Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 ABOUT TWO HOURS LATER 5:15 P.M. Time crawled by. Babies were fussing. Beads of sweat dripped down Charlie's neck—it was hot and sticky in the room. Everyone else was getting restless, too. Someone had peeked outside and reported that

第十五章大约两个小时后下午五点十五分 时间慢慢过去了。婴儿们吵吵嚷嚷。 汗珠顺着查理的脖子往下滴——房间里又热又粘。 其他人也变得焦躁不安起来。 有人从外面偷看了一下，报告说

water was now rushing along Broadway and creeping up the Pottses' lawn. "I don't think that's happened before," Papa said quietly. And the wind, those shrieking gusts, were getting stronger and stronger. Whoooooo-eeeeeesh! Whoooooo-eeeeeesh! Whoooooo-eeeeeesh! "Chowie, I don't like those fairies!" Lulu cried after one terrible gust. "Make them go away!" Charlie thought of Meraki on that stormy night at sea, doing magic tricks for the passengers as the ship was tossed by the waves. He'd brought his magic kit with him—it was in their bag upstairs. That's how he could distract Lulu—it had worked during the last storm. Charlie went upstairs. As he headed down the hallway, he heard what sounded like a little boy crying. A kid must have wandered upstairs and

现在，河水沿着百老汇大街奔流，涌上了波茨家的草坪。 “我想以前没有发生过这种事，”爸爸平静地说。 风，那些尖叫的阵风，越来越猛烈了。 Whoooooo-eeeeeesh !Whoooooo-eeeeeesh !Whoooooo-eeeeeesh !“Chowie，我不喜欢那些仙女！”一阵可怕的狂风过后，露露哭了。 “让他们走开！”查理想起了在海上那个暴风雨的夜晚，当船被海浪颠簸时，梅拉基为乘客们表演魔术。 他把他的魔法工具箱带来了——就在楼上他们的包里。 这就是他转移露露注意力的方法——上次暴风雨时，这招奏效了。 查理上了楼。当他沿着走廊走的时候，他听到了一个小男孩的哭声。 一定是有个孩子溜上楼去了

gotten lost, Charlie figured. Probably he'd wanted to look at the fancy toilet, like they had. Charlie wanted to help the poor little kid. He followed the crying to a bedroom down the hall. The door wasn't closed all the way. He peered inside. It was not a lost little kid crying. It was Gordon. He was sitting on his bed. Mr. Potts was standing in front of him. "Stop your blubbering!" Mr. Potts scolded. "You know I detest crying!" "I'm sorry, Papa! I'm just—" "You're so weak, son," Mr. Potts said. "You need to toughen up. Come on. I want you downstairs now!" Mr. Potts turned to leave the room. Charlie quickly ducked into the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the tub, his mind turning. Stop your blubbering. You're so weak. Those were the exact same words Gordon used when he picked on Charlie. How many times had

迷路了，查理想。 也许他想看看那豪华的厕所，就像他们一样。 查理想帮助这个可怜的小孩。 他跟着哭声来到走廊尽头的一间卧室。 门不是一直关着的。 他往里面看了看。那不是一个迷路的小孩在哭。 是戈登。他坐在床上。 波茨先生站在他面前。 “别哭了！”波茨先生责备道。 “你知道我讨厌哭！”“对不起，爸爸！”我只是——”“你太软弱了，孩子，”波茨先生说。 “你需要坚强起来。来吧。 我要你现在就下楼！”波茨先生转身要离开房间。 查理迅速躲进浴室。 他坐在浴缸边上，思绪万千。 别哭了。你太软弱了。 戈登找查理麻烦的时候也是这么说的。 有多少次

Mr. Potts yelled at him like this? Did he always speak to Gordon in such a nasty way? Gordon hadn't followed Mr. Potts downstairs; Charlie could still hear him crying. Charlie's stomach flopped. No matter how mad Papa got at Charlie, he'd never talked to him like that. Charlie felt sorry for Gordon. For half a second, he even wondered if should go in there, to see if Gordon was okay. But there was a big mirror in the bathroom. When Charlie stood up, he caught a glimpse of himself in the lantern light. His lip was mostly healed, but it still ached. He heard Gordon's barking laugh. Haw! Haw! Haw! Why should Charlie feel sorry for the bully who'd aimed a pointed stick at him? Charlie shook his head to clear his thoughts, then headed to get his magic kit. Which trick would he do first for Lu and the other kids? The French drop? The vanishing balls?

