Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14 Amy flinched at the sound of the bomb blast on Boom Street. Nellie was speeding the Yugo onto the highway entrance ramp. "Yeeee-HAHHH!" Dan screamed, hitting the car roof with his fist. Amy's insides were frayed. "You think that was fun?" she blurted. "We could have all been killed— because of you! What did you think you were doing?" "Didn't you see him?" Dan said. "Hamilton— he was blinking!" "So?" Amy said. "Blinking Morse code, Amy!" Dan explained. "Dit-dah-dit, dit, dit-dah-dit-dit, dit, dit-dah, ditdit-dit, dit, dah-dit-dit-dit, dit-dah-dit, dit-dah, dah-dit-dah, dit! Two words— release brake! He

听到炸弹在邦街爆炸的声音，艾美吓了一跳。 内莉正把尤戈车开到高速公路入口匝道上。 “Yeeee-HAHHH !”丹尖叫着，用拳头打在车顶上。 艾米的内心受到了折磨。 “你觉得好玩吗？”她脱口而出。 “我们都可能被杀死——因为你！”你以为你在做什么？”“你没看见他吗？”丹说。 “汉密尔顿——他在眨眼睛！”“所以?”艾米说。 “闪烁的摩尔斯电码，艾米！”丹解释说。 “滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴，滴！两个字——放开刹车！他

was giving me instructions." "You understood that?" Nellie said. "At first I'm, like, dude, what?" Dan said. "But he kept repeating the same message. He wanted me to create a distraction!" "Are you crazy?" Amy pressed. "What if Hamilton hadn't been able to fix the wires in time? You hit the van, Dan! You hit it! A distraction doesn't mean dying!" Dan deflated. His face darkened, and he fell back heavily into his seat. "You really know how to ruin a nice day." The car fell silent as Nellie pulled onto the highway and zoomed toward Johannesburg. "So, campers," she chirped, "what say we celebrate our escape, Alistair's escape, Hamilton's good-guyness, and Dan's great code-breaking skills by stopping off and getting us a fresh GPS? And maybe, like, some food?" She paused while Amy and Dan shifted uncomfortably. "I knew you'd jump on that idea. I'll keep an eye out for a place." As the flat, parched countryside raced by, Amy stared out the window. "I wonder where he is now

是在给我指示。” “你明白吗？”内莉说。 “一开始我的反应是，老兄，怎么了？”丹说。 但他一直在重复同样的信息。 他想让我分散注意力！”“你疯了吗？”艾米。 “要是汉密尔顿没能及时修好电线怎么办？” 你撞到货车了，丹！你打中了！分心并不意味着死亡！”丹泄气。 他脸色阴沉，重重地倒在座位上。 “你真会毁了美好的一天。” 当内莉把车开上高速公路，向约翰内斯堡飞驰而去时，车安静了下来。 “那么，露营者们，”她叽叽喳喳地说，“我们停下来给我们买个新的GPS，庆祝一下我们的逃脱，阿利斯泰尔的逃脱，汉密尔顿的善良，还有丹出色的密码破译技术，怎么样？” 也许，再来点吃的？”她停了一下，艾米和丹不安地挪动着身子。 “我就知道你会欣然接受这个主意。 我会留意找个地方的。” 当平坦、干燥的乡村飞驰而过时，艾米凝视着窗外。 “我想知道他现在在哪里

—Alistair." "I saw Hamilton whisper something to him after he fixed the wires," Nellie said. "Must have been telling him to make like a tortilla chip and break away." Dan shook his head. "I can't believe that wacko was going to zap him." Amy closed her eyes. The plan was so barbaric. Zap. One flip of the bowler. She suddenly had the urge to cry. Something was bubbling up inside Amy, something so muddy and deep she couldn't define it. "I… wanted him to die, Dan. I never felt that before. What's wrong with me?" "Hey, kiddo…" Nellie said gently. Dan nodded. "Yeah. It's understandable. Really." "Is it?" Amy said. "I don't understand it. You should climb around inside my brain, Dan. It's like this dark room surrounded by quicksand." "I know what you mean," her brother said quietly. "I hate being in my brain sometimes. I

阿利斯泰尔。”“他修好电线后，我看见汉密尔顿对他耳语了几句，”内莉说。 “一定是告诉他要像玉米片一样逃跑。” 丹摇了摇头。“我真不敢相信那个疯子要打他。” 艾米闭上了眼睛。这个计划太野蛮了。 杀死。投球手翻转一次。 她突然有想哭的冲动。 艾米心里有什么东西在冒泡，一种她无法定义的浑浊而深沉的东西。 “我……想让他死，丹。 我以前从未有过这种感觉。我怎么了？”“嘿，孩子……”耐莉温柔地说。 丹点了点头。“是的。这是可以理解的。 真的。”“是吗?”艾米说。 “我不明白。你应该爬进我的大脑，丹。 就像一个被流沙包围的黑暗房间。” “我明白你的意思，”她哥哥平静地说。 “有时候我讨厌呆在自己的脑子里。 我

