Chapter 17 June 4, 1928 (Tue) (2)

June 4, 1928 (Tue) (2) "Jason, you can be a good businessman if you're good at it," he said. "At least I'll just do my own business and not mind other people's business," I said. "I don't see why you're making me fire you," he said. "You know that you can do it whenever you don't want to, and it won't affect our friendship." ① From 1920 to 1933, the federal law of the United States prohibited alcohol. "Maybe that's why I didn't resign," I said. "As long as I'm working for you, you'll pay me for this." I went to the back to get a glass of water, then walked out the back door.Job finally installed all the cultivators.The back yard is pretty quiet, and after a while, my head doesn't hurt so much.I can hear the troupe singing now, and then the band's playing, well, let them take every dime in the county.Let's grab every penny, it's not like picking my skin anyway.I did what I had to do.A person who lives at such an age like me and doesn't know when to stop is a fool.Besides, this matter has nothing to do with me.If it were my own daughter, of course it wouldn't be like this, because she wouldn't have time for loitering at all, and she would have to work to support the sick.Idiots and niggas.I won't have a daughter, how can I have the face to marry a decent woman back into such a family.I respect others very much, and I would never do such a thing.I'm a man, I can take it, it's my own blood, and I'll take a good look at anyone who says anything nonsense to any woman I know.Those who speak ill of people are all serious and fake women, I would like to see these noble ones.What kind of a woman is she who is never absent from church, she is not half as serious as Loren, let alone whether Loren is a whore or not.Like I said, if I decide to get married, you ① will pop up like a balloon, you know that very well, but she ② said that I want you to live happily and have your own life. family, instead of having to be a cow and a horse for us all our lives.I'm not long to live, and when I'm dead you'll have a wife, but you'll never find a girl worthy of you.So I said, no!I will find pseudo.You would crawl out of your grave the moment you knew I was going to marry, and you knew you would.I said, all right, thank you, there are enough women in my care now.

①② Both refer to Mrs. Compson. If I get married, I might find out that the bride is a drug addict.I said, our family lacks such a role. Now that the sun has gone down behind the Methodist Church, the pigeons are flying around the tip of the pipe, and when the band stops I can hear the pigeons cooing.It's not been four months since Christmas, but the flock is almost as thick as ever.I figured the Reverend Walter Hall must be full of pigeons.He gave that kind of speech and even went and grabbed the barrel of the gun when he saw people shooting pigeons. You must think we were aiming at the real people.He talked wildly, what did he say to let peace come to the earth!Why treat everything in the world with kindness!We were not even allowed to play a single sparrow.But he didn't care how dense the flock became, he had nothing to do, he didn't need to know the time anyway.He didn't have to pay taxes, and he didn't have to worry about paying every year to scrub the sludge off the clock over the courthouse gate so that it would run more accurately.They had to pay a craftsman forty-five dollars to polish the clock.I counted, and there were a hundred or so young pigeons that had just hatched on the ground.You always think they have some brains and will leave this town as soon as possible.I have to say, fortunately I don't have so many aunts and aunts like a pigeon, so I can't get rid of my thread in this place.

The band played again, loud and fast, as if it was about to explode.I think the audience should be satisfied now.That way they could drive fourteen or five miles home, feeding and milking the cows all night, with maybe a little music in their heads.All they had to do was whistle the tunes and repeat the jokes they heard to the animals in the stables.They could also calculate in their minds how much money they had saved by not taking their animals to the theatre.They can also calculate that if a person has five children and seven mules, he can give the whole family a show for only twenty-five cents.They count like that.At this time, Al came to the backyard with a few packages.

