Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 "This happened a very long time ago," Pops began. "I was maybe ten years old." Mel looked at her grandfather, whose face was lit up by the firelight. He had white hair, a matching mustache, and skin that was all crinkled, like an old map. It was hard to imagine that he'd once been a kid like her. But there was an old photo of him hanging on the wall in the cabin —

“这是很久以前的事了，”老爷子开始说。 “那时我大概十岁。” 梅尔看了看祖父，他的脸被火光照亮了。 他满头白发，留着与之相配的小胡子，满脸皱纹的皮肤，像一张旧地图。 很难想象他曾经也像她一样是个孩子。 但小屋的墙上挂着一张他的老照片

little-boy Pops — with his buzz cut and freckles. He was proudly holding up a big trout he'd caught in the lake. "I was walking through the woods," Pops went on. "Not too far from here, maybe a half mile up the lake. I was heading back to the cabin, whistling some silly tune, swinging my lantern. Not a care in the world… until I heard a noise just ahead, a noise I'd never heard before." Pops leaned forward. "It sounded like this." He clacked his teeth together. Click, clack, click, clack, click, clack. "Was it an alligator?" Kevin asked. He loved alligators. Most kids had teddy bears. Kevin slept with the stuffed alligator their aunt Cassie had given him. "Shhh," Mel said gently. Pops dropped his voice to a whisper. "I should have stopped or at least slowed down, or found a different route. But I just kept walking along like a big dummy. And suddenly, wham!

小男孩老爷子——留着寸头，满脸雀斑。 他骄傲地举着一条在湖里钓到的大鳟鱼。 “我正在穿过树林，”老爷子继续说。 “离这儿不远，也许离湖有半英里远。 我朝船舱走去，吹着无聊的小调，摇着提灯。 一点也不担心……直到我听到前方有声音，一种我从未听到过的声音。” 老爷子身体前倾。“听起来是这样的。” 他咬紧牙关。 咔哒，咔哒，咔哒，咔哒，咔哒，咔哒。 “是短吻鳄吗？”凯文问。 他喜欢鳄鱼。大多数孩子都有泰迪熊。 凯文睡在卡西姨妈给他的鳄鱼毛绒玩具旁边。 “嘘，”梅尔轻轻地说。老爷子压低声音低声说。 “我应该停下来，或者至少放慢速度，或者找到一条不同的路线。 但我只是像个大傻瓜一样继续往前走。 突然，砰！

Something whacked my calf. I never felt such pain in my life — not before or since. "The animal ran off. I never got a good look at it. I hobbled over to a tree stump, shined my lantern onto my leg. I saw the strangest sight… dozens of long black needles sticking deep into the meat of my calf. "What was it?" Kevin cried. Pops raised his eyebrows at Mel. She'd heard this story a hundred times before. "It was a porcupine," Mel said. "A porcupine?" Kevin repeated, frowning. He crossed his skinny arms over his T-shirt. "Pops! A porcupine is NOT a scary animal!" "Who says?" Pops boomed. "All creatures fear the porcupine." Pops explained that porcupines had more than thirty thousand quills on their bodies. The spikes protected them from enemies — bigger animals that wanted to eat them. Each quill was like a

有什么东西撞了我的小腿。 我一生中从未感到过如此痛苦——之前没有，之后也没有。 那动物跑掉了。我一直没看清楚。 我一瘸一拐地走到一个树桩前，用灯笼照着腿。 我看到了最奇怪的景象……几十根长长的黑针深深地扎进了我的小腿肉里。 “那是什么？”凯文哭了。 老爷子对梅尔扬起眉毛。 这个故事她已经听过上百遍了。 “那是只豪猪，”梅尔说。 “一只豪猪?”凯文皱着眉头重复道。 他把瘦小的双臂交叉在t恤上。 “会!豪猪不是可怕的动物！”“谁说的?”会蓬勃发展。 “所有的生物都害怕豪猪。” 老爷子解释说，豪猪身上有三万多根羽毛刺。 这些尖刺保护它们不受敌人的伤害——更大的动物想要吃掉它们。 每根羽毛笔都像一个

small arrow. When a porcupine's attacker tried to take a bite, it wound up stabbed in the snout. And when a porcupine got mad or felt threatened, watch out. With one whack of its tail, a porcupine could deliver dozens of quills deep into its enemy's flesh. That's what happened to Pops. "My mother had to use pliers to get the quills out," Pops said, wincing. "Took her about three hours. I fainted once from the pain." Kevin huffed. "I hate that porcupine, Pops!" "Oh no," Pops said. "Don't blame the porcupine. It was just protecting itself. It warned me. That click, clack, click, clack was it telling me, 'I'm here! Please go away!' But I was walking around like I owned the forest. I showed no respect." Showing respect in the wild. That was a big thing for Pops — and Mom, too. She was always reminding Mel that Glacier really belonged to the animals. "We're just guests here," she liked to say.

