Nobody normally gets killed round here. 我们这儿几乎没出过什么命案
They're mostly detached houses and you never even hear shouting. 独门独栋的 互相连个响儿都听不见
So it took me a minute to tipple to what she was saying. 所以听她说那番话时 我还斟酌了一番
I said, "Dead? Is it a heart attack?" 我问 死了 是心脏病犯了吗
She said, "Oh no. Nothing like that. 她说 不 不是那样
"Just look at me, I'm in my bare feet." 你瞧我 我还没来得及穿鞋呢
I really only know her to nod to, but they have a lovely magnolia 我只知道点点头 他们家有一株漂亮的木兰树
so once when she was in the garden I called out, 有一次看到她在花园 我还喊她呢
"You've had more luck with your magnolia grandiflora than I have." 我说 你家的木兰花比我家的好看多了 你运气真好
But she just smiled and said, "Yes." 而她只是笑了笑 回了一句 是的
And since I didn't have another remark up my sleeve ready, 但因为我还没准备好下一句话
that was the end of that. 聊天就这么结束了
I do that all the time, start a conversation 我老是遇到这种情况 找人聊天
but can't keep it going. 却聊不下去
Blondish woman, a bit washed-out looking. 她头发是金色 脸看上去有点憔悴
Nice, tired sort of face. 五官端正 但很疲倦
Anyway she comes out into the road and waits for me 她就站在家门口的路边 等我
to get to their gate and says, "I know I don't really know you, 就等我走到她家门边说一句 我知道我们不熟
"only there's something wrong with Mr McCorquodale." 但McCorquodale先生有点不对劲
I was actually rushing because I'd planned on getting the five 我有点急 因为我计划五点到九点
to nine and going into Sainsbury's but anyway I went in. 去Sainsbury家 但我还是跟她进去了
I said, "Has he been poorly?" She said, "No. 我问 他身体不舒服吗 她回答 不
"I've a feeling he's dead. Come through. 我觉得他死了 你过来看看
"Only, Mrs Horrocks... 但是 Horrocks夫人
"..he doesn't have any trousers on." 他连裤子都没穿
I said, "Well, I do a stint at the hospice twice a week, 我说 我在临终关怀医院干活呢 一周去两次
"that's not a problem." 所以一点不成问题
Only to be fair I just take the trolley round, I've never 但老实说 我只是推着车走来走去
actually been there when anybody's been going 从来没有真的在病人将要去世时走到他们床边
and they think I'm not really ready to administer the consolation yet. 因为他们觉得我还没准备好给病人提供临终关怀服务
She had a nice linen dress on, very simple. 她穿着一件漂亮的亚麻裙 款式很简洁
I think she might have been drinking. 我觉得她可能喝酒了
He was lying on his back on the rug, 他仰着躺在毯子上
one of those fleecy hairy 那毯子软乎乎的
things, with blood and whatnot 但上面有血
coming from somewhere behind his head. 是从他后脑勺流出来的
And it's awful because the first thing I thought was, 太可怕了 因为我的第一反应是
"Well, she'll never get that out." 完了 她从此得有阴影了
He had on these green Y-fronty things, which I'd have thought 他还穿着绿色的倒Y形内裤 我想着
were a bit young for someone who's retired, 一个退休的人这么穿可装嫩了点儿
but Henry's the same, suddenly takes it into his head to 但Henry也是这样 突然就冒出这种想法
go in for something he thinks is a bit more dashing. 要去找一些他认为是好看的东西来船上
Little Terylene socks. 比如涤纶的小袜子
I said, "Should I touch him?" 我问 我该摸他吗
She said, "Well, you can if you want but he is dead. 她说 你想摸就摸吧 但他已经死了
"I've been sitting here looking at him for an hour." 我坐在这儿看着他整整一小时了
I said, "His pants are on back to front." 我说 他的内裤穿反了
She said, "Oh, that's me. 她说 噢 那是我干的
"I thought I'd better put them on before I fetched somebody in." 我觉得我带人来之前 至少该给他把内裤穿上
He had a little tattoo not far from his belly button 在他肚脐不远处有一个小纹身
and I remember when they moved in Henry said he thought 我记得他们搬来的时候 Henry就说
he had something to do with vending machines. 他觉得那个男人是搞自动售货机的
