Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 It was Chet's sixth morning in the hospital when there was a knock at his door. He sat up, sure it was Mama and Papa. But it wasn't. Dewey, Sid, and Monty stood in the doorway. Uncle Jerry was right behind them. The hospital was a two-hour trip from Elm Hills. Had the guys really come all this way to see him? They all looked a little scared, and Chet felt nervous. Were they still mad at him? Chet raised

第十五章这是切特在医院的第六天早晨，有人敲他的门。 他坐了起来，肯定是爸爸妈妈。 但事实并非如此。杜威、希德和蒙蒂站在门口。 杰瑞叔叔就在他们后面。 从榆树山到医院有两个小时的路程。 这些人真的是专程来看他的吗? 他们看起来都有点害怕，切特也很紧张。 他们还在生他的气吗? 切特提出

his hand and gave the briefest, tiniest wave. And just like that, the guys came barreling across the room, fighting each other for a spot on his little bed. Their jostling hurt his leg, but Chet couldn't have cared less. "I'll be in the hallway, kiddo," Uncle Jerry said. "I think that pretty nurse likes me." The door closed, and all the guys started talking at once. "They dynamited the creek!"

他伸出手，挥了挥手。 就像这样，这些家伙从房间里冲过来，为了在他的小床上占个位置而互相打架。 他们的碰撞伤了他的腿，但切特一点也不在乎。 “我在走廊等你，孩子，”杰里叔叔说。 “我觉得那个漂亮的护士喜欢我。” 门关上了，所有的人立刻开始说话。 “他们炸毁了那条小溪!”

"A guy caught a shark in the bay, says it's the same shark!" "It was ten feet long!" "They cut open its stomach." "They found human bones!" Of course Uncle Jerry had told Chet all this. But he didn't stop the guys from telling him again. He liked the sound of their voices around him. He hoped they never stopped talking. They told him that Captain Wilson was a celebrity, that newspaper reporters were coming from around the world to talk to him. "Your uncle said your leg will be okay," Dewey said. "You're going to have a huge scar," Sid said. He sounded almost jealous. Chet hadn't looked too closely at his leg when the nurses changed his bandages. That was when it hurt the most, when they washed the wound. He had to keep his eyes closed tight and bite down on a rag to keep from screaming until the cleaning was done. A chunk of flesh was missing from his calf. He'd have more than a scar. He'd have a limp.

“一个人在海湾里抓到了一条鲨鱼，说这是同一条鲨鱼!”“它有十英尺长!”“他们切开了它的胃。” “他们发现了人的骨头!”当然，杰里叔叔把这一切都告诉了切特。 但他并没有阻止那些人再次告诉他。 他喜欢他们在他身边说话的声音。 他希望他们永远不会停止谈话。 他们告诉他，威尔逊上尉是个名人，世界各地的报社记者都来采访他。 “你叔叔说你的腿会没事的，”杜威说。 “你会留下一个巨大的伤疤，”希德说。 他听起来几乎是嫉妒。 护士给切特换绷带时，切特还没仔细检查他的腿。 那是他们清洗伤口时最疼的时候。 他不得不紧紧地闭上眼睛，咬着一块破布，以免尖叫，直到清洁工作完成。 他的小腿少了一块肉。 他会留下不止一道伤疤。 他会跛行。

"Just like me," Uncle Jerry had said. "Won't slow you down a bit." "Minnie keeps asking about you," Dewey said. Chet wondered what Minnie would think of a boy with a limp. Sid moved a little closer to Chet. "We're sorry," he whispered. "We're sorry for everything," said Monty. Sid looked like he was about to cry. "It's my fault." "What?" Chet said. "You didn't put the shark in the creek." Sid laughed a little, and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "We should have listened to you," Monty said. "If we had gotten out of the water, you wouldn't have gotten bitten." "And if you hadn't come," Dewey said, "we'd be…" "But if I hadn't played that stupid prank," Chet said, "you would have believed me." "You saved me," Sid said. "You guys saved me," Chet said. He swallowed hard, and they all sniffled a little.

