Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19 FIFTEEN YEARS LATER OCTOBER 3, 1959 LE ROC "When's he coming, Papa? When's he coming!?" Paul smiled. His six-year-old son, Jacques, was as excited as he was. They were having a special visitor today, someone who Paul hadn't seen since the war.

第十九章十五年后1959年10月3日勒洛克“他什么时候来，爸爸？” 他什么时候来？”保罗笑了。 他六岁的儿子雅克和他一样兴奋。 今天有一位特别的访客，保罗战后就没见过了。

Paul's wife, Valerie, scooped Jacques up. "Let's go to Grandma and Grandpa's," she said to him. "Daddy needs some time alone with his old friend." Paul walked to the porch and watched them disappear down the winding road. "Don't let your friend leave without meeting me!" Jacques shrieked. Paul smiled and sat down on the porch. He breathed in the familiar smells of sweet grass and apples and that hint of salt from the sea. There was nothing better. Paul had traveled some. He and Valerie had visited Victor in Texas twice. But Le Roc was his home. It had changed in the fifteen years since the war. Most of the town had been destroyed in those terrible weeks after D-Day. The Allies dropped thousands of bombs to try to stop the Nazi troops, to destroy their supplies and weapons. They tried to spare the people of Normandy. But by the time

保罗的妻子瓦莱丽把雅克抱了起来。 “我们去爷爷奶奶家吧，”她对他说。 “爸爸需要和他的老朋友单独呆一会儿。” 保罗走到门廊，看着他们消失在蜿蜒的小路上。 “别让你的朋友没见我就走了！”雅克尖叫起来。 保罗微笑着坐在门廊上。 他呼吸着熟悉的青草和苹果的香味，还有海水的咸味。 没有比这更好的了。保罗游历过一些地方。 他和瓦莱丽曾两次去德克萨斯州看望维克多。 但乐洛克就是他的家。在战争结束后的15年里，它发生了变化。 在诺曼底登陆日之后可怕的几个星期里，小镇的大部分地区都被摧毁了。 盟军投下了数千枚炸弹，试图阻止纳粹军队，摧毁他们的补给和武器。 他们试图拯救诺曼底的人民。 但到那时

the Nazis finally fled, thousands of French people were dead. It wasn't until the following September that World War II finally ended. Paul stood up and looked down the road again. He checked his watch. This special visitor would arrive any minute. What would it be like to be together again after all this time? Would seeing him bring back all those years of fear and pain? Even now, memories came back to Paul out of nowhere—those men dying on the beach on DDay, the bombs raining down as he and Maman huddled together in their basement. But of course there were happy memories, too. Like when Mr. Leon finally returned to the Castle Le Roc. He'd been injured in an Allied bombing, but somehow made it back. He was bruised and bloodied but amazed to hear the story of Ellie and Stroop. It was a story far better than any legend of a dragon.

纳粹最终逃走了，成千上万的法国人死了。 直到第二年9月，第二次世界大战才终于结束。 保罗站起来，又朝路那边看了看。 他看了看表。这位特殊的来访者随时可能到达。 过了这么久再在一起会是什么感觉？ 看到他会让你回想起那些年的恐惧和痛苦吗？ 即使是现在，保罗的记忆也不知从何而来——那些在诺曼底登陆日死在海滩上的人，当他和妈妈挤在地下室里时，炸弹像雨点一样落下。 当然，也有快乐的回忆。 就像里昂先生最后回到洛克城堡一样。 他在盟军的一次轰炸中受了伤，但不知怎么地又回来了。 他遍体鳞伤，浑身是血，但听到埃莉和斯特鲁普的故事后，他感到很惊讶。 这是一个比任何龙的传说都精彩的故事。

Paul smiled to himself, thinking of how much Jacques loved that story. There was only one story he loved more. It was the story about how Papa—Jacques's grandfather—got home after the war. "You really walked for four months, Grandpa?" Jacques would ask, stroking his grandfather's snow-white beard. "Didn't your feet hurt?" "I had to get home to my boy," he'd say, glancing at Paul. "And to your grandmother," he'd add, smiling at Maman. "For them I would have walked to the moon and back." Jacques would lean forward. "Grandpa," he'd whisper. "You can't walk to the moon." Paul had tried not to think too much about the war after Papa came home. Life moved forward. Papa got stronger after his years in the prison camp. They rebuilt their house. Time passed. Paul went to college and met Valerie. They moved back here and had Jacques. Paul tried his best to forget the past.