①The pastor of the local Methodist Church. "Some more shipments have to be shipped," he said. "Where's Uncle Job?" "Go to the show, I suppose," I said. "If you don't keep an eye on him, he'll slip away." "He won't slip," he said. "He's dependable." "Then you're saying I'm unreliable," I said. He went to the door, looked out, and listened. "It's a really good band," he said. "I think it's almost time to end." "Unless they hide in it and go down to see the night show," I said.The swallows were starting to churn and I could hear the sparrows starting to swarm the trees in Courthouse Square.After a while, a group of sparrows will hover over the roof, appear in front of your eyes, and then fly away.They seem to me as much a nuisance as pigeons.With these sparrows, you don't really manage to get a seat in the square.You don't know what's going on yet; poof, a bubble of shit lands right on your hat.But to shoot them, it costs five cents a round, and you really need a millionaire to pay for it.In fact, as long as some poison is sprinkled on the square, they can be cleaned up within a day. If any businessman can't control his poultry and try to keep them from running around in the square, he'd better not sell them Living creatures like chickens and ducks simply go to other businesses, such as selling things that can't be pecked, like plowshares.Onions and more.If a person doesn't take good care of his puppy, then he either doesn't want the dog or he doesn't deserve a dog at all.Didn't I say that if all the business in the town is like a rural market, then our town will become a rural market.

"Even if the show is over, it won't do you any good," I said, "they'll have to hitch up the car and drive it out; and it'll be midnight at least by the time they get home." "Well," he said, "they like to watch theatres. It's also a good thing to let them spend some money to see the performances after a while. Farmers in the mountains live very hard with their sons, but the benefits are very little." "And there's no law saying they have to farm in the mountains or somewhere," I said. "Where would we both be without these farmers?" he said.

"I must be at home right now," I said, "in bed, cooling my aching head with a pack of ice." "You have a headache twice in the first three days," he said. "Why don't you go and have a good examination of your teeth? Didn't he show you this morning?" "Who didn't show me?" I said. "You said you went to the dentist this morning." "Aren't you going to let me have a headache during your business hours?" I said. "Is that so? They're gone now, coming through our alley." "Here they come," he said. "I think I'd better go to the front shop," he walked away.Oddly enough, no matter how uncomfortable you are, there are always men who tell you that you need to get your teeth checked, and women who tell you that it's time for you to get married.The guy who comes to teach you how to do business is always a guy who's done nothing by himself.Those university professors who are so poor that they don't even have a decent pair of socks teach others how to make a million dollars in ten years, and some women who don't even have a husband themselves talk about how to fuck special housework.Having children is a matter of course.

Old man Job drove a cart to the door of the store.It took him a few minutes to wind the rein around the whip socket. "Hello!" I asked, "Is the play good?" "I haven't seen it yet," he said. "But if you want to arrest me, come to the tent tonight." "It's no wonder you didn't go," I said. "You haven't been here since three o'clock. Mr. Al was just here looking for you." "I went on a personal business," he said. "Mr. Al knows where I'm going." "You can hide it from him," I said. "I wouldn't report on you anyway."

"In that case, he's the only one in the place I'm going to cheat," he said. "I don't care that I have to see him Saturday night, so why bother to lie to him? I wouldn't lie to you," he said. "You're too shrewd for me, yes, sir," he said, busily putting five or six little packages into the cart. "To me, you're too shrewd. There's no one in this town with as much brains as you. You play a guy so hard that he can't tell where he's going," he said, climbing up the aisle. Car, take off the reins. "Who's that guy?" I said.

"That's Mr. Jason Compson," he said. "Drive! Let's go, Old Dan②!" One of the wheels was about to fall off.I waited to see if the wheels would come off before he pulled out of the alley.Just put the car in the hands of a nigger and he'll mess it up like this.I said, our family's old car that makes all the noise is uncomfortable to look at, but it has to be kept in the garage for a hundred years, so that the nigger can drive it to the garage once a week. To the cemetery.I said that everyone in the world has to do things they don't want to do, and he is no exception. I just want him to drive a car like a civilized person.Or just stay at home for me.He didn't really know where he was going, or what car to take, while we kept a carriage and a horse for his Sunday afternoon walks.

