Chapter 14
Although we heard no more about the Finch family from Aunt Alexandra, we heard plenty from the town. On Saturdays, armed with our nickels, when Jem permitted me to accompany him (he was now positively allergic to my presence when in public), we would squirm our way through sweating sidewalk crowds and sometimes hear, “There’s his chillun,” or, “Yonder’s some Finches.” Turning to face our accusers, we would see only a couple of farmers studying the enema bags in the Mayco Drugstore window. Or two dumpy countrywomen in straw hats sitting in a Hoover cart.
“They c’n go loose and rape up the countryside for all of ‘em who run this county care,” was one obscure observation we met head on from a skinny gentleman when he passed us. Which reminded me that I had a question to ask Atticus.
“What’s rape?” I asked him that night.
Atticus looked around from behind his paper. He was in his chair by the window. As we grew older, Jem and I thought it generous to allow Atticus thirty minutes to himself after supper.
He sighed, and said rape was carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent.
“Well if that’s all it is why did Calpurnia dry me up when I asked her what it was?”
Atticus looked pensive. “What’s that again?”
“Well, I asked Calpurnia comin‘ from church that day what it was and she said ask you but I forgot to and now I’m askin’ you.”
His paper was now in his lap. “Again, please,” he said.
I told him in detail about our trip to church with Calpurnia. Atticus seemed to enjoy it, but Aunt Alexandra, who was sitting in a corner quietly sewing, put down her embroidery and stared at us.
“You all were coming back from Calpurnia’s church that Sunday?”
Jem said, “Yessum, she took us.”
I remembered something. “Yessum, and she promised me I could come out to her house some afternoon. Atticus. I’ll go next Sunday if it’s all right, can I? Cal said she’d come get me if you were off in the car.”
“You may not.”
Aunt Alexandra said it. I wheeled around, startled, then turned back to Atticus in
time to catch his swift glance at her, but it was too late. I said, “I didn’t ask you!”
For a big man, Atticus could get up and down from a chair faster than anyone I ever knew. He was on his feet. “Apologize to your aunt,” he said.
“I didn’t ask her, I asked you—”
Atticus turned his head and pinned me to the wall with his good eye. His voice was deadly: “First, apologize to your aunt.”
“I’m sorry, Aunty,” I muttered.
“Now then,” he said. “Let’s get this clear: you do as Calpurnia tells you, you do as I tell you, and as long as your aunt’s in this house, you will do as she tells you. Understand?”
I understood, pondered a while, and concluded that the only way I could retire with a shred of dignity was to go to the bathroom, where I stayed long enough to make them think I had to go. Returning, I lingered in the hall to hear a fierce discussion going on in the livingroom. Through the door I could see Jem on the sofa with a football magazine in front of his face, his head turning as if its pages contained a live tennis match.
“...you’ve got to do something about her,” Aunty was saying. “You’ve let things go on too long, Atticus, too long.”
“I don’t see any harm in letting her go out there. Cal’d look after her there as well as she does here.” Who was the “her” they were talking about? My heart sank: me. I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in my life I thought of running away. Immediately.
“Atticus, it’s all right to be soft-hearted, you’re an easy man, but you have a daughter to think of. A daughter who’s growing up.”
“That’s what I am thinking of.”
“And don’t try to get around it. You’ve got to face it sooner or later and it might as well be tonight. We don’t need her now.”
Atticus’s voice was even: “Alexandra, Calpurnia’s not leaving this house until she wants to. You may think otherwise, but I couldn’t have got along without her all these years. She’s a faithful member of this family and you’ll simply have to accept things the way they are. Besides, sister, I don’t want you working your head off for us—you’ve no reason to do that. We still need Cal as much as we ever did.”
“But Atticus—”
“Besides, I don’t think the children’ve suffered one bit from her having brought them up. If anything, she’s been harder on them in some ways than a mother would have been... she’s never let them get away with anything, she’s never indulged them the way most colored nurses do. She tried to bring them up according to her lights, and Cal’s lights are pretty good—and another thing, the children love her.”
I breathed again. It wasn’t me, it was only Calpurnia they were talking about. Revived, I entered the livingroom. Atticus had retreated behind his newspaper and Aunt Alexandra was worrying her embroidery. Punk, punk, punk, her needle broke the taut circle. She stopped, and pulled the cloth tighter: punk-punk-punk. She was furious.
