19-7-22【英语美文】【英联邦作家奖】Passage《山中奇遇》酒吧故事引发的离奇探险

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Passage

By Kevin Jared Hosein – editedversion

1.     Asall Saturday nights went, we slipped by the wives and find weselves down by TheTricky Jester. Thinking about it, you don’t see much of those any more. TheTricky Jester, you leave your shame at the door. The new places, you have to comb your hair and put on perfume just to get a drink. Timeschange, you know. World going one way, people another.

2.     LastSaturday, though, something put a sour taste in my mouth. It came from thestory Stew was telling. Stew is an important man, and so he gets to talk. He’dremind you of that too. So, how come this one put the sourness in me then? See,Stew went out on this one hike – themountain trail of El Tucuche. The route ain’t a hard one, but not an amateur one either. And Stew is a manwho don’t follow the map. He like topride himself as a man who blazeshis own trail. You have to learn to get lost to really find yourself, wasthe man’s mantra. A man is so smallin the wilderness, believe me. The way how people is now, we ain’t tailored to live there. So when Stewsay he stumble across a house in themiddle of the mountain, my ears prick up.

3.     Wassmoke that led him to the hut. As he draw closer it, he noticed a doll nailed to a tree, weaved from twigs. As hefollowed the path, he saw that there was more trees and more dolls. Curious, hekeep on the path till he come to an open space. At the centre was a hut. Thesmoke was coming from a pile of branches set at the edge of the open space thefire long smothered. He then notedthe sound of bone crunching beneath his heels as he approached the house. Thenhe saw someone.

4.     Itwas a woman. She was young. Couldn’t be more than thirty, Stew say –Her hairloose in wiry kinkles. Stew wanted acloser look at the young lady. When the woman spotted him, he thought she wasgonna scamper away. It was only thenhe noticed how stick-thin she was. Cheeks sallow and sunken, almost like a carcass.Her feet remain planted on the ground, but he could see her toes wigglingnervously. Suddenly, he regretted coming up to this woman. ‘So what you doafter?’ Mano cut in. ‘What y’think? Turn round and buss outta there one time! Womancoulda be La Diablesse for all Iknow.’

5.     Ifelt a weight drop in my stomach. Just something about the story throw me off –I couldn’t explain it at the time. I excused myself and went back to my car totake a smoke. Later that night, when we was ready to go home, I pull Stew asideand asked him about the hiking route. He was hesitant at first and, for amoment, I wondered if he made the whole thing up. I was halfway hoping that hewas. He gave in, however, and mapped it out for me. When he was done, he gaveme a look like I was crazy. To me, it wasn’t craziness. It was clarity. My mindwas set. Was then I realized it was a long time since I actually wanted to doanything.

6.     Iwas determined to find this mystery woman. Yessir,I was gonna climb that mountain. The next Monday, I decide to take a day off. Ididn’t tell the wife. I drive all the way up to the trail. Ten minutes into it,my legs started to wear out and my water canteen was already runnin dry. It ain’t gonna be long till the rain come down, Iremember thinking. A drop of rain hit my nose. Was I really expecting to finishthis journey with my body intact?Ain’t many times I been a man without a plan, but that’s why this expedition was feeling so good.

7.     Withoutmy glasses, everything looked covered in a film of oil. I kept on the path until I spotted the stick doll that Stew was prattling on about. There was a seriesof them, just as Stew describe, from tree to tree to tree. I followed them andthen there it was – the house. My eyes widened – I expected it to vanish in a blink.Something not from this realm. Something not meant for the human eye. I spottedthe pile of branches Stew had mentioned – where he seen the smoke rising up. Ipushed one of the branches with my boot and something rolled out from under it.I saw what it was but it took a while to register.

8.     Itwas a skull – the skull of a child. Coated in soot and ash.  My eyes fluttered back to the hut. The door opened and a man popped his head out. I dropped theskull and rocketed through thebushes, too fast, tripped, and fell. I was gonna die, I felt it. Crack… Thebone pierced right through the skin. It ain’t even look like bone. The rainpouring on the wound. When I caught that glimpse of my broken ankle, my headfell back. The feeling before I passed out – it was like I was falling into thesky.  When I woke up, I found myselflying on the ground, four faces staring down at me – an old man, a young ladyand two boys. They musta brung me inside the hut. I focused on the boys. Theirlong hair was tied back and knotted with loops of grass. They was all so scrawny, Icoulda see their spines.

9.     Theold man say to me, ‘Bad fall y’had, brudda.Y’come here to kill y’self, eh?’ He laughed. ‘What side y’come? I didn’tanswer. I coulda barely breathe, much less speak. ‘I take you to Lluengo,’ theman say. ‘Lil village near the coast, y’know it? Nice people in Lluengo,y’know.’ ‘You always live here?’ I say. ‘Not always,’ he say. ‘F’now, I stayhere. Y’pity we for livin in bush,eh?’ the old man say.  ‘I ain’t pity.Just curious.’

10.  To this day, I ain’t sure how much time passedbefore it was time to go. The old man was scrawny but strong. He slung his armround my neck to balance me as we made a path through the forest. Figured itwoulda be nightfall by the time wereach civilization, but it was barely twilight. The old man ain’t dare stepfoot outta the forest, though. Once the first road came into sight, he tell me,‘We part ways here.’

Andthat was that. The sun was setting and I was miles away from home, but hell, Iremember thinking, I’m alive. Two weeks passed since meeting the man and hisfamily. While I was in the hospital, I finally managed to tell the wife thestory. But she ain’t want to hear nothing of it. She just kept interruptingwith, ‘But how you, a big old horse, could lie through your teeth and say youwas goin to work!’. I was amazed how much she didn’t care about the events inbetween. Not even the children coulda budge from their iPads to hear me out.

11.  I couldn’t believe it. I had something – I finallyhad something! Not just a story. I had a tale, a damn good one, and nobodydidn’t care to hear it!  When I finallygot discharged on the Thursday, Irang up the fellas and we organized a lime at the Tricky Jester. Drinks was on me and believe me, I had the most. Afterthe second round, I started telling the story. Every detail. The trail, therain, the house. It was going good until I get to the two children. And thenthere was no more smiles.

12.  I ordered another round and decided to tell themabout the skull. ‘A human skull?’ Mano asked, breaking the silence. ‘Yeah, boy,Mano, couldn’t be no animal, telling you! That was as human as human couldabe!’ The silence deepen and deepen as I went along. Was it the way I was tellingit, I wondered? Was I too drunk? Was I forcing it? When the evening was done,the fellas just patted my back andsaid, ‘We just glad you come out in one piece, boy.’ Things was quiet for a fewdays till I switch on the news one night and I see the forest family on TV. Theold man and the woman in handcuffs.I just shut my damn mouth for now and let the world turn.