Chapter 2 Chapter Two (Part 1)

On Sundays, while the Clearys were at church, Meggie had to stay home with a little older brother.Looking forward to the day when I grow up and can go to church.Padraic Cleary held that young children should not go anywhere but in their own rooms, and his rule included even houses of worship.Meggie was not allowed to go to church until she was in school and she was believed to be able to sit there honestly.It was not possible before this.So every Sunday morning she stood mournfully by the gorse bush by the gate, watching the whole family pack into the battered buggy while the older brother who had been assigned to look after her tried his best. Pretend it was a great blessing to escape Mass.Frank was the only one in the Cleary family who was really happy not to travel with the rest of the family.

Paddy's religious beliefs were an integral part of his life.When he married Fee, the Catholic Church had reluctantly agreed, because Fee was a member of the Church of England.Although she renounced her religion for Paddy, she refused to convert to Catholicism.Apart from the fact that the Armstrongs were of pure old Anglican descent, and that Paddy was a penniless immigrant from Ireland, it's hard to say what was going on.The Armstrong family settled in New Zealand long before the first 'official' people arrived, a testament to the colonial aristocracy.From Armstrong's point of view, it can only be said that Fiona entered into a very disproportionate marriage.

Roderick Armstrong started a New Zealand family in a very peculiar way. The discovery began with an event that had unanticipated repercussions in eighteenth-century England, the American Revolutionary War.Before 1776, more than a thousand British petty criminals were transported to Virginia and the North and South Carolinas every year to be sold into indentured labor that was not much better than slaves.English law at the time was ruthless and unrelenting: murderers, arsonists, the inexplicably "impersonated Egyptians" and burglars who stole more than a shilling were all punished by hanging.Petty crimes meant lifelong deportation to America.

However, the American outlet was blocked in 1776, and Britain found that the number of criminals in the country was increasing rapidly, and there was no place to settle it.The prison was overcrowded, and the rest were crammed into decaying hulks moored at the mouth of the river.Where there is need, there is action.Captain Arthur Phillips was ordered to set sail for the continents of the southern hemisphere, a move which was very reluctant, as it would have meant costing thousands of pounds.The year was 1787.His fleet of 11 ships carried more than a thousand prisoners, plus sailors, naval officers, and a contingent of marines.This was not a glorious Odyssey voyage to seek freedom; at the end of January 1788, a few months after setting anchor from England, the convoy reached Port Plantation.The arrogant Majesty George III found a new land to pour out his criminals - the colony of New South Wales.

① At that time, the British used the hulk as a prison to imprison prisoners. -- Annotation ②The residence of early British prisoners in New South Wales, Australia, which is named after the variety of plants. -- Annotation In 1801, when Roderick Armstrong had just turned 20, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.Armstrong's descendants insisted that he came from a prominent Somerset family lost to the American Revolution, and that the charges against him were unfounded, yet none of them bothered to trace their illustrious man seriously. The experience of the ancestors, they just enjoyed his glory and made some improvisations.

Whatever his origins and circumstances in England, young Roderick Armstrong was a tough, violent man.Throughout the unspeakable months of the voyage to New South Wales, he proved to be a stubborn, difficult convict, and won the favor of his fellow officers by refusing to die. When he arrived in Sydney in 1803, his behavior was even worse, and he was sent to a prison for recalcitrant offenders on Norfolk Island.However, his bad nature has not changed, and nothing will help.They starved him, put him in a cell where he could not sit, stand, or lie down; they beat him to pieces; they chained him to rocks in the middle of the sea and left him half submerged.But he laughed at them, he was as thin as a bone wrapped in canvas, there was no tooth in his mouth, and there was no scar on his body that was as big as a palm, but his heart was burning with a fiery fire of resistance, and there seemed to be nothing can put it out.At the beginning of each day, he made a determination not to die, and at the end of each day, he smiled triumphantly at the sight that he was still alive.

In 1810 he was sent to Vin de Man's Land, where he was chained with a gang of prisoners to make roads in the iron-hard gravel behind the city of Hobart.At the first opportunity, he blew a hole in the chest of the mounted policeman leading the procession with his pickaxe, and he and 10 other prisoners killed 5 other mounted policemen; the ground until they died screaming in pain.They and the soldiers who guarded them were beasts, a group of ignorant creatures whose emotions had degenerated below the level of human beings, and Roderick Armstrong would not run away without touching his tormentors or letting them die as soon as possible, just like He would never act like an obedient prisoner.

①The old name of Tasmania, Australia. -- Annotation ②A city at the southern tip of Tasmania, Australia. -- Annotation Armed with rum, bread and dried beef they had received from the mounted police, the 11 men trudged through miles of frigid rainforest to a Hobart whaling farm, from which they stole A longboat sailed across the Tasman Sea without food, water or sails.Roderick Armstrong and two others were alive when the longboat washed up on the wild west coast of New Zealand's South Island.He never spoke of that incredible journey, but vaguely heard that the three survived by killing the weakest of their companions.