As long as the road is not too far and he can walk back on foot, Job doesn't care whether the wheels will fall off or not.I've said long ago that the only place a black person deserves to be is in the fields, where they work from sunrise to sunset.Make their lives richer or their jobs easier, and they'll feel uncomfortable.Keep a nigger around white people a little longer, and the nigger is going to be useless.They will become more cunning than you, and they can play tricks under your nose ① What Job meant was: Jason had a lot of bad ideas, but in the end he hurt himself. ②The name of the horse.

Sell ​​slippery, guess your mind.Roskus was such a man, the only mistake he made was accidentally letting himself die one day.Laziness, unclean hands and feet, and mouths that get worse and worse until finally you have to use a stick or something to hold them down.Well, that's Al's business anyway.But if it were me.I don't like having an old nigger smashing up my name signs all over town in a wagon that's so scary that you think it'll fall apart if you turn a corner. Although the sun is still high now, the room has begun to darken.I went to the door of the shop.The square was already empty.Al was in there asking to close the safe, when the clock rang. "Go and lock the back door," he said.I walked back, locked the door, and walked back. "I see you're going to a show tonight," he said. "I gave you a treat yesterday, didn't I?" "Yes." I said, "Do you want to go back?" "No. No," he said. "I just can't remember if I gave it to you. It would be a pity to waste it." He locked the door, said goodbye to me, and walked on.The sparrows were still chattering in the bushes.But the square was deserted except for a few cars, and there was a Ford parked in front of the pharmacy, but I didn't even look at it, knowing I'd had enough sometimes.It's not that I don't want to give her a hand, but I know that sometimes I've had enough.I figured I'd better teach Luster to drive so they could send him driving all day nailing her butts if they wanted to, and I could stay home and play with Ben. I went in and bought some cigars.Then it struck me that I might as well try my luck with the headache again, so I stopped and chatted with them for a while. "Hey," Mike said, "I see you're putting your money on the Yankees this year." ①A troublemaker in the pharmacy. "What for?" I said. "Pennant Championship!" he said. "No team in the league can beat them." "Of course!" I said, "None of them are successful," I said. "Do you think a team will always be lucky?" "I don't think it's good luck," Mike said. "I don't bet on that team anyway that guy Ruth is on," I said. "Even though I knew it was going to win." "What's up?" Mike said. "There are a dozen players who are better than him in each team of the two major leagues, and I can name you one by one," I said. "What's wrong with you and Ross?" Mike said. "Nothing," I said. "I don't have anything against him. I see his picture and I get angry." I walked out.The lights had gradually come on, and people were walking home in the street.Sometimes the sparrows don't quiet down until it's completely dark.One night they turned on the new streetlights that had been installed all around Courthouse Square, and this woke up the sparrows, which flew around all night and rammed themselves against the lights.For two or three nights in a row, they were tossing like this, and then one morning, they all flew away.However, they came back two months later. I drive home.The lights weren't on in the house yet, but they must've all been sprawling out the windows, Dilsey muttering in the kitchen like she's heating up the food she's paying for before I get back to the table of.From what she said, you'd think there's only one supper in the world, and that's the one I started a few minutes late.Well, at least once I got home and didn't see Ben and that nigger laying over the big iron gate like a bear.Monkeys are in the same cage.As soon as the sun went down, he would go to the gate, just like a cow will go back to the stable at that time, and then he would lie on the gate, shaking his head, and moaning softly.It is your punishment for being raped like a pig.If I got stabbed like him for breaking through an open gate, I wouldn't even look at a girl student.I've often wondered what he's thinking when he bangs on the gate and sees girls coming home from school trying to satisfy demands he doesn't even