Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 Murderers? Thieves? This has got to be a mistake. The names on the passports had seemed a little odd to Amy, but not familiar. Maybe Dad had chosen a South African crook's name by mistake. Amy glanced at Dan, but he was staring at the photo. "I— I don't think—" he stammered. "Honestly, I can't imagine how this passport ended up on the airport floor," Mrs. Thembeka said as she opened a file cabinet. "The Nudelmans were Aussies, I believe, but they went all over the world on their spree. India, Indonesia, South Africa…" India, Indonesia, South Africa… Arthur and Hope's route in pursuit of Amelia Earhart. "What did they do?" Nellie insisted. "Without using graphic details," Mrs. Thembeka

第十六章杀人犯？小偷吗? 这肯定是个误会。 护照上的名字对艾米来说有点奇怪，但并不熟悉。 也许爸爸选错了一个南非骗子的名字。 艾米瞥了丹一眼，但他正盯着照片看。 “我——我不认为——”他结结巴巴地说。 “老实说，我无法想象这本护照是怎么掉在机场地板上的，”坦姆贝卡打开一个文件柜说。 “我相信，努德尔曼一家是澳大利亚人，但他们在世界各地狂欢。 “印度，印度尼西亚，南非……”阿瑟和霍普追寻阿米莉亚·埃尔哈特的路线。 “他们做了什么？”内莉坚持道。 “没有使用图形细节，”坦姆贝卡夫人说

said, "suffice it to say, brutal crimes with no motives. Ransacking buildings and leaving no one alive. Happily, they haven't been seen in years. I assumed they'd died, but… ah, here we are!" She lifted a document from the file and put it on the desk. "You may copy it, if you promise to keep it to yourselves." "But— about the—" Dan began. Amy cut him off with a strong glare. A mistake. That was it. Pure and simple. "Thank you," Amy said. "We'll make a copy." Dan ran out of the building. He was trembling. "Wait up!" Amy said, clutching a manila envelope. Nellie followed close behind. "Dude, you're shaking," she said, putting a hand on Dan's shoulder. "Sorry!" Dan took a deep breath. "It's just… she called them… murderers." "She's old. Bad eyesight," Nellie said reassuringly.

他说"我只想说，毫无动机的残忍罪行。 洗劫大楼，不留一人。 幸运的是，他们已经好几年没露面了。 我以为他们已经死了，但是……啊，我们来了！”她从档案中取出一份文件放在桌上。 “你可以抄一份，只要你答应不让别人知道。” “可是——关于——”丹开口了。 艾米狠狠地瞪了他一眼，打断了他的话。 一个错误。就是这样。纯粹而简单。 “谢谢你，”艾米说。“我们会复制一份的。” 丹跑出了大楼。 他在颤抖。“等一下!”艾米说，手里抓着一个马尼拉纸信封。 内莉紧跟在后面。 “伙计，你在发抖，”她把手放在丹的肩膀上说。 “对不起!”丹深吸了一口气。 “只是……她管他们叫……杀人犯。” “她是老了。“视力不好，”内莉安慰地说。

"Wouldn't Mrs. Thembeka know what Dad looked like if she and Grace were good friends?" Dan asked. "Like I said, old," Nellie said. "Grandparent-old. People like that don't show off pictures of their grownup children. That's, like, for parents of little kids." "So… Dad chose to use the name of a famous bad guy on his passport?" Dan asked. "Why?" "Maybe he didn't know who Nudelman was," Amy said." 'Roger Nudelman'— that's the kind of goofy name Dad would always make up. Remember Oscar Schmutz, the dirty-fingernail wizard?" Dan shook his head sadly. "No." Amy fixed her eyes on Dan's. "What do you remember about them, Dan— Mom and Dad?" "Practically nothing," Dan said, his eyes welling up. "Dan, think," Amy said. "You told me you didn't remember them in your mind, but you did everyplace else. What were those memories?" Dan was breathing hard. "Silly stories. Hot

“如果坦贝卡夫人和格蕾丝是好朋友，她难道不知道爸爸长什么样吗？”丹问道。 “就像我说的，老家伙，”内莉说。 “Grandparent-old。那种人是不会炫耀他们成年子女的照片的。 那是给小孩子的父母看的。” “所以……爸爸选择在护照上用一个著名坏蛋的名字？”丹问道。 “为什么?”“也许他不知道努德曼是谁，”艾米说。 “罗杰·努德曼”——爸爸总是给他起这种傻乎乎的名字。 还记得那个脏指甲巫师奥斯卡·施米兹吗？”丹伤心地摇了摇头。 “没有。”艾米盯着丹的眼睛。 “丹，你还记得爸爸妈妈的什么事吗？”“几乎没什么，”丹说，他的眼睛湿润了。 “丹，想想，”艾米说。“你告诉我你不记得他们，但你记得其他地方。 那些记忆是什么？”丹呼吸困难。 “愚蠢的故事。热

