【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 1 were scratching themselves like mad when they thought no one was watching." He grinned at the memory, then he saw Meggie's head again and sobered. He stared at her grimly. "As for you, young lady, no more Dagos or anyone except your brothers. If they aren't good enough for you, too bad. Bob, I'm telling you that Meggie's to have nothing to do with anyone except you and the boys while she's at school, do you hear?"
  Bob nodded. "Yes, Daddy."
  The next morning Meggie was horrified 2 to discover that she was expected to go to school as usual.
  "No, no, I can't go!" she moaned, her hands clutching at her head. "Mum, Mum, I can't go to school like this, not with Sister Agatha!" "Oh, yes, you can," her mother replied, ignoring Frank's imploring 3 looks. "It'll teach you a lesson."
  So off to school went Meggie, her feet dragging and her head done up in a brown bandanna 4. Sister Agatha ignored her entirely 5, but at playtime the other girls caught her and tore her scarf away to see what she looked like. Her face was only mildly disfigured, but her head when uncovered was a horrible sight, oozing 6 and angry. The moment he saw what was going on Bob came over, and took his sister away into a secluded 7 corner of the cricket pitch. "Don't you take any notice of them, Meggie," he said roughly, tying the scarf around her head awkwardly and patting her stiff shoulders. "Spiteful little cats! I wish I'd thought to catch some of those things out of your head; I'm sure they'd keep. The minute everyone forgot, I'd sprinkle a few heads with a new lot."
  The other Cleary boys gathered around, and they sat guarding Meggie until the bell rang.
  Teresa Annunzio came to school briefly 8 at lunchtime, her head shaven. She tried to attack Meggie, but the boys held her off easily. As she backed away she flung her right arm up in the air, its fist clenched 9, and slapped her left hand on its biceps in a fascinating, mysterious gesture no one understood, but which the boys avidly 10 filed away for future use. "I hate you!" Teresa screamed. "Me dad's got to move out of the district because of what your dad did to him!" She turned and ran from the playground, howling.
 

我离开了她，而德克兰嬷嬷和凯瑟琳嬷嬷把全校每个人的脑袋都检查了一遍，结果找出了好多长虱子的人来。那三个修女在自以为没人看到她们的时候，也发狂似地抓挠着自己的头发。”他一边咧嘴笑着，一边回忆着。
        接着他看见了梅吉的头，便又冷静了下来。他严密地瞪着她。“至于你，小姐，再也不准和达戈人或你哥哥们以外的任何人在一起了。他们太坏了，不配和你玩。鲍勃，你听着，在学校的时候除了你和咱们家的孩子以外，不许梅吉和其他人在一起，听见没有？” 鲍勃点点头：“听见了，爸。” 第二天早晨，梅吉惊恐地发现，她也得像平日一样去上学。
         “不，不，我不能去！”她呜咽着，双手捂住了脑袋。“妈妈，妈妈，我不能这个样子到学校去见阿加莎嬷嬷！” “哦，可以的，可以去的，”妈妈答道，毫不理会弗兰克那恳求的目光。“这会给你个教训。” 
         于是梅吉出门上学去了。她拖着两腿，头上包着一块棕色的印花大手帕。阿加莎嬷嬷根本没注意她，可是在玩的时候，别的女孩子抓住了她，扯掉了她的毛巾，看看她是副什么模样。她的脸只是略微受了些影响，但她那去了遮盖的头却难看之极，发炎肿痛的伤口流着分泌物。就在这时候，鲍勃瞧见了这情形，他赶了过来，把妹妹领到了板球场的一个僻静的角落里。 
        “你难道没注意到她们吗？梅吉，”他粗鲁地说道，拙笨地用头巾把她的头围了起来，轻轻地拍了拍她那倔强的双肩。“这些可恨的小丫头片子！要是我想到从你的头上抓出几只虱子留着就好了；我相信，虱子还会有的。等到人人都忘记了这事的时候，我就往几个人的头上撒它一把。” 
        其他几个克利里家的男孩都围在梅吉的身边，他们坐在那里保护着她，直到钟响。 吃午饭的时候，特丽萨·安南奇奥到学校来了一会儿，她的头也被剃了。她想打梅吉，可是那些男孩子们轻而易举地就把她挡开了。她退走的时候，用力向空中举起了右臂，拳头握得紧紧的，左手用一种迷惑人的，神秘莫测的手势拍打着二头肌。这手势无人懂得，可男孩子们都费尽心机地把它记了下来，以备将来派用场。
        “我恨你！”特丽萨尖叫着。“因为你爸整了我爸，他只好从这个区搬出去发！”她转过身去，哭嚎着从操场上跑走了。