【荆棘鸟】第二章 16

and no idea in the world how to make the afflicted 1 limb do what Sister Agatha insisted it could. She became mentally deaf, dumb and blind; that useless appendage 2 her right hand was no more linked to her thought processes than her toes. She dribbled 3 a line clean off the edge of the slate 4 because she could not make it bend; she dropped her pencil as if paralyzed; nothing Sister Agatha could do would make Meggie's right hand foam 5 an A. Then surreptitiously Meggie would transfer her pencil to her left hand, and with her arm curled awkwardly around three sides of the slate she would make a row of beautiful copperplate A's.
  Sister Agatha won the battle. On morning line-up she tied Meggie's left arm against her body with rope, and would not undo 6 it until the dismissal bell rang at three in the afternoon. Even at lunchtime she had to eat, walk around and play games with her left side firmly  immobilized. It took three months, but eventually she learned to write correctly according to the tenets of Sister Agatha, though the formation of her letters was never good. To make sure she would never revert 7 back to using it, her left arm was kept tied to her body for a further two months; then Sister Agatha made the whole school assemble to say a rosary of thanks to Almighty 8 God for His wisdom in making Meggie see the error of her ways. God's children were all right-handed; lefthanded children were the spawn 9 of the Devil, especially when redheaded.
  In that first year of school Meggie lost her baby plumpness and became very thin, though she grew little in height. She began to bite her nails down to the quick, and had to endure Sister Agatha's making her walk around every desk in the school holding her hands out so all the children could see how ugly bitten nails were. And this when nearly half the children between five and fifteen bit their nails as badly as Meggie did. Fee got out the bottle of bitter aloes and painted the tips of Meggie's fingers with the horrible stuff. Everyone in the family was enlisted 10 to make sure she got no opportunity to wash the bitter aloes off, and when the other little girls at school noticed the telltale brown stains she was mortified 11. If she put her fingers in her mouth the taste was indescribable, foul 12 and dark like sheep-dip; in desperation she spat 13 on her handkerchief and rubbed herself raw until she got rid of the worst of it. Paddy took out his switch, a much gentler instrument than Sister Agatha's cane 14, and sent her skipping round the kitchen. He did not believe in beating his children on the hands, face or buttocks, only on the legs. Legs hurt as much as anywhere, he said, and could not be damaged. 
 

梅吉是个令人束手的不可救药的左撇子。当阿加莎嬷嬷用力扳着梅吉右手的手指，使它们正确地握住石笔，移到石板上的时候，梅吉就晕头转向地坐在那儿，一点儿也不知道怎样才能使那受折磨的肢体按照阿加莎嬷嬷所坚持的样子去做。她在智力上变得又聋、又哑、又瞎了；那只毫无用处的右手与她的思维过程的联系还不如她的脚指头呢。
    她在石板上画线出了边，因为她没法让它弯曲过来。她像瘫了似地扔掉了石笔；阿加莎没有一点儿办法能叫梅吉用右手写出一个“A”字来。后来，梅吉偷偷地把笔换到了左手，用胳臂拙笨的从三面护定了石板，准备在上面写出一行漂亮的铜版体的“A”字。
    阿加莎嬷嬷赢得了战斗的胜利。在早晨站队的时候，她用绳子把梅吉的左臂绑在身上，直到下午三点钟的放学钟声敲响时，才许解开。即使在午间，她也得带着被绑得动弹不得的左半身去吃饭。用了三个月的时间，她终于学会了按照阿加莎嬷嬷的信念来正确地书写了，尽管她写的字始终就没有漂亮过。为了确保她不再旧病复发，她的左臂在身上又继续绑了两个月。然后，阿加莎嬷嬷把全校的人都集合在一起，向万能的天主祈祷致谢，感谢他的智慧使梅吉认识到了她的错误。上帝的孩子全都是用右手的人，左撇的孩子是魔鬼的小崽子，尤其是红头发的。
    在学校的头一年中，梅吉虽然长高了一点儿，但是她孩童的丰满不见了，变得十分清瘦。她开始咬指甲盖，都咬得触到指甲下的嫩肉了。阿加莎嬷嬷因此逼她伸着手在全校的每一个课桌前转了一圈，这样好让所有的孩子都能看到被咬过的指甲是多么难看。
    要知道，在学校里5到15岁的孩子中间有差不多半数的孩子的指甲咬得和梅吉的一样惨。
    菲拿出了一瓶苦芦荟，将这可怕的东西涂在梅吉的指甲上。家里的每一个人都被调动起来注意她，保证她没有机会把苦芦荟洗掉。当学校里别的女孩子们注意到这一无法遮掩的棕色痕迹时，她心里感到了屈辱。如果她把手指放进嘴里，那味道是难以形容的，不但令人作呕，而且黑的像洗羊用的消毒水；她拚命往手绢里吐着唾沫，狠命地擦着，拣到皮肉破裂，直到把那苦玩艺儿擦得差不多尽净方才罢休。帕迪拿出了他的鞭子，这像伙比阿加莎嬷嬷的藤条要讲情面得多，他用鞭子抽梅吉，打的在厨房里到处乱蹦。他打孩子不打手、脸或屁股，只打腿。他说，打腿和打别处一样疼，但不会打伤。