Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 Dan wondered how Shaka Zulu would handle a ride in a busted Yugo with two females arguing over hotel accommodations. "You're the one who worries about money," Amy said. "A tent is perfect. We'd use it every day." "I need a mirror, clean sheets, and those little paper-wrapped soaps," Nellie said. "I collect them. If you use them at home they remind you of where you've been—" "This search is not about comfort," Amy said. "You're being like the Kabras and Alistair— pampered and fussy. First it's the secrets, and now it's—" "Excuse me, Little Miss Anger Management," Nellie interrupted. "What's happened to you?"

丹不知道沙卡·祖鲁会如何处理乘坐一辆破旧的尤戈和两个女人为旅馆住宿而争吵。 “你才是那个担心钱的人，”艾米说。 “帐篷是完美的。我们每天都会使用它。” “我需要一面镜子，干净的床单，还有那些纸包的小肥皂，”内莉说。 “我收集它们。如果你在家里使用它们，它们会提醒你你去过哪里——”“这次搜索不是为了舒适，”艾米说。 “你就像卡布拉家族和阿利斯泰尔家族一样——娇生惯养，吹毛求疵。 一开始是秘密，现在是——““对不起，控制愤怒小姐，”内莉插嘴说。 “你出什么事了？”

"OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!" Dan announced. "Cram it, Shaka," Amy said dully. But Dan ignored her. A brave warrior never took the bait. He was fighting to focus on the Shaka postcard, now wrinkled and sweat-soaked after their adventure. He stared at the last lines: "This doesn't look right," he said. "Lots of African words have odd pronunciations," Amy began lecturing. "Like, you make a clicking sound while saying it, like the Xhosa tribe." The way Amy said the word, it was like a tongue-click followed by-osa. "Right, but those words have, like, Xs and exclamation points in the middle and stuff," Dan said. "These are different. They don't look African. They just look… weird." "If it's not African weird, maybe it's Dutch weird," Nellie said. "They use lots of double

“砍掉你们的脑袋！”丹宣布。 “闭嘴，沙卡，”艾美沉闷地说。 但丹没有理睬她。勇敢的战士从不上钩。 他努力把注意力集中在沙卡的明信片上，在他们的冒险之后，现在他满脸皱纹，浑身是汗。 他盯着最后几行：“这看起来不对，”他说。 “很多非洲单词的发音都很奇怪，”艾米开始讲课。 “比如，你说的时候会发出咔哒的声音，就像科萨部落一样。” 艾米说这个词的方式，就像舌头咔哒一声，然后是osa。 “对，但这些词中间有x和感叹号之类的东西，”丹说。 “这些是不同的。他们看起来不像非洲人。 它们看起来……很奇怪。”内利说：“如果不是非洲怪异，也许是荷兰怪异。” “他们用了很多双引号

letters. My aunt married a guy named Vanderdoonk." Amy was peering at the names closely. "The brothers Gekk? I told you, those are the limo drivers. This is a business card for a taxi service." "What about the stuff under the name?" Dan asked." 'Alpha more than one,'" Amy said. "Alpha means 'A'— like, the best. They're bragging. Advertising." Dan began to write. He scribbled the alphabet across the top of the card. "I'm thinking it's a code. 'Alpha' means 'alphabet.' 'More than one' is actually an arrow pointing to the right. It could mean 'substitute each letter with the one to the right'— like, B becomes C." "You actually think like that?" Nellie asked. Dan began replacing the letters one by one. "Like I said, it was a dumb idea," Dan said. "Whoa, wait," Amy said. "What if instead of a simple substitution code you, like, replace each

信件。我姨妈嫁给了一个叫范德顿克的人。” 艾米紧紧盯着那些名字。 “盖克兄弟？”我说了，那些是豪华轿车司机。 这是出租车服务的名片。” “那名字下面的东西呢？”丹问道。“ ‘阿尔法不止一个，’”艾米说。 “Alpha的意思是‘A’一样，最好的。 他们吹嘘。广告。” 丹开始写。他在卡片的顶部潦草地写下字母。 “我认为这是一个密码。 “Alpha”的意思是“字母表”。“不止一个”实际上是一个指向右边的箭头。 它可能意味着‘用右边的字母代替每个字母’——比如，B变成了c。” “你真的这么想吗？”内莉问道。 丹开始一个接一个地替换字母。 “就像我说的，这是个愚蠢的想法，”丹说。 “哇，等等，”艾米说。“如果不是简单的替换代码，而是替换每个代码

consonant with the next consonant, and each vowel with the next vowel? Like, B becomes C but I becomes O?" "You, too?" Nellie said. Dan began writing again: "Bingo!" Amy exclaimed. She leafed through pamphlets she had stashed in the glove compartment. "Constitution Hill… it's a region in Johannesburg. The site of an old jail. Number Four must be an address." "Johannesburg?" Nellie said. "I thought we were marching to Pretoria!" "Don't forget the other Gekk name," Dan said. Quickly, he decoded it, using Amy's method:" 'Church Hill'— find that!" Dan said. Amy shook her head. "Nope. No such place. We'll need to get a better map. But at least we have a start. Okay, Nellie, we have to go back in the direction of the airport, toward Johannesburg!"

