Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27 "Dan…?" Amy said, dragging her brother across the scrubby pathway, little more than a tangle of vines and roots. "Dan, stay awake!" He was moaning. Deteriorating fast. Amy barely noticed the entrance. Grace's "African home" was tiny, little more than a mound of rock and soil, a cave fitted with a custom- carved wooden door. "We will not enter her working headquarters," Professor Bardsley said. "There is a small house around back, where she lived when she was here. I— I have a pass— a pass card…." Professor Bardsley was shaking. He'd landed the plane safely but taken a corner too sharp on the taxiing, clipping a wing. He was coming apart, Amy could tell.

第二十七章“丹……？”艾美一边说，一边拖着弟弟走过长满灌木的小路，小路上只有一堆藤蔓和树根。 “丹，保持清醒！”他在呻吟。 快速恶化。艾米几乎没有注意到入口。 格蕾丝的“非洲之家”很小，只不过是一堆岩石和泥土，一个装有定制雕刻木门的洞穴。 “我们不会进入她的工作总部，”巴德斯利教授说。 “后面有一所小房子，她在这里的时候就住在那里。 我——我有通行证——一张通行证卡....” 巴德斯利教授在发抖。 他安全降落了飞机，但在滑行时拐了一个太急的弯，削掉了一个机翼。 他快要崩溃了，艾米看得出来。

Keep it together, she thought. Keep my brother alive! Dan sagged between Nellie and Amy, no longer able to walk. "You're g-g-going to be f-f-fine," Amy said. Alone. The word muscled its way into Amy's brain. For her whole life, she'd felt like a part, a half. It was never Amy. It was Dan and Amy. Like one word. DanandAmy. AmyandDan. "Here we are!" she said, stopping before a small, shuttered shingle house as the professor fumbled with the lock. Dan was shivering again. His arms were wrapped in white tourniquets soaked in umhlaba, but his face was turning from red to yellow. Nellie had her arms around him. "He's going into toxic shock," she said. "Hurry!" With a loud thwock, Professor Bardsley opened the front door. "Sit him down!" he said. "I will go to the medicine cabinet."

保持冷静，她想。 让我弟弟活下去！丹瘫在奈莉和艾米之间，再也走不动了。 “你会没事的，”艾米说。 独自一人。这个词强行进入了艾米的大脑。 在她的一生中，她一直觉得自己是其中的一部分，一半。 从来不是艾米。是丹和艾米。 就像一个词。DanandAmy。AmyandDan。 “我们到了！”她说着，停在一间很小的木瓦房子前，教授正在摸索着开锁。 丹又发抖了。他的手臂上缠着浸过头巾的白色止血带，但他的脸由红变成黄。 内莉搂着他。 “他要中毒性休克了，”她说。 “快点!”随着一声巨响，巴德斯利教授打开了前门。 “让他坐下！”他说。“我要去药柜。”

Nellie and Amy wriggled Dan through the door. Amy couldn't hold back a shiver of recognition. In a split-second view, she took in details that were hardwired into her memory— lace doilies on small dark-wood tea tables, demitasse cups placed as if Grace were about to emerge from the kitchen with tea, a portrait of Grace that Amy had drawn in third grade. She and Nellie sat Dan down on a damask sofa. "OWWW… OW OW OW OW!" he cried. Professor Bardsley ran in, a hypodermic needle in one hand. "You have to inject him?" Amy cried out. "It is the only way to get it into his bloodstream fast," Professor Bardsley said. Amy looked away, holding tight to Dan's hand. She felt him stiffen briefly, a tiny whine emitting from his mouth that was more breath than sound. Finally, she felt him go slack. Amy felt her heart turning inside out. "What's happening? Is he…?" Professor Bardsley wiped his brow. The knots in his forehead were deep. "We can only pray now."

内莉和艾米把丹挤进了门。 艾米忍不住打了个寒颤，因为她认出了他。 在一瞬间，她看到了记忆中根深蒂固的细节——黑木小茶几上的花边桌巾，小咖啡杯的摆放，仿佛格蕾丝要端着茶从厨房出来，这是艾米在三年级时画的格蕾丝的肖像。 她和内莉让丹坐在一张锦缎沙发上。 “哦WWW...嗷嗷嗷嗷！”他叫道。 巴德斯利教授跑了进来，一手拿着皮下注射针。 “你必须给他注射？”艾米叫道。 “这是唯一能让药物快速进入血液的方法，”巴德斯利教授说。 艾米把目光移开，紧紧抓住丹的手。 她觉得他突然僵住了，嘴里发出一声微弱的哀鸣，与其说是声音，不如说是呼吸。 最后，她感到他懈怠了。 艾米感到她的心都翻了出来。 “发生了什么?他是……?”巴德斯利教授擦了擦额头。 他额头上的结很深。 “我们现在只能祈祷了。”

"Thank you," Nellie said, "for everything." Professor Bardsley smiled wanly. "Thank you. If I'd had to change the course of the plane myself…" Dan's head lolled to one side. His mouth moved, but no sounds came out. Professor Bardsley felt Dan's forehead. "I must return to the airfield for a moment. The way I landed The Flying Lemur may be a hazard to other craft. I will not be long. As soon as he is feeling well, we must leave. We cannot stay here." Professor Bardsley was gone longer than Amy expected. Nellie continued to put fresh dressings of umhlaba on Dan's arm, but he wouldn't be back to normal for some time. The skin was badly burned. "A-Amy?" Dan rasped, wincing. Amy ran to his side. "Dan! You're speaking!" "Duh," Dan said. "That Churchill note— the one Mrs. Thembeka gave us? Where is it?"

