image will always follow her.She managed to bear it that night because she felt calm and relaxed, which she had rarely experienced in her life. Get rid of all guilt.She would have stayed there all night, silent, holding his cold, sweat-stained hand in hers, until dawn.But she couldn't stand the sharp pain in her ears.So, when the music stopped and the common-class passengers busied themselves in the lobby to adjust the hammocks, she clearly realized that the pain in her ears was stronger than the desire to be with him.She knew that as long as she told him about it, the earache would be relieved immediately, but she didn't do it in order not to worry him.She felt that she knew him as if she had lived with him all her life.She believed that if going back would relieve her pain, he would have ordered the boat back to port at once. Florentino Ariza had expected this evening's turn of events, and withdrew.Already at the hatch, he tried to kiss her goodbye, but she gave him the left cheek.He insisted on the right cheek, and his breathing was intermittent, so she had no choice but to obey him, and Ba's coquettishness had never been seen in her middle school days.Then he insisted again, and the land met him with lips.She was trembling all over, and she tried to suppress it with a laugh that she hadn't laughed since their wedding night. "My God!" she said, "I'm crazy on board!" Ariza was shocked.Indeed, as she said herself, she had a sour taste of an old woman. Yet, as he found his way through the maze of sleeping passengers' hammocks to his stateroom, the thought that he was four years older than she must have had the same smell, and she would have sensed it with the same excitement. , so he was comforted.It was the fermented smell of man, he had smelled it in his first lovers, and they had smelled it in him.The editor of Nazaret, the gun barrel, once said to him very vulgarly: "We all have the smell of mantis." Both can bear each other because they are equal, and my smell cancels out yours.But he was always wary of America Vicuña, whose childishness always aroused his motherly instincts.However, every time he thought that she might not be able to bear the smell of his old pervert, he felt very disturbed.But all this is in the past.What mattered was that this evening was the first happiness that Florentino Ariza had felt since Aunt Escolástica had put the prayer book on the counter of the telegraph office that afternoon.The happiness was so strong that he was a little frightened. At five o'clock, when he began to fall asleep, the ship's accountant woke him up in Port Zambrano and handed him an urgent telegram.The telegram had been sent the day before and was signed by Casciani.It was a dreadful telegram consisting of only one line: AMERICA