know he doesn't need and can't have. ① At that time, the famous baseball star "Baby" Ruth was the main force of the New York Yankees. And what would he think if they had stripped him naked and he happened to look down at his nakedness and grunt as usual.But as I always say, they didn't do it thoroughly.I said, I know what you need. What you need is to have someone perform an operation on you like Ben. After the operation, you will be honest.If you don't understand what I'm talking about, let Dilsey tell you. There is light in mother's room.I parked the car and went into the kitchen.Luster and Ben were inside. "Where's Dilsey?" I asked. "Is it dinner?" "She's upstairs in Miss Caroline's room," said Luster. "They're about to fight. Miss Quentin lost her temper as soon as she came back, and grandma went upstairs to persuade them. Is there a play, Mr. Jason?" "Got it," I said. "I seem to hear the sound of the band playing," he said. "I wish I could!" said he. "I could go if I got twenty-five cents." Dilsey came in. "You're back, eh?" she said. "What were you doing this afternoon? You know how busy I am! Why don't you come back on time?" ①The "you" here refers to Little Quentin. "Maybe I went to the show," I said. "Is dinner ready?" "I wish I could!" Luster said. "If only I had twenty-five cents." "The theater ain't your thing," Dilsey said. "You go inside and sit down for me to eat," she said. "Don't you go upstairs and make them quarrel again." "What the hell is going on?" I said. "Quentin came back not long ago, and she said you'd been following her all afternoon, and Miss Caroline got mad at her. Why are you meddling in Quentin's business? You can't be in the same room with your own niece. Live peacefully in a house?" "I can't do it if I try to quarrel with her!" I said, "because I haven't seen her since morning. What is she talking about me this time? Make her go to school? It's outrageous." up," I said. "Well, you go about your own business and leave her alone!" said Dilsey, "I'll take care of her if you and Caroline-sniper agree to let me take care of it. Well, you go inside .Don't make trouble, wait for me to cook for you." "If I had twenty-five cents," said Luster, "I could go to the theater." "If you had wings, you could fly to heaven!" said Dilsey. "Stop nagging about drama or not, I don't like to hear it." "I remember," I said, "I was given two tickets." I took them out of my coat pocket. "Would you like to see it yourself?" said Luster. "I'm not going!" I said. "I won't go even if you give me ten yuan." "Give me one, Mr. Jason," he said. "I can sell you one," I said, "How about that?" "I have no money!" he said. "This is too bad," I said, pretending to be leaving. "Give me one, Mr. Jason!" he said. "You don't need two anyway." "Don't be a fool," Dilsey said. "Don't you know he's a guy who never gives anything for nothing?" "How much will you sell it for?" he asked. "Five cents," I said. "I don't have that many!" he said. "How many do you have?" I said. " "I don't have a penny," said he, "Okay then." I said and walked out, "Mr. Jason!" he said. "You're not dead yet?" Dilsey said. "He's just teasing you. He's already made up his mind to go and see for himself. Come on, Jason, and leave him alone." "I don't want to look," I said.I return to the stove. "I've come to burn 'em. But maybe you'll pay a nickel for one?" I said, looking at him as I lifted the lid. "I don't have that much money," he said. "Okay." I said.I threw a theater ticket into the stove. "Hey, Jason!" Dilsey said. "Aren't you ashamed?" "Mr. Jason," he said, "please, sir. I can fix your tires every day for a month." "I want cash," I said. "Bring a nickel and it's yours." "Stop it, Luster," Dilsey said.She pulled him back. "Throw it," she said, "throw it in the fire. Throw it again. Throw it all in." "Five cents, it's yours!" I said. "Burn it," Dilsey said. "He hasn't got a nickel. Throw it; throw it in." "Okay then," I said.I threw the tickets in the stove and Dilsey closed the lid. "You're a grown man doing such a thing!" she said. "Get out of my kitchen. Quit arguing," she said to Luster. "Don't make Benji fit again. I'll give you twenty-five cents for Frony tonight to go to the show tomorrow night. Don't make a fuss now." I go into the living room.I can't hear anything upstairs.I opened the paper and after a while Ben and Luster came in.Ben went to the dark place at the base of the wall, where a mirror