This happened just nine years after he was deported from England.He's still a young man, but he looks like he's 60.By the time the first officially sanctioned settlers arrived in New Zealand in 1840, he had cleared land in the South Island's fertile Canterbury region, "married" a Maori woman and fathered 13 beautiful half-Polynesian children child.By 1860, the Armstrongs had become immigrant aristocrats, sending their boys back to England to attend elite schools, and they had amply proved by their guile and insatiability that they were worthy of this remarkable and formidable man offspring of Tao. Fiona was born to Roderick's grandson James in 1880.She is the only daughter of his 15 children.

If Fiona still had nostalgia for the stricter Protestant ordinances of her childhood, she never said so.She put up with Paddy's religion, went to mass with him, and took care to send the children to worship the supreme Catholic God.However, since she never converted to Catholicism, some small details of daily worship were omitted, such as prayers before meals and prayers before bedtime. Meggie had never been further from home than the warehouses and smithies in the hollow, except once, eighteen months earlier, to Wahine's general store.On her first morning at school, she was so excited that she vomited up her meal and had to hurry back to her bedroom to wash and change.She took off her beautiful new navy dress with a large white sailor collar and put on her brown, unobtrusive cotton velvet shirt with a high collar around her neck. The small neck seemed to smother her to death.

"Meggie, for heaven's sake, the next time you think you're going to throw up, don't just sit there and wait until it comes up before you talk, I've got a lot of stuff to pack and lots of other things to do Now, hurry up, for Sister Agatha will whip you with the cane if you miss the bell and are late. Be well behaved, and watch out for your brothers!" When Fee finally pushed Meggie out the door, there was Bob, Jack, Hughie and Stuart bouncing and blowing at the front door.The jam sandwich she had for lunch was in an old schoolbag. "Come on, Meggie, we're going to be late!" Bob called, walking down the road. Meggie watched the shrinking figures of her brothers, running to follow. It was a little past seven in the morning, and the soft sun had been up for hours; the dew was dry on the grass except in the deep shade.Weihan's road is a taxi road full of ruts, with dark red roads on both sides and a wide light green grass in the middle.On both sides of the road, white calla lilies and orange nasturtiums are in full bloom in the deep grass; the neat wooden fence there draws the boundaries of ownership and warns others not to trespass. Bob always walked to school standing along the fence above the right hand side, his schoolbag was always squared over his head, not carried.The left-hand fence belonged to Jack, so the road became the domain of the three young Clearys.At the top of the long, steep hill they had to climb from the hollow where the smithy stood to where the Robertson and Wyham roads met.They lingered for a moment, panting, five bright heads shining in the cloudy sky.The part of the way down the mountain is the most enjoyable.Hand in hand, they ran through the grass by the road until the grass disappeared into a field of flowers.They wished they had time to slip under Mr. Chapman's fence and roll down the hill like boulders. It was five miles from the Cleary house to Wahine, and Meggie's legs trembled and her socks came down when she saw the electric poles in the distance. While listening to the ringing of the assembly bell, Bob glanced at her impatiently; she walked forward with difficulty, holding up her underpants, panting heavily from time to time.Her face was pink under her bushy hair, yet strangely pale.Bob sighed and handed the bag to Jack, arms crossed at the sides of his knickerbockers. "Come on, Meggie, I'll carry you the rest of the way," he said harshly, glaring at his brothers so they wouldn't mistake him for softening. Meggie climbed onto his back, put her legs around his waist, and rested her head comfortably on his bony shoulders, and