"書蟲"系列之《愛情與金錢》chapter 03
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- 參考譯文
Chapter 3
Early next morning the house was quiet. Suddenly there was a cry from the room next to Roger's, his mother's room. Roger opened his eyes and looked at the clock. It was nearly seven o'clock.
He got out of bed and opened the door quietly. At the same time the door of his mother's room opened and Diane came out. Her face was very white.
'Roger! It's Mother! I brought a cup of coffee for her and I found her dead. She's dead…dead in her bed,' she cried.
Roger went quickly to the door of his mother's room and looked in. The window was open but the room was warm. Molly was on the bed, one hand under her head. Roger went across to the bed and put his hand on her arm. It was cold. On the little table next to the bed was a hot cup of coffee and an empty cup.
'I'm going to call the doctor,' Diane said.
'She's dead,' Roger said slowly. His face, too, was white. 'Mother is dead!'
Diane walked across the room to the door. 'I'm going to phone the doctor,' she said again.
'Wait a minute!' Roger called. 'Let's tell the family first.'
'Family! Nobody loved Mother!' Diane went out and ran downstairs.
Roger slowly went downstairs after her and stood by the telephone.
'Dr Pratt, this is Diane Clarkson. It's my mother —she's dead. Can you come quickly?'
Diane put the phone down. 'It isn't true, Roger! Mother dead! Daddy died last winter, and now Mother.' Diane began to cry.
'Don't cry, Diane,' Roger said. 'Let's go upstairs and tell Uncle Albert and Jackie.'
'No! You tell them! Nobody loved Mother. You aren't sorry. Look at you! You want her money. That's all.'
Roger suddenly wanted to hit Diane. 'Be quiet!' he said. 'What about you? You didn't love Mother. You wanted her money, too. Don't forget that!'
'It's true,' Diane said. 'Oh, I can't stay in this house. I'm going out. I'm going to the river with the dogs.'
'No,' Roger said. 'The doctor's coming and I want you here.'
Diane said nothing. She went into the kitchen and at once the dogs got up and came to her. 'Beautiful dogs! Daddy loved you and Mother loved you. Now I'm going to love you.' She opened the back door and went out with the dogs.
Roger did not move. He stood by the telephone. 'It's true,' he thought. 'I am happy about the money. I needed money, and now I'm rich. Things are going to be easier for me now. But Mother…why didn't I love her more? And now she's dead.' Slowly, Roger went back upstairs. He wanted to dress before Dr Pratt arrived.
Dr Pratt was a little fat man without much hair. He was the family doctor and he knew all the Clarkson family very well. He went upstairs at once and looked at Molly's body. He looked carefully at the cup of coffee and the empty cup on the table next to her bed.
'I'm sorry, Roger,' he said. 'Where is Diane? She phoned me.'
'She went out with the dogs,' Roger said. 'She was angry with me—angry with everyone.'
Dr Pratt said nothing for a minute. 'This is going to be very difficult. I'm going to phone the police, Roger.'
'Police! Why? What's wrong?
'I don't know. Your mother wasn't ill. I saw her on Thursday and she was very well. Why did she die? I don' t understand. I want to find out.'
Roger went across to the window and looked out at the garden. It was a beautiful summer morning. The sky was blue and the garden was green. It was all very quiet. His mother loved this garden. But Tom Briggs wanted the garden. And Roger wanted the garden, too. Roger felt worse and worse.
'Your mother took sleeping tablets,' Dr Pratt said. 'Did you know? On Thursday she had a new bottle of tablets, but I can't find it here in her room.'
'I didn't know,' Roger said. 'Very well. Let's go down-stairs and you can phone the police.'
Roger went into the kitchen and made some coffee. Just then Diane came in with the dogs.
'Roger,' she said. 'Look, I'm sorry. I was angry and said some angry things.'
'It doesn't matter,' Roger said. 'Here you are, have some coffee. Dr Pratt is phoning the police. Did you know Mother took sleeping tablets? Well, the bottle is not in her room.'
'What? I don't understand.' Diane took the coffee and began to drink. Her eyes looked big and dark.
Just then Dr Pratt came into the kitchen. 'They're coming at once,' he said. 'Diane—I'm sorry about your mother.'
'Dr Pratt, I want to tell you about last night. Everyone was very angry…'
'Be quiet!' Roger said quickly.
'Diane never thinks before she opens her mouth,' he thought angrily.
Diane did not look at Roger. 'Last night Mother went to bed early because everyone…'
'Don't tell me,' Dr Pratt said. 'You can tell the police.'
Roger's face went red. Suddenly he felt afraid. 'The police are going to talk to everyone, and ask questions,' he thought. 'And they're going to want answers. It's going to be very difficult.' He finished his coffee and stood up.
'I'm going upstairs,' he said. 'I'm going to tell Uncle Albert and Jackie about Mother…and about the police.'