had once hung.He stretched out his hands and wiped them back and forth on the wall, drooling and humming, not knowing what he was talking about.Luster was on fire. "What are you doing?" I said. "We don't need a fire tonight." "I was trying to quiet Benji," he said. "Easter is always cold," he said. "It's not Easter today," I said. "Don't touch it." He put the cleaning rod away, took the cushion from Mother's chair, and handed it to Ben, who crouched in front of the fire and fell silent. I was reading the paper and there was no sound upstairs when Dilsey came in and told Ben and Luster to go into the kitchen and she said supper was ready. "Okay," I said.She walked out.I'm still sitting there reading the newspaper.After a while I heard Dilsey come to the door and stick her head in. "Why don't you come to eat?" she said. "I'm waiting for dinner," I said. "Supper is set on the table," she said. "I already told you." "Really?" I said. "I'm sorry. I didn't hear anyone coming downstairs." "They're not coming down!" she said. "You go and eat, let me free up my hand to serve them." "Are they sick?" I asked. "What disease did the doctor say? I hope it's not smallpox." "Go to the kitchen, Jason," she said. "Let me get this done early." "Okay," I said, holding the newspaper in front of my face again. "I'll wait for your meal." I could feel her standing in the doorway and looking at me.I still read my newspaper. "Why are you making such a fuss?" she said. "You know I've got too much work to do." "If mother is too ill to come down to eat, that's all right," I said, "but as long as I'm paying for people younger than me, they have to come down to the table to eat. Let me know when your dinner is ready!" I said, looking down at my newspaper again.I heard Dilsey go up the stairs, plodding, groaning and panting, as if the stairs went straight up and down, with more than three feet between each step.I heard her come to my mother's door, and then I heard her call Quentin, as if her door was locked.Then she went back into the mother's room, and the mother came out to talk to Quentin.After that, they went downstairs together.I still read my newspaper. Dilsey came to the door again. "Come and eat," she said, "or you're going to come up with some other trick. You're going to have a hard time with yourself tonight." I come to the dining room.Quentin sat at the table with his head drooping.She put on rouge lipstick again.Her nose was powdered, and it was as white as an insulating porcelain vase. "You're in good health, and I'm so glad to be down for dinner!" I said to my mother. "Regardless of my health, it is a small favor for you that I come downstairs to eat at the table," she said. Be happy. I just beg you and Quentin will get on better. That'll put me at ease." "We get along pretty well," I said. "I don't mind if she locks herself in the room all day if she wants to. But I can't bear to be rowdy or sullen at dinner. I know it's asking too much of her, but It's my house rule. I mean, it's your house rule." "This is your home," said the mother. "Now you are in charge.". Quentin didn't look up—I passed the food to everyone.She started to eat. "Is your piece of meat good?" I said, "if not, I can find you a better one." She said nothing. I said, "How is your piece of meat?" I asked, "What?" she said. "Well, yes." "Would you like some more rice?" I said. "No!" she said. "Let me add some to you," I said. "I don't want any more," she said. "You're welcome," I said. "You can use whatever you want." "Don't you have a headache?" Mother said. "Headache?" I said. "When you came home this afternoon," she said, "I was really worried you were going to be sick." "Oh," I said, "no, it's not that bad. We've been busy all afternoon and I forgot about it." "You're so busy that you come back so late, aren't you?" Mother said: I could see Quentin was listening.I stare at her.Her knife and fork was still moving, but I noticed she glanced at me, and then she looked down at her plate.I say. "No, I lent my car to a guy around three o'clock, and I have to wait for him to return the car before I can go home." I put my head down to eat, and ate for a while. "Who is this man?" asked the mother. "It's a showman," I said. "Looks like his brother-in-law took a girl from town and drove out with him, and he was chasing them." Quentin sat there motionless, still chewing. "You shouldn't lend your car to that kind of person," said my