Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 Carmen was getting stronger. But doctors worried about the wound on her leg. They told her she needed to stay in the hospital at least another week. Carmen was tired of lying in bed. But at least she wasn't lonely. Mrs. Grasso came every day with a feast of pasta or lasagna. Mrs. Ortelli brought boxes of cream-filled cannoli and crunchy biscotti she shared with the

卡门越来越强壮了。 但医生担心她腿上的伤口。 他们告诉她，她至少需要在医院再住一个星期。 卡门厌倦了躺在床上。 但至少她并不孤单。 格拉索太太每天都带来一顿意大利面或千层面的盛宴。 奥尔泰利太太带来了几盒奶油夹心甜卷和脆脆的脆饼，她和孩子们一起分享

nurses. Frankie brought his baseball cards. Teresa and Marie sat on Carmen's bed, braiding her hair over and over. Mr. Lawrence brought books. Carmen missed Mr. Vita. He still wasn't back from Connecticut. But Mr. Pallo stopped by one day. "You have a visitor," Mr. Pallo said. "But she had to wait outside." He helped Carmen out of bed, and to the window. And there, tied up in front of the hospital, was Rosie. "We found her near the stable," Mr. Pallo said. "Or what was left of it." The stable had been destroyed, along with the fire department and almost every other building around that part of the waterfront. Carmen couldn't imagine how upset Mr. Vita would be. But at least his other horses were all safe; they'd

护士。弗兰基带来了他的棒球卡。 特蕾莎和玛丽坐在卡门的床上，一遍又一遍地给她编辫子。 劳伦斯先生带来了书。 卡门想念维塔先生。他还没从康涅狄格回来。 但有一天帕洛先生来过。 “有人来了，”帕洛说。 “但她必须在外面等。” 他扶卡门下了床，走到窗前。 在那里，被绑在医院门口的是罗茜。 “我们在马厩附近发现了她，”帕洛说。 “也不知道它剩下了什么。”马厩被毁了，还有消防部门和那片水边附近几乎所有的建筑。 卡门无法想象维塔先生会有多难过。 但至少他的其他马都安然无恙；他们会

been far from the North End when the flood happened. And now Carmen could see for herself that Rosie was all in one piece. "The cut on her neck is healing up fine," Mr. Pallo said. Carmen opened the window. "It's good to see you, girl!" Carmen called out to Rosie, waving. The horse's ears perked up. She let out a loud, happy whinny. Tears sprang into Carmen's eyes, and not only from the relief of seeing Rosie unhurt. Carmen realized she'd probably never ride Rosie again. Because not only would she be leaving the hospital soon. She'd also be leaving America. Nobody had mentioned that Carmen was going back to Italy. But someone would soon, Carmen was sure. Mrs. Grasso had probably already packed Carmen's clothes. Carmen shut the window, forcing those thoughts out of her mind. She had to focus on

洪水发生时，我离北端很远。 现在卡门可以亲眼看到罗茜安然无恙。 “她脖子上的伤口愈合得很好，”帕洛说。 卡门打开窗户。“见到你真高兴，姑娘！”卡门朝罗茜喊道，挥手。 马的耳朵竖起来了。 她发出一声响亮而快乐的呜呜声。 卡门热泪盈眶，这不仅仅是因为看到罗茜安然无恙而感到宽慰。 卡门意识到她可能再也不能骑罗西了。 因为她不仅很快就要出院了 她也将离开美国。 没人提过卡门要回意大利。 但卡门确信，很快就会有人来的。 格拉索太太可能已经收拾好了卡门的衣服。 卡门关上了窗户，把这些想法赶出了她的脑海。 她必须专注于

getting better right now. Of all the people who came to visit, it was Tony she looked forward to seeing the most. Tony told Carmen what happened after they were separated. His ride on the broken wagon had been short. He'd been swept out to Commercial Street, where the river of molasses became shallower and shallower. He'd sloshed his way out and wandered around in a daze. "It was terrible," he told Carmen, his face darkening, his voice dropping down to a whisper. The bodies—bent and broken, so covered with molasses that he couldn't tell if they were men or women. People crying in pain. Injured horses. The mothers screaming for their children. Police everywhere. Mrs. Grasso was already looking for him, searching frantically. She'd found him pretty quickly.

