Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 THREE HOURS LATER AROUND NOON WATERFRONT THE NORTH END, BOSTON Carmen's eyes snapped open and she scrambled to her feet. She thought she'd dozed off for a minute or two. But now the day was very bright. And warm.

第八章三小时后，大约中午时分滨水区北端，波士顿卡门的眼睛猛地睁开，她爬了起来。 她以为自己打了一两分钟盹。 但是现在天很亮。 和温暖的。

She unbuttoned her coat and looked around. Some men were on benches with open lunch pails. It must be past noon! Carmen couldn't believe she'd slept so long! Everyone must be worried about her. She had to get back to the Grassos' apartment. Or maybe she should go to school. Maybe she should… And then her insides turned to jelly. Where was Rosie? Carmen whirled around, but the horse was nowhere to be seen. What a fool Carmen was! She hadn't tied Rosie up. And now… What if the horse had wandered into the busy streets? She could get hit by a motorcar—that happened all the time. Before Carmen knew it, she was running, screaming Rosie's name. Carmen sprinted to the stable. She burst through the door and over to Rosie's stall. But Rosie wasn't there.

她解开外套的扣子，环顾四周。 一些人坐在长椅上，打开着午餐桶。 一定已经过了中午了！卡门不敢相信她睡了这么久！大家一定都很担心她。 她得回格拉索家去。 或者她应该去上学。 也许她应该…然后她的内脏变成了果冻。 罗茜在哪里？卡门转过身来，但马却不见了。 卡门真是个傻瓜！她没有把罗茜绑起来。 如果那匹马在繁忙的街道上游荡呢？ 她可能会被汽车撞到——这种事经常发生。 卡门还没反应过来，她就跑了，喊着罗茜的名字。 卡门冲向马厩。 她冲进门，走到罗茜的摊位前。 但是罗西不在那里。

"Think, Carmen, think," she said to herself as she ran back outside. Rosie was smart. Where would she go? Carmen stopped and looked around. It was always so crowded down here by the water—even more packed than the streets up where Carmen lived. Men were everywhere. Trucks and wagons rumbled by. Carmen was sprinting to a nearby shed when she noticed her eyes were watering. Her nose was burning, too. Blech. What was that sickly-sweet smell? Molasses, she realized. The smell was thick in the air, worse than ever before. It even coated her throat. The molasses tank was just behind her. She turned around, and what she saw made her heart skip a beat. "Rosie!" The mare was standing at the tank, licking molasses off the sides.

“想一想，卡门，想一想，”她一边跑到外面，一边对自己说。 罗茜很聪明。她会去哪里？ 卡门停下来环顾四周。 这里的水边总是那么拥挤，甚至比卡门住的街上还要拥挤。 到处都是男人。卡车和货车隆隆驶过。 卡门正冲向附近的一个小棚子，突然发现自己的眼睛在流泪。 她的鼻子也在烧。 薄板。那令人恶心的甜味儿是什么？ 糖蜜，她意识到。空气中弥漫着浓重的气味，比以往任何时候都要难闻。 它甚至覆盖了她的喉咙。 糖蜜罐就在她身后。 她转过身来，眼前的景象让她的心跳加速。 “罗西!”母马站在水池边，舔着池边的糖蜜。

Carmen almost cried with relief as she came up next to Rosie. Smart horse! Carmen remembered how Rosie licked the molasses from Tony's fingers. She must have smelled the molasses in the air and followed it right to the tank. "So you wanted a little snack?" Carmen said, patting Rosie's forehead.

当卡门走到罗茜身边时，她几乎松了一口气。 聪明的马!卡门记得罗茜如何舔掉托尼手指上的糖蜜。 她一定是闻到了空气中的糖蜜味然后顺着气味找到了水箱。 “所以你想吃点零食？”卡门拍着罗茜的额头说。

The mare smacked her sticky lips. Her whiskers were dripping with goo. "And I guess you're saving some for later," Carmen said. She grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and started wiping Rosie's face. That's when she heard it. GRRR guh guh gug gug GRRR guh, guh, guh, guh… Carmen ignored the strange growling sounds. It was just the molasses, boiling inside the tank. She knew that now. And then Carmen heard a familiar voice. "Carmen!" It was Tony! He was running toward her from back near the stable. Carmen swung herself up onto Rosie and clicked her tongue. They trotted over to meet Tony. His face was bright red, his hair damp with sweat. "Where have you been?" he said, his voice cracking. "We've been searching everywhere!"

母马咂咂她那黏糊糊的嘴唇。 她的胡须上滴着黏液。 “我猜你是在为以后留一些吧，”卡门说。 她从口袋里掏出一块手帕，开始擦罗西的脸。 就在那时她听到了。嘎，嘎，嘎，嘎……卡门没有理会那奇怪的咆哮声。 只有糖蜜在罐子里沸腾。 她现在明白了。这时，卡门听到了一个熟悉的声音。 “卡门!”是托尼！他从马厩后面向她跑去。 卡门跳到罗茜身上，咂了咂舌头。 他们小跑过去迎接托尼。 他的脸通红，头发被汗水浸湿了。 “你去哪儿了？”他说，声音沙哑。 “我们到处都找遍了！”

He looked so worried, and she could tell he'd been crying. Carmen reached down and grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I…" But she didn't know what to say. She felt terrible for disappearing like she had. And now she wondered: Did Tony know about the plan to send her back to Italy? Did he realize that in a week, Carmen would be gone, and they'd never see each other again? Just the idea of saying good-bye to Tony—to everyone—made her whole body shake. But wait. It wasn't Carmen's body that was shaking. Or Rosie's. It was the ground. And this time she felt sure there was an earthquake. Carmen gripped Rosie's neck tighter, expecting the ground to split apart. The horse snorted and nervously stamped her feet. "What's going on?" Tony said.

他看起来很担心，她看得出他一直在哭。 卡门伸手抓住他的手。 “我很抱歉，”她说。“我……”但她不知道该说什么。 她为自己的消失感到很难过。 现在她想知道：托尼知道把她送回意大利的计划吗？ 他有没有意识到一周后卡门就会走，他们就再也见不到面了？ 一想到要和托尼告别——和大家告别——她就浑身发抖。 但是等待。在颤抖的不是卡门的身体。 罗茜的。是地面。 这一次她确信发生了地震。 卡门把罗茜的脖子抓得更紧了，以为地面会裂开。 那匹马哼着鼻子，紧张地跺着脚。 “发生什么事了？”托尼说。