Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 Dan's patented I'm just a cute, curious kid expression always got him results. "Can we just see that Churchill document?" he asked Mrs. Thembeka, with Oscar-winning innocence. "It would be, like, so cool to touch something that Churchill personally wrote." He turned to Amy for support, but she was barely paying attention. Her nose was in a biography of Winston Churchill that she had found. Mrs. Thembeka's phone started beeping, and she turned to pick it up. "I'm dreadfully sorry, dear, but our private holdings have very strict access. Excuse me." "Nice try," Nellie muttered. Dan's eyes wandered over to the file cabinets in

丹的专利“我只是一个可爱的、好奇的孩子”的表达总是给他带来效果。 “我们能看看丘吉尔的那份文件吗？”他带着获得奥斯卡奖的天真问坦姆贝卡夫人。 “触摸丘吉尔亲手写的东西会很酷。” 他转向艾米寻求支持，但她几乎没有注意到。 她的鼻子出现在她找到的一本温斯顿·丘吉尔的传记里。 泰姆贝卡夫人的手机开始响，她转过身去接电话。 “我非常抱歉，亲爱的，但我们的私人财产是严格保密的。 对不起。”“好样的，”内莉喃喃地说。 丹的目光转向了房间里的文件柜

the library office directly behind Mrs. Thembeka. The papers had to be in there. He looked around frantically for anything that he could use to help distract the librarian. But his eyes locked on a bronze plaque hanging directly over the file cabinet: The Constitution Hill Library Is Grateful for the Support Of Our Generous Patrons to the Literacy Campaign Ruth Aluwani Oliver Bheka Piet Broeksma Grace Cahill "Amy, look!" Dan blurted out. "Grace! She's all over this place." Mrs. Thembeka glanced up at Dan. She murmured something into the phone, hung up abruptly, and came out from behind her desk.

坦姆贝卡夫人正后面的图书馆办公室。 文件肯定在里面。 他疯狂地环顾四周，寻找任何可以分散图书管理员注意力的东西。 但他的目光锁定在文件柜正上方的一块铜牌上：宪法山图书馆感谢我们慷慨的赞助人对扫盲运动的支持露丝·阿卢瓦尼·奥利弗·比卡·皮埃特·布罗克斯玛·格蕾丝·卡希尔“艾米，看！”丹脱口而出。 “恩!她到处都是。” 坦姆贝卡太太抬头看了丹一眼。 她对着电话嘀咕了几句，突然挂了电话，从桌子后面走了出来。

"Did you know Grace Cahill?" she said. As she looked from Dan to Amy to Nellie and back, her eyes misted. "Oh, my goodness, I should have known. You look just like her." "I do?" Dan said. He adored his grandmother, but she did have silver hair and wrinkles. "The eyes are the same. And you…" Mrs. Thembeka took Amy's hand. "You must be the beloved granddaughter of whom she so often spoke. Please, sit." She gestured toward a chair and a small sofa and went to shut the office door. "I was so sorry to hear of your grandmother's passing. We were good friends, you know. How did you find this place? Was it Robert?" Dan looked at Amy. "Uh, we don't know any Robert." Mrs. Thembeka reached inside her desk, pulled out a stack of old photos, and held one toward them. "You see? This was, oh, ten years ago." In the photo, Mrs. Thembeka and Grace stood arm in arm under a theater marquee, on which could only be seen the words by Athol Fugard. Grace's skin was quite tan. In fact, her skin color

“你认识格蕾丝·卡希尔吗？”她说。 她看了看丹，看了看艾米，又看了看内莉，眼睛湿润了。 “哦，天哪，我早该知道的。 你和她长得一模一样。”“我做什么?”丹说。 他崇拜他的祖母，但她确实有银发和皱纹。 “眼睛是一样的。而你……”坦姆贝卡太太拉着艾米的手。 “你一定就是她常提起的那个可爱的外孙女吧。 请坐下。”她指了指椅子和小沙发，然后去关上办公室的门。 “听到你祖母去世的消息，我很难过。 我们是好朋友，你知道的。 你是怎么找到这个地方的？ 是罗伯特吗？”丹看着艾米。 “呃，我们不认识什么罗伯特。” 坦姆贝卡夫人把手伸进书桌，拿出一叠旧照片，拿着一张对着他们。 “你看到了什么?这是十年前的事了。” 照片中，坦贝卡夫人和格蕾丝手挽手站在剧院的大帐篷下，帐篷上只能看到阿瑟·富加德（Athol Fugard）的文字。 格蕾丝的皮肤晒得黝黑。 事实上，她的肤色

was nearly identical to Mrs. Thembeka's. "You look like sisters," Amy said. Mrs. Thembeka laughed. "Perhaps we were. In our souls we were very much the same." Dan flipped the photo and saw a faded inscription: He held it toward Amy, who looked as if she were about to cry. "Lemur…" she said. "That must be The Flying Lemur, Grace's private plane." "We'd had a full day of flying that afternoo— oh, did she love that airplane! Swaziland, Banhine National Park in Mozambique, refueling…" "What's 'Aloes'?" Dan said. Mrs. Thembeka smiled. "A reference to the play we saw, A Lesson from Aloes. The aloe plant thrives under the worst imaginable deprivation— harsh sun, no water for months. It is a symbol of the South African people, surviving despite apartheid. Some aloe species have quite remarkable healing properties. Grace loved this

