Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24 "This is all your fault," Dan said to Amy back in the Hotel Excelsior. "Don't you know by now that you can never, ever say that something is going to be easy?" Amy dropped her head in her hands. "I know." "Try chervil," Nellie suggested. She leaned over to feed Saladin another blob of hummus. They had ordered room service just for him to thank him for being such an awesome password. Dan sat hunched over his laptop. He'd found an online dictionary of botanical illustrations, but it proved harder than they'd expected to match a leaf to a species. And it didn't help that Nellie kept throwing out random herbs, as if she were making a stew. "How many entries are there?" Amy asked him.

“这都是你的错，”丹回到Excelsior旅馆对艾米说。 “难道你现在还不知道，你永远不能说某件事会很容易吗？”艾米双手抱头。 “我知道。”“试试山萝卜，”耐莉建议。 她俯下身去，又给萨拉丁喂了一块鹰嘴豆泥。 他们为他点了客房服务，只是为了感谢他提供了这么棒的密码。 丹弓着腰坐在他的笔记本电脑前。 他在网上找到了一本植物插图词典，但事实证明，将一片叶子与一个物种相匹配比他们想象的要困难得多。 而且内莉一直乱扔草药，就像在做炖菜一样。 “有多少条目？”艾米问他。

"Sheesh, I don't know. Thousands." "And since we've been here, how many entries have you checked?" Dan looked down at the list he was compiling. "Thirty-seven. No! Thirty-eight. I forgot chervil." Amy groaned. "We've been here for twenty minutes. This could take all night." "And tomorrow," Nellie said. "Try tamarind!" Dan clicked away. "No," he said, disappointed. Amy sprang up. She paced in back of Dan. "That's an idea, though," she said. "I mean, here we are in Egypt. We should look up Egyptian plants. Katherine wouldn't lead all her descendants here for chervil, would she?" "Try acacia," Nellie suggested. "Or hummus, or baba ghanoush, or mint, or palm." Dan spun around in the desk chair, waving his arms. "My brain is on overload." "This place can do that to you," Nellie agreed. "We saw so much in a few days. Temples and tombs and ancient cities. Amazing sunsets, beautiful art—"

“哎呀，我不知道。成千上万。” “自从我们来到这里，你检查了多少条目？”丹低头看着他正在整理的名单。 “37。不!38。 我忘了切萝卜。”艾米呻吟着。 “我们已经在这儿呆了二十分钟了。 这可能要花上一整夜。” “还有明天，”内莉说。 “罗望子试试!”丹咔哒一声走开了。 “不，”他失望地说。 艾米跳了起来。她在丹后面踱来踱去。 “不过，这是个想法，”她说。 “我的意思是，我们现在在埃及。 我们应该查一下埃及的植物。 凯瑟琳不会把她所有的后代都带到这里来吃萝卜的，对吧？”“试试金合欢吧，”耐莉建议。 “或者是鹰嘴豆泥，或者是baba ghanoush，或者是薄荷，或者是棕榈。” 丹在办公椅上转过身来，挥舞着双臂。 “我的脑子超负荷了。” “这个地方能把你变成那样，”内莉同意道。 “我们在几天内看到了这么多。 寺庙、坟墓和古城。 奇妙的日落，美丽的艺术品——”

"Sure, but you're leaving out the coolest stuff," Dan said. "Crocodiles, pharaoh curses, brain hooks, body parts in canopic jars— what's not to like?" "I liked seeing those old photos of Grace," Amy said. "Remember the goofy one of her at Hatshepsut's Temple? Sometimes I forget how funny she was." "Pretzels and mustard," Dan said. "Remember? She used to say, Pay attention! Everything counts!" Dan appreciated the little things, just like Grace, Amy thought. She remembered the day they'd first arrived at this suite. How he'd run around the rooms, calling out every object with delight, like he'd never seen it before. Pillows! Bible! Robes! Shampoo! "People say I look like Grace," Amy said. "But you're the one who's like her." Dan shrugged and turned back to the computer. Amy saw that the tips of his ears were glowing red, a sure sign that she'd pleased him. She could have said I'm sorry. She could have said You were

“当然，但你漏掉了最酷的东西，”丹说。 “鳄鱼、法老诅咒、脑钩、卡诺皮罐子里的身体部位——有什么不喜欢的呢？”“我喜欢看格蕾丝的那些老照片，”艾米说。 “还记得她在哈特谢普苏特神庙的那张傻乎乎的照片吗？” 有时候我都忘了她有多有趣。” “椒盐脆饼和芥末，”丹说。 “还记得吗?她常说，注意！一切都算上!”丹喜欢这些小事，就像格蕾丝一样，艾米想。 她还记得他们第一次来到这个套间的那天。 他如何在房间里跑来跑去，高兴地喊出每样东西，就像他以前从未见过一样。 枕头!圣经!长袍!洗发水!“人们说我长得像格蕾丝，”艾米说。 “但你和她很像。” 丹耸耸肩，转身回到电脑前。 艾米看到他的耳尖发着红光，这肯定表明她已经取悦了他。 她本可以说声对不起的。 她本可以说你是