VICUNIA DIEED YESTERDAY OF UNDEFINITED CAUSES.At eleven o'clock in the morning, he contacted Casciani by telegram and learned the truth of the matter.For the first time since he left the Post Office, he was operating a transmitter again.America Vicuña was so depressed that she had failed her final exam that she drank a bottle of opium stolen from the school infirmary.Ariza knew that the news was not entirely true.However, America Vicuña would never leave any texts that would cause someone to be blamed for her decision.Her family was on their way from Puerto Padre when Casciani informed them that the funeral would be at five o'clock that afternoon.Ariza breathed a sigh of relief.The only thing he can do in order to continue living is not to let the memory of that event torture him. Although that memory would pop up at inopportune times for the rest of his life, like the sting of an old scar, he'd erased it from his mind. The days that followed were hot and long again.The water became muddy, the river became narrower and narrower, and there were no longer the huge, intertwined trees that had surprised Ariza in those days.What I saw now was the scorched plains, the remnants of whole virgin forests swallowed up by the steamship boilers, and the rubble of god-forsaken villages and towns.The streets of these villages and towns, even in the driest season, are soaked with water.What keeps them awake at night is not the mermaid singing of manatees on the beach, but the stench of dead bodies drifting to sea.Although there was no war or plague, there were bloated floating corpses floating in the river.Once, the captain said meaningfully: "We were ordered to tell the passengers that these are people who accidentally lost their footing and drowned." In the past, at the most sweltering time at noon, the parrots would chirp and make noises, and the vervet monkeys would scream. There was a long cry, and now all of this is silent, replaced by the silence of the barren land. There were few places to supply firewood, and they were far apart. As a result, the "New Allegiance" ran out of fuel on the fourth day of its voyage, and had to berth on the spot for almost a week.At the same time, gangs from the ship went deep into the ash-flooded swamp in search of the last remaining trees.With no more firewood, the woodcutters left their trees to escape the ferocity of the landowners, the cholera that fell from the sky, and the obscure wars that the government insisted on covering up with diversionary laws.The bored travelers held swimming competitions and organized hunting expeditions. When they came back, they brought live mice, cut their stomachs open, took out strings of transparent soft eggs, and then sewed up their stomachs with a needle from a backpack.They