芒果街上的小屋田納西的埃爾

田納西的埃爾

　　埃爾住在隔壁埃德娜家的地下室裡，在埃德娜每年都要漆成綠色的花箱後面，在那些灰濛濛的天竺葵後面。我們以前常坐在花箱上，直到有一天，提陀看到一隻腦袋上有一點綠漆的蟑螂。現在我們坐在拐向埃爾住的地下室的樓梯步上。

　　埃爾上夜班。他的百葉窗在白天總是合上的。有時他會出來叫我們保持安靜。已經開裂的小木門把黑暗關在裡面那麼久，現在它打開了，呀的一聲歎息，吐出一口潮濕的黴氣，就像放在外面淋過雨的書。這是惟一一次我們不是在他回來和去上班的時候看到他。他有兩條與他形影不離的小黑犬。它們不是像平常的狗那麼走路，而是一蹦一跳，翻著筋斗前進，像一個撇號和一個逗號。

　　夜裡，蕾妮和我能聽到埃爾下班回家的聲音。先是汽車門打開時的喀噠聲和低鳴，接著是走過水泥地的嚓嚓腳步聲、小狗身上墜飾興奮的丁零聲，跟著是鑰匙沉重的噹啷聲。最後是木門開啟吐出濕氣時的呻吟聲。

　　埃爾是一個自動唱機修理工。他在南邊的時候學了這門手藝。他說。他說話帶南方口音，抽粗肥的雪茄，戴一頂氊帽，無論冬夏炎涼，都是這一頂。在他的寓所裡是一盒一盒的45轉唱片，潮濕發黴，像他每次開門時寓所裡出來的氣味一樣。他把唱片全都送給我們，除了鄉村和西部的。

　　據說埃爾結婚了，在哪裡有個妻子。埃德娜說埃爾帶她回公寓的時候她見過她一次。媽媽說她是個細瘦的人，金髮淡膚，蒼白得像從未見過陽光的蠑螈。可我也見過她一次，根本不是那樣的。街對面的男孩說她是一個高個紅發女郎，穿粉紅緊身褲，戴綠眼鏡。我們從來沒在她的長相上達成一致，可我們確實知道這事。她每次來，他都緊緊握著她的胳膊肘。他們飛快地走進寓所，在身後鎖上門，從來不久待。

　　Earl lives door in Edna's basement, behind the flower boxes Edna paints green each year, behind the dusty geraniums. We used to sit on the flower boxes until the day Tito saw a cockroach with a spot of green paint on its head. Now we sit oeps that swing around the basement apartment where Earl lives.

　　Earl works nights. His blinds are always closed during the day. Sometimes he es out and tells us to keep quiet. The little wooden door that has wedged shut the dark for so long opens with a sigh as out a breath of mold and dampness, like books that have bee out in the rain. This is the only time we see Earl except for when he es and goes to work. He has two little black dogs that go everywhere with him. They don't walk like ordinary dogs, but leap and somersault like an apostrophe and a.

　　At night Nenny and I hear when Earl es home from work. First the clid whine of the car door opening, then the scrape of crete, the excited tinkling of dog tags, followed by the heavy jingling of keys, and finally the moan of the wooden door as it opens as loose its sigh of dampness.

　　Earl is a jukebox repairman. He learned his trade in the South, he says. He speaks with a Southern at, smokes fat cigars and wears a felt hat——winter or summer, hot or cold, don't matter——a felt hat. In his apartment are boxes and boxes of 45 records, moldy and damp like the smell that es out of his apartment whenever he opens the door. He gives the records away to us——all except the try aern.

　　The word is that Earl is married and has a wife somewhere. Edna says she saw her once when Earl brought her to the apartment. Mama says she is a skinny thing, blond and pale like salamahat have never seen the sun. But I saw her ooo and she's not that way at all. And the boys across the street say she is a tall red-headed lady who wears tight pink pants and green glasses. We never agree on what she looks like, but we do know this. Whenever she arrives, he holds her tight by the crook of the arm. They walk fast into the apartment, lock the door behind them and ay long.

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