now she could have a good look at Wyhamtown. In fact, there is nothing to see.Weihan Town is not much bigger than a big village, scattered on both sides of an asphalt road.The largest building was the two-story local hotel, with awnings that shaded the sidewalk from the sun; a row of columns along the roadside ditch supported the awning.The department store, the second largest building, also prides itself on its awnings, with two long wooden benches for passers-by to perch under its stacked windows.A flagpole stood in front of the Freemasonry gate, with a battered Union Jack fluttering in the high wind on top of it.Because at that time, there was no car repair shop here, the number of non-horse vehicles was very few; but there was a blacksmith shop near the Masonic Church, behind it was a stable, and the place near the trough stood upright. an oil pump.The only really striking building in the colony was the shop in a distinctive brilliant blue, very different from the British style, while the rest of the buildings were all painted a dark brown.The public school and the church of the Church of England stand side by side, exactly opposite the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart and the parish school. While several Clearys were passing the department store, the bells of the Catholic Church rang, and the big bells on the pillars in front of the public school also rang in a low voice.Bob broke into a quick trot, and when they entered the gravel yard there were fifty children standing in line before a little nun who was waving a cane longer than she was.Without ordering, Bob led his younger siblings to one side of the line, keeping his eyes on the cane. The Sacred Heart Convent is a two-story building, but because it is located behind a fence far from the road, it is not easy to see clearly at a glance.The three nuns of the Sisters of Mercy who taught at the school lived upstairs and a fourth nun who was housekeeper and was never seen.There are three large rooms downstairs, where the school teaches.This rectangular building has a wide and shaded corridor, where children are allowed to sit gracefully during play and lunch time on cloudy and rainy days, and are not allowed to stay on sunny days.A few tall fig trees shaded part of the wide field, and behind the school a sloping field jutted out into a circular lawn, euphemistically called the "cricket ground" because cricket was played there. main activities performed. Just as the primary school children walked in to the sound of "Faith to Our God" played by Aunt Catherine on the school's small piano, Bob and his brothers ignored the children who were already standing in line They snickered and stood there motionless.Sister Agatha waited until the last of the children had vanished before withdrawing her rigid posture; she strode up to where the Cleary children were waiting, her thick serge The skirt imperiously swept the gravel aside. Meggie, who had never seen a nun before, stared at her dumbfounded.What she saw was indeed rare: only her face and hands were exposed on Sister Agatha's body, and the rest were the starched white nun's turban and pectoral, which were dazzling against her extremely black clothes . Around Sister Agatha's massive waist was a wide leather belt looped over an iron ring from which hung a large string of wooden rosary beads strung together with strong cord.Sister Agatha's skin was perpetually red, partly because it was too clean, and partly because the hem of the tightly pressed kerchief wrapped her head so that only a part of the front center was exposed, her face As a result, it looks too extraordinary to be called a face.Her chin was covered with tufts of fine hair, squeezed mercilessly by the hood.Her lips were so shriveled to a thin slit that she was almost invisible from the vows she had taken more than fifty years ago in the warm bosom of Killarney Abbey to serve as a nurse in this remote colony where the seasons are reversed. caused by the hard life of nuns.On either side of her nose was a scar of scarlet, pressed by the steel rims of her round spectacles, behind which shone pale blue, stern, suspicious eyes. "Hello, Robert