hang strings of velvet eggs on the railings of ships.Poor prostitutes in neighboring villages and towns followed the footsteps of the expedition team, temporarily pitched tents on the cliffs on both sides of the river, brought music and food, and had fun opposite the stranded ship. Long before he became chairman of the Caribbean Inland Navigation Company, Ariza had been receiving reports of severe damage to the river, but he hardly even looked at them.He comforted the shareholders and said: "Don't worry, when the firewood runs out, there will be boats burning oil." At that time, there was nothing to do, and it was impossible to open up a new river.At night, even when the water level is at its highest, the boat must be stopped in order to sleep.At this time, even the basic thing of being alive becomes unbearable.Most passengers, especially Europeans, leave their filthy cabins and spend the night walking up and down on deck, fending off all kinds of poisonous insects with towels to wipe off the endless sweat.At dawn the next day, they were exhausted and their bodies were swollen with bites.An English traveler in the early nineteenth century, speaking of a combined canoe and donkey journey that might last even fifty days, wrote: "It is the worst and most uncomfortable thing a man can do. Traveled abroad.” That was changed during the first eighty years of the steamship, and then it was again, and always will be.The crocodile has eaten the last butterfly, the manatee has disappeared, and in the villages and towns, the parrots and vervet monkeys have disappeared, everything is over. "No problem." The captain said with a smile, "In a few years, we will be driving luxury cars on the dry river." For the first three days Fermina and Ariza remained in the closed, soft spring-like environment of the watchtower.However, once the firewood rationing system was implemented, the air-conditioning system was lost, and the "Presidential Cabin" also became a big steamer. Relying on the cool breeze from the river blowing in through the open windows, Ferbina was able to survive the difficult night, She had to constantly fend off the mosquitoes with towels, because there were so many bugs when the boat stopped that spraying was useless. Fermina's ears hurt so much that she couldn't bear it anymore, but when she woke up one morning, the pain stopped completely , as if a cicada called a fried belly, there was no sound at all. At night, she realized that she could not hear in her left ear. When Florentino Ariza spoke to her from this side, she had to turn her head to hear him. Say something. She didn't tell anyone, she just endured it in silence, anyway, at this age, there are problems everywhere, and it doesn't matter if I add another one. In any case, the ship's