【荆棘鸟】第二章 21

Doubt in her eyes, she turned then to Frank.
  "Ought I to shave it?" she asked, tight-upped. Frank put out his hand, revolted. "Oh, Mum, no!
  Surely not! If she gets a good douse 1 of kerosene 2 it ought to be enough. Please don't shave it!"
  So Meggie was marched to the worktable and held over the tub while they poured cup after cup of kerosene over her head and scrubbed the corrosive 3 soap through what was left of her hair. When they were finally satisfied, she was almost blind from screwing up her eyes against the bite of the caustic 4, and little rows of blisters 5 had risen all over her face and scalp. Frank swept the fallen curls into a sheet of paper and thrust it into the copper 6 fire, then took the broom and stood it in a panful of kerosene. He and Fee both washed their hair, gasping 7 as the lye seared their skins, then Frank got out a bucket and scrubbed the kitchen floor with sheep-dip. When the kitchen was as sterile 8 as a hospital they went through to the bedrooms, stripped every sheet and blanket from every bed, and spent the rest of the day boiling, wringing 9 and pegging 10 out the family linen 11. The mattresses 12 and pillows were draped over the back fence and sprayed with kerosene, the parlor 13 rugs were beaten within an inch of their lives. All the boys were put to helping 14, only Meggie exempted 15 because she was in absolute disgrace. She crawled away behind the barn and cried. Her head throbbed 16 with pain from the scrubbing, the burns and the blisters; and she was so bitterly ashamed that she would not even look at Frank when he came to find her, nor could he persuade her to come inside.
  In the end he had to drag her into the house by brute 17 force, kicking and fighting, and she had pushed herself into a corner when Paddy came back from Wahine in the late afternoon. He took one look at Meggie's shorn head and burst into tears, sitting rocking himself in the Windsor chair with his hands over his face, while the family stood shuffling 18 their feet and wishing they were anywhere but where they were. Fee made a pot of tea and poured Paddy a cup as he began to recover. "What happened in Wahine?" she asked. "You were gone an awful long time." "I took the horsewhip to that blasted Dago and threw him into the horse trough, for one thing. Then I noticed MacLeod standing 19 outside his shop watching, so I told him what had happened. MacLeod mustered 20 some of the chaps at the pub and we threw the whole lot of those Dagos into the horse trough, women too, and tipped a few gallons of sheep-dip into it. Then I went down to the school and saw Sister Agatha, and I tell you, she was fit to be tied that she hadn't noticed anything. She hauled the Dago girl out of her desk to look in her hair, and sure enough, lice all over the place.
 

这时，她眼中间动着疑惑的光芒转向了弗兰克。 “我得把头发都剪光吗？”她嘴唇绷得紧紧地问道。 弗兰克伸出了一只手，不以为然地说道：“哦，妈，不一定非得这样吧？要是用煤油好好浸一浸也就可以了。别剪光了吧！” 
       于是梅吉被带到了案桌的旁边，她端着盆，他们往她的头上一杯一杯地倒着煤油，用那有腐蚀性的肥皂在她剩下的头发上搓洗着。在他们终于觉得满意了的时候，她那为了防止皂碱流进去而紧紧闭着的眼睛几字什么也看不见了。她的脸上和头皮上起满了一排排小疮。弗兰克把掉在地上的卷发扫到了一张纸上，扔进了铜火炉里。然后把扫帚杵进一盘煤油中。他和菲也把自己的头发洗了，碱皂烧灼在皮肤上使他们喘不过气来。接着弗兰克拿出了一个桶，用洗羊药水刷洗厨房的地板。 
        当厨房像一个医院似地消过毒以后，他们来到了卧室里，揭起了每张床上的被单和毯子。这一天剩下的时间就花在煮、柠和晒晾家里的单子上了。褥垫和枕头都挂在后栅栏上，用煤油喷过；起居室里的小地毯也彻底拍打了一遍。
        所有的男孩都被叫来帮忙，唯独免了梅吉，因为她的脸都丢光了。那慢慢地走去，躲到了谷仓的背后，哭着。擦洗、灼热感和水疤使她的头皮直跳。她羞愧难当，在弗兰克来找她的时候都不敢看他一眼，他也没法把她劝回屋里去。 最后，他不得不使出蛮劲，连拖带拽地把她拉了回来。傍晚前，帕迪从韦汉镇回来的时候，她躲在一个角落里。他看了一眼梅吉那剪过的头，泪水夺眶而出；他坐在他那把温莎椅里，摇晃着，两手捂住了脸，而全家人都站在那里，交替地换着脚，恨不得自己是在别的地方。
        菲泡了一壶茶，在帕迪缓过劲来的时候，给他倒了一杯。 “在韦汉出了什么事儿？”她问道。“你可去了好长时间了。”
        “我用马鞭抽了那达戈人一顿，把他扔进了马槽里，这是一件事。接着，我瞧见麦克劳德站在他的铺子外面看，于是我就把发生的事告诉了他。麦克劳德招来几个小酒店里的小伙子，我们把那些达戈人都扔进了马槽，女人也不例外，又往里面倒了几加仑洗羊药水。然后我赶到学校里去找阿加莎嬷嬷，我跟你说，她一口咬定，她什么都没瞧见过。她把那个达戈女孩儿从座位上揪了出来，查看她的头发。那真是再定准不过了，她满头都是虱子。