“就像我一样，”杰里叔叔说。 “一点也不会耽误你的。” “米妮一直问起你，”杜威说。 切特不知道明妮会怎么看一个跛脚的男孩。 希德向切特靠近了一点。 “我们很抱歉。”他低声说。 “我们为这一切感到抱歉，”蒙蒂说。 希德看起来好像要哭了。 “是我的错。”“什么?”切特说。 “不是你把鲨鱼放到河里的。” 希德笑了笑，用袖子擦了擦眼睛。 “我们应该听你的，”蒙蒂说。 “如果我们从水里出来，你就不会被咬了。” “如果你不来，”杜威说，“我们就……”“但如果我没有开那个愚蠢的玩笑，”切特说，“你就会相信我了。” “你救了我。”希德说。“你们救了我，”切特说。 他使劲咽了口唾沫，大家都有点抽鼻子。

Then a hush came over the room. And in that quiet moment, Chet realized something: He and the guys would always be tied together. By the terrible things they'd seen. By what they'd done for each other. It was a while before Sid said, "We're calling a truce. No more pranks." As usual, nobody argued with Sid. It was settled. The guys stayed all afternoon, until Uncle Jerry poked his head in and said it was time to go. The guys lingered until Uncle Jerry shooed them out the door. "Wait for me," Uncle Jerry told them, and then he closed the door and came over to Chet's bed. "Your mama called the hospital," he said. "She and your papa will be here after dinner tonight." Chet smiled. "You know," Uncle Jerry said, straightening the sheet, "I had an idea, thought I'd mention it to you." He cleared his throat. "Maybe your papa would like to help me run the diner," Uncle Jerry said. "It's a busy place. I think he might enjoy it. We do well enough. And

然后房间里安静了下来。 在那个安静的时刻，切特意识到一件事:他和这些家伙永远是绑在一起的。 因为他们看到了可怕的事情。 因为他们为彼此所做的一切。 过了一会儿希德才说:“我们要停战了。 别再搞恶作剧了。”像往常一样，没有人和希德争论。 事情就这么定了。他们呆了一下午，直到杰瑞叔叔探出头来，说该走了。 那些家伙在那里逗留，直到杰瑞叔叔把他们赶出了门。 “等等我，”杰里叔叔对他们说，然后关上了门，走到切特的床边。 “你妈妈给医院打了电话，”他说。 “她和你爸爸今晚晚饭后会来这儿。” 切特笑了。“你知道吗，”杰里叔叔一边说，一边把床单拉直，“我有个主意，想告诉你。” 他清了清嗓子。“也许你爸爸愿意帮我经营餐馆，”杰里叔叔说。 “这是一个繁忙的地方。我想他会喜欢的。 我们做得够好了。和

I sure wouldn't mind having more time to myself." It took Chet a few seconds to understand what Uncle Jerry was saying. "Your papa might decide it's time to settle down," Uncle Jerry said. "I'm not sure he'll say yes, but I guess it's worth a try, don't you think? Chet opened his mouth to say something, but the words seemed to be all stuck together. So he just nodded. "Okay then, kiddo. It's a plan." Chet lay there a while after Uncle Jerry left. He thought about Mama and Papa. He couldn't wait to introduce them to the guys, and to Captain Wilson. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but it had been a long day. Before long he dozed off. He dreamed that he was an old man, sitting in a diner, telling a story to a gang of boys. He told them about a shark in a creek, a huge killer shark with bloody jaws and coal-black eyes. He described how the shark had chased him, how it scared him out of his wits. But in the end, the beast couldn't get him. Because Chet hadn't been

我当然不介意有更多属于自己的时间。” 切特花了几秒钟才明白杰里叔叔在说什么。 “你爸爸可能会决定是时候安定下来了，”杰里叔叔说。 “我不确定他会同意，但我想值得一试，你不觉得吗?” 切特张开嘴想说些什么，但话语似乎都被卡在了一起。 于是他点了点头。“那好吧，孩子。 这是一个计划。”杰里叔叔走后，切特在那里躺了一会儿。 他想着妈妈和爸爸。 他迫不及待地把他们介绍给伙计们和威尔逊上尉。 他挣扎着睁开眼睛，但这是漫长的一天。 不久他就睡着了。他梦见自己是一位老人，坐在一家餐馆里，给一群男孩讲故事。 他告诉他们小溪里有一条鲨鱼，一条巨大的杀人鲨鱼，下巴带血，眼睛乌黑。 他描述了鲨鱼如何追赶他，如何把他吓得魂飞魄散。 但最后，野兽没能抓住他。 因为切特没有