delay was God's blessing to them.Ariza once saw this sentence: "Love in disaster is greater and nobler." What I order, I ask you what, it is easier to love.Hour after hour they held hands and kissed in the armchairs, drunk with joy.On the third drowsy night, she prepared a bottle of mushroom wine and waited for him.She had secretly drank it with her cousin Hildebranda in the past.Later, when I got married and had a child, I sang with my girlfriends who hadn't been with me for a long time.She needs to be a little clouded in order not to think too clearly about her fate.But Florentino Ariza thought she was taking the last step out of courage.Driven by this thought, he mustered up the courage to touch her shriveled neck with his fingertips, her chest like a metal skeleton, her sunken buttocks and her thighs like an old doe.With her eyes closed, she let him caress contentedly, without trembling, taking a puff of cigarette and sip of wine from time to time.When he touched her belly, her belly was already filled with Yinxiang wine. "If we must do that kind of thing, let's do it!" she said, "but do it like grown-ups." She took him into the bedroom, turned on the light, and began to undress generously.Lying on his back on the bed, Ariza tried to control his emotions, once again at a loss as to what to do with his prey.Fermina said to him: "Don't look!" He continued to stare at the ceiling and asked her why she said that. "Because you won't like it once you see it," she said. He glanced at her and saw her naked upper body.Just as he had imagined her, her shoulders were wrinkled, her breasts sagging, her ribs wrapped in skin as pale and cold as frog skin.She covered her chest with the tight undershirt she had just removed and turned off the light.He sat up from the bed, took off his clothes in the dark, threw one at her, and she threw it back to him one by one, out of breath with laughter. They lay on their backs for a long time.As the drunkenness wore off, he became more and more anxious.She was very quiet, nearly lost her will, but she prayed to God not to make her giggle like she did every time she lost her composure when she drank fenxiang wine.They talked to pass the time.Of themselves, of their separate lives, of the unbelievable chance of them lying naked in the dark cabin of a steamer--they should have been thinking about dying!She had never heard that he had a woman, not one, and in this town everything was known even before it was proven.She mentioned it to him by chance, and he answered immediately, in a clear voice: "That's because I'm keeping a virgin for you." Although it might be true, she would not believe it anyway, because his love letters were written in such sentences.Those love letters are valuable not for their content but for their blinding power.