“谢谢你，”内莉说，“谢谢你所做的一切。” 巴德斯利教授苍白地笑了。 “谢谢。如果我不得不自己改变飞机的航向……”丹把头歪向一边。 他的嘴动了动，但没有发出声音。 巴德斯利教授摸了摸丹的额头。 “我得回机场去一会儿。 我降落飞行狐猴号的方式可能会对其他飞行器造成危害。 我不会待太久的。一旦他感觉好了，我们就必须离开。 我们不能呆在这里。”巴德斯利教授离开的时间比艾米预料的要长。 内莉继续在丹的手臂上涂上新鲜的乌纱布，但他还需要一段时间才能恢复正常。 皮肤严重烧伤。 “amy ?”丹厉声说，皱起了眉头。 艾米跑到他身边。“丹!你在说什么!”“废话，”丹说。 “那张丘吉尔的便条——坦姆贝卡夫人给我们的那张？ 它在哪儿？”

"Your back pocket, I think," Amy said. "Want me to get it for you?" Nellie volunteered. Dan groaned. "Could you… get me more dressing? Please?" As Nellie disappeared into the bathroom, Amy continued exploring the room. She fought back tears. She had almost gotten Dan killed. Her anger had angered Isabel. Made Ian shove Dan toward the propeller. Then, in The Flying Lemur, she'd made Dan so frustrated he'd forgotten to be cautious about the poison…. "Dan?" she said. "I'm sorry I've been a hothead." Dan smiled weakly. "You're saving my life," he said. "So I don't care. Hey, check out the piano." Tucked in the corner, barely fitting, was a spinet piano with a stack of sheet music on it. Amy stepped over to the piano and hit a few chords, but it was sadly out of tune. She remembered the hours Grace would spend in her mansion in Massachusetts, on a much nicer piano, teaching Dan and Amy all the words to her favorite Broadway showtunes. "Now, tell me the iPod compares to this!" Grace loved to say.

“你的后口袋，我想，”艾米说。 “要我帮你拿吗？”内莉自愿。 丹呻吟着。“你能……再给我拿点调料吗？” 请?”当内莉消失在浴室里时，艾米继续在房间里探索。 她强忍住眼泪。她差点害死丹。 她的愤怒激怒了伊莎贝尔。 让伊恩把丹推向螺旋桨。 然后，在《会飞的狐猴》中，她让丹如此沮丧，以至于他忘记了小心毒药.... “丹？”她说。“对不起，我太鲁莽了。” 丹虚弱地笑了笑。“你救了我的命，”他说。 “所以我不在乎。嘿，看看这架钢琴。” 角落里放着一架小钢琴，上面放着一叠乐谱。 埃米走到钢琴跟前，弹了几个和弦，但可惜是走调了。 她记得格蕾丝在马萨诸塞州的豪宅里度过的时光，她坐在一架更好的钢琴上，教丹和艾米她最喜欢的百老汇音乐剧的歌词。 “现在，告诉我iPod能和这个相比！”格蕾丝喜欢说。

Nearby sat a desk whose ornately carved designs contrasted with the simple lines of the piano. Amy opened a drawer and jumped as a hairy spider crawled out. She looked over her shoulder, checking Dan. He was scribbling weakly on a pad of paper. As Amy went to close the drawer, she noticed a small notebook tucked deeply inside. She pulled it out, rubbing her hands over the soft leather cover. It was full of Grace's perfect, small handwriting, as if Amy were opening a letter written yesterday. Each page was covered with notes— travelogues, mostly— with postcards from various countries taped to the pages. Amy paused at a page of notes from a trip to China. Grace had never told them about this trip…. A & H— Amy's heart jumped. That would be Arthur and Hope! "Dan?" she called out. "Amy… look!" Dan blurted out. He shuffled

旁边放着一张桌子，上面雕刻精美的图案与钢琴的简单线条形成鲜明对比。 艾米打开一个抽屉，一只毛茸茸的蜘蛛爬了出来，她跳了起来。 她回头看了看丹。 他在一张便笺簿上潦草地写着。 当艾米去关上抽屉时，她注意到一个小笔记本深深地塞在里面。 她把它拿出来，用手在柔软的皮套上摩擦。 信上写满了格蕾丝完美的小字，就像艾米在拆开一封昨天写的信。 每一页都贴满了笔记——主要是游记——还有各国的明信片贴在书页上。 艾米在一页她去中国旅行的笔记前停了下来。 格蕾丝从来没有告诉过他们这次旅行.... 艾米的心怦怦直跳。 那就是亚瑟和霍普！“丹？”她喊道。 “艾米……看!”丹脱口而出。 他慢吞吞地