Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 "You order for me," Nellie said to Amy. For the first time on the entire trip, Nellie didn't look at the menu. Her mind was too preoccupied to think about food. They had stayed at Miss Alice's house for a couple of hours; it had taken that long to hear the whole story. Hundreds of years earlier, an ancestor of Miss Alice's had worked as a nanny for a woman in Cuba. The woman put her baby in the nanny's care and also gave the nanny a pair of silver snake earrings. She told her to keep both the baby and the earrings safe. The woman then left Cuba to join her husband. At sea. They were pirates. The baby died in infancy. The nanny was so distraught that she made a vow to take care of

“你替我点菜，”内莉对艾美说。 在整个旅程中，内莉第一次没有看菜单。 她心事重重，无暇顾及食物。 他们在爱丽丝小姐家呆了两个小时。他花了那么长时间才听完整个故事。 几百年前，爱丽丝小姐的一位祖先曾在古巴为一位妇女做保姆。 这位妇女把她的孩子交给保姆照顾，还送给保姆一对银蛇耳环。 她告诉她要保证孩子和耳环的安全。 这名妇女随后离开古巴去找她的丈夫。 在海上。他们是海盗。 婴儿夭折了。保姆心烦意乱，发誓要照顾他

those earrings no matter what. Over the years, one of the earrings had gotten lost. But Miss Alice's family had faithfully guarded the remaining earring. Everywhere they went, they brought the little silver snake with them. It had been passed down, mother to daughter, for nearly three hundred years. In some impossible way, Grace had discovered that the second earring had ended up in Mexico, with another branch of the family. It, too, had been faithfully passed down. A generation ago, there had been no daughters born to that family, so the earring was passed to a son. When he grew up and had children of his own, he gave the earring to his oldest daughter. Nellie. Now Nellie rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. She could feel knots of tension in her muscles. "If Grace traced the earring to my family, she must have had her eye on me for years," she said. "But she never said a word about it. Why didn't she tell me?"

那些耳环不管怎样。 多年来，其中一只耳环丢失了。 但爱丽丝小姐的家人一直忠实地守护着剩下的耳环。 他们所到之处，都带着那条小银蛇。 它从母亲传给女儿，已经传了将近三百年了。 格蕾丝以某种不可思议的方式发现，第二只耳环最终落在了墨西哥，落在了家族的另一个分支那里。 它也被忠实地传了下来。 上一代人之前，那个家庭没有女儿，所以耳环传给了一个儿子。 当他长大了，有了自己的孩子后，他把这只耳环送给了他的大女儿。 内莉。现在内利用一只手揉着她的后颈。 她能感觉到肌肉紧张的打结。 她说：“如果格蕾丝把耳环追溯到我的家族，那她一定已经盯上我很多年了。” “但她对这件事只字未提。 她为什么不告诉我？”

"Well," Amy said, "now you know how it feels." Nellie stared. "What are you talking about?" "You didn't tell us the whole truth, just like what Grace did to you." Nellie felt the blood rush to her face. "It's not the same thing at all!" Amy raised an eyebrow. "You don't think?" Her calmness made Nellie even madder. "I'm talking about my whole life here!" she said, pounding the table with her fist. "Everything! Like— like— what about the flying lessons?" "Flying lessons?" Dan said, clearly mystified by the change in subject. "They're expensive, right? But my dad said no problem. Did Grace pay for them? Come to think of it, it wasn't even my idea— it was his! Or maybe it was Grace's, and does that mean my parents were in on the whole thing all along?" Nellie caught her breath in what was almost a sob. "This isn't just about the stupid clues thing. This is my family!" Amy looked at her for a long moment. "For the

“好吧，”艾米说，“现在你知道那是什么感觉了。” 内莉盯着。“你在说什么？”“你没有告诉我们全部真相，就像格蕾丝对你做的那样。” 内莉感到血液涌上了她的脸。 “这根本不是一回事！”艾米扬起了眉毛。 “你不这么认为吗？”她的镇静使内利更加生气了。 “我说的是我在这里的整个生活！”她说着，用拳头敲打着桌子。 “一切!比如——比如——飞行课怎么办？”“飞行课程?”丹说，显然对话题的变化感到困惑。 “它们很贵，对吧？” 但是我爸爸说没问题。 格蕾丝付钱了吗？仔细想想，这甚至不是我的主意——这是他的主意！也可能是格蕾丝的，这是否意味着我父母一直都参与了这件事？”内莉屏住呼吸，几乎是在抽泣。 “这不仅仅是关于愚蠢的线索。 这是我的家！”艾米久久地看着她。 ”

last few months," she said slowly, "our family has been the three of us." Her sentence hung in the air almost as if it were written there. Nellie looked at their faces, both as solemn as she'd ever seen them. It's true, Nellie thought. Parents gone, grandmother gone, an aunt who doesn't want them. Guilt washed over her yet again— for lying to them and even more, over her part in what was soon to happen…. She slumped forward, her head in her hands. "Okay, I get it," she said quietly. "I thought I did before, but now I really get it. How you felt— still feel, I guess— about me working for Grace and McIntyre. You feel like you've been played, and that's what I feel like now, too." The silence among them grew to awkward proportions. They were rescued by the waiter, who arrived with the three plates of jerk chicken Amy had ordered. Nellie was suddenly ravenous. She began attacking her chicken. It was delicious.

