Chapter 88

One day we came upon trash. First the water glistened with patches of oil. Coming up soon after was the domestic and industrial waste: mainly plastic refuse in a variety of forms and colours, but also pieces of lumber, beer cans, wine bottles, tatters of cloth, bits of rope and, surrounding it all, yellow foam. We advanced into it. I looked to see if there was anything that might be of use to us. I picked out an empty corked wine bottle. The lifeboat bumped into a refrigerator that had lost its motor. It floated with its door to the sky. I reached out, grabbed the handle and lifted the door open. A smell leapt out so pungent and disgusting that it seemed to colour the air. Hand to my mouth, I looked in. There were stains, dark juices, a quantity of completely rotten vegetables, milk so curdled and infected it was a greenish jelly, and the quartered remains of a dead animal in such an advanced state of black putrefaction that I couldn't identify it. Judging by its size I think that it was lamb. In the closed, humid confines of the refrigerator, the smell had had the time to develop, to ferment, to grow bitter and angry. It assaulted my senses with a pent-up rage that made my head reel, my stomach churn and my legs wobble. Luckily, the sea quickly filled the horrid hole and the thing sank beneath the surface. The space left vacant by the departed refrigerator was filled by other trash.

We left the trash behind. For a long time, when the wind came from that direction, I could still smell it. It took the sea a day to wash off the oily smears from the sides of the lifeboat.

I put a message in the bottle: "Japanese-owned cargo ship Tsimtsum, flying Panamanian flag, sank July 2nd, 1977, in Pacific, four days out of Manila. Am in lifeboat. Pi Patel my name. Have some food, some water, but Bengal tiger a serious problem. Please advise family in Winnipeg, Canada. Any help very much appreciated. Thank you." I corked the bottle and covered the cork with a piece of plastic. I tied the plastic to the neck of the bottle with nylon string, knotting it tightly. I launched the bottle into the water.

第八十八章

    有一天我们遇到了垃圾。先是一片片油漂在水上，闪着亮。紧接着后面漂来了生活垃圾和工业垃圾：主要是形状、颜色各异的废塑料，还有木头片、啤酒罐、酒瓶、破布和绳子。这些东西周围是黄色的泡沫。我们进了垃圾堆。我想看看有什么可能对我们有用的东西。我捡起一只塞着盖的空酒瓶。救生艇撞上了一只没有了电动机的冰箱。它门朝天漂着。我伸出手去，抓住把手，把门掀了开来。一股刺鼻的恶臭窜了出来，似乎把空气都变臭了。我用手捂住鼻子，朝冰箱里面看去。里面有斑斑乌渍，变黑的果汁，一堆完全烂了的蔬菜，腐蚀得太厉害、已经成了绿色胶状物的牛奶，还有四分之一只死动物，已经腐烂发黑得认不出是什么了。从大小来看，我想那是羊肉。在封闭的、潮湿的冰箱里，气味有足够的时间来形成、发酵、变得怨恨而气愤。它用压抑已久的愤怒攻击我的感觉，让我头晕目眩，胃部绞痛，两腿发抖。幸运的是，海水很快填满了那个可怕的洞，那个东西沉到了水下。冰箱留下的空被其他垃圾填上了。

    我们把垃圾抛在了后面。有很长时间，当风从那个方向吹来时，我还能闻到那股气味。一天以后，海水才把救生艇舷侧油腻的污迹冲洗掉。

    我在酒瓶里放了一封信：“日本货船‘齐姆楚姆’号，飘巴拿马国旗，从马尼拉开出四天后，于1977年7月2日在太平洋沉没。我在救生艇上。我叫派·帕特尔。有些食物和水，但孟加拉虎是个严重问题。请通知加拿大温尼伯的家人。非常感激任何帮助。谢谢。"我塞住瓶口，用一块塑料薄膜盖在瓶塞上，用尼龙绳把塑料薄膜系在瓶颈上，系得紧紧的。我把瓶子投进了水里。