Cleary, why are you late?" snapped Sister Agatha's dry, once Irish accent. "I'm sorry, Mammy," Bob replied impassively, his emerald blue eyes still fixed on the tip of the cane waving back and forth. "Why are you late?" she asked again. "I'm sorry, Mammy." "It's the first morning of term, Robert Cleary, and I thought you'd try to be punctual on this morning, even if you didn't at other times." Meggie was trembling, but she found the courage to say, "Oh, I'm sorry, Mammy, it's my fault!" she said sharply. Those pale blue eyes moved away from Bob, as if they wanted to see Meggie's soul through and through.Now, innocently standing there, looking up, she did not realize that she had violated the first rule of conduct in the ever-present, continual, intense conversation between teacher and student, which was never to report unsolicited. .Bob gave her a quick kick in the leg, and Meggie squinted at him inexplicably. "Why is it your fault?" Mammy asked in the coldest tone Meggie had ever heard. "Well, I was nauseous all through the meal and vomited all over my drawers, so Mum had to wash and change me. It was me. We were both late," Meggie explained naively road. Sister Agatha's face remained expressionless, but her mouth was tensed like an overwrought spring, and the tip of the cane dropped an inch or two. "Who's this?" she asked Bob, as if she were asking a new and particularly annoying insect. "Oh, Mammy, she is my sister Meghan." "Then you'll have to make her understand later on, Robert, that if we were real gentlemen and ladies, there are certain things we never mention. In any case we don't mention the name of anything we wear underneath, because decent families come out Your child understands that naturally. Hold out your hand, and you all hold out your hand." "But, Mammy, it's my fault!" Meggie sobbed, holding out her palm, as she'd seen her brothers do it countless times at home. "Hush!" Sister Agatha scolded, turning to her. "It doesn't matter to me who you are in charge of. You are all late, so you will all be punished. Six strokes each. ’ she announced the sentence monotonously and gloatingly. Meggie watched in horror at Bob's motionless outstretched hand, saw the long cane whistling down at a speed that her eyes could not keep up with, and hit his soft and tender flesh with a "snap". On the palm, a purple mark appeared immediately; the second hit was on the joint between the fingers and the palm, this place was more sensitive, and the last hit was on the fingertips, ten fingers connected to the heart, apart from the lips, this place is the most sensitive up.Sister Agatha was perfect at caning people.Three more blows to Bob's other hand before she hit Jack in turn.Bob was pale, but he neither cried nor moved.And when it came their turn, so did his brothers, even the quiet, slender Stewart. When Meggie saw the cane raised to her hand, she closed her eyes involuntarily, so she didn't see the cane's whereabouts.However, the bursting, scalding, searing pain went from her flesh to her muscles and bones.When the pain spread to her forearm, the second hit came down, and when the pain reached her shoulder, the last hit on her fingertips followed the same path and pierced her bones, as if directly hitting her heart, she Her gums clenched her lower lip, almost biting into the flesh, her shame and self-esteem prevented her from crying; her injustice and resentment at this practice made her dare to open her eyes and look at Sister Agatha. , this lesson was leaving an unforgettable impression on her, even though she didn't really understand the essence of what Sister Agatha taught her. During lunch, the pain in her hand gradually disappeared completely.Meggie spent the morning in a state of terror and stupor, unable to hear or see anything around her.She sat at a two-person desk in the back of the small class classroom, but she didn't even know who was with her until she sadly ate that lunch huddled behind Bob and Jack in a remote corner of the playground. Sitting on a desk without noticing.She ate Fee's gooseberry-and-jam sandwich only under Bob's stern urging and reassurance. When the bell rang for the end of get