但她喜欢他说这话的勇气。而阿里萨这时则突然暗暗自问那件他从来也没敢问过自己的事：她在夫妻生活之外还有什么样的外遇？即便有，他也绝不会感到惊奇，因为他知道，女人和男人一样喜欢秘密冒险的。在男人和女人之间，计谋，冲动，背叛，大家都有，相互不感内疚。但他没有问她。他做得对。有一个时期，本来她与教会的关系已经相当紧张了，而忏悔牧师偏偏不着边际地问她是否有过对丈夫的不忠行为。她没有回答就站起来，没有做完忏悔，也没有告别，便悻悻而去。自此以后，她再也没去找这个牧师，也没找别的牧师去做忏悔。 在后来的日子里，他们一刻也没有分开过，几乎连吃饭都不出舱门。萨马利塔诺船长凭着本能就能发现他船上任何企图保守的隐秘，每天早上都给他们送上白玫瑰，给他们播送他们那个时代的华尔兹小夜曲，吩咐给他们准备加入刺激性佐料的开玩笑性质的饭菜。 如果不是船长写了个条子通知他们，航行十一天之后，这天午餐后就将到达最后一个港口“黄金港”的话，他们是不会想到从船舱里走出来的。费尔米纳和阿里萨从船舱里看到一大片在黄金色的阳光照耀下高高耸立的房子，于是他们理解了港口名字的来历。然而，当感到热得象锅炉般的空气，看到大街上熔化的沥青时，他们就颇不以为然了。再说，轮船也没有停泊在那儿，而是停靠在对岸，那里是通往圣菲的铁路总站。 旅客们一下船，他们就离开了庇护所。费尔米纳在空旷的大厅里呼吸着未受污染的新鲜空气，两个人从船上了望着在火车厢中寻找自己行李的乱哄哄的人群，那列火车有如一个玩具。可以想见，这些人是来自欧洲，尤其是女人，她们身上的北欧人的大衣和上一个世纪的帽子，跟灰尘飞扬的炎热的伏天显得十分不和谐。有一些女人的头发上装饰着美丽的土豆花，由于天热，已开始蔫了。列车在梦幻般的大草原上奔驰了一天，他们刚刚从安第斯平原来到这里，还没来得及换上加勒比地区的衣服。 在喧闹的市场上，一位面目可悲的老人正从他的叫花子大衣口袋里往外掏小鸡。 他穿着一件该是别人丢弃的破旧外套——外套的主人要比他高大魁梧——突然从人群中挤出来，摘下了帽子，将它翻开放在码头上，看看是否有人愿意往里扔个硬币，同时开始从衣兜里抓出一把一把半死不活的小雏鸡，仿佛小鸡是在他手指间繁殖出来的。一时间，码头上到处是一片跑动着的小鸡了，它们瞅瞅地叫着，急匆匆的旅客们把它们踩在脚下还不知道。费尔米纳被这种象是为欢迎她而出现的奇观迷住了，连回程的旅客何时开始上船都没有发觉。她的快活日子结束了。在登船的人中间，她看到了许多熟悉的面孔，有一些还是不久前在悼唁活动中陪过她的朋友，于是她赶快又躲进舱里去。阿里萨发现她惊恐不安。她宁愿死也不愿在丈夫死后这么短的时间中所进行的一次消遣性旅行中让自己熟悉的人发现。她的沮丧对阿里萨影响是如此之大，以致他答应要想出某种办法来保护她，而不是让她象坐牢一样，总是呆在舱房里。 当他们在船长专用餐厅吃晚餐的时候，他突然有了主意。好久以来，船长在为一个问题感到不安，并想跟阿里萨进行讨论，但他一直躲开他，理由总是一句话：“这些啰嗦事卡西亚妮处理得比我强。”但这一次他却听进去了。事情是，轮船上行时装货物，下行候却跑空船，而载客的情况却恰恰相反。“载货有利，付的钱多，又不用吃饭。”他说。费尔米纳晚饭吃得很没滋味。对两个男人关于票价的讨论感到厌烦。但是，阿里萨一直跟船长讨论到最后，终于提出了一个在船长看来有可能使他得救的问题。 “我们来作一个假设，”他说，“能否作一次直达航行，不装货物，不运旅客，也不在任何一个港口靠岸？” 船长说，这只是假设而已。加勒比内河航运公司有各种劳务协议，这一点，阿里萨比任何人更清楚。其中包括运货合同、载客合同、邮政合同及许多其它合同，大部分是必须履行的。唯一可以不履行一切合同的条件，是船上发生瘟疫。轮船宣布处于隔离检疫期，升起黄色旗，并作紧急航行。由于在河上多次发现霍乱病人，萨马利塔诺船长曾几次这样做，虽然过后卫生当局强迫医生签署了普通痢疾证明、另外，在这条河流的历史上，许多次曾升起过标志瘟疫的黄色旗，为的是逃税＼不接受不愿捎载的旅客和避免不恰当的检查。阿里萨在桌子下面找到了费尔米纳的手。 “那好。”他说，“就这么办？” 船长吃了一惊，转瞬间，凭着他老狐狸的本能，把一切都看得明明白白。 “这条船该由我指挥，但您指挥我们大家，”他说，“那么，如果您说了算数的话，就请给我一份书面的命令，我们马上就启航。” 他说话当然是算数的。阿里萨签署了命令。归根结底，谁都知道虽然卫生当局打如意算盘，霍乱时期尚未过去。至于轮船，不成问题：已经装上的少许货物可以转到别的船上，对旅客就说是机器出了事故，请他们在这天凌晨改上另一家公司的船。做这些事都是不道德的，甚至可说是卑鄙的，但在阿里萨看来，既然为了爱情，也就没有什么不合法的。船长唯一请求的是在纳雷港停一下，让一个陪他旅行的人上船，他也有自己的隐私。 这样，“新忠诚”号第二天天一亮就起锚了，没货，也没载客，大桅杆上标志霍乱的黄色旗啦啦啦啦地飘扬。傍晚，他们在纳雷港让一个比船长还高大结实的女人上了船。她异乎寻常的美丽，只差一把胡子就可以受聘到马戏团里表演了。她叫塞奈达?内维斯，但船长叫她“我的魔女”：一个老情人。他常常在一个港口把她带上，在另一个港口把她放下。她一上船，便沉浸在幸福的旋涡之中。在那个令人伤心触目的地方，阿里萨对罗莎尔色的怀念不禁油然而生。这时，他看见开往恩维加多的火车正在艰难地沿着当年驮骡走过的山路往上爬行着。天空突然落下了亚马逊河地区的瓢泼大雨，而且在整个未来的旅行中一直很少停歇。但谁都不在意，航行中的娱乐活动连续不断，势不可挡。那天晚上，作为个人对欢乐的贡献，费尔米纳在船员们的欢呼中下了厨房，为大家做了一道他们从未尝过的新菜，阿里萨将其命名为“爱之茄”。 白天，他们玩牌，吃得肚子都要爆炸了。午觉睡得又长又酣，醒来时个个疲惫不堪。太阳刚到西方，乐队即开始演奏，他们吃娃鱼，喝首香酒，吃饱了仍不停口。 这是一次快速旅行，船轻，顺流，水好，源头下了大雨，那个星期及整个途中都在下大雨，上涨的河水冲着轮船风驰电掣般地前进。有些村镇向他们开炮，表示要驱赶霍乱，而他们则以一声凄惨的汽笛表示感谢。任何公司和他们相遇的船只都向他们发出同情的信号。在梅塞德斯出生地马岗格镇，加足了以后旅程所需的全部木柴。 费尔米纳的那只好耳朵也开始听到轮船的汽笛声，把她吓了一跳。但是喝曹秀酒的第二天，两只耳朵同时听到时就好多了。她发觉，玫瑰花比过去更香了，鸟儿黎明时比从前叫得更加动听了，上帝制造了一只海牛，把它放到了塔马拉梅克河滩上，唯一的目的就是把她唤醒。船长听到了海牛的叫声，命令改变船的方向，他们终于看见了一头巨大的海牛，它正在把一头小海牛抱在怀里喂奶。