Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 "It worked," Dan said. "That's good, right?" "Right," Amy said. Irina had taken off for Morocco, and they'd seen Theo and Hilary board the plane to Cairo. "Why do you look so bummed?" Nellie asked. "You should be celebrating. You had this great plan— you bought some old papyrus, and Theo copied Katherine's handwriting perfectly. We found the perfect fake statue and drilled the hole. Thanks to our collective brilliance, you just sent your worst enemy on a one-way trip to a wild goose chase. Besides, I'm the one who should be crying. My heart is broken." Nellie waved her spoon, then scooped up another spoonful of yogurt and honey. "Oh, yum."

“成功了，”丹说。 “这很好，对吧？”“好的，”艾米说。 伊琳娜已经启程前往摩洛哥，他们看到西奥和希拉里登上了飞往开罗的飞机。 “你怎么看起来这么沮丧？”内莉问道。 “你应该庆祝一下。 你有个很棒的计划，你买了一些旧莎草纸，西奥把凯瑟琳的笔迹抄得惟妙惟肖。 我们找到了完美的假雕像，钻了个洞。 多亏了我们的集体智慧，你才让你最大的敌人踏上了徒劳的单程之旅。 再说，该哭的人是我。 我心碎了。”内莉挥动她的勺子，然后舀起另一勺酸奶和蜂蜜。 “哦,好吃。”

"Your heart was broken for about five minutes," Amy said. Nellie shrugged. "What, am I supposed to stop eating?" She pointed her spoon at Amy. "Never regret trusting someone. It proves you have a heart. But if he turns out to be a lying worm… I'm not going to waste my time crying. Because I am way too fabulous for that." Amy knew that Nellie was telling her to get over Ian. Could she really borrow some of Nellie's confidence? She never felt fabulous. Some days if she was lucky, she hit the high mark of not bad. "It was a brilliant plan," Dan said. "You knew Irina wouldn't fork over a million dollars." "She doesn't have a million dollars," Amy said. "She was going to double-cross Theo. All she wanted was the lead. And she wanted it so badly she didn't stop to think that it came a little too easily." "That's the fatal flaw of the Lucians," Dan said. "They think they're brilliant." Nellie scooped up the rest of her yogurt and stretched. "I'm taking off for the pool. Suggestion

“你的心碎了大约五分钟，”艾米说。 内莉耸耸肩。“怎么，我不吃东西了吗？”她用勺子指着艾米。 “永远不要后悔信任别人。 这证明你有心。 但如果他是个说谎的家伙，我可不想浪费时间哭。 因为我太棒了。” 艾米知道内莉在告诉她忘掉伊恩。 她真的能借用内莉的信心吗？ 她从不觉得自己很棒。有些日子，如果幸运的话，她还能达到不错的高分。 “这是个绝妙的计划，”丹说。 “你知道伊琳娜不会掏出一百万美元的。” “她没有一百万美元，”艾米说。 “她打算出卖西奥。 她只想当主角。 她是如此渴望得到它，以至于没有停下来想一想，它来得有点太容易了。” “这是卢西亚人的致命缺陷，”丹说。 “他们认为自己很聪明。” 内莉舀起剩下的酸奶，伸了个懒腰。 “我要去游泳池。 建议

—try to bypass the adventure highway for today?" "I've been thinking," Dan said as Nellie took off. "I think Grace prepped us for this trip. Remember when she took us to New York for the weekend? We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and spent a bunch of hours in the Egyptian wing. Remember the Temple of Dendur?" "That's right!" Amy exclaimed. "She told us all about the Aswan High Dam, and how it flooded all these monuments they had to rescue, like the Temple of Dendur. But that's all I remember. If she gave us a hint that day, it's lost." "She bought us hot pretzels," Dan said. "That, I remember." Memory bloomed inside Amy. One of hundreds that were buried in her head and heart about her grandmother. Eating pretzels with mustard on the steps of the museum. It had been fall— she remembered the brilliant orange trees in Central Park. Grace had already been through one round of chemotherapy. They'd all thought she had licked her cancer, that she would be well, that she would live forever.

——今天试着绕过冒险公路？”“我一直在想，”丹说，这时内莉离开了。 “我认为格蕾丝为这次旅行做了准备。 还记得她带我们去纽约度周末吗？ 我们去了大都会艺术博物馆，在埃及馆呆了好几个小时。 还记得丹杜尔神庙吗？”“没错!”艾米喊道。 “她告诉我们所有关于阿斯旺大坝的事情，以及它是如何淹没了他们必须拯救的所有纪念碑，比如丹杜尔神庙。 但我只记得这些。 如果那天她给了我们暗示，那就没了。” “她给我们买了热椒盐卷饼，”丹说。 “那个，我记得。”记忆在艾米心中绽放。 这是埋藏在她脑海和心中的数百个关于她祖母的记忆之一。 在博物馆的台阶上吃着芥末椒盐脆饼。 当时已经是秋天了——她还记得中央公园里那些鲜艳的橘子树。 格蕾丝已经接受了一轮化疗。 他们都以为她已经战胜了癌症，她会好起来的，她会永远活下去。

