《渺小一生》:“有個令人興奮的大消息！”

　 [ III ]

第三部分 虛榮

　 Vanities

　 1

1

　 THEIR NEXT-DOOR SUITEMATES their second year in Hood had been a trio of lesbians, all seniors, who had been in a band called Backfat and had for some reason taken a liking to JB (and, eventually, Jude, and then Willem, and finally, reluctantly, Malcolm). Now, fifteen years after the four of them had graduated, two of the lesbians had coupled up and were living in Brooklyn. Of the four of them, only JB talked to them regularly: Marta was a nonprofit labor lawyer, and Francesca was a set designer.

大學時代，他們住在虎德館的第二年，隔壁套房住了三位女同志，都讀大四，組了一個叫“背脂”的樂團，而且出于一些原因很喜歡杰比（后來也喜歡裘德，然后是威廉，最后才很不情愿地喜歡馬爾科姆）?，F在，他們四個畢業(yè)十五年后，那三個女同志中的其中兩人成了一對，住在布魯克林。而他們四個人里頭，只有杰比還常跟她們聯絡，馬爾塔成了非營利勞工組織的律師，弗朗西斯卡則是舞臺設計師。

　 “Exciting news!” JB told them one Friday in October over dinner. “The Bitches of Bushwick called—Edie is in town!” Edie was the third in the lesbians’ trio, a beefy, emotional Korean American who shuttled back and forth between San Francisco and New York, and seemed always to be preparing for one improbable job or another: the last time they had seen her, she was about to leave for Grasse to begin training to become a professional nose, and just eight months before that, she had finished a cooking course in Afghani cuisine.

“有個令人興奮的大消息！”十月的一個星期五，杰比在晚餐時告訴他們，“布什維克那兩個賤貨打電話來——伊迪來紐約了！”伊迪是女同志三人組里的第三個，一個健壯、情緒化的韓裔美國人，一直在舊金山和紐約之間跑來跑去，為某個不太可能成功的工作做準備：上回他們碰到她時，她正要去普羅旺斯的世界香水之都格拉斯受訓，打算成為專業(yè)聞香師。在此之前八個月，她才剛完成阿富汗料理的廚師訓練課程。

　 “And why is this exciting news?” asked Malcolm, who had never quite forgiven the three of them for their inexplicable dislike of him.

“為什么這個消息令人興奮呢？”馬爾科姆問，始終不太能諒解她們三個莫名地不喜歡他。

　 “Well,” said JB, and paused, grinning. “She’s transitioning!”

“這個嘛，”杰比說，暫停了一下，咧嘴笑了，“她正在轉換！”

　 “To a man?” asked Malcolm. “Give me a break, JB. She’s never exhibited any gender dysphoric ideations for as long as we’ve known her!” A former coworker of Malcolm’s had transitioned the year before and Malcolm had become a self-anointed expert on the subject, lecturing them about their intolerance and ignorance until JB had finally shouted at him, “Jesus, Malcolm, I’m far more trans than Dominic’ll ever be!”

“轉換成男人？”馬爾科姆問，“饒了我吧，杰比。打從我們認識她以來，她從來沒有顯示出任何性別不安癥的跡象！”馬爾科姆以前的一個同事前一年轉換性別了，馬爾科姆于是自命為這方面的專家，總是責備他們的不寬容和無知，直到有回杰比終于朝他吼：“天啊，馬爾科姆，我轉換得可比多米尼克多太多了。”

　 “Well, anyway, she is,” JB continued, “and the Bitches are throwing her a party at their house, and we’re all invited.”

“好吧，總之，她正在轉換。”杰比繼續(xù)說，“賤貨們要在她們家?guī)退k一場派對，我們全部受邀了！”

　 They groaned. “JB, I only have five weeks before I leave for London, and I have so much shit to get done,” Willem protested. “I can’t spend a night listening to Edie Kim complaining out in Bushwick.”

他們哀嘆起來。“杰比，再過五個星期，我就要去倫敦了，有一大堆事情還沒辦。”威廉抗議道，“我可不能花一個晚上，跑去布什維克聽伊迪·金抱怨。”

　 “You can’t not go!” shrieked JB. “They specifically asked for you! Francesca’s inviting some girl who knows you from something or other and wants to see you again. If you don’t go, they’re all going to think you think you’re too good for them now. And there’s going to be a ton of other people we haven’t seen in forever—”

“你不能不去！”杰比尖叫，“她們特別問起你！弗朗西斯卡邀請了一個不知道你在哪里認識的女生，說很想再看到你。要是你不去，她們就會覺得你自以為了不起，不屑理她們了。還有一大堆我們好久沒見的人……”

　 “Yeah, and maybe there’s a reason we haven’t seen them,” Jude said.

“是啊，我們好久沒見到他們，或許是有理由的。”裘德說。

　 “—and besides, Willem, the pussy will be waiting for you whether you spend an hour in Brooklyn or not. And it’s not like it’s the end of the world. It’s Bushwick. Judy’ll drive us.” Jude had bought a car the year before, and although it wasn’t particularly fancy, JB loved to ride around in it.

“何況，威廉，無論你去不去，那個妞兒都會等著你。那里又不是世界盡頭，就在布魯克林的布什維克而已。小裘會載我們去的。”裘德一年前買了車，不是多炫的款式，但杰比很愛坐他的車。

　 “What? I’m not going,” Jude said.

“什么？我才不去。”裘德說。

　 “Why not?”

“為什么？”

　 “I’m in a wheelchair, JB, remember? And as I recall, Marta and Francesca’s place doesn’t have an elevator.”

“別忘了，杰比，我現在坐輪椅了。我記得馬爾塔和弗朗西斯卡那沒有電梯。”

　 “Wrong place,” JB replied triumphantly. “See how long it’s been? They moved. Their new place definitely has one. A freight elevator, actually.” He leaned back, drumming his fist on the table as the rest of them sat in a resigned silence. “And off we go!”

“不是那里。”杰比得意地回答，“你看你多久沒去了？她們搬家啦，新家有電梯。其實呢，是運貨電梯。”他往后靠，一只拳頭在桌上輕敲，其他人坐著不說話，一副認命的樣子，“所以我們要去嘍！”

　 So the following Saturday they met at Jude’s loft on Greene Street and he drove them to Bushwick, where he circled Marta and Francesca’s block, looking for a parking space.

于是下個星期六，他們就在裘德位于格林街的公寓集合，由他開車載他們去布什維克。到了那，他在馬爾塔和弗朗西斯卡的那個街區(qū)繞圈，想找停車位。

　 “There was a spot right back there,” JB said after ten minutes.

“她們家后頭就有個地方可停。”十分鐘后，杰比說。

　 “It was a loading zone,” Jude told him.

“那是卸貨區(qū)。”裘德告訴他。

　 “If you just put that handicapped sign up, we can park wherever we want,” JB said.

“要是你把殘障標志擺出來，我們就可以愛停哪兒停哪兒了。”杰比說。