Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 It was hard to imagine, but it was still afternoon. Jet lag was beginning to set in. But there was so much still to talk about. Shep made tea, and they sat around a table on the patio off the kitchen area. The exhilaration of out-surfing the Holts had drained away. Now they wanted answers. Saladin jumped up on Shep's lap. Shep stroked him absentmindedly as he talked. "I did get the idea that Art and Hope's visit was more than a pleasure trip," he said. "I guess Art was doing some sort of mapping connected to his mathematical genius thing. He was always interested in geography as a kid. Always poring over maps. It's strange how I was the one who traveled the world. I think he liked going places in his head." Shep smiled. "Not your mother, though. She was ready for anything." "So where did they go?" Amy asked.

很难想象，但仍然是下午。 时差反应开始起作用了。 但还有很多事情要谈。 谢普泡了茶，他们围坐在厨房外露台上的一张桌子旁。 在霍尔特家外面冲浪的兴奋已经消失了。 现在他们想要答案。萨拉丁跳到谢普的腿上。 他说话时，谢普心不在焉地抚摸着他。 “我确实意识到，‘艺术与希望’的访问不仅仅是一次愉快的旅行，”他说。 “我猜阿特是在做某种映射，与他的数学天才有关。 他小时候一直对地理很感兴趣。 总是仔细研究地图。真奇怪，我居然是那个环游世界的人。 我想他喜欢在脑子里漫游。” 谢普笑了。“但不是你妈妈。 她准备好了应付一切。” “那他们去哪儿了？”艾米问。

"Normally, I'd space that kind of thing out," Shep admitted. "I fly a lot of people a lot of places, you see. That's what I do for a living— I fly tourists around the outback. But that trip, I remember. Let's see… I flew them to Adelaide, dropped them off for a few days while I went on to Perth. Then I flew back, picked them up, and we all went up to the Top End. Darwin. Hey, I bet I still have their itinerary. Lucky for you, I'm the original pack rat. I don't throw anything away." Gently, Shep dropped Saladin on Dan's lap and got up. Through the open door, they could see him rummaging in one of the colorful bins. "Well, would you look at this," he muttered, tossing away a tennis racket. "That's where that went. Never could stand tennis. Now, I know it's in here someplace…. Aha!" Shep came back, a battered leather jacket over one arm and a thick book in the other. He handed the jacket to Amy. "Here's something of your mother's. She picked it up at a vintage shop in Darwin. At the last minute she left it with me. She said she had enough baggage to carry. Sure she would want you to have it."

“通常情况下，我会把这种事情分开，”谢普承认。 “你看，我载过很多人去很多地方。 这就是我的工作——我为游客在内地飞来飞去。 但那次旅行，我记得。 让我想想，我把它们飞到阿德莱德，在那里放几天，然后我去了珀斯。 然后我飞回来，把它们捡起来，我们一起去了山顶。 达尔文。我肯定还有他们的行程。 算你走运，我是第一个收集狂。 我不会扔掉任何东西。” 谢普轻轻地把萨拉丁放在丹的腿上，站了起来。 透过敞开的门，他们可以看到他在一个彩色的箱子里翻找。 “嗯，你看看这个，”他咕哝着，扔掉了一个网球拍。 “这就是它的去向。我从来都受不了网球。 现在，我知道它在这里的某个地方.... 啊哈!”谢普回来了，一只胳膊上套着一件破旧的皮夹克，另一只手里拿着一本厚厚的书。 他把夹克递给艾米。 “这是你母亲的东西。 她是在达尔文的一家古董店买的。 最后一刻她把它留给了我。 她说她有足够的行李要搬。 她肯定希望你得到它。”

It was warm on the patio, but Amy let the weight of the jacket remain on her lap. Her fingers ran over the leather. Her mother had picked this out. Slipped her arms in the sleeves. Amy would hug it if she could, but she was too embarrassed. Shep held up the book. "This is my logbook from that year. Let's see now…" He leafed through it. "I thought so. They gave me an itinerary, just in case, they said. Here." He held out a piece of paper. Amy recognized her mother's neat handwriting in the purple ink she liked to use. "They went to all these places?" Amy asked. "Round-the-world trip, I guess," Shep said. Dan peered over her shoulder. "How come Sydney isn't there? And Adelaide?" "I guess I was the pleasure part of the trip," Shep said with a grin.

天井里很暖和，但艾米让夹克的重量留在膝盖上。 她的手指在皮革上滑过。 这是她妈妈挑出来的。 她把胳膊塞进衣袖里。 如果可以的话，艾米会抱着它，但她太尴尬了。 谢普举起书。“这是我那年的航海日志。 让我想想……”他翻了翻。 “我也这么想。他们说，为了以防万一，他们给了我一张行程表。 在这里。”他拿出一张纸。 艾米认出了母亲用她喜欢用的紫色墨水写的整洁的字迹。 “他们去了所有这些地方？”艾米问。 “环球旅行，我猜，”谢普说。 丹从她的肩膀上偷看。 “悉尼怎么不在那儿？” 和阿德莱德吗?”“我想我是这次旅行中最快乐的部分，”谢普笑着说。