几乎和坦姆贝卡夫人的一模一样。 “你们看起来像姐妹，”艾米说。 坦姆贝卡夫人笑了。“也许是吧。 在我们的灵魂深处，我们是完全一样的。” 丹把照片翻过来，看到了一个褪色的题词。他把照片递给艾米，艾米看起来好像要哭了。 “狐猴……”她说。“那一定是‘会飞的狐猴’，格蕾丝的私人飞机。” “那天下午我们坐了一整天的飞机——哦，她真喜欢那架飞机！”斯威士兰，莫桑比克的Banhine国家公园，加油……”“‘沉香’是什么？”丹说。 泰姆贝卡夫人笑了。指的是我们看过的戏剧《沉香的教训》。 芦荟植物在最恶劣的条件下茁壮成长——强烈的阳光，几个月没有水。 它是南非人民在种族隔离中生存下来的象征。 一些芦荟种类具有相当显著的治疗特性。 格蕾丝很喜欢这个

play." "How did you know her?" Amy said. "She was on the library board committee that interviewed me," Mrs. Thembeka said softly. "They were about to hire a more seasoned administrator, but Grace insisted on someone passionate about human rights. I'd been involved in the struggle since my cousin Vuyo's… experience. He was a student in Soweto…." Was. Mrs. Thembeka's voice trailed off, and Dan recalled what Nellie had said about the Soweto uprising. Kids were killed by police. He had to turn away. "Can I look through these?" Amy asked, gazing at the pile of photos. "Of course, dear." As Amy eagerly took up the photos, Mrs. Thembeka unlocked another desk drawer. "A few months ago, Grace left me a phone message. She sounded weak, but I had no idea she was dying. She alerted me about the Churchill document. She said I was to list it in the

玩。”“你是怎么认识她的？”艾米说。 “她是采访我的图书馆董事会委员会的成员，”坦姆贝卡夫人轻声说。 他们本打算聘请一位经验更丰富的管理员，但格蕾丝坚持要聘请一位对人权充满热情的人。 自从我表哥Vuyo的经历之后，我就卷入了这场斗争。 他是索韦托的一名学生....” 是什么。坦贝卡夫人的声音越来越小，丹回忆起内莉说过的索韦托起义。 孩子们被警察杀害。 他不得不转过身去。“我能看看这些吗？”艾米凝视着那堆照片问道。 “当然，亲爱的。”当艾米急切地拿起照片时，泰姆贝卡夫人打开了另一个抽屉。 “几个月前，格蕾丝给我留了个电话信息。 她听起来很虚弱，但我不知道她快要死了。 她提醒我丘吉尔文件的事。 她让我把它列在

catalogue but limit it strictly to scholars and her direct descendants. With positive identification." Mrs. Thembeka shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "It was an odd request, something we weren't used to— frankly, I don't imagine any library would be. But she was insistent. Because she had done so much for us, the board approved. So, although I hate to ask, I will need to see proof…." "I think I have my school ID." Dan fumbled in his pocket. He pulled out a crumpled Mars Bar wrapper, some loose string, a cherry Starburst, several unidentified pieces of clear plastic, and his dad's Australian passport. He panicked for a moment, until he spotted a corner of his school ID jutting out from it. He opened the passport and laid it flat. His ID was sticking to an inner page. He peeled it off to reveal his dad's passport photo and fake name, Roger Nudelman. "Here you go!" Dan said, holding out the ID. But Mrs. Thembeka was riveted on the photo, her eyes widening. "Nudelman…?" she said. "What on earth are you doing with Nudelman's

目录，但仅限于学者和她的直系后裔。 要有积极的认识。” 坦姆贝卡夫人耸了耸肩，看起来有点尴尬。 “这是一个奇怪的要求，这是我们不习惯的——坦率地说，我不认为任何图书馆会这样做。” 但她很坚持。因为她为我们做了这么多，董事会同意了。 所以，虽然我不想问，但我需要看到证据....” “我想我有我的学生证。” 丹在口袋里摸索着。 他拿出一个皱巴巴的玛氏棒包装纸，一些松散的绳子，一颗樱桃星爆糖，几块身份不明的透明塑料，还有他父亲的澳大利亚护照。 他惊慌了一会儿，直到他发现学生证的一角从上面伸出来。 他打开护照，把它平放。 他的身份证贴在内页上。 他把它剥下来，露出了他父亲的护照照片和假名罗杰·努德尔曼。 “给你！”丹说，手里拿着身份证。 但坦姆贝卡夫人却全神贯注地看着这张照片，眼睛睁得大大的。 “努德曼……”她说。“你拿着努德尔曼的书干什么？