现在好多了。在所有来访的人中，她最盼望见到的是托尼。 托尼告诉卡门他们分开后发生的事。 他乘坐那辆破马车的时间很短。 他被冲到了商业街，那里的糖蜜河越来越浅。 他泼着水走了出去，迷迷糊糊地走来走去。 “太可怕了，”他告诉卡门，他的脸变黑了，声音降到了耳语。 尸体弯曲破碎，沾满糖蜜，他分不清是男是女。 人们在痛苦中哭泣。受伤的马。 母亲们为孩子们尖叫。 警察无处不在。格拉索太太已经在找他了，拼命地找。 她很快就找到了他。

"And then we looked for you," Tony told Carmen now, his lip quivering. Mr. Grasso had gone to the Haymarket Relief Station, a small hospital near the North End. That's where the dead were laid out. Men who'd been working around the waterfront. A woman who lived in a house along Commercial Street. Two ten-year-old children who'd been near the tank. But not Carmen. More than 150 people had been hurt—carried away by the river of molasses, trapped in crushed buildings, struck by flying metal when the tank exploded. One man was blasted all the way into Boston Harbor. Injured people were in hospitals all across the city. It was three days before Mr. Grasso finally found Carmen at Boston City Hospital in the South End. Tony told Carmen something else that shocked her, what the molasses company was saying about

“然后我们找你，”托尼现在对卡门说，他的嘴唇颤抖着。 格拉索去了干草市场救济站，这是北端附近的一家小医院。 死者就葬在那里。 他们一直在码头附近工作。 一个住在商业街旁房子里的女人。 两个十岁的孩子在水箱附近。 但卡门不是。超过150人受伤，他们被糖蜜卷走，被困在倒塌的建筑物中，坦克爆炸时被飞溅的金属击中。 一个人被炸进了波士顿港。 受伤的人在整个城市的医院里。 三天后，格拉索先生终于在波士顿南端的波士顿城市医院找到了卡门。 托尼告诉卡门另一件令她震惊的事，糖蜜公司在说些什么

why the tank broke apart. "They say someone put a bomb in the tank." Carmen had sat up in bed. "Those liars!" she'd exclaimed, her voice so furiously loud a nurse had peeked in to shush her. But she couldn't believe it! Everyone in the North End knew why the tank shattered—because it wasn't built right. Even little kids knew that. The tank had leaked from the moment it was built! "Don't worry," Tony had said to her. "Nobody believes them." Carmen could only hope Tony was right. On her last night in the hospital, Carmen barely slept. Every time she drifted off, she'd fall into a nightmare. She kept reliving the moment when the wagon almost flipped, when she was drowning in the sticky darkness. When she heard Papa's voice calling to her.

为什么坦克会破裂。“他们说有人在坦克里放了炸弹。” 卡门从床上坐了起来。“那些骗子！”她大声喊道，她的声音如此之大，以至于一个护士偷看了她，让她安静下来。 但她简直不敢相信！伦敦北端的每个人都知道坦克为什么会破碎——因为它造得不对。 连小孩子都知道。 水箱从造出来的那一刻起就漏水了！“别担心，”托尼对她说。 “没人相信他们。”卡门只能希望托尼是对的。 在医院的最后一晚，卡门几乎没有睡觉。 每次她迷迷糊糊地睡着，就会陷入噩梦。 她不断地回忆着马车差点翻倒的那一刻，回忆着她被黏糊糊的黑暗淹没的那一刻。 当她听到爸爸呼唤她的声音时。