司氏姐妹 第四章：灯灭了

第四章：灯灭了

摩根让她的红色短发在舞池上跳跃。一上高中她就开始剪短头发并染色，她非常讨厌自己经常被错认为玛丽。 “你以为人家会注意到，我有蓝色的眼睛而你却是褐色的，”玛丽戏说着，把她妹妹的头扣在装满红色染料的水槽里。 她知道，摩根很想改变自己的形象。当她从水槽里抬起头，她的头发变成一个象闪耀着红色火焰的拖把。后来，她的姐妹们注意到，她的头发还会继续生长出红色。

庆祝仪式在没发生任何意外事件下顺利过去了，但摩根知道，法妈仍保持着一只警惕的眼睛盯着她。而她的眼睛却盯着蓝家小伙托尼，他在学校比她高一级。烛光摇曳，摩根发现托尼偷看了她一眼，然后迅速移开他的眼睛。她拿了一杯饮料，开始走过草坪。

玛拉和格雷厄姆已悄悄溜走。 从玛拉迈下车的那一刻到开始第一支舞曲， 在几个小时的众人挑剔的目光注视下，玛拉的姐妹和母亲能够想象她为什么想要享用一下单独与丈夫一起的时光。婚礼仪式在老城区的教堂举行。这是一个美丽的夏日，玛拉要求打开门窗让阳光照进教堂。人们挤在教堂门口，排在楼梯上。当司家婚车赶到时，一种沉默和紧张的寂静降临到人群中，母亲们在小声的让子女们不要出声，朋友们拍拍朋友的肩膀，通知大家新娘的到来。玛拉展示出亲切的笑容，走出车门，她的丝袍被风吹起，在她身边盘旋。她的姐妹们，身着金黄色礼服，跟着她出来。最后出来的是司法妈，为了这个仪式她放弃了她的黑色长外套，换上了灰色礼服，她抬起她的胳膊肘，伸向玛拉。司家没有父亲，显然法妈要扮演父亲的角色把她的大女儿交给新郎。

全镇的人头都跟随着玛拉长长的黑发和飘然的脚步同步移动，在玛拉被带到司仪台上后， 法妈悄悄地在人群中消失了。在走向司仪台上的路上，法妈没有微笑一次。在新郎新娘交换誓言后，小米娜开始在第一排的座位上流鼻涕打喷嚏，她拉拉玛丽的裙子。玛丽嘘了她一下，把妹妹的脸擦干净，接着她的注意力又回到了玛拉身上。在过道那边的一排座位上，站着市长亨特和他的妻子，他们穿着一尘不染的西装和礼服，脸上挂着完美恰当的微笑。整个镇是如此全神贯注，一种兴奋交杂着恐惧的气氛，在整个房间振荡。

当宣布新郎新娘结成夫妻之后，就象窗户仿佛刚刚被打开，空气变得轻松很多。每个人都叹了一口气，随着新婚夫妇从教堂前门象水一样流出。

仪式后的招待会设在镇会堂旁边的花园。客人们从玫瑰花和百合花丛中走到一块小草坪。草坪虽小，但能奇迹般地轻松地举行这个聚会。草坪中心是一个大帐篷，在两个角落放着蛋糕和酒吧。一个喷泉喷射着香槟酒，当玛拉和格雷厄姆切开蛋糕，大家可以看到，在白云一样的奶油下面，蛋糕里面蓬蓬松松，显得像金子一样发光，像棉花糖一样放在舌头上就会溶解。法妈在对面角落里的占据了一个位置，在那里她可以看到一切，在招待会开始后她一直没有移动。她扫描着花园在寻找玛拉。她看到米娜和玛丽在跳舞，摩根摸着蓝家小伙的领带，脸上挂着隐隐的微笑。法妈在想，这一刻，她的女儿是否正在告诉她的新婚丈夫她娘家的真相。

法妈想，她本应该支持她的女儿。但她不知道市长和他的家人对这个婚配的真正感觉。在宣布订婚时，他们和自己一样感到很惊讶，在惊奇和兴奋之间的某一刻，法妈还看到了一丝奇怪的东西在市长的眼里闪烁。

在这以后他们整个家庭就只有笑容。他们带着礼物拜访了司家，并邀请司家女儿们到市长官邸晚餐。拒绝碰任何有关婚礼事情的法妈很高兴看到格雷厄姆的母亲提出她会策划整个婚礼。在晚餐结束后，大家的关系稍微热咯了一些，法妈才说，她可以帮助提供婚礼的食品。

她在这个问题上想了一会，这才意识到，尽管亨特的妻子（她叫什么名字？法妈没有费心记住它，因为这个女人是如此缺乏个性）与各位市议会成员跳了一圈舞，却不见市长踪影。 或许他也厌倦了长期在公众的视线之下，现在躲在某个阴影的地方休息。法妈试图对她的新亲家打开她的心扉。有一刻，她感到一种同情的叹息。 她觉得市长能不彻底阻止这个婚配是一种慷慨。也许玛拉是对的，也许这将标志着司家一个新时代的开始。

在帐篷的另一边，摩根已经开始与蓝托尼旋起舞步。烛光摇曳。她的胳膊缠着他的脖子，她把他的耳朵拉向她的嘴。

“不觉得......”她说，“神奇吗？”

托尼把双手放在她的腰上。

“给我看看，”他说。

“什么？”

“给我看看你的魔术。”

“走狗”！

摩根一把把他推开。她的胸口因愤怒而起伏，她的脸颊通红就象她火红的头发。托尼倒在地上，在他的身体砸在地板上的那一刻， 整个花园变得一团漆黑， 就像一个巨型的蜡烛一下熄灭。