mother. "You're too generous. So I never beg you to let me use a car if it's not a last resort. "I later felt that I was being too generous," I said. "But he came back, all right. He said he found them." "Who's that girl?" said the mother. "I'll tell you later," I said. "I don't want to say such things in front of Quentin." Quentin is no longer eating.She took a sip of water after a while and sat there breaking a biscuit, looking down at her plate. "Yes," said my mother, "a reclusive woman like me can't imagine what's going to happen in town." "Yes," I said, "unimaginable." "I've had a very different life than this," said my mother. "Thank God, I don't know about these scandals. I don't even want to ask. I'm not like most people." I didn't say anything more.Quentin sat there, breaking the biscuits, until I finished, when she said: "Can I go?" She didn't look up at anyone. "Why?" I said. "Of course, you can go. Are you waiting for us to finish eating?" She looks at me.She had crushed all the biscuits, but her hand was still moving, as if she was still doing it, her eyes were like those of a cornered animal, and then she bit her lip, As if those two heavily-painted lips were going to poison her. "Grandma," she said, "Grandma!" "Is there anything else you want to eat?" I asked. "Why is he doing this to me, Granny?" she said. "I never hurt him." "I want you all to live in harmony," said the mother. "There are only a few people left in the family. I hope the family will be peaceful and beautiful." "It's all his fault," she said. "I can't stand the fact that he has to interfere with me. If he doesn't like me living here, why doesn't he let me go back to my—" "Enough," I said, "stop talking." "Then why won't he let me go?" she said. ""He—he really—" "He is your father," said the mother, "and you and I eat his bread. He is right in wanting you to do his work." "It was all his fault," she said, jumping up. "He made me do it. As long as he—" She stared at us, her eyes fixed, the arms around her seemed to twitch. "What about me?" I said. "Anyway, whatever I do, I have to blame you," she said. "If I'm bad, it's because I can't be bad. You made it. I wish I was dead; I wish we were all dead." Then she ran out of the room.We heard her running upstairs.After this, a door slammed shut. "It's the first time she's said anything reasonable at this age," I said. "She didn't go to school today," said the mother. "How do you know?" I said. "Have you been to town?" "I know anyway," she said. "I wish you would be kind to her." "I'll have to see her a few more times a day for me to do that," I said, "and you'll have to get her to the table at every meal. That way I can give her a few extra bucks at every meal." meat." "There are little things you could have done," she said. "Like when you told me to keep an eye on her and don't let her play hooky, I didn't hear it, did I?" I said. "She didn't go to school today," he said. "I know she didn't go. She said she was driving out with a lad this afternoon, and you came after her." "How is that possible?" I said, "I had my car borrowed all afternoon. Whether she played truant today or not, it's a thing of the past," I said. "If you must worry about it, worry about next Monday." "I want you to get along with her," she said. "But she's inherited all that willful temper. It was her Uncle Quentin's too. At the time, I named her that way because she might have inherited it. Sometimes, I Felt like she was my punishment from Katie and Quentin." "My God," I said, "you have a great imagination. That's why you're always sick." "What?" she said. "I don't understand you." "I don't expect you to understand either," I said. "Girls are always ignorant of the world, and the less ignorant they are, the more noble they appear." "They're both like that," said he, "and when I want to discipline them, they join forces with my father against me. He always says leave them alone, that they already know what is pure and noble, and that any As long as a person possesses these two qualities, he need not worry about them. Now I think he should be satisfied." "You've got class to fall back on," I said, "don't be so downcast." "They kept me out of their lives," she said, "he was always with her and Quentin, and they were always sneaking together against me, and against you, though you were little I don't understand yet.They've always seen you and me as strangers, and they've always been