序曲
我們都已不記得是在什麼遙遠的年代司氏姐妹們搬進塔馬尼巷的房子里。似乎象所有人一樣,我們是在每天聽有關她們的睡前故事中長大的,雖然她們與我們年齡相仿。而且,我們還會有機會遇到她們--在超市裡,在孩子們玩耍的場所,在學校課休和午餐的時候——並意識到他們只是像我們一樣的人。 因為一旦我們習慣於她們的黑頭髮,中國人的小眼睛和扁鼻子, 她們看上去就像我們一樣。當然,她們比想象的更美麗,尤其在這樣一個小鎮里。她們也用腳走路,靠水和食物存活,就像鎮里所有的鄉親一樣。我們會驚呀傳說中有關她們的故事,並自己傳播更多這類故事,渴望在傳播這些故事中,證明自己認識她們。我們驚奇是否有一種與她們的美麗相關的東西迷住了我們,給我們下了咒語,我們就這樣被吸引,去愛他們。我們墜入愛河,並害怕她們的魔力加在我們身上。司維曲們,這個被大家稱咐的名號,包括四姐妹和一個似乎永遠年輕的母親。他們的存在像一個帶著生命氣息的神話,一片陰森的迷霧徘徊在小鎮。
Prologue
It』s hard to remember a time when the Switch sisters didn』t live in the house on Tamany Lane. It seemed like all of us grew up hearing about them in our bedtime stories, even though they must have been not so much older than ourselves. Eventually, we would meet them–in the supermarket, on the playground, during recess and lunch at school–and realize that they were just people like us. For they looked more or less like us, once we were accustomed to the black hair, Chinese eyes, and flat noses. Certainly, they were more beautiful than to be expected, especially in a small town, but they walked with their feet and survived on water and food just like the worst and best of the townsfolk. We would wonder about the things we had been told, and tell more stories, spreading rumors in our eagerness to prove we knew them. We would wonder if there was something about their beauty that captivated us, put a spell over us, so that we would be drawn to them and love them. We fell in love with them, and feared them for the power they held over us. The Switches, they were called, four Switch sisters with a mother who seemed to never age. Their presence lingered over the town like an eerie mist of living, breathing myth.