司氏姐妹 （The Switch Sisters）第二章： 大日子

第二章 大日子

太阳似乎升起的特别早。玛拉披上她的梳妆袍，拉开窗帘。她对着冲进房间的阳光眨了眨眼睛，提起了窗户。外面郁郁葱葱，绿色的树叶吹进房间，缠绕在她的头发上。

门突然打开了。站在门框里的是穿着黑色大衣的法妈，她的眼睛闪耀着能量，说明她已经起早忙碌了几小时。

“好，”她母亲说，“我希望你快乐。”

玛拉从她的头发里摘下叶子，把它们放在床头柜上。

“我是的，”她说，“真的，没有比今天更完美的一天了。”

法妈用双手关上两扇门，正了正她的大衣，面对她的大女儿。

“我想你认为不必要，”她说，走到玛拉坐着开始梳理她头发的桌子边，“把这一事件的细节告知你的母亲。”

法妈从玛拉手里拿过梳子，给她梳头，她使劲地想把一个头发死结拉直。玛拉疼的打了个噤，但仍然保持着她的头不动。

“我一直在镇上各处跑，做各种准备，敲定菜单”，司维曲夫人说。 “街道上充满了热闹的谈话。激动的人们随处可见，交头接耳，斜视着我，匆匆跑开，去和邻居八卦。你猜他们在说什么？“

玛拉闭上她的眼睛。 “我想他们在说关于婚礼的事吧？”

“是的，”法妈说。 “你说他们能说什么呢？”法妈没有给她的女儿机会作回应。 “他们说，他们很高兴地看到将会发生的事情，他们猜测这猜测那，他们说这将是在小镇历史上最大的事件。”法妈放下梳子。玛拉的头发在镜子里闪闪发光，像一个抛光的石头。

“现在你认为该在什么时候通知我，”司维曲夫人接着说，当她为玛拉编好辫子，在她的头顶打了一个完美的发结，她提高了她的声音 “你什么时候计划告诉你母亲整个镇的人将出席婚礼”？她把一个发夹随便塞进她刚编好的发髻里，奇迹般的，发夹正好停留在巧当的地方，她作了一个深呼吸。一阵风吹来，把窗户砰然关上，切断了房间里的春意。房间内的空气静止了，变得很沉寂。

“我以为你会知道，所有的女孩，会知道乖巧的重要性。”法妈的手放在玛拉的肩膀上说，玛拉看着她在镜子里的映像。 “你从来没有一次在公众面前跌倒过，你融入人群这么好，有时我在想，你是否是我牵手带进这个小镇的那个女儿。可现在你不仅嫁了市长的儿子，你已经邀请整个安玫瑰镇的人参加庆祝仪式。你让我怎么想？你的头脑去哪里了？”

玛拉只在看到她母亲说完后才开口。 “我只邀请了您和我的姐妹们。其余的客人必然是格雷厄姆邀请的。”

提到格雷厄姆，法妈大步走向床边坐下，把她的不满包含在沉重的沉默中。玛拉知道，她的母亲从一开始就不赞成这个婚配。她明白：她自己也很惊讶会卷入这种境况，对自己的感情不知所措，害怕失去控制。

在亨特一家突然驾临餐馆用餐后的前一个夏天，玛拉已在法妈食店——她的母亲的著名餐馆－－当女招待。法妈拉直她的围裙， 一把抓住玛拉的肩膀， 把她拉出厨房，对她着急而低声地说。 “市长一家在这里，”她说。 “17桌。不要犯任何错误。“

玛拉没有犯任何错误。带着十足的魅力和迷人的风度，她帮他们点好最好的菜肴，并马上上单，托着放着热气腾腾饭菜的托盘，玛拉是如此优雅和轻盈地飘过繁忙的餐厅，而在任何其他人手中都会显得束手束脚，飘摇不稳。这顿饭吃得非常完满：法妈食店，尽管司维曲家庭的名声带有阴影，却总是热闹非凡，生意兴隆。在法妈的菜肴里有一种说不出的美味，让她的顾客无法抗拒的一次又一次的回来。

格雷厄姆亨特回来的更多，因为法妈的菜， 也因为玛拉。在新英格兰度过他的童年岁月后，他先在预科学校，然后在一个著名的大学和法律学院完成他的学业，他返回到安玫瑰。亨特市长，他的父亲，为了庆祝他的归来，作了一个异常的举动，决定带他去他至今还没造访，但在镇上人们谈论最多的餐厅。就这样，格雷厄姆见到了玛拉，虽然有多年的有关那个家庭在夜间会变为什么的传言，他只看到她的美丽和宁静，尘世的优雅。接着是暗暗的求爱，很快，尽管她的保留心态，玛拉发现自己全心全意地觉得与他有缘，不能对他的求婚说不。

她终于说服了自己，这将是一个绝好的机会来証明司维曲家庭的声誉，这也是她现在对她母亲说的。 “也许这将是一件好事，”她握住司维曲夫人的手说。 “如果整个小镇看到我嫁给格雷厄姆，全镇的人将看到，我们也不是那么与众不同。这可能是我们来改变现状的一个机会。想象一下，母亲！那些关起门来的传言，说我们如何与他们不同，我们可以如何炮制奇怪的法术，我们如何危险，等等，想象一下，会全部消失在空气中。”玛拉站起来，看着她的母亲的眼睛恳求道。

“这是我们的一个机会来证明我们不是他们所认为的那样，”她说。

法妈拿开玛拉握着她的手，朝门大步走去。门突然打开，在他们再次关上之前，她稍稍地停了一下，她的眼睛充满寒冷和不屈。

“问题是，”她说，“我们是他们所认为的那样。”

Chapter 2: The Big Day

The sun seemed to rise especially early. Mara slipped into her dressing robe and opened the curtains. She blinked at the light that flooded into the room and lifted the window. Lush, green leaves blew inside, tangling in her hair.