have to get out." "What do you do?" Amy said. Dan shrugged. "I go to other places— my toes. My shoulders. But mostly here." He tapped his chest and immediately turned red. "I know. It's stupid." "Not really," Amy said. "I wish I could do that, too." "It's not something you do," Dan said. "I mean, something's always going on in there whether you want it to or not. You just have to, like, lift up the shades and peek in." Amy took a deep breath. The idea sounded so Dan. She closed her eyes and thought about the past few days. About Alistair and the hunt. About Dan and his body travel. Lift the shades… The quicksand was fading away. Relief washed over her. And she began to cry. "I hate myself," she said. "I hate what I'm seeing." "Why?" Dan asked. Stop feeling relief! she scolded herself. Relief is

我得出去。”“你是做什么的？”艾米说。 丹耸耸肩。“我去其他地方——我的脚趾。 我的肩膀。但主要是在这里。” 他拍了拍胸口，脸立刻红了。 “我知道。这是愚蠢的。”“不完全是，”艾米说。 “我希望我也能那样做。” “这不是你该做的事，”丹说。 “我的意思是，不管你愿不愿意，那里总是发生着一些事情。 你只需要掀起窗帘，往里看就行了。” 艾米深吸了一口气。这个主意听起来太简单了。 她闭上眼睛，回想着过去的几天。 关于阿利斯泰尔和狩猎。 关于丹和他的身体旅行。 拉开窗帘……流沙渐渐消失了。 她如释重负。她哭了起来。 “我恨我自己，”她说。 “我讨厌我所看到的。”“为什么?”丹问道。 不要感到宽慰！她责备自己。 救援

weakness. Relief is compassion. Compassion is trust. Trust no one. "Why do you have such stupid ideas, Dan!" she blurted. Dan smiled. "You do feel happy, right? About Alistair?" "I shouldn't!" Amy willed back the tears. "I can't! He always escapes. Mom and Dad didn't escape, but he does. It's not fair. He deserves to die." "Amy?" Dan said. "I don't want to feel glad that we saved Alistair!" Amy said. "Because saving him is like betraying the memory of Mom and Dad." Dan nodded. He fell silent for a long time and then finally said, "You can't help it, Amy—being glad he's alive. I think Mom and Dad would be proud of you. They valued life. It's what made them different from some of those other Cahills. And Madrigals." Amy thought for a moment. He was right. Being like a Madrigal was the worst possible fate

的弱点。解脱就是同情。 同情就是信任。不要相信任何人。 “你为什么会有这么愚蠢的想法，丹！”她脱口而出。 丹笑了。“你确实感到快乐，对吧？” Alistair呢?”“我不!”艾米强忍住泪水。 “我不能!他总是逃跑。 爸妈没逃，但他逃了。 这不公平。他该死。” “艾米?”丹说。“我不想因为我们救了阿利斯泰尔而感到高兴！”艾米说。 “因为救他就像背叛了爸爸妈妈的记忆。” 丹点了点头。他沉默了很长一段时间，最后说：“艾米，你不能不高兴他还活着。 我想爸妈会为你感到骄傲的。 他们珍视生命。这就是他们和其他卡希尔人不同的地方。 和悠扬。”艾米想了一会儿。 他是对的。像牧歌一样是最糟糕的命运

she could imagine. Sometimes— just sometimes—Amy wanted to put her arm around her brother. But the last time she'd done that, he'd washed his shoulders off and written CP on his shirt for Cootie Protection. So she just smiled and asked, "How do you know, Dan? You were so young when they died. Do you really remember them?" "Not in my mind," Dan replied, gazing at the passing scenery. "But everyplace else…" "Turn left, now…" said a soothing voice from the Yugo dashboard. "Thank you, Carlos," Nellie replied with a grin. "I'm going to marry Carlos. I tell him what to do, and he just does it. No complaints." Nellie's new GPS device, which they had named Carlos, was leading them into the city of Johannesburg. In the near distance, a cluster of glass-and-steel skyscrapers sloped up gently toward a slim, graceful structure like a giant scepter.

她可以想象。有时候——只是有时候——艾米想搂着她哥哥。 但上次她这么做的时候，他已经把肩膀洗掉了，还在衬衫上写了CP（防虱子）。 所以她只是笑着问：“你怎么知道的，丹？ 他们死的时候你还那么小。 你真的记得他们吗？”“我不这么认为，”丹回答，凝视着过往的风景。 “现在，向左转……”尤戈仪表板上传来一个安慰的声音。 “谢谢你，卡洛斯，”内莉笑着回答。 “我要嫁给卡洛斯。 我让他做什么，他就做什么。 不抱怨。”内莉的新GPS设备，他们给它起名叫卡洛斯，正带着他们进入约翰内斯堡。 在不远的地方，一群由玻璃和钢铁组成的摩天大楼轻轻地向一个纤细、优雅的建筑倾斜，就像一根巨大的权杖。