【荆棘鸟】第二章 27

In the kitchen the boys were sitting glumly around the table, and Paddy's chair was empty. So was Frank's. Meggie slid into her place and sat there, teeth chattering in fear. After breakfast Fee shooed them outside dourly, and behind the barn Bob bro

【荆棘鸟】第二章 26

God, why weren't you older, so I could talk to you? Or maybe it's better that you're so little, maybe it's better . . . . He let her go abruptly, struggling to master himself, rolling his head back and forth against the log, his throat and mouth work

【荆棘鸟】第二章 25

The axe was moving so fast it whistled, and the handle made its own separate swishing sound as it slid up and down within his slippery palms. Up it flashed above his head, down it came in a dull silver blur, carving a wedge-shaped chunk out of the ir

【荆棘鸟】第二章 24

At first opportunity Frank seized the paper and read the feature hungrily, drinking in its jingoistic prose, his eyes glowing eerily. Daddy, I want to go! he said as he laid the paper down reverently on the table. Fee's head jerked around as she slop

【荆棘鸟】第二章 23

Meggie held her head up and kept her eyes dry. She was learning. It didn't matter what anyone else thought, it didn't, it didn't! The other girls avoided her, half because they were frightened of Bob and Jack, half because the word had got around the

【荆棘鸟】第二章 22

So she sent the girl home and told her not to come back until her head was clean. I left her and Sister Declan and Sister Catherine looking through every head in the school, and there turned out to be a lot of lousy ones. Those three nuns were scratc

【荆棘鸟】第二章 20

Now what am I going to do with you? Meggie gaped at the tiny thing roaming blindly round Fee's bare skin in search of more hirsute territory, then she began to weep. Without needing to be told, Frank got the copper going while Paddy paced up and dow

【荆棘鸟】第二章 19

Suddenly Fee made a sound, so peculiar it jerked Meggie out of her musing and made the menfolk still seated at the breakfast table turn their heads curiously. Holy Jesus Christ! said Fee. Paddy jumped to his feet, his face stupefied; he had never hea

【荆棘鸟】第二章 18

she was too busy trying to remember how many plates there were in Teresa's willow pattern tea set. And when the Maoris in the organ gallery broke into glorious song, Meggie's head was spinning in a daze of ultramarine blue far removed from Catholicis

【荆棘鸟】第二章 17

However, in spite of bitter aloes, ridicule, Sister Agatha and Paddy's switch, Meggie went on biting her nails. Her friendship with Teresa Annunzio was the joy of her life, the only thing that made school endurable. She sat through lessons aching for

【荆棘鸟】第二章 16

and no idea in the world how to make the afflicted limb do what Sister Agatha insisted it could. She became mentally deaf, dumb and blind; that useless appendage her right hand was no more linked to her thought processes than her toes. She dribbled a

【荆棘鸟】第二章 15

Arithmetic she found easy, but when called upon to demonstrate toper skill verbally she could not remember how many two and two made. Reading was the entrance into a world so fascinating she couldn't get enough of it; but when Sister Agatha made her

【荆棘鸟】第二章 14

During lesson breaks in the playground they walked with arms looped around each other's waists, which was the sign that you were best friends and not available for courting by anyone else. And they talked, talked, talked. One lunchtime Teresa took he

【荆棘鸟】第二章 13

What happened then? Sister Ag caned her good and proper, and sent her home in disgrace. Well, I'd say she's had punishment enough. I have a lot of respect for the nuns and I know it isn't our place to question what they do, but I wish they were a bit

【荆棘鸟】第二章 12

Well, I told the boys what I'd do to any Cleary who even whimpered when he was caned, and that goes for you, too, Meggie. No matter how hard she beats you, not a whimper. Did you cry today? No, Frank, she yawned, her eyelids drooping and her thumb po

【荆棘鸟】第二章 11

Murder her, really murder her, take the double chins and squeeze .... Down went his tools, off came his apron; he walked to her quickly. What's the matter, dear? he asked, bending over until her face was level with his own. The smell of vomit rose fr

【荆棘鸟】第二章 10

Then down came the cane, anywhere it could land on Meggie's body as she flung up her arms to shield her face and cringed, still retching, into the corner. When Sister Agatha's arm was so tired it did not want to lift the cane, she pointed toward the

【荆棘鸟】第二章 09

Meggie Cleary, she whispered back. You there! came a dry, harsh voice from the front of the classroom. Meggie jumped, looking around in bewilderment. There was a hollow clatter as twenty children all put their pencils down together, a muted rustling

【荆棘鸟】第二章 08

It was lunchtime before the last of the pain died out of her hands. Meggie had passed the morning in a haze of fright and bewilderment, not understanding anything that was said or done. Pushed into a double desk in the back row of the youngest childr

【荆棘鸟】第二章 07

but her mouth tightened like an overwound spring, and the tip of the cane lowered itself an inch or two. Who is this? she snapped to Bob, as if the object of her inquiry were a new and particularly obnoxious species of insect. Please, Sister, she's m