Hips

　　I like coffee, I like tea.
　　I like the boys and the boys like me.
　　Yes, no, maybe so. Yes, no, maybe so……
　　One day you wake up and they are there. Ready and waiting like a new Buick with the keys in the ignition. Ready to take you where?
　　They're good for holding a baby when you're cooking, Rachel says, turning the jump rope a little quicker. She has no imagination.
　　You need them to dance, says Lucy.
　　If you don't get them you may turn into a man. Nenny says this and she believes it. She is this way because of her age.
　　That's right, I add before Lucy or Rachel can make fun of her. She is stupid alright, but she is my sister.
　　But most important, hips are scientific, I say repeating what Alicia already told me. It's the bones that let you know which skeleton was a man's when it was a man and which a woman's.
　　They bloom like roses, I continue because it's obvious I'm the only one who can speak with any authority；I have science on my side. The bones just one day open. Just like that. One day you might decide to have kids, and then where are you going to put them? Got to have room. Bones got to give.
　　But don't have too many or your behind will spread. That's how it is, says Rachel whose mama is as wide as a boat. And we just laugh.
　　What I'm saying is who here is ready? You gotta be able to know what to do with hips when you get them, I say making it up as I go. You gotta know how to walk with hips, practice you know——like if half of you wanted to go one way and the other half the other.
　　That's to lullaby it, Nenny says, that's to rock the baby asleep inside you. And then she begins singing seashells, copper bells eevy, ivy, o-ver.
　　I'm about to tell her that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, but the more I think about it……
　　You gotta get the rhythm, and Lucy begins to dance. She has the idea, though she's having trouble keeping her end of the double-dutch steady.
　　It's gotta be just so, I say. Not too fast and not too slow. Not too fast and not too slow.
　　We slow the double circles down to a certain speed so Rachel who has just jumped in can practice shaking it.
　　I want to shake like hoochi-coochie, Lucy says. She is crazy.
　　I want to move like heebie-jeebie, I say picking up on the cue.
　　I want to be Tahiti. Or merengue. Or electricity. Or tembleque！
　　Yes, tembleque. That's a good one.
　　And then it's Rachel who starts it：
　　Skip, skip，
　　snake in your hips.
　　Wiggle around
　　and break your lip.
　　Lucy waits a minute before her turn. She is thinking. Then she begins：
　　The waitress with the big fat hips
　　who pays the rent with taxi tips……
　　says nobody in town will kiss her on the lips
　　because……
　　because she looks like Christopher Columbus！
　　Yes, no, maybe so. Yes, no, maybe so.
　　She misses on maybe so. I take a little while before my turn, take a breath, and dive in：
　　Some are skinny like chicken lips.
　　Some are baggy like soggy Band-Aids
　　after you get out of the bathtub.
　　I don't care what kind I get.
　　Just as long as I get hips.
　　Everybody getting into it now except Nenny who is still humming not a girl, not a boy, just a little baby. She's like that.
　　When the two arcs open wide like jaws Nenny jumps in across from me, the rope tick-ticking, the little gold earrings our mama gave her for her First Holy Communion bouncing. She is the color of a bar of naphtha laundry soap, she is like the little brown piece left at the end of the wash, the hard little bone, my sister. Her mouth opens. She begins：
　　My mother and your mother were washing clothes.
　　My mother punched your mother right in the nose.
　　What color blood came out?
　　Not that old song, I say. You gotta use your own song. Make it up, you know? But she doesn't get it or won't. It's hard to say which. The rope turning, turning, turning.
　　Engine, engine number nine，
　　running down Chicago line.
　　If the train runs off the track
　　do you want your money back?
　　Do you want your MONEY back?
　　Yes, no, maybe so. Yes, no, maybe so……
　　I can tell Lucy and Rachel are disgusted, but they don't say anything because she's my sister.
　　Yes,no,maybe so. Yes no,maybe so...
　　Nenny,I say,but she doesn't hear me. She is too many light-years away. She is in a world we don't belong to any-more. Nenny. Going. Going.
　　Y-E-S spells yes and out you gou!