strangers to you, Uncle Maury.I keep saying to your father that they're being taken too lightly, that they've been together too long.Quentin went to school to study.The next year we had to let Katie go too, she wanted to be with him.Whatever you boys do, she wants to do it too, and she won't be happy if she doesn't let you do it.It was her vanity at work, vanity, and her unaccountable pride.Then she started to feel wrong, and I knew that Quentin would react and do the same wrong thing.But I didn't expect him to be so selfish that--I even dreamed that he--" ① Refers to daughter Katie and son Quentin. "Perhaps he knows it's going to be a girl," I said, "and he won't be able to bear another girl." "He could have kept her in check," she said. "He's the only one Katie can listen to. But it's probably a punishment for me, I suppose." "Yes," I said, "it's too bad that he died instead of me. You'd be much better off if it was the other way around." "You keep saying things like that to irritate me," she said. "However, then again, I did it on my own. I told your father that the land was going to be sold for Quentin to go to Harvard. Then Herbert proposed to let you go to Harvard." I was working in the bank, so I said, Jason finally had something to rely on. After that, the expenses became more and more expensive, and I had to sell the furniture and the remaining pasture. I wrote to her immediately, and I said that she should understand that she and Quentin got her share, and even took Jason's share. Now she has to make up for it. I said, for the sake of my father, I should do the same. I was full of thought She'll do it. But I'm just a useless old woman; I've been brought up to think it's frugal to take care of a brother. It's all my fault. You're right to blame me ." "Do you think I can't stand without someone else's advice?" I said. "Do you think I even have to rely on a woman who can't even tell who the father of her children is?" ① means: Quentin guesses that Katie will have a girl.Quentin has special feelings for Katie and cannot tolerate the intervention of a third party. "Jason!" she said. "Well," I said, "I didn't mean to irritate you. Of course I didn't mean to." "I have tasted all kinds of tastes, sweet and bitter, and I don't believe that anyone can add to my distress." "Of course I didn't mean to," I said. "I didn't mean it." "I hope you at least don't play tricks on me," she said. "Of course not," I said, "she's too much like them both, that's obvious." "I can't stand it," she said. "Then don't think about it," I said. "Is she still pestering you about her going out at night?" "No. I made her understand that it was for her own good not to go out, and she would thank me later. I took all the textbooks with me, and she studied inside after I locked the door. Some nights, I stayed until eleven o'clock. I see the lights are still on." "How do you know she's working hard?" I said. "She was locked in there by herself, and I didn't know what else to do but study," she said. "She never reads idle books." "She won't read it," I said, "and you'll find out what it is. You'll have to pray to God," I said, but what's the use of me saying that unless she jumps at me Just one more cry on my shoulder. I heard her go upstairs.Then she called Quentin, and Quentin answered through the door, "What's the matter?" Mother said, "Good night." Then I heard the key turn and lock the door.After this the mother went back to her room. The light in Quentin's room was still on when I finished my cigar and went upstairs.I saw the keyhole where the key was removed, but I couldn't hear a sound.She is so quiet when she is working.Maybe she learned that in school too. ① "She" refers to little Quentin. I said good night to my mother and went into my room. I took out the box and counted the money again.I heard "America's Greatest Eunuch" snoring like a sawmill going on all night.我在某本书里读到过，有的男人，为了说话象女人那样尖声尖气，就让自己给动了手术。不过也许班根本不知道人家给他动过手术了。我看他当时想干什么连自己都不清楚呢，也不明白伯吉斯先生干吗要用栅栏桩子把他打晕。而且如果不等他麻药药劲过去就把他送到杰克逊去，我敢说他也根本察觉不出来自己换了地方。可是康普生家的人是不会考虑这样一个直截了当的办法的。比这复杂一倍的办法他们还看不上呢。总要等到他冲出了大门，在街上追赶一个小姑娘，而她的爸爸又恰好在近旁看到了这幅景象，他们才肯采取措施。哼，我早就说过了，他们迟迟不舍得用刀，用了又赶紧把刀子收起来，据我所知，至少还有两个傻子也应该动这样的手术，其中一个就近在一英里之内的地方。可是即使都这样做了，也不见得能解决问题。我早说过，天生是贱坯就永远是贱坯。给我二十四小时自由行动的权力试试看，别让那些该死的纽约犹太佬来对我指手划脚。我倒不是想大捞一把，这种手段只可以用来对付那些鬼精灵的赌棍。我只求给我一个公平的机会，让我把自己的钱赚回来。等我赚回来了，那就让整条比尔街和整个疯人院都搬到我家里来好了，让其中的两位②到我的床上去睡，再让另一位③坐到我餐桌的位于上去大吃大喝好了。 ① refers to Bangui. ②指凯蒂与小昆丁。 ③指班吉。