I said, "Did he bang his head, do you think?" 我问 他是不是撞到了头
She said, "Oh no. I shot him. I've put the gun away." 她说 不 是我开的枪 我把枪放到其他地方了
And she opens the sideboard drawer 她打开壁柜的抽屉
and there it is with the tablemats and playing cards. 里面放了一些碗垫和纸牌
He had a gun because he'd been in Malaya apparently. 他有一把枪 因为他在马来亚呆过
My first thought was to ring Henry and ask what to do 我当即想打给Henry 问他我该怎么办
but I couldn't face the fuss. 但我受不了他大惊小怪
I was still a bit nervous of calling 999 我有点紧张 也不敢报警
because I'm never sure what constitutes an emergency. 因为我从来都搞不清楚 什么才算紧急情况
Anyway I thought if she'd waited an hour already 但我想着 如果她真的已经等了一个小时
I might as well get her a cup of tea first, and as I was running 我也许应该让她先喝一杯茶
the tap I called out, "The police haven't already been, have they?" 我边拧开水龙头 边问她 警察还没来吗
She said, "No. 她说 没有
"Why?" I said, "Nothing." 怎么了 我说没什么
Only there was a pair of handcuffs on the draining board. 只是沥水架上还摆着一副手铐
The policeman had some difficulty writing. 警察写字有些问题
Big boy, nice ears, spelling all over the place. 大男孩 耳朵长得好看 一直都在拼写
When I asked him what he thought had happened he said, 我问他 在他看来 这里发生了什么 他说
"Well, it's marriage, isn't it, the stresses and strains of. 嗯 就是婚姻这回事嘛 让人压力重重
"Though we don't normally expect it with oldish people, 但我们认为老年夫妇一般不太会发生这种情况
"they've generally got it out of their system by then. 因为他们通常都不太会感到婚姻的压力了
"And it's a bit early in the day. People seem to like to get breakfast 那天稍早些时候 枪击还没发生
"out of the way before the shooting starts." 人们好像想要特意吃一份早餐
I'm just signing my statement when Henry arrives back 我正签我的陈述书 Henry回来了
and of course prolongs the process. 所以拖延了整个过程
"I don't know that Mrs Horrocks quite means this, Officer." 我不知道Horrocks夫人是这个意思 警官
"What you said to me on the phone, young lady, was..." 你在电话里跟我说的 女士 是...
I said, "Henry. You weren't there." 我说 Henry 你当时不在场
The policeman winks and says, 警察眨了眨眼 说
"Now then, we don't want another shooting match, do we?" 好了 我们不想看到另一对夫妇也发生枪击案 好吗
I mean at first Henry didn't even know who they were. 一开始 Henry还不知道这些人是谁
He said, "Not the chow?" I said, "No. 他问 不是？ 我说 不是
"That's the Broadbents." 那是Broadbents一家了
Anyway he sits about for a bit, whistling under his breath, 他坐了一会儿 还不时吹着口哨
then goes upstairs and attacks his computer. 然后上楼 砸了他的电脑
After the policeman had gone I went up and apologised 警察走了之后 我上去跟他道歉
and asked Henry whether he thought anything had been going on. 然后问他有没有想到一些事正在发生
He said, "Why?" 他问 怎么了
I said, "Well, she didn't have anything on under that linen dress." 我说 她亚麻裙下什么也没穿
Of course any suggestion of that embarrasses Henry, 当然了 这些暗示一点也没让Henry感到尴尬
he's such an innocent. 因为他什么也不懂
He said, "Rosemary, I don't know what sort of world you think you're 他说 Rosemary 我不知道你认为你自己生活在一个什么样的世界里
"living in but there's probably some perfectly reasonable explanation. 但是每件事都可能有一个完美且合理的解释
"In the meantime let's just remember somebody has died. 与此同时 我们也知道 有人死了
"I'm only sorry you had to be the one who was passing. 我真遗憾是你不巧经过他们家
"I'd have preferred you not to have been involved." 我真希望你没卷进这件事里
I went out later to get some milk at the garage 之后 我出门去车库拿牛奶
and there were still one or two reporters outside number 17, 17号那家门口还站着一两个记者