保罗暗自微笑，想着雅克是多么喜欢这个故事。 只有一个故事他更喜欢。 那是关于雅克爸爸的祖父如何在战后回家的故事。 “你真的走了四个月吗，爷爷？”雅克抚摸着祖父雪白的胡须问道。 “你的脚不疼吗？”“我得回家陪我儿子，”他说，瞥了保罗一眼。 “还有你的祖母，”他对妈妈微笑着补充道。 “为了他们，我可以往返月球。” 雅克会身体前倾。 “爷爷，”他低声说。“你不可能走到月球上去。” 爸爸回家后，保罗尽量不去想太多战争的事。 生活继续前进。在战俘营呆了几年之后，爸爸变得更强壮了。 他们重建了他们的房子。时间的流逝。 保罗上了大学，认识了瓦莱丽。 他们搬回来，生下了雅克。 保罗尽力忘记过去。

But then, a month ago, the past arrived in a letter for Paul. My old friend, it began. My name is Gerry Goldman, but you will remember me as Gerard Drey… Paul's hands had started to shake when he read that, and Valerie had to finish reading the letter for him. "My parents were murdered by the Nazis," Valerie had read aloud. "But the day before my parents were arrested, they managed to get me into the hands of the Le Roc resistance." Into the hands of Maman, Mr. Leon, and the others, Paul would learn. They'd rescued Gerard and three other Jewish children from Le Roc. They'd hidden them at the castle. And then somehow they'd gotten them to a village in the mountains where dozens of Jewish children were hidden throughout the war. Maman had never told this to Paul—it was the one secret she'd never shared. She later explained

但是，一个月前，过去的事在保罗的一封信中出现了。 “我的老朋友。”我的名字是格里·戈德曼，但你会记得我叫杰勒德·德雷……保罗读到这封信时，他的手开始颤抖，瓦莱丽不得不替他把信读完。 “我的父母是被纳粹杀害的，”瓦莱丽大声念着。 “但就在我父母被捕的前一天，他们设法把我交给了勒洛克抵抗组织。” 保罗将在妈妈、莱昂先生和其他人的手中学习。 他们从勒洛克救出了杰勒德和其他三个犹太孩子。 他们把他们藏在城堡里了。 然后他们不知怎么把他们带到了山里的一个村庄在战争期间，那里藏着几十个犹太儿童。 妈妈从来没有把这件事告诉过保罗——这是她从来没有分享过的一个秘密。 她后来解释道

it to Paul, tears brimming in her eyes. "We were never sure if Gerard survived the war." So many Jewish people didn't. But Gerard had made it. And after the war, his father's cousins tracked him down and took him to America. As Gerard's letter explained, he went on to live a happy life. Over time, though, his memories of his childhood in France had dimmed. The loss of his family was so painful. Like Paul, he'd tried his best to forget those dark years. "But I've never forgotten you, Paul." This visitor Paul was waiting for now—it was Gerard. Paul paced back and forth on the porch until the sound of a car sent him rushing to the steps. And at last, there he was: his best friend. Gerard was tall. His curls had gone straight. But there was that lopsided smile. They stood on the porch and stared at each other, tears running down their

她的眼睛里充满了泪水。 “我们一直不确定杰拉德能否在战争中幸存下来。” 所以很多犹太人没有。 但是杰拉德做到了。战争结束后，他父亲的表兄弟们找到了他，把他带到了美国。 正如杰拉德在信中所解释的那样，他继续过着幸福的生活。 不过，随着时间的推移，他对在法国度过的童年的记忆逐渐模糊。 失去家人让他非常痛苦。 和保罗一样，他也尽力忘记那些黑暗的岁月。 “但是我从来没有忘记你，保罗。” 保罗正在等的这个客人是杰勒德。 保罗在门廊上来回踱步，直到一辆汽车的声音把他赶向台阶。 最后，他出现了：他最好的朋友。 杰勒德很高。他的卷发已经变直了。 但他脸上还是挂着那种歪斜的微笑。 他们站在门廊上，面面相觑，泪水顺着他们的眼睛流了下来