out of class and Meggie stood in line, her eyes finally began to see clearly.The shame and pain of being whipped by the cane was still very strong, but she held her head high and pretended not to notice the pushing and whispering of the little girls next to her. Sister Agatha stood in front holding a cane, Sister Declan paced back and forth three times at the back of the line, Sister Catherine sat next to the piano at the entrance of the small class classroom, and began to sing four quarters with strong accents. On the second beat, "Advance, Warrior of Christ" was played.It was a Protestant hymn, properly speaking, but the war interpenetrated the Protestant beliefs of the nations.Sister Catherine felt rather proud that these lovely children marched like little soldiers to the beat of the music. Among the three nuns, Sister Declan is exactly the same as Sister Agatha, only 15 years younger, while Sister Catherine still maintains a touch of earthly affection.She was only in her fifties, and, of course, Irish, and her enthusiasm had not quite faded: she could still feel the joy of being a teacher, and she could still look at the little faces that turned to her with great admiration. to the immortal image of God.But she taught the oldest children, who Sister Agatha believed had beaten enough to behave, despite their young and gentle head teacher.Sister Agatha was in charge of shaping the minds and hearts of the youngest children herself, leaving the middle class to Sister Declan. Meggie sat safe and sound behind the desk in the last row, the little girl she dared to squint at the little girl sitting next to her, and she gave Meggie a small smile with her toothless mouth at Meggie's trembling gaze .Her face was dark, with a little sparkle, and a pair of big black eyes stared at her frankly.She fascinated Meggie, who was used to fair skin and freckles, because even the dark-eyed, black-haired Frank looked quite pale in comparison to her, so that Meggie finally came to the conclusion that her tablemate The classmate is the most beautiful person she has ever seen. "What's your name?" The black beauty asked softly, chewing on the end of her pencil, spitting sawdust into her empty inkwell, moving the corners of her mouth. "Meggie Cleary," she whispered back. "Hi!" came a dry, stern shout from the front of the classroom. Meggie jumped to her feet, looking around in bewilderment.With a few clicks, all twenty students put down their pencils, and there was a dull rustle as they pushed the expensive paper aside to sneak their elbows onto their desks.Meggie realized that everyone was staring at her, and her heart seemed to sink to the bottom.Sister Agatha walked quickly from the south road.Meggie was terrified, and if there was any escape she would run away.But behind her was the partition wall between the middle class classroom, with desks surrounding her on both sides, and Sister Agatha in front.When she looked up at the nanny with suffocating fear, her little face was huddled up and almost only a pair of big eyes remained, and her hands tightly grasped the tabletop, and then let go. "You have spoken, Meghan Cleary." "Yes, Mammy." "What did you say?" "Say my name, Mammy." "Your name!" Sister Agatha sneered, looking back at the other children, as if they must have sniffed at Meggie as much as she had. "Hey boys, aren't we honored? We have another Cleary in our school and she can't wait to make a name for herself!" She turned to Meggie. "You should stand up while I'm talking to you, you stupid wild girl! Please reach out." Meggie stepped out of her seat, her long curly hair flowing over her face, her hands clasped tightly and writhing.But Sister Agatha didn't move at all, just waited, waited, waited... Then, somehow, Meggie forced herself to stretch out her hand, but when the cane fell, she quickly He withdrew his hand, panting in fear.Sister Agatha took Meggie's hair by the top of her head with her hands and held her closer, her face inches from the hideous glasses. "Hand out, Meghan Cleary." The words were polite, ruthless and irrevocable. Meggie opened her mouth and vomited, all over Sister Agatha.When Sister Agatha stood there.Her