Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 AROUND NOON Charlie tried to walk fast, but the wind was getting stronger, and it was pushing hard against him. He shouldered his way forward, his head down. It had started to pour. But as he made his way farther from the beach, he noticed that everything seemed… normal.

第十一章中午前后，查理试图走得快一些，但风越来越大，对他刮得越来越厉害。 他低着头，用肩膀往前挤。 天开始下起了倾盆大雨。但当他离海滩越来越远的时候，他注意到一切似乎都很正常。

Carriages and buggies rattled by like always. Kids stomped through puddles. The streetcar's jolly ding, ding, ding echoed from nearby. And back home it seemed like just a typical rainy Saturday. He found his family in the kitchen. Mama was baking her famous gingersnaps. Papa was sitting at the table, organizing his tools. He was getting ready to start a big new building job on Monday. Lulu was sitting next to Papa, her face sticky from the cookie-dough-covered spoon she was licking. "Chowie!" Lulu sang to him when he walked into the kitchen. Mama took one look at him and gasped. "Goodness! You're soaked!" she exclaimed, rushing out quickly and returning with a blanket. "The Pagoda is gone," Charlie said as Mama wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. "Gone?" Mama gasped. "What do you mean?"

马车和四轮马车像往常一样辚辚驶过。 孩子们踏着脚走过水坑。 街车欢快的叮、叮、叮的声音从附近传来。 回家后，这似乎只是一个典型的雨天周六。 他发现他的家人在厨房里。 妈妈正在烤她拿手的姜饼。 爸爸正坐在桌旁整理他的工具。 他正准备星期一开始一项新的大型建筑工程。 露露坐在爸爸旁边，她的脸被她舔着的粘着饼干面团的勺子粘住了。 “Chowie !”当他走进厨房时，露露唱歌给他听。 妈妈看了他一眼，倒吸了一口气。 “天哪!你湿透了！”她叫道，急忙跑出去，拿了条毯子回来。 “宝塔不见了，”查理说，妈妈把毯子裹在他的肩膀上。 “走了?”妈妈气喘吁吁地说。“你是什么意思？”

"The waves at the beach are… huge. I've never seen the Gulf so rough," Charlie said. "They tore it apart." He thought of those wild dogs again. "How terrible!" Mama said. Papa let out a long whistle and shook his head. He didn't look shocked, though. "Every few years a big storm comes along," he said. "Some buildings get damaged. A few might get swept away. It's the price we pay for living on this beautiful island. They'll rebuild right away. They'll make the Pagoda even stronger. You'll see." Charlie still felt uneasy. "Could this be… a hurricane?" Charlie asked. "Of course not," Papa said. "What that?" Lulu asked, eyes wide with curiosity. Mama raised her eyebrows with alarm, signaling to Papa and Charlie to stop the discussion—now. Of course she was right,

“海滩上的海浪……很大。 “我从来没见过这么汹涌的海湾，”查理说。 “他们把它拆了。”他又想起了那些野狗。 “真可恶!”妈妈说。 爸爸吹了一声长长的口哨，摇了摇头。 不过，他看起来并不震惊。 “每隔几年就会出现一次大风暴，”他说。 “一些建筑物遭到破坏。 一些可能会被冲走。 这是我们生活在这个美丽岛屿上的代价。 他们会马上重建。 他们会让宝塔更坚固。 你会看到。”查理仍然感到不安。 “这可能是……飓风吗？”查理问道。 “当然不是，”爸爸说。 “什么?”露露问，好奇地睁大了眼睛。 妈妈惊恐地扬起眉毛，示意爸爸和查理停止讨论——马上。 她当然是对的

Charlie knew. Hurricane was not a word any two-year-old needed to learn. Especially Lulu. Mama wiped Lulu's hands and face and took her off for a nap. Charlie started to follow them. He felt silly. And he needed to change his clothes. But Papa waved for him to come back. He put down his screwdriver and pushed aside his big toolbox as Charlie sat next to him. He was cold, but being closer to Papa warmed him up. "You all right, son?" No, Charlie wanted to say. And he realized it wasn't only those giant waves and the torn-apart Pagoda that was making him feel sick. It was Gordon. But he couldn't tell Papa that. "Big storms can be fierce," Papa said, taking hold of Charlie's hand. "I've told you all about the big storm we had in 1886." Charlie nodded—Papa told that story as often as Grandpa talked about the Texas Revolution. It was a huge storm. Streets all along the beach

