孤独之旅 （三） 4

(三)　４

在家里呆得无聊，融晴突然意识到小芳有一阵子没来找她了。小芳是她刚认识的老乡，一个刚满二十岁的小姑娘。虽然文化不高，但嘴很甜，很会逗人乐。每次叫她的名字她就想起那首叫”小芳”的歌曲:“村里有个姑娘叫小芳…”,想起小时候家乡的那条小河。觉得奇怪，融晴一路赶到小芳的宿舍，没有人，门从外反锁着。她于是掉头赶到小芳上班的那个打字复印店。小芳不在，老板说她已经一个星期没来上班了，不知道怎么回事。小芳事先也没有打电话请假，老板还正生她的气呢。融晴愁眉紧锁地回了家，心想，糟了，小芳会不会失踪了？下午一点过，融晴收到一个传呼，显示的号码是家乡那座城市的。融晴赶紧出门找电话亭回。电话接通了，惊喜的是，不是别人，正是那个失踪的小芳。可是她听起来很虚弱。小芳带着哭腔说她差点没命了，还说以后一辈子也不会再去北京了。融晴吓了一跳。原来几天前小芳被查暂住证的警察抓走了。她当时刚从火车站接了一个同乡，两人前脚踏进出租房，警察后脚就跟了进来。一听说没有暂住证，不听解释，立马带走。融晴听得目瞪口呆，忙问她是不是被发配到清河晒沙子挣路费去了？小芳说还好她没有，她们被关了几天，然后被塞进一辆闷罐火车拉回了老家。然而最悲惨的是，她们整整五天五夜没有东西吃，到家就直接被送医院了，差一点没命。听完小芳的经历，融晴泪如泉涌，心里像刀割一样痛。想起以前在京城路上看到那一排排惊慌失措，抱头蹲下被查暂住证的民工，融晴无法控制自己的悲伤，也庆幸自己没有落得同样得惨况。可是人和人究竟为何有那么大的地域差别呢？既然都生在同一个国家，说同一种语言。放眼望去，在泪水笼罩下的这座城市显得更加陌生、冷酷了，一股深深的孤独感从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.