孤獨之旅 （三） 4

(三)　４

在家裏呆得無聊，融晴突然意識到小芳有一陣子沒來找她了。小芳是她剛認識的老鄉，一個剛滿二十歲的小姑娘。雖然文化不高，但嘴很甜，很會逗人樂。每次叫她的名字她就想起那首叫”小芳”的歌曲:“村裏有個姑娘叫小芳…”,想起小時候家鄉的那條小河。覺得奇怪，融晴一路趕到小芳的宿舍，沒有人，門從外反鎖著。她於是掉頭趕到小芳上班的那個打字複印店。小芳不在，老板說她已經一個星期沒來上班了，不知道怎麽回事。小芳事先也沒有打電話請假，老板還正生她的氣呢。融晴愁眉緊鎖地回了家，心想，糟了，小芳會不會失蹤了？下午一點過，融晴收到一個傳呼，顯示的號碼是家鄉那座城市的。融晴趕緊出門找電話亭回。電話接通了，驚喜的是，不是別人，正是那個失蹤的小芳。可是她聽起來很虛弱。小芳帶著哭腔說她差點沒命了，還說以後一輩子也不會再去北京了。融晴嚇了一跳。原來幾天前小芳被查暫住證的警察抓走了。她當時剛從火車站接了一個同鄉，兩人前腳踏進出租房，警察後腳就跟了進來。一聽說沒有暫住證，不聽解釋，立馬帶走。融晴聽得目瞪口呆，忙問她是不是被發配到清河曬沙子掙路費去了？小芳說還好她沒有，她們被關了幾天，然後被塞進一輛悶罐火車拉回了老家。然而最悲慘的是，她們整整五天五夜沒有東西吃，到家就直接被送醫院了，差一點沒命。聽完小芳的經曆，融晴淚如泉湧，心裏像刀割一樣痛。想起以前在京城路上看到那一排排驚慌失措，抱頭蹲下被查暫住證的民工，融晴無法控製自己的悲傷，也慶幸自己沒有落得同樣得慘況。可是人和人究竟為何有那麽大的地域差別呢？既然都生在同一個國家，說同一種語言。放眼望去，在淚水籠罩下的這座城市顯得更加陌生、冷酷了，一股深深的孤獨感從脊背爬上了她的眉梢。
 

TＨＲＥＥ　Ｐａｒｔ　IV
 

Translated by:　北美大牛

One day, Qing felt bored at home and it came to her that she hadn’t seen Fang
for some time. Fang was a twenty year old girl from the same hometown. Fang
didn’t have much education but she was an adorable and pleasant girl. Every
time she called her name she would be reminded of the song titled “Fang” : “ There’s
a girl in the village, her name is Fang…..”, and the creek at her hometown. She
wondered, so Qing went to Fang’s dorm. She knocked on the door and there was no
answer. The door was locked from outside. So she went to the print and copy
shop where Fang worked. Fang was not there and her boss said she hadn’t showed
up for a week and no one knew what happened to Fang. Fang didn’t notice her
boss for time off and the boss was still brooding about that. Eyebrows knotted,
Qing went home in dismay. “Something bad happened?” she thought, “could Fang
have disappeared?” After one o’clock in the afternoon, Qing was paged and it
showed it was a number from her home city. She rushed out and found a phone
booth. The call was answered and to her surprise, it was no one else but Fang,
whom she thought was lost. But Fang sounded very weak. Fang sobbed and told her
that she almost died. She vowed not to come to Beijing again. Qing was
startled, then she learned that just a few days ago Fang was arrested by the
police who was checking for residence cards. Fang just picked up someone from
her hometown. As soon as they entered their rented dorm, in followed the
police. Upon knowing that they didn’t have the temporary residence permit, the
police arrested them. The police wouldn’t listen to their explanations. She was
thunderstruck and asked if she was sent to Qing He to dry sand and collect road
tolls. Fang said that she was lucky and wasn’t sent there, instead, she was
locked up for a few days, and then put in a freight car in a train and sent
back to home. The most miserable part was that Fang didn’t eat anything for
five days and five nights. She was sent to the hospital as soon as she got off
the train and she almost died. After hearing Fang’s ordeal, Qing’s tears came
down profusely and her heart ached like being stabbed. She recalled seeing the
terrified faces of those country side labors lined up by the roads of the
capital city, squatting down, with their heads buried to be interrogated for
their residence cards. Qing could no longer withhold her lamentation. At the
same time, she felt lucky that she didn’t end up like them. But why should
human beings be treated so differently just because of where they live? They
are the citizens of the same country and speak the same language. Qing opened
her eyes, veiled by tears, and saw a city that is so strange, so callous. A
deep forlorn feeling crept up from her spine to her eye brows.