第二天清晨整幢房子靜悄悄的。突然從羅杰房間旁邊他母親的屋子里傳出一聲尖叫。羅杰睜開眼看了下鐘，還不到7點(diǎn)。他下了床，悄悄打開門。正在這時(shí)他母親房間的門也打開了，黛安娜走出來，她的臉非常蒼白。
“羅杰！媽媽她，我端了杯咖啡給她，發(fā)現(xiàn)她死了。她死了……死在她床上，”她哭道。
羅杰急忙走到他母親的門前往里看，窗戶是開著的，可房間里是溫暖的。莫利躺在床上，一只手在她頭下。羅杰走到床前把手放在她的手臂上，尸體已經(jīng)冷了。床邊的小桌上有杯熱咖啡和一個(gè)空杯子。
“我打電話去叫醫(yī)生，”黛安娜說。
“她死了，”羅杰慢慢地說。他的臉也變白了。“媽媽死了！”
黛安娜穿過房間走到門口。“我去打電話叫醫(yī)生，”她又說。
“等會(huì)兒！”羅杰叫道。“咱們得先告訴家人。”
“家里人！沒有人愛媽媽！”黛安娜走出去跑下樓。
羅杰跟著她慢慢走下樓站在電話旁。
“普拉特先生，我是黛安娜·克拉克森。我的媽媽——她死了。你能盡快趕來嗎？”
黛安娜放下電話。“這不是真的，羅杰！媽媽死了！爸爸去年冬天死了，現(xiàn)在媽媽也死了。”黛安娜開始哭泣。
“別哭了，黛安娜，”羅杰說。“咱們上樓去告訴艾伯特姨父和杰基。”
“不！你去告訴他們！沒人愛媽媽，你們不必內(nèi)疚?？纯茨銈?！你們想要她的錢。不過如此。”
羅杰突然想揍黛安娜。“安靜點(diǎn)！”他說。“你怎么了？你不愛媽媽，你也想要她的錢，別忘了這點(diǎn)！”
“不錯(cuò)，”黛安娜說。“哦，我不能再呆在這兒了。我要出去。我要和狗去河邊。”
“不行，”羅杰說。“醫(yī)生就要來了，我想你留在這兒。”
黛安娜沒說話。她走進(jìn)廚房。狗立即站起來走到她旁邊。“多漂亮的狗！爸爸愛你們，媽媽也愛你們?，F(xiàn)在我會(huì)愛你們的。”她打開后門，帶著狗走了出去。
羅杰沒動(dòng)，他仍站在電話旁。“不錯(cuò)，”他想。“我的確為錢高興。我需要錢，現(xiàn)在我是富有的了。事情現(xiàn)在對(duì)我來說更容易。但是媽媽……我為什么不多愛她些呢？可現(xiàn)在她死了。”羅杰慢慢地上了樓，他想在普拉特醫(yī)生來前穿好衣服。
普拉特醫(yī)生是個(gè)矮胖沒有多少頭發(fā)的男人，
他是家庭醫(yī)生并且他非常清楚克拉克森一家人。他立即上樓查看莫利的尸體。他仔細(xì)看了床邊桌子上的一杯咖啡和空杯子。
“抱歉，羅杰，”他說。“黛安娜在哪兒？她給我打了電話。”
“她帶著狗出去了，”羅杰說。“她沖我生氣對(duì)每個(gè)人都生氣。”
普拉特醫(yī)生沉默了一會(huì)。“這事非常難辦。羅杰我要打電話給警察。”
“警察！為什么？出了什么事？”
“我不清楚，你的母親沒病，我周四見到她身體很好。她為什么會(huì)死？我不明白，我想找出原因。”
羅杰走到窗前向外看花園。這是個(gè)美麗的夏天清晨，天空藍(lán)藍(lán)的而花園是一片綠色，一切都非常安靜。他的媽媽愛這個(gè)花園，然而湯姆·布里格斯卻打著這個(gè)花園的主意，并且羅杰也想要這個(gè)花園羅杰覺得事情越來越糟。
“你的媽媽服了安眠藥，”普拉特醫(yī)生說。“你知道嗎？她周四買了瓶安眠藥，可是我在她的房間卻找不到。”
“我不知道，”羅杰說。“好吧。咱們下樓去，你可以給警察打電話。”
羅杰走進(jìn)廚房弄了些咖啡，這時(shí)黛安娜帶著狗走進(jìn)來。
“羅杰，”她說。“你瞧，我很抱歉。我生氣了并說了些令人生氣的話。”
“沒關(guān)系，”羅杰說。“給你，喝點(diǎn)咖啡。普拉特醫(yī)生正打電話給警察。你知道媽媽服安眠藥嗎？唷，瓶子不在她的屋里。”
“什么？我不知道。”黛安娜端起咖啡開始喝。她的眼睛看起來又大又黑。
這時(shí)普爾特醫(yī)生走進(jìn)廚房。“他們馬上來，”他說。“黛安娜——我為你媽媽難過。”
“普拉特醫(yī)生，我想告訴你有關(guān)昨晚的事，每人都非常生氣……”
“安靜些！”羅杰急忙說。
“黛安娜在張嘴前從不想想，”他生氣地想。
黛安娜沒看羅杰。“昨晚媽媽早早就上床了，因?yàn)槊總€(gè)人……”
“別告訴我，”普拉特醫(yī)生說。“你可以告訴警察。”
羅杰的臉紅了，突然他覺得有些害怕。“警察會(huì)找每個(gè)人談話，問些問題。”他想。“然后他們會(huì)想要答案，這事非常棘手。”他喝完咖啡站起來。
“我上樓去，”他說。“我去告訴艾伯特姨父和杰基有關(guān)媽媽的事……還有報(bào)警的事。”
