3. Ko͘-niû ê ba̍k-chiu te̍k-pia̍t súi | 姑娘 ê 目睭特別媠

3. Ko͘-niû ê ba̍k-chiu te̍k-pia̍t súi

He sī saⁿ tiám-cheng chêng ê tāi-chì. Shimamura kám-kak bô-liâu, ná khòaⁿ tò-chhiú kí-cháiⁿ ê kok-chióng tōng-chok. In-ūi kan-ta chit-ki chéng-thâu-á ē-tàng hō͘ i chheng-chhó kám-kak tio̍h boeh khì kìⁿ ê hit-ê cha-bó͘ hia. Lú siūⁿ boeh kā  chheng-chhó kì khí-lâi, ìn-siōng soah lú bông-bū. Tī chit-chióng bâng-bâng ê kì-tî tiong, kan-ta chit-ki chéng-thâu-á ká-ná iáu ū bak tio̍h yi ê tâm-sip, boeh chhōa i kàu hūiⁿ-hūiⁿ ê hit-ê cha-bó͘. Siūⁿ-ah-siūⁿ, i kā chéng-thâu-á gia̍h khí-lâi phīⁿ chi̍t-ē. Hut-jiân-kan i iōng hit-ki chéng-thâu-á tī thang-á po-lê ōe chi̍t-sûn, hia soah phû-chhut chi̍t-lúi cha-bó͘ ba̍k-chiu. I chhoah chi̍t-tiô, hiám-á kiò chhut-lâi. Khó-lêng sī i ê sim poe hūiⁿ-hūiⁿ ê iân-kò͘. Chim-chiok khòaⁿ, sáⁿ to bô; chhut-hiān tī po-lê téng ê, put-kò sī chē tùi-kak hit-ê ko͘-niû ê hêng-iáⁿ. Gōa-bīn í-keng àm-àm, chhia-siuⁿ ê teng tiám-to̍h ah. Án-ne thang-á po-lê tō ná sī kiàⁿ. M̄-koh in-ūi sio-khì, po-lê téng tà chi̍t-iân bū, i iōng chéng-thâu-á khì chhit í-chêng, hit-ê kiàⁿ sī bô chûn-chāi ê.

Ko͘-niû ê chi̍t-lúi ba̍k-chiu khòaⁿ tio̍h te̍k-pia̍t súi. Shimamura kā bīn khò-óa chhia-thang, kek chi̍t-ê lí-hêng-chiá ê iu-chhiû-bīn, ké-sian boeh khòaⁿ hông-hun ê kéng-sek, iōng chhiú kā po-lê hôe-hôe leh.

Ko͘-niû ê téng-sin àⁿ-chêng, choan-sim khòaⁿ tó tī bīn-chêng ê cha-po͘. Ùi yi keng-kah-thâu keng-ân-ân, ba̍k-chiu nih to bô nih, ē-tàng khòaⁿ-chhut yi ê téng-chin. Cha-po͘ ê thâu khòe tī thang-á, oan-khiau ê kha khǹg tī ko͘-niû sin-piⁿ. Che sī saⁿ-téng chhia-siuⁿ. In m̄-sī chē tī Shimamura ê tùi-bīn hiàng, sī tī siâ tùi-bīn, khi-sin tó tio̍h ê cha-po͘ ê bīn, tī kiàⁿ lih kan-ta khòaⁿ kàu hīⁿ-á hia. 

Ko͘-niû chē tī i ê siâ-tùi-bīn, Shimamura pún-chiâⁿ ē-tàng ti̍t-chiap khòaⁿ tio̍h yi. Ko͘-niû in nn̄g-lâng chiūⁿ-chhia ê sî, yi he léng-iām ê bí-lē hō͘ Shimamura kiaⁿ chi̍t-tiô, hāi i ba̍k-chiu khòaⁿ kē, soah gán tio̍h yi ê chhiú hō͘ hit-ê cha-po͘ ûiⁿ-suiⁿ ê chhiú khan ân-ân, i tō pháiⁿ-sè koh gia̍h-ba̍k khòaⁿ tùi hit-pêng khì.