Chapter 14Although we heard no more about the Finch family from Aunt Alexandra, we heard plenty from the town. On Saturdays, armed with our nickels, when Jem permitted me to accompany him (he was now positively allergic to my presence when in public), we would squirm our way through sweating sidewalk crowds and sometimes hear, “There’s his chillun,” or, “Yonder’s some Finches.” Turning to face our accusers, we would see only a couple of farmers studying the enema bags in the Mayco Drugstore window. Or two dumpy countrywomen in straw hats sitting in a Hoover cart.“They c’n go loose and rape up the countryside for all of ‘em who run this county care,” was one obscure observation we met head on from a skinny gentleman when he passed us. Which reminded me that I had a question to ask Atticus.“What’s rape?” I asked him that night.Atticus looked around from behind his paper. He was in his chair by the window. As we grew older, Jem and I thought it generous to allow Atticus thirty minutes to himself after supper.He sighed, and said rape was carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent.“Well if that’s all it is why did Calpurnia dry me up when I asked her what it was?”Atticus looked pensive. “What’s that again?”“Well, I asked Calpurnia comin‘ from church that day what it was and she said ask you but I forgot to and now I’m askin’ you.”กระดาษของเขากำลังตักของเขาอยู่ "อีกครั้ง กรุณา เขากล่าวว่า ผมบอกเขาในรายละเอียดเกี่ยวกับการเดินทางไปโบสถ์กับ Calpurnia Atticus ดูเหมือนจะ สนุกกับมัน แต่ป้าอเล็กซานดร้า ที่นั่งอยู่ในมุมเงียบ ๆ เย็บ วางลงปักของเธอ และจ้องมองที่เรา"คุณทั้งหมดได้กลับมาจากโบสถ์ของ Calpurnia วันอาทิตย์"Jem กล่าว "Yessum เธอเอาเรา"ผมจำได้บางสิ่งบางอย่าง "Yessum และเธอสัญญาว่า ฉันฉันอาจมาออกบ้านตอนบ่ายบาง Atticus ฉันจะไปอาทิตย์ถัดไปถ้าเป็นสิ่งที่ถูกต้อง สามารถ Cal กล่าวเธอจะมารับถ้าคุณปิดในรถ""คุณอาจไม่"ป้าอเล็กซานดร้ากล่าวว่า ผมล้อรอบ สะดุ้ง แล้วหันกลับไป Atticus ในเวลาจับของเขาอย่างรวดเร็วรวดเร็วเธอ แต่มันก็สายเกินไป ว่า "เราไม่ได้ถามคุณ"สำหรับคนตัวใหญ่ Atticus สามารถรับขึ้นและลงจากเก้าอี้ได้เร็วกว่าใครเคยรู้ พระองค์บนเท้าของเขา "ต้องขออภัยคุณป้า เขากล่าวว่า"ฉันไม่ขอเธอ ถามคุณ — "Atticus หันหัวของเขา และถูกตรึงไว้กับกำแพง ด้วยตาของเขาดี เสียงของเขาถูกมฤตยู: "ก่อน ต้องขออภัยคุณป้า""ขอ ป้า, " ญี่ปุ่น"ตอนนี้แล้ว เขากล่าวว่า "มาได้นี้ชัดเจน: คุณทำเป็น Calpurnia บอกคุณ คุณทำ ตามที่ฉันบอกคุณ และตราบใดที่คุณป้าของในบ้านนี้ คุณจะทำ ตามที่เธอบอก เข้าใจไหม"ฉันเข้าใจ pondered ขณะ และได้ข้อสรุปว่า วิธีเดียวที่ฉันสามารถถอนกับฉีกของศักดิ์ศรีเป็นการ ไปห้องน้ำ ที่พักนานพอที่จะทำให้พวกเขาคิดว่า ผมจะไป กลับ ตวามในห้องจะได้ยินการสนทนาที่รุนแรงเกิดขึ้นในห้องนั่งเล่นสามารถทำ ผ่านประตู ผมสามารถเห็น Jem บนโซฟากับนิตยสารหน้าหน้า ศีรษะของเขาเปลี่ยนเป็นถ้าไซต์อยู่ตรงถ่ายทอดสดเทนนิสฟุตบอล"...ได้ทำอะไรเธอ, " ป้าพูด "คุณได้ให้สิ่งที่ไปนาน Atticus ยาวเกินไป""ไม่เห็นอันตรายใด ๆ ในการให้ของเธอไปออกมี Cal จะลองดูหลังจากที่เธอเป็นเธอนี่ไม่" "เธอ" พวกเขากำลังพูดถึงคือใคร หัวใจของฉันจม: ฉัน ผมรู้สึกว่าผนัง starched penitentiary ผ้าฝ้ายสีชมพูที่ปิดใน กับฉัน และครั้งสองในชีวิตของผมคิดว่า ทำงานอยู่ ในทันที"Atticus มันเป็นสิทธิที่จะรับนุ่ม คุณเป็นคนง่าย แต่คุณมีลูกสาวจะคิดว่า มีลูกสาวที่เติบโตขึ้น""ที่เป็นสิ่งที่ผมคิดว่า""และไม่พยายามที่ได้รับรอบ ได้หน้ามันช้า และอาจด้วยเป็นคืนนี้ เราไม่ต้องการเธอตอนนี้"Atticus’s voice was even: “Alexandra, Calpurnia’s not leaving this house until she wants to. You may think otherwise, but I couldn’t have got along without her all these years. She’s a faithful member of this family and you’ll simply have to accept things the way they are. Besides, sister, I don’t want you working your head off for us—you’ve no reason to do that. We still need Cal as much as we ever did.”“But Atticus—”“Besides, I don’t think the children’ve suffered one bit from her having brought them up. If anything, she’s been harder on them in some ways than a mother would have been... she’s never let them get away with anything, she’s never indulged them the way most colored nurses do. She tried to bring them up according to her lights, and Cal’s lights are pretty good—and another thing, the children love her.”I breathed again. It wasn’t me, it was only Calpurnia they were talking about. Revived, I entered the livingroom. Atticus had retreated behind his newspaper and Aunt Alexandra was worrying her embroidery. Punk, punk, punk, her needle broke the taut circle. She stopped, and pulled the cloth tighter: punk-punk-punk. She was furious.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..