查理知道。飓风不是一个两岁的孩子需要学习的词。 尤其是露露。妈妈擦了擦露露的手和脸，带她去睡了一会儿。 查理开始跟着他们。 他觉得自己很傻。他需要换衣服。 但是爸爸挥手让他回来。 他放下螺丝刀，把大工具箱推到一边，查理坐在他旁边。 他很冷，但离爸爸更近了，他暖和了起来。 “你没事吧，儿子？”不，查理想说。 他意识到，让他感到恶心的不仅仅是那些巨浪和被撕裂的宝塔。 是戈登。但他不能告诉爸爸。 “大风暴可能很猛烈，”爸爸说着，抓住了查理的手。 “我已经告诉过你1886年的那场大风暴了。” 查理点点头——爸爸经常讲这个故事，就像爷爷经常讲德克萨斯革命一样。 那是一场巨大的风暴。沿着海滩的街道

flooded. The bay flooded, too. There was so much water downtown that ships were sailing in the streets. "What I've never admitted to you, or anyone, is that I was completely terrified," Papa said. He peeked out the doorway, like he wanted to make sure Mama wasn't listening. "I was maybe seventeen years old. A big showoff. Nothing scared me!" He smiled a little and then shook his head. "But the sound of that wind, and all that water. I was so scared I got into bed and huddled under the covers." He chuckled softly. "I was just like Lulu. I'm surprised I didn't hide under the bed." Charlie cracked a smile, even though he could tell Papa wasn't kidding. "I somehow managed to fall asleep," Papa went on. "And when I woke up? The sun was shining. We'd lost some tree branches. There was a mess in the yard. But we cleaned it all up."

淹没。海湾也被淹了。 市区积水太多，以致船只在街上航行。 “我从来没有向你或任何人承认过，我当时完全吓坏了，”爸爸说。 他从门口往外偷看，好像想确保妈妈没在听。 “那时我大概17岁。 一个大炫耀。没有什么能吓到我！”他微微一笑，然后摇了摇头。 “但是风的声音，水的声音。 我害怕极了，钻进被窝里。” 他轻声笑了起来。“我就像露露一样。 我很惊讶我没有躲在床底下。” 查理笑了笑，尽管他知道爸爸不是在开玩笑。 “我总算睡着了，”爸爸接着说。 “我醒来的时候呢？”阳光灿烂。 我们失去了一些树枝。 院子里一片狼藉。 但我们都清理干净了。”

The wind let out a big blast, and the window rattled. Papa looked at it and waved his hand like he was shooing a fly. "This will be over soon. Don't worry." Charlie took a breath. The air smelled like gingersnaps. "Now, hurry up and change out of those wet clothes," Papa said. "Or Mama's going to make you wipe all the water off the kitchen floor." Charlie felt much better. He changed, ignoring the sounds of the pounding rain and howling wind. Luckily there was no thunder. He peeked in on Lulu—she'd fallen right to sleep. He figured he'd help Papa with his tools, but first he needed to use the privy. Never fun in weather like this. He opened the back door. The fierce wind sent a stinging spray of rain right into his eyes. He blinked hard as he took four steps to the privy and grabbed hold of the door handle.

风刮得很大，窗户格格作响。 爸爸看着它，像赶苍蝇一样挥挥手。 “很快就会结束的。别担心。” 查理吸了口气。空气中弥漫着姜饼的味道。 “现在，快点把湿衣服换掉，”爸爸说。 “不然妈妈会让你把厨房地板上的水都擦干净的。” 查理感觉好多了。他换了身衣服，全然不顾大雨滂沱和狂风呼啸的声音。 幸运的是没有打雷。 他偷看了露露一眼——她已经睡着了。 他想他可以帮爸爸搬工具，但首先他需要使用厕所。 这样的天气一点也不好玩。 他打开后门。狂风把一阵刺人的雨点吹进了他的眼睛。 他使劲眨着眼睛，向厕所走了四步，抓住门把手。