right. I wanted Grace's memory for myself. But she knew she'd said enough. "Everything counts," Amy murmured. She gazed at the image on Grace's card, the Magi arriving to bring gifts to the Christ child, looking way more fat and regal than any newborn Amy had ever seen. Suddenly, words and images became a mash-up in her head. Magi. Hatshepsut. Punt. Even back in the New Kingdom, a queen had to go Christmas shopping. As if in a trance, Amy slid open the bedside drawer. She took out the Bible Dan had found. She flipped rapidly through the pages to Matthew, chapter two, verse eleven. "Dan?" she asked in a voice that trembled a little. "Look up myrrh. M-y-r-r-h," she spelled out, coming to stand behind him. Nellie hurried over. Dan typed out the word in the search engine. The leaf flashed on screen.

正确的。我想把格蕾丝的记忆留给自己。 但她知道自己已经说得够多了。 “一切都很重要，”艾米喃喃地说。 她凝视着格蕾丝卡片上的图像，贤士们来给基督的孩子带来礼物，看起来比艾米见过的任何新生儿都要胖得多，气派得多。 突然，文字和图像在她的脑海里混在一起。 东方三博士。哈特谢普苏特。撑方头平底船。即使在新王国时期，女王也要去圣诞购物。 艾米好像在恍惚中打开了床边的抽屉。 她拿出丹找到的《圣经》。 她飞快地翻到马太福音第二章十一节。 “丹？”她用有点颤抖的声音问道。 “找没药。M-y-r-r-h，”她大声说着，走过来站在他身后。 内莉匆匆赶了过来。丹在搜索引擎上输入了这个词。 树叶在屏幕上闪烁。

MYRRH Pronunciation; murah Latin: Commiphora myrrha 5ee also "Sweet Cicely" myrrh "That's it!" Dan cried. "Now explain how you did that." "Don't forget the art. We thought it was her painting, but we figured out that Grace didn't leave that as a clue. We forgot to think about what she really meant." Amy held up the card. "She was talking about the card itself." "I still don't get it." "It all has to do with Hatshepsut." "Hatshepsut?" Nellie looked puzzled. "But she lived thousands of years before Christmas was around." "Hatshepsut went to the Land of Punt and came back with myrrh trees. Grace posed right in front of that relief. And she made that joke in the guidebook about how a queen has to go Christmas shopping? She was leading us back to this." Amy

没药的发音;没药拉丁文：Commiphora myrrha也可作“甜美的西塞”没药“就是这样！”丹哭了。 “现在解释一下你是怎么做到的。” “别忘了艺术。我们以为是她的画，但我们发现格蕾丝并没有把它作为线索。 我们忘了考虑她真正的意思。” 艾米举起卡片。“她说的是卡片本身。” “我还是不明白。”“这一切都与哈特谢普苏特有关。” “哈特谢普苏特?”内利看上去很困惑。 “但她生活在圣诞节出现之前的几千年。” "哈特谢普苏特去了普特国带回了没药树。 格蕾丝就在浮雕前摆姿势。 她还在旅游指南上开了个玩笑说女王要去圣诞购物？ 她把我们带回到这里。” 艾米

held up the card. "The Magi. They brought—" "Gifts to the Christ child," Nellie said. Amy picked up the Bible. "Matthew, chapter two, verse eleven. Mat 2:11 is a notation, not the price of the mat around the drawing. Listen." Amy read the verse out loud. "'And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.'" Dan nodded. "And Grace misspelled 'resonates.' Grace was an excellent speller— we should know. We played Scrabble with her every weekend for years. Myrrh is a resin! A half gram of myrrh. That's the clue!" Amy's eyes shone. "And Grace was with us all the way. She didn't abandon us, Dan. She'll help us when we need it. And it will be just like her, too. It won't be when we expect it. It'll be when we least expect it. She hasn't gone away. She's still with us." Dan turned away from her. But Amy knew it was because his eyes had filled. Her eyes were full of tears, too. She felt as though Grace's hand was on her shoulder, squeezing. Saying good work,

举起卡片。“东方三博士。 他们带来了——““给圣婴的礼物，”耐莉说。 艾米拿起《圣经》。马太福音第二章十一节。 太2:11是一个记号，而不是画周围垫子的价格。 听。”艾米大声朗读了这节经文。 他们就打开宝箱，把礼物送给他。黄金，乳香和没药。’”丹点点头。 格蕾丝把“resonates”拼错了。格蕾丝是一个优秀的拼写者——我们应该知道。 多年来，我们每个周末都和她玩拼字游戏。 没药是一种树脂！半克没药。 这就是线索！”艾米的眼睛闪闪发光。 “格蕾丝一直和我们在一起。 她没有抛弃我们，丹。 她会在我们需要的时候帮助我们。 它也会像她一样。 它不会在我们期待的时候出现。 它会在我们最意想不到的时候出现。 她没有走。她还和我们在一起。” 丹转身离开了她。但艾米知道那是因为他的眼睛已经满了。 她的眼里也充满了泪水。 她觉得格蕾丝的手好像在捏她的肩膀。 说干得好，