芒果街上的小屋瑪琳

瑪琳

　　瑪琳的男朋友在波多黎各。她給我們看他的信，並讓我們答應，別告訴任何人她回波多黎各後他們就要結婚。她說他還沒有找到工作，可她在靠賣雅芳和照看表妹們攢錢。

　　瑪琳說她如果明年還留在這裡的話，她要去市中心找一份真正的工作，因為最好的工作都在那裡。因為你總得打扮漂亮點，穿上好衣服，才能在地鐵裡遇到一個會和你結婚，帶你住到遠方大屋裡的人。

　　可是第二年路易的父母打算把她送回她媽媽那裡，並寫上一封信說她太麻煩了。這太糟糕了，因為我好喜歡瑪琳。她比我大，懂得許多事情。是她告訴我們戴夫小寶的妹妹是怎麼懷孕的；去掉唇髭用什麼霜最好；數數你手上的小白點就能知道有多少男孩在想你；還有好多別的我現在記不起來的事情。

　　在瑪琳的嬸嬸下班回家前，我們從來都看不到瑪琳。在那以後，她也只能出到房子前面。她每晚都拿著個收音機在那裡。等她嬸嬸房間裡的燈熄滅後，瑪琳就會點一枝煙，如果那會兒外面冷，或者收音機不響，或者我們相互沒話說，這些都不要緊；要緊的是，瑪琳說，要讓男孩子看到我們，我們看到男孩子。因為瑪琳的裙子更短，因為她的眼睛很漂亮，因為她在很多方面已經比我們成熟，男孩子跑過來說一些蠢話，比如我愛上了你說是眼睛的那兩個青蘋果，把它們給我吧為什麼不？瑪琳只是看著他們，眼睛都不眨一下，也不害怕。

　　瑪琳，街燈下獨自起舞的人，在某個地方唱著同一首歌，我知道。她在等一輛小汽車停下來，等著一顆星星墜落，等一個人改變她的生活。

　　Marin's boyfriend is io Rico. She shows us his letters and makes us promise not to tell anybody they're getting married when she goes back to P. R. She says he didn't get a job yet, but she's saving the money she gets from selling Avon and taking care of her cousins.

　　Marin says that if she stays here year, she's going to get a real job downtown because that's where the best jobs are, since you always get to look beautiful ao wear nice clothes and meet someone in the subway who might marry you and take you to live in a big house far away.

　　But year Louie's parents are going to send her back to her mother with a letter saying she's too much trouble, and that is too bad because I like Marin. She is older and knows lots of things. She is the one who told us how Davey the Baby's sister gnant and what cream is best for taking off moustache hair and if you t the white flecks on your fingernails you know how many boys are thinking of you and lots of other things I 't remember now.

　　We never see Marin until her aunt es home from work, and even then she only stay out in front. She is there every night with the radio. When the light in her aunt's room goes out, Marin lights a cigarette and it doesn't matter if it's cold out or if the radio doesn't work or if we've got nothing to say to each other. What matters, Marin says, is for the boys to see us and for us to see them. And since Marin's skirts are shorter and since her eyes are pretty, and since Marin is already older than us in many ways, the boys who do pass by say stupid things like I am in love with those two green apples you call eyes, give them to me why don't you. And Marin just looks at them without even blinking and is not afraid.

　　Marin, uhe streetlight, dang by herself, is singing the same song somewhere. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someoo ge her life.

學達書庫(xuoda.com)