Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 Those first two days on the Carpathia were a blur. George mostly slept, on a bed of blankets and pillows on the floor of the first class lounge. But he sensed that Phoebe and Aunt Daisy never left his side. He sometimes heard Enzo singing softly to him in Italian, his breath hot on George's cheek. He heard Aunt Daisy and Phoebe talking—about Marco, whose feet were badly frozen, about the Carpathia's passengers, who couldn't do enough for them all. About the hundreds and hundreds of people who didn't make it out of the water.

在卡帕西亚号上的头两天是一片模糊。 乔治大部分时间都在睡觉，躺在头等舱休息室地板上铺着毯子和枕头的床上。 但他感觉到菲比和黛西姨妈从未离开过他。 他有时听到恩佐用意大利语轻轻地唱着，他的呼吸在乔治的脸颊上发烫。 他听到黛西姨妈和菲比在谈论马可，他的脚冻得很厉害，还有卡帕西亚号上的乘客，他们为他们做的都不够。 关于成百上千没能从水里出来的人。

Slowly George felt stronger, and on their last night at sea, he was able to go out onto the deck with Phoebe. They sat on a bench, wrapped in a blanket. A stewardess came over and gave them each a mug of warm milk. Phoebe looked up at the sky as she warmed her hands on her mug. "I finally saw a shooting star, when I was on the lifeboat," she said. "You can guess what I wished for." George reached for her hand. Yes, of course he knew. On the bench next to them sat two women. Both were crying. Probably they'd lost their husbands. Or brothers. Or fathers. There hadn't been enough wishing stars for everyone that night. Phoebe said that only about 700 of them made it out of the water. Phoebe leaned in close to George. Her coat smelled like rose water. A lady from the Carpathia had given it to her.

慢慢地，乔治觉得自己强壮了一些，在他们出海的最后一个晚上，他和菲比一起走到甲板上。 他们裹着毯子坐在长凳上。 一位空姐走过来，给他们每人一杯热牛奶。 菲比抬头望着天空，双手在杯子上取暖。 “当我在救生艇上的时候，我终于看到了流星，”她说。 “你可以猜到我许了什么愿。” 乔治伸手去拉她的手。 是的，他当然知道。在他们旁边的长凳上坐着两个女人。 两人都哭了。可能她们失去了丈夫。 或兄弟。或父亲。那天晚上，每个人的许愿星都不够多。 菲比说，其中只有大约700颗能从水里出来。 菲比凑近乔治。 她的外套闻起来像玫瑰水。 卡帕西亚号上的一位女士送给她的。

"Have you wondered?" she asked quietly, "if maybe there really was a curse?" At first George didn't understand that Phoebe was talking about the mummy. With all that had happened, George hadn't thought about it. But now it hit him: how strange it was that the ship had collided with the iceberg at the exact moment the scar-faced man had opened the lid of Mr. Burrows's crate. "I guess we'll never know," George said. But the next evening, as the Carpathia was closing in on New York Harbor, George and Phoebe overheard a skinny man with a beard speaking to an officer. "Before the Titanic, I was traveling in Egypt, a place called Thebes," the man said. "I explored a magnificent tomb of a royal family." Phoebe's eyes bugged out. And before George could stop her, she had marched over to the man. "Excuse me," she said. "Are you Mr. Burrows?" "Yes, I am," the man replied.

“你有没有想过，”她平静地问，“也许真的有诅咒?”起先乔治不明白菲比在说木乃伊。 发生了那么多事情，乔治没有想过这件事。 但现在他突然想到:多么奇怪啊，就在那个满脸伤疤的人打开巴罗斯先生的板条箱盖的时候，那艘船撞上了冰山。 “我想我们永远也不会知道了。”乔治说。 但是第二天晚上，当卡帕西亚号驶近纽约港时，乔治和菲比无意中听到一个留着胡子的瘦骨嶙峋的男人对一个军官说话。 “在泰坦尼克号之前，我在埃及一个叫底比斯的地方旅行，”这名男子说。 “我探索了一座宏伟的王室陵墓。” 菲比瞪大了眼睛。乔治还没来得及阻止她，她已经大步走向那个男人。 “对不起，”她说。“您是巴罗斯先生吗?”“是的，我是，”那人回答说。

