（外文电子版资料）Son of the Endless Night 1.0.doc

Son of the Endless Night The spirit of evil peers from a silver mask. —Georg Trakl, To the Silenced Translated from the German by Michael Hamburger PART ONE Polly From the testimony of Donald Ray Stemmons before the winter grand jury, Haden County, Vermont, February 17,1984 (Twenty-six years of age. Occupation: part-time bartender. Winter address: 135 Barberry Lane, Sligo, Vermont. Tall. Bones sharp, like blades beneath the skin. The kind of face inevitably described as Lincolnesque, but with an unkempt yellow beard and a complexion enflamed, made nearly ulcerous by sunflash on the great white glaring heaps and long whalebacks of the ski trails in the area. A nervous habit of stroking the end of his nose with a forefinger while being addressed by the states attorney for Haden County): Mr. Cleves: What happened when you tried to open the terrace doors? Mr. Stemmons: Nothing. Couldnt do it. Those doorsre never used in the wintertime as far as I know. They were iced shut, and with the new snow, must have been three feet of drift piled up against them. Mr. Clews: Yet you could see, despite the snowdrifts, what was going on outside? Mr. Stemmons: Pretty much. Had to wipe the panes with my shirtsleeve, and the others in the tavern, they were doing the same. I didnt do much looking, though, after I saw what was happening out there, and the girl screaming all the time. I just tried to force those doors apart. Finally gave up, busted one open with a barstool so I could get outside. But by that time I had a gut feeling I was probably too late to do any good. Mr. Cleves: Why? Mr. Stemmons: Well, the girl had stopped screaming by then. She was down again. Not moving at all. He must have hit her at least a couple of dozen times with that crowbar, or tire iron I guess it was. When I got a 4 look at her up close, so much blood on the snow I couldnt believe it. Well, she—it looked—looked like—somebody had shot and dressed a deer. Mr. Cleves: Did you recognize the victim at that tim