face tightened with anger and surprise as the sickly vomit ticked from her black pleated skirt to the floor; every child in the room gasped in horror, and then, the rattan He hit Meggie mindlessly.She raised her arms to shield her face, continued to retch, and retreated into the corner of the wall.Sister Agatha, whose arms were too tired to lift the cane any longer, pointed to the door. "Go home, you rebellious, uneducated little wretch!" she said, turning her heels out of the classroom and into Sister Declan's. Meggie looked at Stuart frantically: he nodded, as if to tell her that she had to do it right.His tender green eyes were full of understanding and sympathy.She wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and stumbled out of the classroom door to the playground.There are still two hours before school ends, and she dragged her heavy steps along the street uninterestedly. She knew that it was impossible for her brothers to catch up with her, and she couldn't find a place to stop due to excessive fright. wait for them.She had to go home alone and confess everything to her mother alone. When Fee staggered out the back door with a basket full of wet clothes, she almost fell on Meggie.Meggie was sitting on the top step of the back porch, her head bowed, the tips of her shiny curls sticky and the front of her dress dirty.Fee put down the heavy hamper and, with a sigh, brushed a loose lock of hair out of her eyes. "Oh, what's the matter?" she asked wearily. "I vomited all over Sister Agatha." "Oh, dear!" said Fee, with her hands on her hips. "I got the cane too," Meggie whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "This is really messed up." Fee lifted the basket and gave it a shake to keep her balance. "Well, Meggie, I don't know what to do with you. We'll have to wait for your dad to see what he says." She walked across the backyard to the half-filled, wind-blown clothesline. go. Meggie wiped her face wearily with her hands, stared absently behind her mother for a moment, then got up and walked down the path to the smithy. Frank had just finished shoeing Mr. Robertson's sorrel horse, and was putting it back in the stable when Meggie appeared at the door.He turned and saw her.The terrible, painful memories of his own school days came flooding back to him; she was so young, so lovely, so innocent, but the light in her eyes was mercilessly extinguished, and there was something hidden in them. This expression made him want to kill Sister Agatha.Kill, kill her, really kill her, grab her chin, and send her to the King of Hades... He put down the tools in his hand, took off his apron, and walked towards her quickly. "What's the matter, sweetie?" He bent down, face to face with her, and asked.He smelled a miasma of vomit from her, but he resisted the urge to turn away. "Oh, F-Frank!" she sobbed, her cheeks contorted, and the tears welled up at last.She flung her arms about his neck, and clinging to him excitedly, wept with incomprehensible anguish; as the Cleary children did from their infancy.It is unbearable to behold, and it hurts more than a few soothing words and a few kisses can relieve. When she had regained her composure, he picked her up and laid her down on a mound of sweet-smelling hay by Mr. Robertson's mare.They sat there together, letting the horse's lips touch the edge of their turf, and forgot all about it.Meggie's head was nestled tightly against Frank's smooth, bare chest, and she hummed happily, her curls flowing with the horse's snorts on the straw. "Why did she put us all under the cane, Frank?" Meggie asked. "I told her it was my fault." Frank was so used to the smell of her that he didn't care anymore.He put out a hand and stroked the mare's nose absently, and when she got excited he pushed her away again. "We're poor, Meggie, that's the main reason, nuns always hated poor students. You've only got to stay a few more days in Sister Agatha's shitty school and you'll see that she not only takes The kids in the family, and the Marshalls and the MacDonalds, we're all poor people." If we were rich and drove to school in a wagon like the O'Brien family, they'd Follow our ass.But