弗里德曼作品

逃逸的嗓音

那個(gè)嗓音在她的雙唇之間溜出來，她合上雙手將其握住，但當(dāng)她松開手，那個(gè)嗓音并不在那里。就在那個(gè)嗓音穿過打開的窗戶飛走之前，她就看見光芒落在它那點(diǎn)綴著斑點(diǎn)的翅膀上。她試圖說話，但她的話卻沒有聲音。沒有嗓音，她會(huì)做什么呢？而她的嗓音沒有她，又會(huì)做什么呢？貓會(huì)把它摁在爪子下面？大風(fēng)會(huì)把它吹走，讓它迷失在另一個(gè)鎮(zhèn)子或大城市中？或者，某個(gè)別的人會(huì)吞下她的嗓音？或者，那個(gè)嗓音飛翔時(shí)靠太陽太近而融化？她想過要追逐它，但又決定最好是讓窗戶打開，留在家里，那樣的話，要是那個(gè)嗓音歸來，它就能進(jìn)來。她躺下，注視著窗口，直至睡著。幾個(gè)小時(shí)后，當(dāng)她醒來，外面已經(jīng)天黑了，她那個(gè)地方寒冷，于是她走進(jìn)浴室，開始在鏡中裝腔作勢地說話，她看得見每一個(gè)無聲的詞語從雙唇之間出現(xiàn)，像彩色的大花，為了吞下光芒而開放片刻。

ESCAPED VOICE

The voice slipped out between her lips. She closed her hands around it，but when she opened them， it wasn’t there.She saw its speckled wings catching the light just before it flew through the open window. She tried to speak， but her words were soundless. What would she do without a voice？ And what would her voice do without her？ Would a cat trap it beneath its paw？ Would it get taken away by a heavy wind and be lost in another town or a big city？ Or would someone else swallow her voice？ Or would it fly too close to the sun and melt？ She thought about going after it，but decided that the best thing would be to leave the window open and remain at home so if her voice returned，it could get in. She lay down keeping her eyes on the window until she fell asleep. When she woke up hours later， it was dark outside，and her place was cold. She went into the bathroom and began mouthing words in the mirror. She could see each soundless word emerge from between her lips like a large colorful blossom， opening for a moment to swallow the light.

尾巴

當(dāng)我們的尾巴掉落，我們就沒有什么在身后搖擺或揮舞，就沒有什么卷起或展開，就沒有什么讓我們保持忠誠。我們嘗試把尾巴縫回去，但它們卻只是柔軟無力地牽拉著。我們當(dāng)中，一些人出于挫折而將尾巴扯掉，另一些人則請求牧師祝福保佑他們，好像祝福會(huì)恢復(fù)我們的身體系統(tǒng)，讓我們重新與自己的情感保持聯(lián)系。祝福很美但無效，我們的尾巴與我們的內(nèi)心思想和情感并不同步，并沒回應(yīng)我們的擔(dān)心和希望。最終，尾巴被扯松，掉落下來。然后我們種植它們，希望梗莖會(huì)從泥土中長出來，我們的尾巴會(huì)從苞蕾和花朵中迸發(fā)而出。但是，梗莖僅僅萌發(fā)出幾個(gè)苞蕾，當(dāng)那些苞蕾綻開，幾蓬皮毛嗖地分離，飛進(jìn)云中。幾周之后，那些云就變得黑暗而沉重，拖著尾巴飛越天空。

TAILS

When our tails fell off， we had nothing to wag or wave behind us， nothing to curl up or unfold， nothing to keep us honest. We tried to sew the tails back on， but they just hung limply. Some of us ripped them off out of frustration.Others went to the priests to have them blessed as if a blessing would recharge our systems and get us back in touch with our feelings. The blessings were beautiful， but inefective. Our tails didn't sync up with our inner thoughts and feelings， didn't respond to our fears and hopes.Eventually， they pulled loose and dropped off. Then we planted them， hoping that stalks would rise up out of the earth， and our tails would burst from the buds and blossom.But the stalks produced only a few buds，and when the buds opened， some tufts of fur poofed apart and flew into the clouds. Weeks later， the clouds grew dark and heavy， trailing their tails across the sky.

謊言

謊言麋集在我們的鎮(zhèn)子，如此大聲地嗡嗡作響，以至于我們當(dāng)中的一些人發(fā)瘋了，其他人用雙手捂緊耳朵，倒在地上，另一些人則跑進(jìn)屋，鎖上門關(guān)上窗。但有些人卻非常靜止地站著，認(rèn)為自己可以行走而不會(huì)被注意到，而謊言從頭到腳覆蓋他們，釘刺他們，直至他們的身體痛苦地悸動(dòng)。我們其余的人生活在謊言之云的籠罩下一一那些謊言，就像千百萬個(gè)蜂窩狀嗓音，同時(shí)說話。

THELIES

The lies swarm our town， buzzing so loudly some of us go mad， while others hold their hands over their ears and fall to the ground， and others run inside，locking doors and shutting windows.But some stand very still thinking that they will go unnoticed. The lies cover them from head to toe， stinging them until their bodies throb with pain.The rest of us live inside clouds of lies that vibrate like millions of cellular voices talking all at once.