Amy put her finger on Miami. "I remember now!" she exclaimed. "They brought us along on the first part of the trip. We stayed in a hotel on the beach. Dan, you were only about three. Grace came with us, too. I remember crying so hard when they left. I thought I'd never see them again…." Amy's voice trailed off. She remembered her six-year-old self crying as though her heart would break, feeling abandoned. She'd been holding Grace's hand, and it scared her when she saw that Grace was crying, too. Grace never cried. They had stood in the lobby of the hotel, watching through the glass doors as her parents climbed into a taxi. She remembered that glass wall between them, so that no matter how hard she cried her mother couldn't hear her. "I don't remember a thing," Dan said. "No, you were too young," Amy said. "They were gone for a long time— I mean, it seemed long, but it was probably about a month. Grace stayed with us." Amy had a sudden memory of Grace sitting at the window, looking out at the yard. Her grandmother had looked so worried. To

艾米把她的手指放在迈阿密。 “我想起来了！” “在旅程的第一部分，他们带我们一起走。 我们住在海边的一家旅馆里。 丹，你那时才三岁。 格蕾丝也和我们一起来的。我记得他们离开时我哭得很伤心。 我以为我再也见不到他们了....” 艾米的声音越来越小。她记得六岁的自己哭得好像心碎了，觉得自己被抛弃了。 她一直握着格蕾丝的手，当她看到格蕾丝也在哭时，吓了一跳。 格蕾丝从未哭过。他们站在酒店的大厅里，透过玻璃门看着她的父母爬上一辆出租车。 她记得他们之间有一堵玻璃墙，所以不管她怎么哭，妈妈都听不见她的声音。 “我什么都不记得了，”丹说。 “不，你太年轻了，”艾米说。 “他们离开了很长时间——我的意思是，看起来很长，但可能只有一个月左右。 格蕾丝和我们在一起。”艾米突然想起格蕾丝坐在窗前，望着外面的院子。 她的祖母看上去很担心。 来

Amy, it seemed that Grace had felt exactly as she did, lonely and scared. She had climbed into Grace's lap. They'll be home soon, Grace had murmured against her cheek. Had Grace been trying to reassure herself… as well as Amy? Had Grace been just as afraid as her granddaughter? They had to have been on a Cahill mission. It was no pleasure trip. They wouldn't have left Dan and Amy for that long if they didn't have to. Amy knew that as a solid truth in her heart. "Surprised me when Arthur became a professor," Shep said. "I would have thought anything but that." "What do you mean?" Dan asked. "What did you think he'd become?" "Lion tamer," Shep said, putting his empty mug down with a smack. He grinned. "Acrobat. Professional race car driver. Bush pilot, like me." Dan hooted with laughter. "You've got to be kidding me." "When we were kids, Artie was the daredevil," Shep said. "He was always egging me on. Built an

艾米，格蕾丝的感觉似乎和她一样，孤独又害怕。 她爬到格蕾丝的腿上。 他们很快就要回家了，格蕾丝贴着脸颊喃喃地说。 难道格蕾丝和艾米都在努力让自己放心吗？ 难道格蕾丝也和她的孙女一样害怕吗？ 他们肯定是在执行卡希尔的任务。 这不是一次愉快的旅行。如果不是迫不得已，他们不会离开丹和艾米那么久。 艾米心里明白这是一个确凿的事实。 “当亚瑟成为教授时，我很惊讶，”谢普说。 “我本来什么都不会想的。” “你是什么意思？”丹问道。 “你觉得他会变成什么样子？”“驯狮员，”谢普说着，啪地一声把空杯子放下。 他咧嘴一笑。“杂技演员。职业赛车手。 布什的飞行员，像我一样。”丹哈哈大笑。 “你在跟我开玩笑吧。” “当我们还是孩子的时候，阿蒂是一个不怕死的人，”谢普说。 “他总是怂恿我。 建立了一个

obstacle course for our bikes. Built a tower out of boxes so we could jump into the lake. Once we built a slide from the garage roof. Artie always went first." "Dad?" Dan's voice was close to a squeak. "Awesome!" Amy looked at Dan. He was sitting up straight in his chair, his eyes sparkling. Hearing about their father always made him happy. Why did it make her so sad? When you lose your parents, the sadness doesn't go away. It just changes. It hits you sideways sometimes instead of head-on. Like now. Amy hadn't expected to suddenly feel like bursting into tears just hearing that her dad had been a daredevil when he was younger… just like Dan. "Your dad, though— he was smarter than me. He did his schoolwork. He was always interested in puzzles, too, in figuring things out. I moved to Hawaii and discovered waves, and I was a lost cause." Shep grinned cheerfully at them. "I've been traveling around the world ever since. Until I landed here in Oz."

我们的自行车障碍赛。 用盒子建了一座塔，这样我们就可以跳进湖里了。 有一次我们从车库顶上搭了个滑梯。 阿迪总是先走。”“爸爸?”丹的声音近乎嘶哑。 “棒极了!”艾米看着丹。 他笔直地坐在椅子上，眼睛闪闪发光。 听到他们父亲的事，他总是很高兴。 为什么这让她如此伤心？ 当你失去父母时，悲伤不会消失。 它只是在变化。有时它会从侧面而不是正面击中你。 就像现在。艾米没有想到，当她听到父亲年轻时是个不怕死的人——就像丹一样——时，她会突然想要哭出来。 “不过你爸爸——他比我聪明。 他做了作业。他对谜题也很感兴趣，喜欢把事情弄清楚。 我搬到了夏威夷，发现了海浪，我注定要失败。” 谢普愉快地朝他们咧嘴一笑。 “从那以后，我一直在周游世界。 直到我来到了奥兹国。”