不管是阿里萨还是费尔米纳，都没有意识到他们已经多么情投意合，心心相印。她帮他灌肠，让他多睡会儿，自己早早起来为他洗涮他放在杯中的假牙，她丢掉眼镜的问题解决了，因为她可以戴上他的眼镜看书和缝补衣服。一天早上，她醒来时，看见他正在暗中缝衬衣上的纽扣，没等他再说那句“需要有两个老婆”的口头禅，她就把活儿抢到了自己手里。相反，她唯一需要他做的事，只是给她拔火罐来消除背痛。 阿里萨则用乐队的小提琴重新开始抒发他的旧情。只用了半天工夫，他便能为她演奏“戴王冠的仙女”这支华尔兹舞曲了。一连几个小时他都拉这只舞曲，直到大家强迫他停下来。一天夜里，费尔米纳平生第一次突然在窒息中醒来。她想哭，不是由于愤怒，而是由于痛苦，因为她想起了被船工用奖活活打死的游艇上那两位老人。相反，她对那不停的大雨却完全无动于衷，她想巴黎也许并非象自己感觉的那样阴郁，圣菲的大街上也许并没有那么多葬礼，这种想法为时已晚。将来再与阿里萨一块旅行的梦想，在她的脑际涌现出来：疯狂的旅行，不带那么多行李，不进行社交活动，换言之，纯粹的爱情旅行。 旅行结束的前夜，他们举行了一次盛大的晚会，晚会上装饰了纸花环，还挂了彩灯。黄昏时分，雨停了。船长和塞奈达搂得紧紧地跳了最初的几个博莱罗舞。在那些年月里，博莱罗舞曲已开始令人心醉。阿里萨大着胆子向费尔米纳建议一块亲亲热热地跳个意味深长的华尔兹舞，她拒绝了。然而，整个晚上她都用脑袋和鞋跟和着舞曲的节拍打点儿，甚至有一会儿不知不觉地坐着就跳起舞来。与此同时，船长和他的魔女也如胶似漆地在阴影中跳着博莱罗舞。费尔米纳喝了那么多茵香酒，以致大家只好扶着她上楼梯，她突然又终又笑，惊动了周围的人。可是，她一回到舱房，便在温柔的香气中控制住了自己。他们安安静静地在一起叙着旧情，这旧情将作为对那次发疯般的旅行的最美的记忆永远留在他们的脑海中。跟船长和塞奈达所猜想的相反，他们的感觉不象新婚夫妇，更不象晚遇的情人。那颇象一下越过了夫妻生活中必不可少的艰苦磨难，未经任河曲折，而直接奔向了爱巢。他们象被生活伤害了的一对老年夫妻那样，不声不响地超脱了激情的陷阱，超脱了幻想和醒悟的粗鲁的嘲弄，到达了爱情的彼岸。因为长期共同的经历使他们明白，不管在任何时候，任何地方，爱情就是爱情，离死亡越近，爱得就越深。 六点钟，他们醒了。她由于喝了茵香酒感到脑袋剧烈的疼痛。同时，她感到小说意乱，因为她似乎看到乌尔比诺医生又回来了，比从树上滑下来时胖了些，年轻了些，坐在家门口的摇椅上等着她。然而，她十分清楚地意识到，那不是商香酒的作用，而是由于马上就要到家厂。 “就要跟死一样了。”她说。 阿里萨听了这话大吃一惊，因为他也隐隐约约地有这种想法，这意味着他回家后再也不能活下去了。无论他，还是她，都无法想象再适应另一个不同于船舱的家，吃不同于船上的饭菜，投身于一种对他们来说永远是陌生的生活。真的，就跟要死一样了。他无法再入睡，仰面躺在床上，双手交叉枕在脑勺下。一会儿，阿美利卡?维库尼亚的事情如一把利剑似地刺伤了他的心，以致他痛苦地给曲起来。他把自己关在卫生间里，痛痛快快地哭了一场，一直哭到流尽最后一满眼泪。只有在这时，他才有勇气承认他曾经是多么地爱她。 当他们穿好衣服起来准备下船时，当年西班牙人的关口水道和沼泽地已被抛在后面，轮船开始在海湾里的废弃的破船和贮油池之间行驶了。这是一个星期四，灿烂的阳光在总督城房舍的金色圆顶上空升起，但是费尔米纳从船栏上却忍受不了这天堂一般威严的地方的恶臭和被鼠晰糟蹋了的堡垒的高傲：现实生活的可怖。无论是他还是她，不用说，都未曾感到这么容易地就累垮了。 他们在饭厅里找到了船长，他那副乱七八糟的样子，与他平常的干净洒脱的仪表很不协调：胡子没刮，眼睛因失眠而布满血丝，衣服被前天夜间的汗水渍湿，说起话来颠三倒四，还不时打着带茵香酒味的嗝儿。塞奈达还睡着。他们开始默默地吃早餐。这时，一艘港口卫生局的汽油艇命令他们停船。 船长从指挥台上大声喊叫着回答武装巡逻队的问语。他们想了解船上是什么样的瘟疫，有多少旅客，多少病人，传染的可能性有多大。船长回答只有三名旅客，全都害霍乱，但处于严格的隔离之中。不管是应该在“黄金港”上船的人，还是二十七名船员都没与他们有过任何接触。但巡逻队长不满意，命令他们离开港湾，在拉斯?梅塞德斯沼泽地等到下午二点，同时准备办理隔离手续。船长放了一个鞭炮，打了个手势，让领航员绕了个圈子，掉转船头回沼泽地去了。 费尔米纳和阿里萨在餐桌上听到了一切，但是船长象是满不在乎。他继续默默地吃着饭，一举一动都显得很不高兴。甚至连维护内河船长美誉的礼貌和修养都不顾了。他用刀尖划开了四个煎鸡蛋，在盘子里用油炸青香蕉片蘸着，大块大块地塞入嘴中，津津有味地嚼着。费尔米纳和阿里萨看着他，一言不发，象在学校里坐在凳子上等着宣读期末考试评分一样。在船长与卫生巡逻队对话时，他们没有作声，对自己的命运，他们一点数也没有。但两人都知道，船长在为他俩着想，这从他蹦蹦跳跳的太阳穴可以看出来。 在船长吃光那盘鸡蛋——油炸青香蕉片和喝光那杯牛奶咖啡的同时，轮船离开了港湾。锅炉静悄悄的，船在港汉里划破水面，穿过片片浮萍，深紫色的莲花和心脏形状的大荷叶，回沼泽地去了。水面上侧身漂浮着的死鱼闪烁着光芒，那是被偷偷开船进来的渔民用炸药炸死的，陆地和水上的鸟儿在它们上空盘旋着，发出尖利的叫声。加勒比海的风随着乌儿的喧闹，从窗户中吹进来，费尔米纳感到她的血液在沸腾，并且阵阵发疼。右边，马格达莱纳河的潮淹区的水浑浊而缓慢，一直延伸到世界的另一边。 当盘中的食物全部吃光的时候，船长用餐桌布角擦了擦嘴，用一种放肆无礼的行话打开了话匣子， 一下子把内河航运船长为人赞美的好名声彻底毁坏I。他不是为他们抱不平， 也不是为任河人，而是想发泄一下自己的怒气c在一连串粗鲁的咒骂之后，他的结论是，挂霍乱旗所陷进的困境，无论如何也难以摆脱了。 阿里萨眼睛眨也不眨地听他说完，然后从窗户中看了看航海罗盘的刻度盘，看了看清晰透明的天际，看了看万里无云的十二月的天空以及永远能航行的河水，说：“我们一直走，一直走，一直走，再到'黄金港'去！” 费尔米纳震惊了，因为她听出了昔日圣灵所启发的那种声音。于是她瞅了一眼船长：他就是命运之神。但船长没有看见她，他被阿里萨冲动的巨大威力惊呆了。 “您这话当真？”他问。 “从我出生起。”阿里萨说，“我从来没把自己的话当过儿戏。” 船长看了一下费尔米纳，在她的睫毛上看到了初霜的闪光。然后他又看了一眼阿里萨，看到了他那不可战胜的自制力和勇敢无畏的爱。于是，终于悟到了生命跟死亡相比，前者才是无限的这一真谛，这使船长大吃一惊。 “您认为我们这样瞎扯淡的未来去去可以继续到何时？”他问。 阿里萨早在五十三年七个月零十一个日日夜夜之前就准备好了答案。 “永生永世！”他说。