辅音和下一个辅音，每个元音和下一个元音？ 比如，B变成C，而I变成O?”“你呢?”内莉说。 丹又开始写了：“答对了！”艾米喊道。 她翻了翻她藏在汽车置物柜里的小册子。 “宪法山是约翰内斯堡的一个地区。 旧监狱的旧址。4号一定是个地址。” “约翰内斯堡吗?”内莉说。 “我还以为我们要去比勒陀利亚呢！”“别忘了另一个极客的名字，”丹说。 很快，他用艾米的方法破译了它：“‘Church Hill’——找到它！”丹说。 艾米摇了摇头。“不。 没有这样的地方。我们需要一张更好的地图。 但至少我们有了一个开始。 好了，内莉，我们必须回到机场的方向，去约翰内斯堡！”

"What if Church Hill is the thing that's in Pretoria?" Dan said. "I mean, we're here already!" Nellie slammed on the brakes and glided into a turnoff at the edge of the road. "Whoa, whoa, guys. I've been stunt-driving in a Yugo, running from Holts, dissing old men, and barely avoiding death by goat. I'm, like, ready to drop. I will take you wherever you want, but I want to finish what I started with Amy—and I get to pick where we stay, okay? I say, hotel. And I say, book it now or we sleep in the car." She reached into her pocket. "Do either one of you guys have my cell phone?" "Nope," Amy and Dan said at the same time. Nellie looked on the floor, then in the glove compartment. "Weird. I had it back on that field." "The Holts are probably kicking it through the goal post," Dan said. "Uh, dude," Nellie said. "This is no joke. I have to have that phone." "The phone company has your stuff saved online," Dan said, "with all your boyfriends' numbers—" "Not funny," Nellie said. "You don't get it! I

“如果教堂山是比勒陀利亚的那个东西呢？”丹说。 “我是说，我们已经来了！”内莉猛踩刹车，滑进了路边的岔道。 “哇，哇，伙计们。我开着一辆尤戈特技驾驶，躲避霍尔特，蔑视老人，差点被山羊咬死。 我都快累趴下了。我可以带你去你想去的地方，但我想完成我和艾米开始的事，我可以选择我们住在哪里，好吗？ 我说，宾馆。我说，现在预订，否则我们就睡在车里。” 她把手伸进口袋。 “你们有谁拿了我的手机吗？”“不，”艾米和丹同时说。 内利看了看地板，又看了看仪表盘上的储物柜。 “奇怪。我把它带回了球场。” “霍尔特队可能会把球踢出门柱，”丹说。 “呃，老兄，”内莉说。“这不是开玩笑。 我必须要那部手机。” “电话公司把你的东西都存到了网上，”丹说，“包括你所有男朋友的电话号码——”“一点也不好笑，”内莉说。 “你不明白！”我

need that phone!" Dan gave Amy a look. This was not Normal Nellie. "Now who's got a problem with anger management?" Amy said quietly. Nellie took a deep breath and hung her head over the steering wheel. "Okay. Sorry. I'm losing my head. May I use your phone, Amy?" Amy handed over her phone. As Nellie made her call, Dan pulled out his and quickly accessed his e-mail account. He stared at the most recent message: we won. 10-7. ilikeike "Hey, Amy," Dan said, showing the screen to his sister. "Do we know anyone with this name?" "Ilikeike…" Amy shrugged. "Looks Hawaiian." Dan typed back: um, gr8. who ru?

我需要那部手机！”丹看了艾米一眼。 这不是正常的内莉。 “现在谁对愤怒管理有问题？”艾米平静地说。 内莉深吸了一口气，把头垂到方向盘上。 “好吧。对不起。我要昏头了。 我可以用一下你的电话吗，艾米？”艾米把手机递给她。 内莉打电话的时候，丹拿出自己的电子邮件，迅速进入了他的电子邮件账户。 他盯着最新的消息：我们赢了。 10 - 7。结果“嘿，艾米，”丹说着，把屏幕给他妹妹看。 “我们认识叫这个名字的人吗？”“我喜欢……”艾米耸耸肩。 “看起来夏威夷。”丹回了一句：嗯，gr8。 谁俄文?