中文版

雨

芒果街上的小屋

頭髮

男孩和女孩

我的名字

貓皇后凱茜【註】

我們的好日子

笑聲

吉爾的舊傢俱買賣

麼麼·奧提茲

路易、他的表姐和表兄

瑪琳

那些人不明白

有一個老女人她有很多孩子不知道怎麼辦

看見老鼠的阿莉西婭

大流士和雲

還有……

小腳之家

米飯三明治

塌跟的舊鞋【註】

髖骨

第一份工

黑暗裡醒來的疲憊的爸爸

生辰不吉

伊倫妮塔、牌、手掌和水

沒有姓的傑拉爾多

埃德娜的鷺鷥兒

田納西的埃爾【註】

塞爾

四棵細瘦的樹

別說英語

在星期二喝可可和木瓜汁的拉菲娜

薩莉

密涅瓦寫詩

閣樓上的流浪者

美麗的和殘酷的

一個聰明人

薩莉說的

猴子花園

紅色小丑

亞麻地氈上的玫瑰

三姐妹

阿莉西婭和我在埃德娜的臺階上交談

一所我自己的房子

芒果有時說再見

作品背景

故事背後的故事

作者的寫作生涯

青芒果之味

英文版

The House on Mango Street

Hairs

Boys&Girls

My Name

Cathy Queen of Cats

Our Good Day

Laughter

Gil's Furniture Bought&Sold

Meme Ortiz

Louie, His Cousin&His Other Cousin

Marin

Those Who Don't

There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do

Alicia Who Sees Mice

Darius&the Clouds

And Some More

The Family of Litt1e Feet

A Rice Sandwich

Chanclas

Hips

The First Job

Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark

Born Bad

Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water

Geraldo No Last Name

Edna's Ruthie

The Earl of Tennessee

Sire

Four Skinny Trees

No Speak English

Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut&Papaya Juice on Tuesdays

Sally

Minerva Writes Poems

Bums in the Attic

Beautiful&Cruel

A Smart Cookie

What Sally Said

The Monkey Garden

Red Clowns

Linoleum Roses

The Three Sisters

Alicia&I Talking on Edna's Steps

A House of My Own

Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes

英文版

Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes

A House of My Own

Alicia&I Talking on Edna's Steps

The Three Sisters

Linoleum Roses

Red Clowns

The Monkey Garden

What Sally Said

A Smart Cookie

Beautiful&Cruel

Bums in the Attic

Minerva Writes Poems

Sally

Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut&Papaya Juice on Tuesdays

No Speak English

Four Skinny Trees

Sire

The Earl of Tennessee

Edna's Ruthie

Geraldo No Last Name

Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water

Born Bad

Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark

The First Job

Hips

Chanclas

A Rice Sandwich

The Family of Litt1e Feet

And Some More

Darius&the Clouds

Alicia Who Sees Mice

There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do

Those Who Don't

Marin

Louie, His Cousin&His Other Cousin

Meme Ortiz

Gil's Furniture Bought&Sold

Laughter

Our Good Day

Cathy Queen of Cats

My Name

Boys&Girls

Hairs

The House on Mango Street

中文版

青芒果之味

作者的寫作生涯

故事背後的故事

作品背景

芒果有時說再見

一所我自己的房子

阿莉西婭和我在埃德娜的臺階上交談

三姐妹

亞麻地氈上的玫瑰

紅色小丑

猴子花園

薩莉說的

一個聰明人

美麗的和殘酷的

閣樓上的流浪者

密涅瓦寫詩

薩莉

在星期二喝可可和木瓜汁的拉菲娜

別說英語

四棵細瘦的樹

塞爾

田納西的埃爾【註】

埃德娜的鷺鷥兒

沒有姓的傑拉爾多

伊倫妮塔、牌、手掌和水

生辰不吉

黑暗裡醒來的疲憊的爸爸

第一份工

髖骨

塌跟的舊鞋【註】

米飯三明治

小腳之家

還有……

大流士和雲

看見老鼠的阿莉西婭

有一個老女人她有很多孩子不知道怎麼辦

那些人不明白

瑪琳

路易、他的表姐和表兄

麼麼·奧提茲

吉爾的舊傢俱買賣

笑聲

我們的好日子

貓皇后凱茜【註】

我的名字

男孩和女孩

頭髮

芒果街上的小屋

雨