The door flew open. Standing in its frame was Fa Switch in her black coat, her eyes shining with an energy that said she’d been awake and running about for hours.

“Well,” her mother said, “I hope you’re happy.”

Mara picked the leaves from her hair and laid them on her bedside table.

“I am,” she said, “It really couldn’t be a more perfect day.”

Fa closed the double doors with both hands and swept her coat around to face her oldest daughter.

“I suppose you didn’t think it necessary,” she said, walking towards the table where Mara had sat and started to comb her hair, “to inform your mother of the details of this event.”

Fa took the comb out of Mara’s hand and pulled it through her hair, yanking on hard knots. Mara winced but kept her head still.

“I’ve been all around town, making preparations, finalizing the menu,” Ms. Switch said. “The streets are buzzing with talk. Excited people everywhere, whispering, throwing sideways glances at me and running off to gossip to their neighbor. Can you guess what they are saying?”

Mara closed her eyes. “I suppose they’re talking about the wedding?”

“Yes,” Fa said. “And what do you suppose they’re saying?” Fa didn’t give her daughter a chance to respond. “They’re saying they’re so excited to see what will happen, they’re guessing this and guessing that, they’re saying it’s going to be the largest event in the history of the town.” Fa put down the comb. Mara’s hair gleamed in the mirror like a polished stone surface.

“Now when were you supposing to inform me,” Ms. Switch continued, her voice rising as she braided Mara’s hair into a perfect knot on the top of her head, “When were you planning on telling your mother that the entire townwould be attending the wedding?” She slipped one bobby pin into the intricate bun she’d woven—miraculously, it stayed in place—and let out a deep breath. The window slammed shut and cut off the light spring breeze that had been gently playing inside. The air in the room stilled and became silent.

“I thought you, of all the girls, would know the importance of discretion.” Fa’s hand’s held onto Mara’s shoulders as she spoke, and Mara looked forward at her reflection. “You’re the one who has never once slipped in public, who blends so well into the crowd that sometimes I wonder if you’re the same daughter I carried into this town. Now not only are you marrying the son of the mayor, you have invited the entire town of Ambrose to the ceremony. What am I to make of this? Where has your head gone?”

Mara spoke only after she saw her mother had finished. “I only invited you and my sisters. The rest of the guests must be Graham’s.”

At the mention of Graham, Fa Switch strode to the bed and sat at its edge, containing her discontent in a heavy silence. Mara knew that her mother had disapproved of the match from the start. She understood: she, too, had been surprised to find herself in such a situation, wary of her feelings and scared of losing control.

Mara had been waitressing at Fa’s Foods the summer prior—her mother’s famous restaurant—when the Hunter family had dropped in to dine. Fa Switch had straightened her apron, grabbed her shoulders and strode her out of the kitchen, whispering furiously. “The mayor’s family is here,” she said. “Table 17. Do not make any mistakes.”

Mara had made no mistakes. Charming and personable, she recommended the best dishes and brought the orders out simultaneously, steaming hot on a tray that would have toppled precariously in any other hands but glided gracefully across the busy dining room in Mara’s. From there the work was completed by the food: despite the Switches’ shadowed reputation Fa’s Food was always bustling. There was something indescribably delicious in Fa’s dishes that made her customers unable to resist coming back for more.

Graham Hunter came back for more, more of Fa’s food and more of Mara. He was returning to Ambrose after spending his childhood years in New England, first in prep school, then a prestigious college and law school. For his homecoming celebration his father, Mayor Hunter, had decided in an uncharacteristic move to take him to dine at the most talked-about restaurant in town, which he had yet to visit. And so, Graham met Mara, and untainted by years of whispered rumors of what the family became at night, he saw only her beauty and tranquil, earthly grace. A covert courtship ensued, and soon despite her reservations Mara found herself wholeheartedly attached to him, unable to say no to his proposal of marriage.

She had convinced herself that it would be a wonderful opportunity to refute the Swithes’ reputation, and that was what she said to her mother now. “Maybe it’ll be a good thing,” she said, taking Ms. Switch’s hand and holding it between her own. “If the whole town sees me marry Graham, the whole town will see that we are not so different after all. This could be our chance to change everything. Imagine it, mother! All those words behind closed doors, about how we’re just not like them, how we can concoct strange spells, how we’re dangerous, imagine all of that disappearing into air.” Mara stood up and looked into her mother’s eyes, pleading.

“This is our chance to prove we’re not what they think we are,” she said.

Fa Switch took her hands out of Mara’s grasp and strode towards the doors. They swung open, and she stopped briefly in the frame before they closed in front of her, her eyes cold and unyielding.

“The problem is,” she said, “we are.”