a whole branch of the magnolia broken off. 一整颗木兰花的树枝都被踩坏了
One of them said, "Are you a neighbour? 他们其中一个问我 你是这家的邻居吗
"Did you know the McCorquodales?" 你认识McCorquodales一家吗
I shook my head and didn't say anything 我摇了摇头 一句话没说
so one of them shouts after me, "You owe it to the community." 所以他们中的一个就朝我大喊 你欠这个社区的
So I turned round and said, "Yes, and you owe it to the 然后我转过身对他们说 对 但你们也欠这个社区的
"community not to break branches off people's magnolia trees." 你们还踩坏了这个社区居民家里的木兰花的树枝
And of course that's just the point where the photographer takes 我说这话的样子被那个摄影师抓拍了下来
a picture and it's in the paper this morning, with me 就在今天早上的报纸里 照片里
looking like a mad woman, 我站在那儿 像个疯女人
with the caption, "The real face of suburbia." 标题写着 郊区的真面目
Whereas the real face of suburbia was Henry's when he saw it. 郊区的真面目其实是Henry读到报纸的那副样子
I woke up in the night. I could hear him whistling under his breath. 我晚上醒来 还能听到他在吹口哨
I said, "Are you thinking about Mrs McCorquodale?" 我问他 你在想McCorquodale夫人的事吗
He said, "No, I was thinking about the house. 他说 不 我在想房子的事
"Prices are down as it is and something like this isn't 房价在跌 这对我们来说
"going to help matters." 真不是一件好事
He reached over from his bed, took my hand. 他把手伸过来 握住我的手
"You must try not to be upset, but if we don't get at least 175... 你必须打起精神来 如果我们拿不到至少175...
"..we shall have to kiss goodbye to Marbella." 我们就去不成Marbella了
I keep wondering if I ought to have told somebody about the handcuffs. 我一直在想 我该不该跟别人说手铐的事
I'd put on my little greeny-coloured costume, which is at least tried and 我穿上我的一套绿色衣服 之前也穿过 挺合适的
tested, only when I came down Henry said, "Oh, are you going in that?" 但我走下楼 Henry说 你真要穿这一身吗
So I went and changed into the black. 所以我又换回了黑色的衣服
No need, because it was all very casual, 其实没必要 因为一切都非常随意
the policeman in his shirt sleeves, and some barrister taking me 警察只穿着衬衫 没穿外衣 出庭律师领着我
through what I'd said, scarcely interested at all. 过了一遍我要说的词 一点意思都没有
I gave her a little smile. 我对她笑了笑
They let her sit down most of the time. She did look pale. 大部分时间 他们让她坐着 她看上去很苍白
Pleaded not guilty, which you have to do apparently even when they know 她称自己无罪 必须这么说 就算他们都知道是你干的
you did it, only then her lawyer reads out a list of stuff they'd 后来她的律师读了一串东西
found wrong with Mrs McCorquodale when she'd been arrested, 是他们逮捕McCorquodale夫人时 发现她身上有不对劲的地方
old fractures, new cigarette burns and one of her teeth loose. 之前的骨折 新的烟头烫伤 她还有一颗牙齿也松了
Another lawyer then jumps up and said, "Were other people involved?" 另一位律师站起来说 本案还牵涉其他人吗
And she said, "No," and he said he wouldn't pursue that at this stage. 她说没有 他说这个阶段 他不会追究这个
The upshot is she was sent for trial. 最终 她出庭受审
I said to Henry, "Does that mean they'll have to 我问Henry 这是不是说
"go through it all again?" 他们会重新调查这个案子
He said, "Oh, yes. 他说 当然了
"This is just the beginning." 这只是个开始
Policewoman came round this afternoon, 今天下午 一个女警察上门问我
said, did I want counselling? 想不想接受咨询
I'm entitled to it, apparently, through having seen a body 我当然需要了 毕竟亲眼看过一具尸体
and should have had it earlier only they had a charabanc 应该早就这么做的 但之前还有一辆观光车出事故了
run off the road and they've had a bit of a backlog. 所以他们之前手头事情有点多
Pleasant enough girl, though she would go on about all 这个女警察态度挺好 但她又得过一遍