小箭头。当攻击豪猪的人试图咬一口时，它的鼻子被刺伤了。 当豪猪生气或感到受到威胁时，要小心。 豪猪的尾巴轻轻一拍，就能把几十根刺刺进敌人的肉里。 老爷子就是这样。 “我妈妈得用钳子把羽毛刺拔出来，”老爷子说，畏缩了一下。 “她花了大约三个小时。 我痛得晕倒过一次。” 凯文怒喝道。“我讨厌那只豪猪，爸爸！”“哦，不，”老爷子说。 “不要责怪豪猪。 它只是在保护自己。 它警告了我。那咔哒、咔哒、咔哒、咔哒的声音是在告诉我，‘我在这里！请走开！”但我走起路来就像我拥有整个森林一样。 我没有表现出尊重。”在野外表现出尊重。 这对爸爸和妈妈来说都是件大事。 她总是提醒梅尔冰川其实是属于动物的。 “我们只是客人，”她喜欢这么说。

Both she and Pops worried that the park was getting too crowded. And some people didn't understand how to act when they were hiking or camping. It used to drive Mom crazy when people littered on the trails. Mom's temper could be fiery sometimes. Just like Mel's. "Excuse me!" she'd yell, handing the person their empty soda bottle or Milky Way wrapper. "I think you dropped something." "Tell another story, Pops," Kevin pleaded. "Tell about a wolverine, or a wolf, or a tiger, or an alligator…" Pops chuckled. "Enough stories for tonight," he said. He stood up slowly. His stiff knees cracked. "Remember, Aunt Cassie's coming tomorrow. Right after breakfast." "Yay!" Kevin said. Aunt Cassie was Mom's best friend. She always joined them for a few days in Glacier. Last year, Mel would have been counting down the minutes until Aunt Cassie showed up in her little red Volkswagen. But the

她和老爷子都担心公园会变得太拥挤。 有些人在徒步旅行或露营时不知道该怎么做。 以前看到人们在小路上乱扔垃圾，妈妈都快疯了。 妈妈的脾气有时会很暴躁。 就像梅尔一样。“打扰一下！”她会喊道，递给那个人他们的空汽水瓶或银河包装。 “我想你掉了什么东西。” “再讲一个故事吧，爸爸，”凯文恳求道。 “讲讲狼獾、狼、老虎或鳄鱼的故事……”老爷子咯咯笑着说。 “今晚的故事讲够了，”他说。 他慢慢地站了起来。他僵硬的膝盖裂开了。 “记住，卡西姨妈明天要来。 早饭后就去。”“耶!”凯文说。 卡西姨妈是妈妈最好的朋友。 她总是和他们一起去冰川镇呆几天。 去年，梅尔会一直等着卡西姨妈开着她的红色大众小轿车出现。 但是,

last thing Mel needed now was another reminder of Mom — another reason to cry. Kevin slid off Mel's lap and scampered toward the cabin. "Race you, Pops!" he called. "Put out the fire, would you, Mel?" Pops asked. Then he turned and started limping after Kevin. "I'm coming for you! And I'm bringing my porcupine with me!" Kevin shrieked happily. They disappeared into the darkness. A minute later Mel heard the creak and slam of the porch door. Mel doused the fire with water from the lake and used a shovel to pile sand on the smoldering logs. Even a small ember could drift into the woods and start a fire. There were already more than ten wildfires burning in the northern parts of the park. So far, firefighters had kept them from spreading. But one windy night could change that.

梅尔现在最不需要的就是再次想起妈妈——又一个哭泣的理由。 凯文从梅尔的腿上滑下来，朝小屋跑去。 “跟你比赛，爸爸！”他喊道。 “把火扑灭，好吗，梅尔？”持久性有机污染物问道。 然后他转身一瘸一拐地跟在凯文后面。 “我来找你了！”我还带着我的豪猪呢！”凯文高兴地尖叫起来。 他们消失在黑暗中。 一分钟后，梅尔听到门廊门的嘎吱声和砰的一声。 梅尔用湖中的水浇灭了火，用铲子把沙子堆在冒烟的木头上。 即使是很小的余烬也可能飘进树林，引起一场大火。 公园北部已经发生了十多起野火。 到目前为止，消防队员已经阻止了火势的蔓延。 但一个刮风的夜晚可能会改变这一切。