“过去的几个月里，”她慢慢地说，“我们家就是我们三个人。” 她的判决悬在空中，几乎就像写在那里一样。 内莉看着他们的脸，都是她从未见过的那样严肃。 这是真的，内利想。 父母不在了，祖母不在了，还有个不想要他们的阿姨。 内疚又一次涌上心头——因为对他们撒谎，更因为她在即将发生的事情中所扮演的角色.... 她双手抱头向前瘫倒。 “好吧，我明白了，”她平静地说。 “我以前以为我懂，但现在我真的懂了。 你对我为格蕾丝和麦金太尔工作的感觉——我猜现在仍然是这样。 你会觉得自己被耍了，我现在也有这种感觉。” 他们之间的沉默达到了尴尬的程度。 他们被服务员救了出来，他端来了艾米点的三盘烤鸡。 内莉突然变得很饿。 她开始攻击她的鸡。 味道很好。

"Dude," she said. "This is good." Spicy, but not just pepper–hot. Thyme, for sure… maybe nutmeg, too? And mace? She'd have to look up a recipe and make it herself sometime. Dan's mouth wasn't quite full as he spoke. "C'we talk 'bout shomething elsh now?" he said. "Swallow," Amy commanded. Nellie's phone rang. She took it out of her pack and looked at it. "It's my dad," she said. She had left a message for him when they were at Miss Alice's house; she wanted to tell him about their newfound relative. And now she had other things to talk about. She stood up from the table and walked outside to take the call. A few minutes later, she came back to the table, shaking her head. "That Grace. She never quits." "What? What is it?" Amy and Dan said at the same time. "My dad got a letter from Grace. A few weeks before she passed away. He thought the letter was kinda strange because it was so short. It just said

“老兄，”她说。“这很好。” 辣，但不只是辣味。 百里香，当然，也许还有肉豆蔻？ 和梅斯?她得找个食谱自己做。 丹说话的时候嘴里还没吃饱。 “我们现在谈点别的好吗？”他说。 “燕子，”艾美命令道。内莉的电话响了。 她把它从背包里拿出来看了看。 “是我爸爸，”她说。他们在爱丽丝小姐家的时候，她给他留了个口信。她想告诉他他们新认识的亲戚。 现在她有别的事情要谈了。 她从桌边站起来，走到外面去接电话。 几分钟后，她回到桌边，摇着头。 “这恩典。她从不放弃。” “什么?这是什么？”艾米和丹同时说。 “我爸爸收到了格蕾丝的一封信。 在她去世前几周。 他觉得这封信有点奇怪，因为它太短了。 它只是说

that if I ever found the mate to my snake, he should give me a message." "What message? What was the message?" The sibling chorus again. Nellie frowned a little. "The message is even shorter. 'C/o The Right Excellent Nanny,'" she said. "The c/o, that means 'care of,' which is weird— you only ever see it as part of a mailing address." "'The Right Excellent Nanny,'" Amy echoed. "Wow. Grace planned for you to be the one to find the missing earring all along." The waiter came by to give them the check. He poured more water for them. "Yeah, but it doesn't really sound like Grace, does it?" Dan said. "Too— too awkward, or something. 'The Right Excellent Nanny,' hmmm…" The waiter paused in his water pouring. "Oh, yah," he said. "You already been to the park?" All three of them looked at him blankly. "Heroes Park," he said. "Her statue there."

如果我找到了我的蛇的伴侣，他应该给我捎个信。” “什么消息?口信是什么？”又是兄弟姐妹的合唱。 耐莉皱了皱眉头。信息甚至更短。 “C/o合适的优秀保姆，”她说。 “c/o的意思是‘照顾’，这很奇怪——你只会把它当作邮寄地址的一部分。” “《最佳保姆》，”艾美附和道。 “哇。格蕾丝一直计划让你找到丢失的耳环。” 服务员过来给他们结账。 他给他们倒了更多的水。 “是啊，但听起来不太像格蕾丝，不是吗？”丹说。 “太——太笨拙了，还是怎么的。 《合适的优秀保姆》，嗯……”服务员在倒水时停顿了一下。 “哦，是的，”他说。“你已经去过公园了？”三个人都茫然地看着他。 “英雄公园，”他说。“她的雕像在那儿。”