chocolate on the white kitchen table. Songs at night. This clean-laundry smell. Big arms around me…" "When you were about two," Amy said, "I heard Dad say to Mom, 'I just want to reach forty- three. Then he'll be eight, and if I die, at least he'll remember who I am.' I wasn't supposed to hear it, and it scared me. Mom told him he was being morbid. I'll never forget what she said next. 'Babies remember souls, Arthur.' So for a year or so I tried to put you near Dad's shoes. I thought she was saying soles. Okay, I figured out what she meant— but it wasn't until now that I really understood. Those things you remember? That's what Mom meant." "People like your mom and dad," Nellie said gently, "are not capable of such bad things." "Irina turned out to have a good soul," Dan said. "And she was capable of very bad things." Amy put her hand on Dan's shoulder. "Irina found her goodness late. Mom and Dad already had it." "Right," Dan said. "That's true. Can we go

白色餐桌上的巧克力。 夜晚的歌声。这是洗衣服的味道。 “你两岁的时候，”艾米说，“我听到爸爸对妈妈说，‘我只想活到四十三岁。 那时他八岁了，如果我死了，至少他会记得我是谁。”我不该听到的，吓到我了。 妈妈说他有点变态。 我永远不会忘记她接下来说的话。 “婴儿记得灵魂，亚瑟。”所以有一年多的时间，我试着把你放在爸爸的鞋子旁边。 我以为她说的是鞋底。 好吧，我明白了她的意思，但直到现在我才真正明白。 你还记得那些事吗？ 这就是妈妈的意思。”“像你爸爸妈妈这样的人，”内莉温柔地说，“是不会做出这种坏事的。” “伊琳娜原来有一个善良的灵魂，”丹说。 “她可能会做出非常糟糕的事情。” 艾米把手放在丹的肩膀上。 伊琳娜很晚才发现她的善良。 妈妈和爸爸已经有了。” “好的，”丹说。“这是真的。 我们可以走了吗？

now?" As he walked to the car, he unfolded the copy of the Churchill letter. Amy linked arms with Nellie. She hoped Dan could let go of this. She hoped she could, too. In the parking lot, Dan laid out the copied letter on the backseat. "Check this out…" he said in awe.

现在呢?”当他走向汽车时，他打开了那封丘吉尔的信。 艾米挽着内莉的手。 她希望丹能放下这件事。 她希望自己也能。在停车场，丹把抄写的信放在后座上。 “看看这个……”他敬畏地说。

FROM THE DESK OF WINSTON LEONARD SPENCER-CHURCHILL 11 May 1900 MY Darling M_ O_ Tho' my loyalty to Britain & este for tumult may have drawn rae to the Anglo-Bo r conflict eventually, I commend you for urging that my war reporting begin here now. My loss in the election, as you say, was a scar to be borne bravely & is surely meant to strengthen me, as will our arrn"s troubles with the mighty Boers strengthen it. Yes, I did escape imprisonment from Pretoria's State Model School, to where they'd taken me (fort nately!) from H. Hill. One cannot sum on words fop that filthy pit in Johannesburg, a place far more miserable than my fetid hidey hole in Witbank's mines, post-escape (where I was able indeed to discover a realization, given hereinl). This I send you, With all my heart, Your Winnie The unbroken e shall deliver thy desire to th letter, if thou proceedc+uh do ward ever, in single steps. "This is a big help," Dan said disgustedly. "H. Hill," Amy said, flipping through her Churchill biography. "That must mean Hospital Hill. That's what they used to call Constitution Hill back then." "Right. And Churchill hated it." Nellie shrugged. "No big shocker there." "It says here that Churchill was taken from the prison here and transferred to a place called the

发自温斯顿·伦纳德·斯宾塞-丘吉尔1900年5月11日亲爱的先生：虽然我对英国的忠诚和对骚乱的爱好最终可能把我吸引到了英英冲突上，但我还是要感谢您敦促我从这里开始报道战争。 正如你所说，我在选举中的失败，是一个需要勇敢承受的伤疤，它肯定会让我变得更坚强，就像我们的军队与强大的布尔人的冲突会让它变得更坚强一样。 是的，我确实逃脱了比勒陀利亚国立模范学校的监禁，他们把我从H。 山。人们无法用语言来概括约翰内斯堡的那个肮脏的坑，这个地方比我在威特班克矿井里恶臭的隐蔽洞要悲惨得多，逃离后（在那里我确实能够发现一种实现，如上文所述）。 这是我送给你的，全心全意，你的温妮，如果你一步走，我将把你的愿望转达给你的信。 “这帮了大忙，”丹厌恶地说。 “h·希尔，”艾米一边说，一边翻阅着她的丘吉尔传记。 “那一定是指医院山。 那是他们过去对宪法山的称呼。” “正确。丘吉尔讨厌它。” 内莉耸耸肩。“没有什么大的意外。” “这里说丘吉尔被从这里的监狱带走，转移到一个叫