Phoebe took a big breath. "Mr. Burrows," she said. "This might sound like a very strange question. But did you bring a mummy on board the Titanic?" The man looked at Phoebe. "A mummy?" he said. "Yes," she said. "We heard it was a princess." Mr. Burrows's eyes were tired and sad. But he smiled a little. "My princess," he said. "Yes." "So there was a mummy?" Phoebe exclaimed. "No, child," he said. "One should never take a mummy from a tomb. That is very bad luck. Princess was my cat. She passed away on my trip to Egypt. And so I had her… wrapped, so I could bring her back with me." "So the princess was a cat?" "Yes," he said sadly. "The most beautiful cat that ever lived." Three hours later, just after nine o'clock, the Carpathia docked in New York City in a thunderstorm. There were thousands of people waiting on the pier.

菲比深深地吸了一口气。“先生。 巴罗斯，”她说。这听起来可能是一个非常奇怪的问题。 但是你把木乃伊带上船了吗?”那人看着菲比。 “木乃伊?”他说。“是的，”她说。 “我们听说是个公主。” 巴罗斯先生的眼睛疲倦而悲伤。 但他还是微微一笑。“我的公主，”他说。 “是的。”“这么说有一具木乃伊?”菲比喊道。 “不，孩子，”他说。“任何人都不应该从坟墓里拿走木乃伊。 这是非常坏的运气。公主是我的猫。 她在我去埃及的旅途中去世了。 所以我把她……包起来，这样我就可以把她带回来了。” “这么说公主是只猫?”“是的，”他伤心地说。 “有史以来最漂亮的猫。” 三小时后，9点刚过，卡帕西亚号在雷雨中停靠在纽约市。 成千上万的人在码头上等着。

But the first person George saw as they walked down the gangplank was Papa. He rushed up to George and Phoebe, grabbing them both and pulling them to him. All around them, people cried with happiness. Others just cried, their tears mixing with the pouring rain. They introduced Papa to Marco and Enzo, but there wasn't much time to talk. Their train to Millerstown was leaving soon, and an ambulance was waiting to take Marco to the hospital. Luckily, George didn't have to say a real good-bye to Marco and Enzo. Aunt Daisy was staying in New York City to take care of Enzo until Marco's feet were healed. And then they would come with her for a visit to Millerstown. Seeing the way Marco and Aunt Daisy were looking at each other, George wondered if maybe Marco and Enzo would stay forever. George sure hoped so. As they rode to the train station, newsboys screamed from every street corner. "Read all about it! Titanic survivors in New York! More than fifteen hundred people dead! Read all about it!"

但是当他们走下跳板时，乔治看到的第一个人是爸爸。 他冲向乔治和菲比，一把抓住他们，把他们拉到自己身边。 他们周围的人都高兴得哭了。 其他人只是哭了，他们的眼泪和倾盆大雨混合在一起。 他们把爸爸介绍给马可和恩佐，但没有太多的时间交谈。 他们去米勒斯敦的火车很快就要开了，一辆救护车正等着送马可去医院。 幸运的是，乔治不用跟马可和恩佐说再见。 黛西阿姨住在纽约市照顾恩佐，直到马尔科的脚痊愈。 然后他们会和她一起去米勒斯敦。 看到马可和黛西阿姨面面相觑的样子，乔治想知道马可和恩佐是否会永远在一起。 乔治当然希望如此。当他们乘车去火车站时，报童们在每个街角尖叫。 “全都读吧!”泰坦尼克号幸存者在纽约!超过1500人死亡!好好读吧!”

George covered his ears. He wanted to forget everything about the Titanic. He wanted to put it out of his mind forever.

乔治捂住耳朵。他想忘掉泰坦尼克号的一切。 他想永远忘掉这件事。