The Cats of Roxville Station (Excerpt VIII)《羅克斯維爾火車站的貓》（節選八）

瓊·克雷格黑德·喬治

Rachet slipped into the basement and wound through the junk to the heating pipes. She was settled comfortably in the environs of Roxville. She had a First Home， a Sunning Spot on the grass near the tire， and a Hunting Lookout in the woods near the bridge where the mice were abundant. She also had a Second Home in case Queenella chased her out of the basement—her tire.

She rarely saw Ringx， the racoon， on her nightly prowls， for the air had grown colder and had readied her for winters semihibernation. The crickets had long ago stopped singing. The monarch butterfly was on a pine needle in the mountains north of Mexico City with millions of its kind. Their forest seemed to breathe with the opening and closing of butterfly wings.

In January all the butterflies would turn from “its” to “hes or shes.” They would mate， and then the seemingly fragile butterflies would fly all the way north to the fields and gardens where they had been born.

Meanwhile Shifty， the red fox， was finding rats and mice scarce and wanted to go after wild turkeys. Aware of his intentions， the turkeys roosted in tree limbs， not on the ground. A coyote wandered from his home to the west of town， smelled them， and leaped to reach them. He might have gotten one on the next try had not a train roared into the station and frightened him. He sped to his home territory.

Not until February， a wet， cold month， did Rachet find food getting scarce enough to send her off to the station for the Bent Ladys cat food feast.

One day at the station Rachet came too close to Ice Bucket and spit at her. Ice Bucket spit back. Rachet hissed and laid back her ears. With that， Ice Bucket drew back， and the battle was over. Rachet moved up another step on the hierarchy ladder. It was a ritual her ancient ancestors had evolved when there were many solitary wild Kaffir cats at the Egyptian granaries. It was their way to ensure food and breeding rights.

At six-thirty in the morning after a mouseless night， Rachet was in the passageway of the stone foundation， waiting for enough time to pass before she followed Queenella to the cat food cans. In the kitchen upstairs， where Mike was getting himself cereal for breakfast， the radio played music， then stopped.

While lying in the passageway waiting to go outside， Rachet saw large flakes falling. More and more fell until the sky was white. Being a cat， she reached out and caught one. It turned to water. She caught more. They， too， melted. Curious and amused， she caught falling snowflakes until Queenella suddenly leaped back inside through the broken glass in the window well. The snow had turned her back from the station. As she reentered she hissed in Rachets direction. “Mind your rank，” she was saying.

拉齊特溜進了地下室，繞過那些廢品，來到暖氣管這里。她已經在羅克斯維爾的環境中舒舒服服地安頓下來。她有一個“老家”，一個靠近輪胎的草地上的“曬太陽處”，還有一個“狩獵瞭望處”，在大橋附近的樹林里，那里有足夠多的老鼠。萬一女王艾拉把她趕出地下室，她還有一個“備用老家”——她的輪胎。

夜間覓食的時候，她很少看到浣熊林克斯，因為天氣變冷了，林克斯已經準備進入冬天的半冬眠狀態。蟋蟀早就停止了歌唱。黑脈金斑蝶也已不在，它們去了墨西哥城北邊的山里，跟數百萬的同類在一起，落在松針上。蝴蝶的翅膀開開合合，讓森林看起來像是在呼吸。

一月份，所有的蝴蝶都會結束單身，找到自己的伴侶。他們會交配，然后，這些看似柔弱的蝴蝶會一路向北，飛越千山萬水回到他們出生的田野和花園。

與此同時，赤狐希夫蒂發現田鼠和家鼠難覓，就試圖捕獵野生火雞。火雞察覺了赤狐的意圖，就到樹枝上棲息，而不是地上。一只郊狼離開狼窩游蕩到小鎮西邊，嗅到了火雞，就跳起來去夠火雞。他再跳一次，也許就會抓到一只火雞，不料一輛火車轟鳴著進站把他嚇跑了。他飛奔回自己的領地。

直到潮濕寒冷的二月份，拉齊特才發現食物越來越少，她不得不回到火車站，來吃那個駝背夫人的貓食大餐。

有一天，拉齊特在車站上靠冰桶太近，還朝她吐了一口。冰桶反過來朝她吐了一口。拉齊特嘶嘶叫著，耳朵朝后折過去。看到這情形，冰桶后退，戰斗結束。如此，拉齊特在貓咪王國又上了一個階層。這種儀式從她的祖先那里演化而來。當時的埃及谷倉里，有很多非洲野貓獨來獨往。這種方式能保證他們有食物和交配權。

一天早上六點半，在一晚上都沒有抓到老鼠之后，拉齊特待在石頭地基的過道里，耐心等待女王艾拉從此經過，然后可以跟著她去車站吃貓食。樓上的廚房里，邁克正在給自己做麥片粥早餐。收音機里放著音樂，然后又停了。

拉齊特躺在過道里等待外出，這時她看到有大片的雪花飄落下來。越來越多的雪花落下來，天空一片白茫茫。拉齊特有貓咪好奇的天性，伸爪出去，抓住了一片雪花。雪花化成了水。拉齊特再抓。雪花又都融化了。拉齊特覺得又好奇又有趣，于是不停地抓飄落的雪花，直到女王艾拉突然從窗戶井的破玻璃處跳了進來。大雪讓她從火車站返回家中。艾拉進來時，朝著拉齊特嘶嘶叫。“注意你的等級身份。”她是在說。