Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 The last half mile of the hike was torture — a trudge up a steep hill. Mel was sure they'd never get to the top. But suddenly there it was just ahead: the Granite Park Chalet. "Beautiful!" Aunt Cassie exclaimed. The stone-and-log building looked like a fairy-tale cottage, only maybe a little bigger. It sat up on

最后半英里的徒步旅行是一种折磨——艰难地爬上一座陡峭的小山。 梅尔确信他们永远也到不了山顶。 但突然，它就在前面：花岗岩公园小屋。 “漂亮!”卡西姨妈叫道。 这座由石头和原木组成的建筑看起来就像一座童话般的小屋，只是可能要大一点。 它坐了起来

a rocky hill. All around were grassy slopes dotted with wildflowers and a few small pine trees. They staggered into the lobby, a big airy room with a rough stone floor and walls made of logs. All around them, exhausted but happy-looking hikers were lounging in big chairs.

多岩石的山。四周是长满野草的山坡，点缀着野花和几棵小松树。 他们摇摇晃晃地走进大厅，这是一个宽敞通风的房间，地面是粗糙的石头，墙壁是用原木做的。 在他们周围，疲惫但看起来很快乐的徒步旅行者懒洋洋地坐在大椅子上。

"Welcome!" said a burly man from behind the front desk. He introduced himself as Greg. He was the manager of the chalet. He offered them cold glasses of grape Kool-Aid and directed them to their rooms upstairs. Steve was in a small room on his own. Mel and Cassie were next door. Their room was barely big enough for the metal bunk bed that was pushed against the wall. But it was bright and clean. Mel yanked off her painful boots and peeled away her filthy, bloody socks. "Those poor toes!" Aunt Cassie said, looking at Mel's bubbling blisters. "Good thing my feet are numb," Mel said with a pained laugh. "Tough girl," Cassie said. Mel slipped on her red flip-flops and peered out the window. In the distance was a jagged row of mountains. The slopes were still white with snow. It never melted up there, even in the summer.

“欢迎光临！”前台后面一个魁梧的男人说。 他介绍自己叫格雷格。 他是小木屋的经理。 他给他们一杯冰凉的葡萄Kool-Aid，并把他们带到楼上的房间。 史蒂夫一个人在一个小房间里。 梅尔和凯西就在隔壁。 他们的房间勉强够放一张靠墙的金属双层床。 但它又亮又干净。 梅尔猛地脱下她那双痛苦的靴子，脱下她那双肮脏的、带血的袜子。 “可怜的脚趾！”卡西姨妈看着梅尔冒着泡的水泡说。 “幸好我的脚麻木了，”梅尔痛苦地笑着说。 “坚强的女孩，”凯西说。 梅尔穿上她的红色人字拖，向窗外张望。 远处是一排参差不齐的山脉。 山坡上仍然覆盖着白雪。 那里的水从不融化，即使是在夏天。

Aunt Cassie came up behind her. "That's Heavens Peak," she said, wrapping her arm around Mel. "I know," Mel said. Mom had told her all about it. She could almost imagine that it was Mom standing there with her. Suddenly Mel felt that cracking-apart pain in her heart. She felt the flood of tears coming. She wiggled out from under Cassie's arm. "Be right back…" Mel said. "I need to go to the outhouse." She rushed downstairs and went outside. She found a chair in the corner of the big front porch. She just needed to be by herself for a few minutes, to pull herself together. But seconds later three noisy and sweaty men collapsed down in the chairs right next to her. "Whew!" exclaimed a man with a bushy mustache. "That hike was killer!"

