Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18 AROUND 10:00 P.M. "It was my fault," Mel said, sobbing in Aunt Cassie's arms. They were up in their little room. Steve had cleaned and bandaged the wound on her leg. The cut wasn't so deep after all. The claw

第十八章晚上十点左右 “这是我的错，"梅尔说着，在卡西姨妈的怀里抽泣着。 他们在楼上的小房间里。 史蒂夫清洗并包扎了她腿上的伤口。 伤口其实并没有那么深。 的爪

hadn't hit muscle or bone. Mel would have a scar, but nothing like Steve's. And she didn't feel any pain. She just felt confused and angry. Mostly at herself. It was her fault. That's what most people at the chalet thought. "What was she doing out there?" Greg had shouted. "Stupid girl!" Mel thought Steve — gentle, quiet Steve — was going to punch the guy. "Don't you dare call her that," he hissed. "This whole place… what you're doing here. It's wrong. It's a miracle that she wasn't killed." That shut Greg up. But the worst was what Mel heard as Cassie was taking her upstairs. They passed the three men Mel had seen on the porch. "It was unbelievable," the mustache man had said. "A girl and a grizzly… and then a porcupine scares it away! You can't make this stuff up!" They men had laughed, as if Mel had put on a show just for them. The memory of it made Mel

没有伤到肌肉或骨头。 梅尔会有伤疤，但跟史蒂夫的不一样。 她没有感到任何疼痛。 她只是感到困惑和愤怒。 主要是对她自己。这是她的错。 大多数人都是这么想的。 “她在外面干什么？”格雷格喊道。 “愚蠢的女孩!”梅尔以为史蒂夫——温和、安静的史蒂夫——会揍那家伙。 “你竟敢那样叫她，”他嘶嘶地说。 “这整个地方……你在这里做什么。 这是错误的。她没死真是个奇迹。” 这让格雷格闭嘴了。但最糟糕的是卡西带梅尔上楼时梅尔听到的声音。 他们经过了梅尔在门廊上看到的三个人。 “真是难以置信，”留胡子的男人说。 “一个女孩和一只灰熊……然后一只豪猪把它吓跑了！”这是你编不出来的！”他们笑了起来，仿佛梅尔为他们做了一场表演。 这件事的记忆使梅尔

sob harder. Cassie held her tight, rubbing her back. Finally, Aunt Cassie pulled away and gripped Mel by the shoulders. "All right," she said. "That's enough." Her voice sounded stern. "No more of this. It is not your fault. The people who work here have been feeding grizzly bears! How could this be your fault?" "But if I hadn't run off—" Mel started, but Aunt Cassie cut her off. "No," she said, wiping Mel's tears with a bandanna. "And another thing…" Cassie said. She gripped Mel's chin, gently but firmly, and looked her in the eyes. "The car accident. That's not your fault, either." Mel stopped crying. She stared at Cassie in surprise. "Yes," Cassie said, her voice softening. "I know that's what you think. I know that's why you

呜咽的难度。卡西紧紧抱着她，揉着她的背。 最后，卡西姨妈挣脱开，抓住梅尔的肩膀。 “好吧，”她说。“这就够了。” 她的声音听起来很严厉。“别再这样了。 这不是你的错。在这里工作的人一直在喂灰熊！这怎么可能是你的错呢？”“可是如果我没有跑掉——"梅尔刚要开口，但卡西姨妈打断了她的话。 “不，”她一边说，一边用手帕擦去梅尔的眼泪。 “还有一件事……”凯西说。 她温柔而坚定地抓住梅尔的下巴，看着她的眼睛。 “车祸。这也不是你的错。” 梅尔停止了哭泣。她惊讶地盯着凯西。 “是的，”卡西说，她的声音变得柔和了。 “我知道你是这么想的。 我知道这就是你为什么

won't talk about any of this, why you're not able to let go of that night." Mel sat back. "How do you know that?" "Because I know you," Aunt Cassie said, gripping Mel's shoulders. "And maybe I would have felt the same way if I was eleven, and my mother… my incredible mother… was killed before my eyes. I would want to make sense of it. I would want to know why. Why? And maybe I would think it was better to blame myself than to think there was no reason… that it was just an accident." Cassie gave Mel a squeeze. "But it's not right. You must stop thinking this way. You know what your mother would say to you if she knew you were blaming yourself? You know how mad she'd be?" Mel pictured Mom… her fiery temper. And to her own surprise, she let out a little laugh. Not that it was funny. But it felt good to laugh, like taking a big breath when you've been

我不会再提这些，为什么你不能忘记那个夜晚。” 梅尔往后一靠。“你怎么知道的？”“因为我认识你，”卡西姨妈说，抓住梅尔的肩膀。 “也许我也会有同样的感觉，如果我11岁的时候，我的母亲……我不可思议的母亲……在我眼前被杀害。” 我想弄明白它的意义。 我想知道为什么。为什么? 也许我认为责备自己比认为没有原因……这只是一场意外要好。” 卡西挤了梅尔一下。 “但这是不对的。你不能再这样想了。 你知道如果你妈妈知道你在自责会对你说什么吗？ 你知道她会有多生气吗？”梅尔想象着妈妈暴躁的脾气。 令她自己吃惊的是，她笑了起来。 这并不好笑。但笑的感觉很好，就像当你

underwater for too long. A few minutes later, Steve knocked on the door, then popped his head inside. "Everything okay?" he asked. Cassie looked at Mel. Mel nodded. Cassie turned to Steve. "It will be." They left the next morning, and were back at the cabin by three o'clock. Mel asked Cassie and Steve not to tell Pops what had happened with the grizzly. Cassie didn't approve. But Mel convinced them that it would be too much for Pops. At least right now. She promised she'd tell him and Dad when they got home. The whole story. But they did share with Pops all they discovered at the Granite Park Chalet. They turned their cabin into an office for Cassie. For three days, the sound of Pops's old typewriter filled the cabin.

在水下待太久。几分钟后，史蒂夫敲了敲门，然后把头探了进去。 “一切都好吗？”他问。 卡西看着梅尔。梅尔·点点头。 卡西转向史蒂夫。“会的。” 第二天早上他们离开了，三点钟回到了小屋。 梅尔要求卡西和史蒂夫不要把灰熊的事告诉老爷子。 卡西不同意。但梅尔说服他们，老爷子接受不了。 至少现在是这样。她答应他和爸爸回家后告诉他们。 整个故事。但他们确实和老爷子分享了他们在花岗岩公园小屋的发现。 他们把小木屋改成了凯西的办公室。 整整三天，老爷子旧打字机的声音充斥着整个小木屋。

The editor of National Geographic was waiting for the article. On Saturday, they all drove into town to mail it. They stood in front of the mailbox and Cassie handed the big, fat envelope to Mel. "You do it," she said with a smile. "This was all your idea." "Let's do it together," Mel said. They each held one side of the envelope and pushed it through the slot. They stood there for a moment, and Mel felt a rush of hope. But that hope died the next day, when Steve came rushing to the cabin. And what he told them was more shocking than anything Mel could have imagined, and far more terrifying.

《国家地理》的编辑正在等着那篇文章。 星期六，他们都开车进城去寄。 他们站在邮筒前，凯西把又大又肥的信封递给梅尔。 “你来吧，”她笑着说。 “这都是你的主意。”“我们一起做吧，”梅尔说。 他们每人拿着信封的一边，把它塞进狭口。 他们在那里站了一会儿，梅尔感到一阵希望。 但第二天，当史蒂夫冲进小屋时，这个希望破灭了。 他告诉他们的事情比梅尔想象的更令人震惊，也更可怕。