波茨先生这样吼他吗？ 他对戈登说话总是这么刻薄吗？ 戈登没有跟着波茨先生下楼；查理还能听到他在哭。 查理的胃扑通一跳。 不管爸爸对查理有多生气，他从来没有那样对他说话。 查理为戈登感到难过。 有那么半秒钟，他甚至在想是否应该进去看看戈登是否还好。 但是浴室里有一面大镜子。 当查理站起来时，他在灯光下瞥见了自己。 他的嘴唇基本好了，但还是疼。 他听到戈登狂吠的笑声。 山楂!山楂!山楂!为什么查理要为那个用尖棍指着他的恶霸感到难过呢？ 查理摇了摇头，整理思绪，然后去拿他的魔法工具箱。 他会先给露和其他孩子表演哪个把戏？ 法国的空投？消失的球？

All of them, he decided. And I'll start with— Just then, panicked shouts erupted from downstairs. "The water! It's coming into the house!" Charlie darted to the staircase and made it halfway down before he froze. To his shock, water was rushing across the floor below. And it was rising higher by the second. Mr. Early's voice echoed in his head. "The sea suddenly rose up…" And then a stream of panicked people came barreling up the stairs. Charlie was caught in the stampede. The crowd pushed him forward, down the hall. Charlie didn't see Mama or Papa or Lulu anywhere. A lantern went out, and now there was barely any light. In the rush of pushing and shoving, Charlie wound up in a dark room. The wind let out an earsplitting shriek. Whoo-eeeeeesh! Whoo-eeeeeesh! Whooeeeeeesh!

所有人，他决定。就在这时，楼下传来一阵惊慌的喊叫。 “水!它进屋子了！”查理冲到楼梯上，走到一半就僵住了。 令他震惊的是，水正从下面的地板上奔涌而过。 到第二秒的时候，它上升得更高了。 厄尔利先生的声音在他脑子里回响。 “海突然涨起来了……”接着，一群惊慌失措的人奔上楼梯。 查理在踩踏中被抓住了。 人群把他往前推，推到大厅那头。 查理哪儿也没看见妈妈、爸爸和露露。 一盏灯灭了，现在几乎一点光也没有。 在拥挤的推推搡搡中，查理进了一间黑屋子。 风发出震耳欲聋的尖叫声。 Whoo-eeeeeesh !Whoo-eeeeeesh !Whooeeeeeesh !

The lanterns were out in this room, too. Charlie fumbled around, pawing at the air until he hit a wall. He leaned against it, trying to brace himself as the house shook harder and harder. Plaster rained down from the ceiling. He strained to see in the dark. Was he alone in here? Did he hear someone shouting? Or crying? Or was that just the wind? And then came the strongest blast yet. Whoo-eeeeeeeesh! The wall behind him shuddered. The sound was louder than anything Charlie had heard today. There was another crack and the wall behind him was suddenly… gone. The wind grabbed hold of Charlie and pulled him back. "Mamaaaaa! Papaaaaa!" Charlie was sucked out into the darkness, into the jaws of the storm.

这个房间里的灯也灭了。 查理摸索着，用爪子在空中抓来抓去，直到碰到了一堵墙。 他靠在墙上，房子摇晃得越来越厉害，他努力支撑着自己。 灰泥从天花板上雨点般落下。 他竭力在黑暗中看东西。 他一个人在这里吗？他听到有人喊了吗？ 还是哭?还是那只是风的声音？ 然后是最强的一次爆炸。 Whoo-eeeeeeeesh !他身后的墙在颤抖。 这声音比查理今天听到的任何声音都要响亮。 又一声裂缝，他身后的墙突然……消失了。 风抓住了查理，把他拉了回来。 “Mamaaaaa !Papaaaaa !”查理被吸进了黑暗，被吸进了风暴的深渊。