凯西姨妈从她身后走过来。 “那是天堂峰，”她说，用胳膊搂住梅尔。 “我知道，”梅尔说。妈妈把这一切都告诉了她。 她几乎可以想象，站在她身边的是妈妈。 突然，梅尔感到心头一阵剧痛。 她感到眼泪如潮水般涌来。 她从凯西的胳膊下挣脱出来。 “马上回来……”梅尔说。 “我要上厕所。” 她冲下楼，走到外面。 她在大前廊的角落里找了一把椅子。 她只是需要自己待几分钟，让自己振作起来。 但几秒钟后，三个吵吵闹闹、汗流浃背的男人倒在了她旁边的椅子上。 “呼！”一个留着浓密胡子的男人叫道。 “那次徒步旅行太棒了！”

"I think my feet are going to fall off," said a skinny man with no hair. "You won't be sorry you came here," said the mustache man. "Not after tonight." Mel bent down to scratch a mosquito bite. "I don't get it," the third man said. "How do they get the grizzlies to come every night?" Mel froze. She eyed the men. "I told you," the mustache man said. "They dump all the leftover food into a big ditch. It's out back, down the hill. And every night the grizzlies come. You can stand right on the back porch and watch them." "Sounds like a good show," said the no-hair man. "Wait until you see!" the mustache man gushed. "If we're lucky, we'll see a fight! Last time I was here there were two huge beasts, and they were fighting over something. I dunno, a ham bone I think. And they just started going at it, wham, wham!" The man smashed his fist into his open

“我觉得我的脚要掉了，”一个没有头发的瘦骨嶙峋的男人说。 “你不会后悔来这里的，”留胡子的男人说。 “今晚之后就不是了。”梅尔弯下腰去抓蚊子咬的地方。 “我不明白，”第三个人说。 “他们是怎么让灰熊每晚都来的？”梅尔·冻结。 她打量着那些人。“我告诉过你，”留胡子的男人说。 “他们把所有剩下的食物倾倒在一个大沟里。 就在后面，山下。 每天晚上灰熊都来。 你可以站在后门廊上看他们。” “听起来是个好节目，”光头说。 “等着瞧吧！”留胡子的男人滔滔不绝地说。 “如果幸运的话，我们会看到一场战斗！”上次我来的时候有两只巨兽，它们在争夺什么东西。 我不知道，我想是一块火腿骨头。 然后他们就开始了，砰，砰！”那人用拳头猛击他的手掌

hand. "The bigger one was clobbering the little guy. I thought it was going to rip its head off!" His friends whooped and slapped their legs. Mel fumed. She wanted to tell the men how disgusting it was, to want to watch grizzlies fight over a bone. But she didn't have the guts. She got up and ran inside. She found Steve and Cassie standing in the lobby, looking worried. "There you are!" Cassie called to her. Mel rushed to them, nearly knocking over a rickety table stacked with old magazines. "You were right," she said breathlessly, looking at Steve. "Something terrible is happening here. They're…" She swallowed hard. "They're feeding the grizzlies garbage!" "What?" Aunt Cassie said. Mel filled them in on what the men had said. Then she looked around at the people in the lobby. Was that why they'd all hiked eight miles to get here? For the grizzly show? Steve looked crushed.

的手。“大的那只正在痛打那个小家伙。 我还以为它要把自己的头扯下来呢！”他的朋友们一边欢呼一边拍腿。 梅尔·熏。她想告诉男人们这有多恶心，想看灰熊争抢一根骨头。 但她没有勇气。 她站起来跑了进去。 她发现史蒂夫和卡西站在大厅里，看起来很担心。 “你在这儿！”卡西叫她。 梅尔向他们冲过去，差点撞倒一张堆满旧杂志的摇摇晃晃的桌子。 “你说得对，”她看着史蒂夫，上气不接下气地说。 “这里发生了可怕的事情。 他们……”她使劲咽了口气。 “他们在给灰熊喂垃圾！”“什么?”卡西姨妈说。 梅尔把那些人说的话告诉了他们。 然后她环顾了一下大厅里的人。 这就是他们跋涉八英里来到这里的原因吗？ 为了灰熊秀？史蒂夫看起来很沮丧。