we cannot afford to give an organ to the church, or a gold vestment to the sacristy, or a horse and a new buggy to the nuns.Therefore, we are nothing.They can do whatever they want with us. "I remember one day when Sister Agatha was mad at me, and she kept screaming: For the love of God, cry! make trouble! Francis Cleary! If you could cry I am satisfied, I won't hit you so hard, so much!" "That's another reason she hates us: that's what makes us better than the Marshalls and MacDonalds, and that's that she can't make the Clearys cry. She thinks we should be licking her boots, patting her I've told the boys that whenever a Cleary kid gets caned, even if he whimpers, I'm going to talk to him. Same with you, Meggie. It doesn't matter if she hits you How cruel, don't even hum. Did you cry today?" "Not crying, Frank." She yawned, her eyelids drooping, her thumbs stroking her face to find her mouth.Frank put the ground on the hay and went back to his work; he was humming and smiling. Meggie was still asleep when Paddy came in.The cleaning of the dairy at Mr. Jarman's house made his arms rough, and his wide-brimmed straw hat hung low over his eyes.He saw Frank hammering an axle on the anvil, sparks flying about his head, and then his eyes fell on the haystack where his daughter was curled up sleeping; above that sleeping face. "Here's where she should be, I think," said Paddy, letting down his whip, and leading the old pinto horse into the stables adjoining the smithy. Frank gave a slight nod, looked up at his father with that suspicious look that so often annoyed Papper, and then turned to the white-hot axle, his ribs bare with sweat. shining. Paddy unsaddled the pinto horse and led it into a stall.He filled the trough with water, and fed it with a mixture of fenugreek and oats.The animal snorted gratefully at him as he filled the trough with feed.The horse's eyes followed him as he walked toward the large sink outside the smithy and took off his shirt.He washed his arms, face and body, soaking his breeches and hair.Then he dried himself off with an old sack and looked at his son questioningly. "Mum told me Meggie was disgraced and kicked back. Do you know what the hell is going on?" The temperature of the axle dropped, and he dropped the axle. "The poor little fool vomited all over Sister Agatha." The smile on Paddy's face disappeared in an instant.He stared at the far wall for a moment, collected himself, then turned to Meggie. "Is it all because of the excitement of going to school?" "I don't know, she threw up before they left the house this morning, and it kept them late before the clock struck. They each got six blows, but Meggie was particularly disturbed because she felt She should be the only one punished. After lunch, Sister Agatha grabbed her again, and our Meggie vomited bread and jam into Sister Agatha's clean black dress. The robe is on." "and after?" "Sister Agatha gave her a solid cane cane, so that she was so disgraced that she came home." "Oh, I gotta say, punishing her is enough. I have a lot of respect for the nuns and know we have no right to question what they do, but I hope they're less enthusiastic about the cane .I understand that they have to get the three basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic into the heads of our unenlightened Irish, but. After all, today is Meggie's first day of school at the university." Frank looked at his father in amazement.Never before had Paddy exchanged views with his eldest son as grown-ups exchanged views with grown-ups.This relieved Frank of the resentment he often harbored toward his father, and he realized that Pada loved Meggie more than his sons.He felt that he liked his father a little, so he smiled with no distrust in it. "She's a hot chick, isn't she?" he asked. Paddy tapped the sand absently, and he was watching her intently; the horse writhed, pursed its lips, and Meggie moved, rolled over, and opened her eyes.When she saw her father standing beside Frank, she sat up and turned pale with fright. "喂，梅吉姑娘，这一天挺难熬吧？"帕迪走上前去，将她从干草堆里抱了出来；她身上的味道冲得他喘不过气。他耸了耸肩，紧紧地搂住了她。 "我挨藤条了，爸爸。"她坦白道。 "噢，和阿加莎嬷嬷打交道，这不会是最后一回的，"他笑着，将她放在肩膀上。"我们最好去看看妈是不是在铜炊里烧她了热水给你洗澡。