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3. 姑娘 ê 目睭特別媠

彼是三點鐘前 ê 代誌. Shimamura 感覺無聊, ná 看倒手 kí-cháiⁿ ê 各種動作. 因為干焦這支指頭仔會當予伊清楚感覺著欲去見 ê 彼个查某. Lú 想欲 kā 清楚記起來, 印象煞 lú 雺霧. Tī 這種茫茫 ê 記持中, 干焦這支指頭仔 ká-ná 猶有沐著她 ê 澹濕, 欲 chhōa 伊到 hūiⁿ-hūiⁿ ê 彼个查某 hia. 想 ah 想, 伊 kā 指頭仔攑起來鼻一下. 忽然間伊用彼支指頭仔 tī 窗仔玻璃畫一巡, 遐煞浮出一蕊查某目睭. 伊掣一趒, 險仔叫出來. 可能是伊 ê 心飛 hūiⁿ-hūiⁿ ê 緣故. 斟酌看, sáⁿ to 無; 出現 tī 玻璃頂 ê, 不過是坐對角彼个姑娘 ê 形影. 外面已經暗暗, 車廂 ê 燈點 to̍h ah. Án-ne 窗仔玻璃 tō ná 是鏡. 毋過因為燒氣, 玻璃頂罩一沿霧, 伊用指頭仔去拭以前, 彼个鏡是無存在 ê.

姑娘 ê 一蕊目睭看著特別媠. Shimamura kā 面靠倚車窗, 激一个旅行者 ê 憂愁面, 假仙欲看黃昏 ê 景色, 用手 kā 玻璃回回 leh.

姑娘 ê 頂身 àⁿ 前, 專心看倒 tī 面前 ê 查埔. Ùi 她肩胛頭 keng 絚絚, 目睭 nih to 無 nih, 會當看出她 ê 頂真. 查埔 ê 頭 khòe tī 窗仔, 彎曲 ê 跤囥 tī 姑娘身邊. 這是三等車廂. In 毋是坐 tī Shimamura ê 對面 hiàng, 是 tī 斜對面, khi 身倒著 ê 查埔 ê 面, tī 鏡 lih 干焦看到耳仔遐. 

姑娘坐 tī 伊 ê 斜對面, Shimamura 本成會當直接看著她. 姑娘 in 兩人上車 ê 時, 她 he 冷艷 ê 美麗予 Shimamura 驚一趒, 害伊目睭看低, 煞眼著她 ê 手予彼个查埔 ûiⁿ-suiⁿ ê 手牽絚絚, 伊 tō 歹勢 koh 攑目看對彼爿去.

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3. 

It had been three hours earlier. In his boredom, Shimamura stared at his left hand as the forefinger bent and unbent. Only this hand seemed to have a vital and immediate memory of the woman he was going to see. The more he tried to call up a clear picture of her, the more his memory failed him, the farther she faded away, leaving him nothing to catch and hold. In the midst of this uncertainty only the one hand, and in particular the forefinger, even now seemed damp from her touch, seemed to be pulling him back to her from afar. Taken with the strangeness of it, he brought the hand to his face, then quickly drew a line across the misted-over window. A woman's eye floated up before him. He almost called out in his astonishment. But he had been dreaming, and when he came to himself he saw that it was only the reflection in the window of the girl opposite. Outside it was growing dark, and the lights had been turned on in the train, transforming the window into a mirror. The mirror had been clouded over with steam until he drew that line across it.

The one eye by itself was strangely beautiful, but, feigning a traveler's weariness and putting his face to the window as if to look at the scenery outside, he cleared the steam from the rest of the glass.

The girl leaned attentively forward, looking down at the man before her. Shimamura could see from the way her strength was gathered in her shoulders that the suggestion of fierceness in her eyes was but a sign of an intentness that did not permit her to blink. The man lay with his head pillowed at the window and his legs bent so that his feet were on the seat facing, beside the girl. It was a third-class coach. The pair were not directly opposite Shimamura but rather one seat forward, and the man's head showed in the window-mirror only as far as the ear.

Since the girl was thus diagonally opposite him, Shimamura could as well have looked directly at her. When the two of them came on the train, however, something coolly piercing about her beauty had startled Shimamura, and as he hastily lowered his eyes he had seen the man's ashen fingers clutching at the girl's. Somehow it seemed wrong to look their way again.

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