Well. Amy and Dan had thought that. Because Grace had wanted them to. For as long as they could. What wonderful things we saw today, Grace had said. But sometimes people spend too much time in the past. Nothing I saw today is as good as this pretzel! She'd waved it in the air and taken a bite. She hadn't meant just the pretzel. Amy knew that now. She'd meant everything at that moment. The now. The three of them together, sitting on the museum steps on a perfect fall day, eating pretzels and mustard from a sidewalk vendor. The memory didn't just belong to her. It belonged to Dan. He remembered things like that. Random moments that seemed small but were actually huge. Often those moments passed her by because she was so busy worrying about something stupid like catching a bus. Or mustard on her new skirt. She took the Sakhet out of her waist pack and put it on the table.

好。艾米和丹也这么想过。 因为格蕾丝希望他们这么做。 只要他们能。 “我们今天看到了多么美妙的东西啊，”格蕾丝说。 但有时人们花了太多的时间在过去。 我今天看到的东西都比不上这个椒盐脆饼！她在空中挥舞着它，咬了一口。 她指的不仅仅是椒盐脆饼。 艾米现在知道了。在那一刻，她意味着一切。 现在。在一个秋高气爽的日子里，他们三个坐在博物馆的台阶上，吃着路边小贩卖的椒盐脆饼和芥末。 那段记忆不只是她一个人的。 它是丹的。他记得这样的事情。 看似微不足道但实际上意义重大的随机时刻。 她常常因为忙于担心诸如赶公交车之类的蠢事而错过了这样的时刻。 或者是新裙子上的芥末。 她从腰袋里拿出沙吉特放在桌上。

"What should we do with her?" she asked. "I don't feel safe carrying her around Aswan. It's your call." What she was really saying was, Grace belongs to both of us. Dan met her eyes. He knew. "Maybe the hotel safe?" he asked. "Then we can meet Nellie at the pool and do something you'll think is really radical." "Like what?" Dan gave his crooked grin. "Have fun." "Ah, Miss Cahill." The manager rose to greet her from his desk. He hurried to shake her hand. "I was so glad when you phoned. I knew your grandmother very well." "You did?" "Grace Cahill was a favorite guest for many years. She came first in the late forties and then just about every year for more than twenty years. We have hotel archives, and she's featured prominently." "I didn't know that." "Oh, yes. We have a wonderful photograph of

“我们该拿她怎么办？”她问。 “带着她在阿斯旺到处走，我觉得不安全。 这是你的决定。”她真正想说的是，格蕾丝属于我们俩。 丹与她的目光相遇。他知道。 “也许旅馆是安全的？”他问。 “然后我们可以在泳池见内莉，做一些你会认为非常激进的事情。” “像什么?”丹歪着嘴笑了笑。 “有趣。”“啊，卡希尔小姐。” 经理从办公桌上站起来迎接她。 他急忙和她握手。 “你打来电话时我很高兴。 我很了解你的祖母。” “你做的?”“格蕾丝·卡希尔多年来一直是我最喜欢的客人。 她第一次来是在四十年代末，然后几乎每年都来，持续了二十多年。 我们有酒店档案，她的照片很显眼。” “我不知道。”“哦,是的。 我们有一张很棒的照片

your grandmother painting by the Nile. Would you like to see it?" He reached into his desk. "I tracked it down after you phoned." Amy looked at the black-and-white photograph. Grace was younger and slimmer, wearing white trousers and a white shirt. A scarf was wrapped around her head. She was sitting at an easel somewhere in the gardens, facing the river. Next to her an older, stout man in a straw hat was painting the same scene. "Isn't that…" "Yes, Sir Winston Churchill, also a favorite guest. Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War Two, great statesman, all that. But also— did you know this?— a painter. He always told Grace she needed lessons from him. I believe this photograph was taken in the 1950s." "Thank you for showing it to me. I was wondering if you'd keep something in the safe for me," Amy said, holding out the box with the Sakhet. "Of course." He turned and opened the safe and placed the Sakhet inside. "And now, I must

你奶奶在尼罗河边画画。 你想看看吗？”他把手伸进书桌。 “你打电话后我就查到了。” 艾米看着那张黑白照片。 格蕾丝更年轻、更苗条，穿着白裤子和白衬衫。 一条围巾缠在她头上。 她正坐在花园某处的画架前，面朝河。 在她旁边，一个戴着草帽的胖老头也在画同样的场景。 “是的，温斯顿·丘吉尔爵士，也是我最喜欢的客人。 二战期间的英国首相，伟大的政治家，等等。 但是，你知道吗？——一个画家。 他总是告诉格蕾丝，她需要他的教训。 我相信这张照片拍摄于20世纪50年代。” “谢谢你给我看。 我在想你能不能帮我在保险箱里放点东西，”艾米说着，把装着沙吉特的盒子递了出去。 “当然。”他转过身，打开保险柜，把沙吉特放在里面。 “现在，我必须这么做