你身上的味比贾曼先生的牛奶房还难闻呢。" 弗兰克走到门前，看见小路上突然冒出了两个红脑袋，接着，他转过身去，看见栗色母马那温和的目光牢牢地盯着他。 "喂，你这个老骚货，我要骑着你回家了。"他对它说道，一把拉过了笼头。 梅吉的呕吐并不是真正的福音。阿加莎嬷嬷依然经常叫她吃藤条，不过，打她的时候总是躲得远远的，免得自食其果，这减轻了她胳膊的劲儿，也使她难遂其愿。 坐在她旁边的那个黑黑的女孩子是韦汉开黄色酒吧的那位意大利人的最年幼的女儿。她的名字叫特丽萨·安南奇奥。她不很活跃，因此她能逃过阿加莎嬷嬷的注意，但却又并不呆笨，不至于成为阿加莎嬷嬷讥笑的对象。当她的牙齿露出来的时候，她是非常漂亮的，梅吉很喜欢她，课间休息时，她们俩相互搂着腰在操场上散步，这标志着她们是"最好的朋友"，别的人甭想前来插一杠子。她们谈哪，谈哪，没完没了地谈着。 有一天吃午饭的时候，特丽萨把她带到酒吧去见她的妈妈、爸爸和已经长大成人的哥哥、姐姐。他们对梅吉那一头金发的着迷不亚于她对他们那黑皮肤的赞叹。当她把那双大大的、闪着美丽的光芒的灰眼睛转向他们时，他们都把她比作一位安琪儿。她从妈妈那里继承了一种难以言喻的、极有教养的神态，这种神态每个人都能立刻感到，安南奇奥家也是这样。他们都像特丽萨一样渴望得到她的欢心。他们让她吃又大又腻的、在咝咝作响的羊油锅里炸出来的土豆片，还有一块味道鲜美的蘸过鸡蛋糊的、与上豆片在烟气腾腾的油锅里一起炸出来的去骨鱼，只是炸的时候把它放在一个铁丝篮里隔开炸就是了。梅吉还从来没吃过这样好吃的饭菜呢，她希望她以后能常常到酒吧来吃午饭。不过这是难得的乐事，需要得到妈妈和修女们的特殊允许才行。 她在家里谈话的时候总是一个劲儿地讲"特丽萨如何如何说"以及"你知道特丽萨干什么来着吗？"直到帕迪吼道，关于特丽萨他已经听得太多了的时候才算罢休。 "我不以为与达戈人①过份亲密就这么干。"他嘟囔着，他也有英国人对所有黑皮肤或地中海沿岸人的本能的不信任。"达戈人脏，梅吉姑娘，他们不常洗。"他拙劣地解释道，在梅吉受了伤害的、责难的目光下，他把后半截话咽了下去。 ①对肤色浅黑的意大利人、西班牙人和葡萄牙人等的蔑称。 -- Annotation 弗兰克带着强烈的嫉妒心赞同父亲的意见。因此，梅吉在家里就不那么经常谈起她的朋友了。可是家人的非难并没有影响她们的关系，只不过是由于两家离得较远，交往被限制在上学的时间罢了；鲍勃和别的男孩子们瞧见她和特丽萨扌票在一起，真是求之不得。这使他们能在操场上满处疯跑，就好像他们没有她这个妹妹似的。 阿加莎嬷嬷在黑板上写的那些难懂的东西梅吉也开始逐渐明白了。她懂得了"十"是指把所有的数合在一起得出一个总数，"一"是指从上面一个数中去掉底下的那个数，所得的数小于头一数。她是个聪明伶俐的孩子，要是她能克服对阿加莎嬷嬷的恐惧，那么她即使成不了最好的学生，也可以成为优等生的。可是当那锐利的目光转向她，那衰老而又干巴巴的嗓音一个出其不意地向她抛出过于简单的问题时，她就只有结结巴巴地说不出话，也动不了脑筋了。她觉得算术很容易学，可是把她叫起来进行口算的时候，她连二加二等于几都记不住。读书把她引进了一个极其迷人的天地，她怎么也读不够，可是当阿加莎嬷嬷叫她站起来高声朗读一段的时候，她几乎连"猫"字都读不上来，更甭提"喵喵叫"这个词了。看来，她要永远在阿加莎嬷嬷的挖苦下颤栗不止或满脸通红了，因为班上别的同学都在笑她呢。阿加莎嬷嬷总是把她的石板举起来加以嘲笑，也总是用地辛辛苦苦地写了字的纸来说明潦草的作业是多么要不得。阔一些孩子中有人有橡皮，这是幸运的，而梅吉却只好用手指尖当橡皮；她舔舔手指头，去擦她由于紧张而写错的字，把写的东西擦的一塌糊涂，纸上滚出许多像细小的香肠一样的团团。这使纸上出现了许多破洞，因此用指尖当橡皮被严格地禁止了。可是，她为了逃避阿加莎嬷嬷的责难，是什么事情都敢于做出来的。 在她到学校以前，斯图尔特是阿加莎嬷嬷的藤条和泄愤的主要目标。然而，梅吉这个靶子要合适得多，因为斯图尔特带着令人反感的镇静和几乎是圣徒般的冷漠是难以对付的，即使对阿加莎嬷嬷来说也是这样。相反，梅吉却吓得瑟瑟发抖，脸红得像甜菜，尽管她努力想遵循弗兰克给克利里家所定下的行为准则。斯图尔特深切的同情梅吉，他有意使修女把火发到他的头上来，以便使梅吉的日子好过一些，但是修女立旋就看透了他的把戏，便重新发起火来，非要看看克利里家族的通性在这个女孩子身上是否也像在男孩子们身上那样明显。要是有人问她，她到底为什么如此嫌恶克利里家，她也答不上来。但是对于像阿加莎嬷嬷这样被一生所走过的路弄得怒气冲冲的老修女来说，要对付像克利里这样傲然的而棘手的家伙又谈何容易。 梅吉最糟糕的是左撇子。在第一堂写字课上，当她小心翼翼地拿起石笔开始写字的时候，阿加莎嬷嬷就像凯撒攻击高卢人那样向她冲了过来。 "梅格安·克利里，把石笔放下！"她吼道。 梅吉是个令人束手的不可救药的左撇子。当阿加莎嬷嬷用力扳着梅吉右手的手指，使它们正确地握住石笔，移到石板上的时候，梅吉就晕头转向地坐在那儿，一点儿也不知道怎样才能使那受折磨的肢体按照阿加莎嬷嬷所坚持的样子去做。她在智力上变得又聋、又哑、又瞎了；那只毫无用处的右手与她的思维过程的联系还不如她的脚指头呢。她在石板上画线出了边，因为她没法让它弯曲过来。她像瘫了似地扔掉了石笔；阿加莎没有一点儿办法能叫梅吉用右手写出一个"A"字来。后来，梅吉偷偷地把笔换到了左手，用胳臂拙笨的从三面护定了石板，准备在上面写出一行漂亮的铜版体的"A"字。 阿加莎嬷嬷赢得了战斗的胜利。在早晨站队的时候，她用绳子把梅吉的左臂绑在身上，直到下午三点钟的放学钟声敲响时，才许解开。即使在午间，她也得带着被绑得动弹不得的左半身去吃饭。用了三个月的时间，她终于学会了按照阿加莎嬷嬷的信念来正确地书写了，尽管她写的字始终就没有漂亮过。为了确保她不再旧病复发，她的左臂在身上又继续绑了两个月。然后，阿加莎嬷嬷把全校的人都集合在一起，向万能的天主祈祷致谢，感谢他的智慧使梅吉认识到了她的错误。上帝的孩子全都是用右手的人，左撇的孩子是魔鬼的小崽子，尤其是红头发的。 在学校的头一年中，梅吉虽然长高了一点儿，但是她孩童的丰满不见了，变得十分清瘦。她开始咬指甲盖，都咬得触到指甲下的嫩肉了。阿加莎嬷嬷因此逼她伸着手在全校的每一个课桌前转了一圈，这样好让所有的孩子都能看到被咬过的指甲是多么难看。要知道，在学校里5到15岁的孩子中间有差不多半数的孩子的指甲咬得和梅吉的一样惨。 菲拿出了一瓶苦芦荟，将这可怕的东西涂在梅吉的指甲上。家里的每一个人都被调动起来注意她，保证她没有机会把苦芦荟洗掉。当学校里别的女孩子们注意到这一无法遮掩的棕色痕迹时，她心里感到了屈辱。如果她把手指放进嘴里，那味道是难以形容的，不但令人作呕，而且黑的像洗羊用的消毒水；她拚命往手绢里吐着唾沫，狠命地擦着，拣到皮肉破裂，直到把那苦玩艺儿擦得差不多尽净方才罢休。帕迪拿出了他的鞭子，这像伙比阿加莎嬷嬷的藤条要讲情面得多，他用鞭子抽梅吉，打的在厨房里到处乱蹦。他打孩子不打手、脸或屁股，只打腿。他说，打腿和打别处一样疼，但不会打伤。然而，不管苦声荟也罢，嘲笑奚落也罢，阿加莎嬷嬷和帕迪的鞭子也罢，梅吉还是继续啃她的指甲盖。 她和特丽萨·安南奇奥的友情是她生活中的乐趣，是她赖以忍受学校生活的唯一的东西。坐在那里听课的时候，她渴望娱乐的时间快点到来，以便可以和特丽萨相互搂着腰，坐在高大的无花果树下说个没完没了。她们谈的是特丽萨作为外国侨民的与众不同的家庭，谈的是她那多得数也数不清的布娃娃，以及关于她的那些货真价实的柳木纹茶具。 在梅吉看到那套茶具时，她折服了。这套茶具共有108件，包括细巧的茶杯、茶托和盘了，一把茶壶、一个糖罐、一个奶罐和一个奶油罐，还有大小正适合于布娃娃用的小刀子、小勺子和小叉子；特丽萨还有数不清的玩具。她出生于一个意大利人的家庭，而且年龄比她最小的姐姐还要小得多，这意味着她受到家里人的热情的、毫不掩饰的宠爱；从金钱上说，她父亲对她的要求是有求必应的。每个孩子都是带着敬畏和羡慕来看待别的孩子的，虽然特丽萨从来也不羡慕梅吉的卡尔文教派①的禁欲主义的教养。相反，她同情梅吉。难道她连跑去拥抱和亲吻她的妈妈都不允许吗？可怜的梅吉。 ①指法国宗教改革家约翰·卡尔文（1509－1564）创立的教派。 -- Annotation 至于梅吉，她简直没法把特丽萨满脸笑容、矮矮胖胖的妈妈和她自己那面无笑容、颀长苗条的妈妈相提并论，所以她从来也没想过：我希望妈妈拥抱我，吻我。她所想的是：我希望特丽萨的妈妈拥抱我，吻我，虽然关于拥抱和亲吻的概念在她的脑子里远不如对那套柳木纹茶具的概念来得清晰。那套茶具是如此精致，如此细薄，如此美丽！what!要是她能有套柳木纹茶具，用那青花托盘里的青花茶杯给艾格厄丝喝茶该有多好啊！ 在装饰着惹人喜爱的、奇形怪状的毛利雕刻和毛利画的天花板的旧教堂里举行星期五祝福礼的时候，梅吉跪在那里祈求能得到一套属于自己的柳木纹茶具。当海斯神父高高地举起圣体匣财，圣体透过那中间的宝石镶嵌、闪闪发光的匣子上的玻璃，隐隐看见了所有那些向它啊头致意的人们，并为他们祈福。可是梅吉不在此例，因为她甚至没看见那圣体。她正在忙于因忆特丽萨的那套柳木纹茶具到底有多少个盘子哩。当毛利人在风琴席上突然引吭高唱颂歌的时候，梅吉的思绪正盘旋在与天主教和波利尼西亚相去十万八千里的一片茫茫的青色里。 ① ①指梅吉一心想着青花茶具。 -- Annotation 学年就要结束了。腊月和梅吉的生日预示着盛夏的来临①，就在这个时候，梅吉懂得了一个人想要实现自己的心愿得付出多大的代价。她正坐在火炉边上的一个高凳上，菲在把她的头梳成通常的上学时的样子；这是件复杂的事。梅吉的头发生来就有卷曲的趋势，她妈妈认为这是很幸运的。直头发的女孩子长大以后要想把又软又细的头发做成光亮蓬松的卷发那就有苦头吃了。夜里睡觉的时候，梅吉得把快长到膝盖的头发费力地缠在用旧白被单扯成的一条条的带子上。每天早晨，她都得爬上高凳子，让菲解开旧布条，把她的卷发梳好。 ①新西兰是在南半球，12月、1月、2月是夏季。 -- Annotation