客人们乱抓乱叫，绊作一团，汇成一股杂闹的喧嚣在空中回荡。突然，一个女人的尖叫把喧嚣的空气打成碎片，她的哀号穿进每个人的脊骨。

灯光突然再次闪亮。法妈悄然移到摩根身边，抓起她的手臂，看着周围寻找尖叫声的来源。蓝家小伙拐着他的脚。客人们 沉默不语地互相看着。突然，又一声尖叫划破花园上空，比第一次更尖锐和可怕：

“凶手！”

Chapter 4: Lights Out

Morgan tossed her short red hair on the dance floor. She had cut and dyed it at the start of high school, sick of the constant confusion between her and Marie. “You’d think they’d notice that I have blue eyes and you have brown,” Marie had said as she dunked her sister’s head in the sink and smeared the red dye into her hair. Morgan was looking for a change in image anyhow, she knew. When she lifted her head up her hair was a mop of bright red flames. Later, only her sisters noticed that her hair continued to grow out red.

The ceremony had passed without incident, but Morgan knew that Fa was still keeping one eye fixed on her. She had her eyes fixed on the Lane boy, Tony, who was a year above her in school. The candles flickered, and Morgan caught Tony looking at her and then quickly skit his eyes away. She grabbed a drink and started to make her way across the lawn.

Mara and Graham had slipped away. After being under public scrutiny for hours, from the minute Mara stepped out of the car to the first dance, Mara’s sisters and mother could imagine why she would want to spend a moment alone with her husband. The wedding ceremony had been held in the old town church. It was a beautiful summer day, and Mara had requested that the windows and doors be opened to let in the sun. People spilled out of the front doors of the church, lining up on the steps. When the Switch car arrived, a silent, nervous stillness fell over the crowd as mothers hushed their children and friends tapped friends’ shoulders to notify them of the bride’s arrival. Mara put on her warmest smile and stepped out, her silk gown taken up by the wind and swirled around her. Her sisters, dressed in gold, followed her out. Finally, Fa Switch, who had forgone her long black coat for the occasion and put on a gray dress, lifted her elbow and offered it to Mara. With no father in the family, it was assumed that Fa would be giving her eldest daughter away.

After Mara had been taken to the altar, the heads of the town moving synchronously to follow her long black hair and floating steps, Fa disappeared into the crowd. During the walk up, Fa had not smiled once. As the couple exchanged their vows, little Mina started to sniffle in the first pew and tugged on the bottom of Marie’s dress. Marie shushed her, wiping her little sister’s face instantly dry, and turned her attention back to Mara. In the pew across the aisle, Mayor Hunter and his wife stood in their immaculate suit and dress with perfectly appropriate smiles drawn across their faces. The town was rapt; an air of excitement, tinged with fear, vibrated through the room.

When husband and wife were proclaimed, the air lightened as if the windows had just been opened. Everyone heaved a breath of relief and streamed out of the front doors of the church after the newlyweds, pouring out like water.

The reception was in the garden next to town hall. Guests entered to rose bushes and lilies and a patch of lawn that, though small, miraculously held the entire party with ease. In the center was a large tent with the cake and bar in one corner. A fountain sparkled with champagne, and when Mara and Graham cut into the cake, everyone could see that underneath the cloud-white frosting was a fluffy interior that seemed to shine like gold, and dissolved like flakes of fluffed sugar on the tongue. Fa had staked out a spot in the opposite corner where she could see everything at the start of the reception and didn’t move from it. She scanned the garden for Mara. She saw only Marie dancing with Mina, and Morgan fingering the Lane boy’s tie, a sideways smile on her face. Fa wondered if her daughter was, at this moment, telling her newlywed husband the truth about his in-laws.

Fa supposed she must be supportive of her daughter. But she could not help wondering about the mayor and his family, how they truly felt about the match. When the engagement was announced, they had been as surprised as herself, and in the moment between surprise and delight, Fa had thought she saw a flicker of something strange in the mayor’s eyes.

Afterwards the family was nothing but smiles. They visited the Switch house with presents and invited the girls to the mayor’s residence for dinner. Fa, refusing to touch anything related to the wedding, was glad to see Graham’s mother offer to plan the entire event. At the end of the dinner, having warmed up to the family a bit, she said that she could provide the food.

She thought on the issue more, and then realized that though the Hunter wife (what was her name? Fa had not bothered to learn it, the woman was so devoid of personality) was dancing her way through the city council members, the mayor was nowhere to be seen. Perhpas he, too, was tired of being in the public eye, resting somewhere in the shadows. Fa tried to open her mind to her new in-laws. For a moment, she felt a sigh of empathy. It was generous, she supposed, for the mayor to not prohibit the match outright. Perhaps Mara was right, perhaps this would mark the start of a new era for the Switch family.

On the far side of the tent, Morgan had started to swirl and step with Tony Lane. The candles flickered. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his ear to her mouth.

“Doesn’t this feel…” she said, “magical?”

Tony put his hands on her waist.

“Show me,” he said.

“What?”

“Show me some magic.”

“Tool!”

Morgan pushed him away. Her chest heaved in anger, and her cheeks flared the red of her hair. Tony fell to the ground, and in the moment that his body hit the floor, the garden went as pitch black as if a giant candle had been pinched out.

A collective clamor sounded in the air as guests stumbled over each other and grabbed for something to hold onto. Then, a woman’s sharp scream broke the air into pieces, a wail that shook everyone to the spine.

The lights flickered back on. Fa had moved soundlessly over to Morgan and was grabbing her by the arm, looking around for the source of the scream. The Lane boy scrambled to his feet. The guests looked at each other in silence. Then, a second scream pierced the garden, louder and more terrifying than the first:

“Murderer!”