Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 THREE WEEKS EARLIER MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1964 4:30 IN THE AFTERNOON 120 MILES FROM VALDEZ, DEEP IN THE WILDERNESS "I don't think we'll be having fish for dinner tonight," Mom said, flicking a small icicle from

第二章三周前1964年3月9日星期一下午4点30分距离瓦尔迪兹120英里的荒野深处“我想今晚我们晚餐不会吃鱼了，”妈妈说着，轻轻地弹了弹树上的一根小冰柱

her eyelash. Jackson peered down into the hole he and Dad had chopped through the thick river ice. They'd been fishing for hours. So far, not even a nibble. Needles of cold jabbed at Jackson's toes. It wasn't too cold today—around 5 degrees. But he still should have worn a third pair of socks. Jackson stared down into the dark water. "I know you're down there, fish!"

她的睫毛。杰克逊凝视着他和爸爸在厚厚的河冰上凿出的洞。 他们已经钓了好几个小时了。 到目前为止，连一点点都没有。 冰冷的针扎在杰克逊的脚趾上。 今天不太冷，大约5度。 但他还是应该穿第三双袜子。 杰克逊凝视着下面漆黑的水面。 “我知道你在下面，鱼！”

Dad chuckled, and Mom let out one of her famous barking laughs. She sounded like a seal. "A very jolly seal," Dad always said. It was that laugh that had caught Dad's attention all those years ago, when he and Mom were in college in Ohio. Back then, Dad was already dreaming of living on his own in the Alaskan bush. That's what people called the wild parts of Alaska that were far from roads and towns. It turned out Mom was ready for an adventure, too. They came up here after college, found a patch of land near the river, and started building the cabin. What a disaster! Eying his parents, Jackson thought of all the horror stories they'd told him about their first year in the bush. They ran out of food halfway through the winter. They got lost in the forest and nearly froze. Mom ate a poisonous mushroom and puked her guts out for a week. Finally, it was summer—and they were practically eaten alive by swarms of bloodthirsty Alaska mosquitoes.

爸爸咯咯地笑了起来，妈妈发出了她那著名的狂吠般的笑声。 她的声音听起来像一只海豹。“一只非常快乐的海豹，”爸爸总是说。 多年前，当爸爸和妈妈在俄亥俄州上大学的时候，正是这种笑声引起了爸爸的注意。 那时候，爸爸已经梦想着独自生活在阿拉斯加的丛林里。 这就是人们所说的远离道路和城镇的阿拉斯加荒野地区。 原来妈妈也准备好去冒险了。 他们大学毕业后来到这里，在河边找了一块地，开始建造小屋。 真是一场灾难！看着他的父母，杰克逊想起了他们告诉他的第一年在丛林里的恐怖故事。 冬天过了一半，他们的食物就用光了。 他们在森林里迷了路，差点冻死。 妈妈吃了一种有毒的蘑菇，呕吐了一个星期。 最后，到了夏天，他们几乎被成群嗜血的阿拉斯加蚊子活生生地吃掉了。

"We were idiots," Mom liked to say. "We had no idea what we were doing." "We almost died ten times," Dad would add, shaking his head. But each mistake taught Mom and Dad something new. And when they weren't hungry or freezing or being devoured by bloodsuckers, they were falling more and more in love with each other—and with the wild land around them. Jackson was born two years later. He'd spent his whole life in the tiny cabin Mom and Dad had built about two miles from the river. Lucky me, Jackson thought, smiling to himself and giving his freezing toes a wriggle. "So, what should we have for dinner?" Dad asked. "How about moose stew," Mom said. "Or we could have moose burgers or moose meatloaf… or moose meatballs." "Or moose chili?" Jackson asked. "Oh, that would hit the spot," Dad said.

“我们是白痴，”妈妈喜欢说。 “我们不知道自己在做什么。” “我们差点死了十次，”爸爸摇摇头补充说。 但每个错误都教会了爸爸妈妈一些新的东西。 当他们不再饥肠辘辘，不再受冻，不再被吸血鬼吞噬的时候，他们就越来越爱彼此，也越来越爱周围的荒野。 杰克逊两年后出生。 他一生都住在爸爸妈妈在离河两英里的地方建的小木屋里。 幸运的是我，杰克逊想，对自己笑了笑，扭动了一下冰冻的脚趾。 “那么，我们晚餐吃什么呢？”爸爸问。 “炖驼鹿肉怎么样？”妈妈说。 “或者我们可以吃驼鹿汉堡、驼鹿肉饼……或者驼鹿肉丸。” “还是驼鹿辣椒？”杰克逊问道。 “哦，那正好，”爸爸说。

"Moose chili it is," Mom said. By this time of year, they were all sick to death of moose meat. It was their main food in the winter. Most other animals they could eat were hiding underground or hibernating during the coldest months. One male moose had six hundred pounds of meat. They'd hunt one down, butcher the animal, cut up the meat, and preserve it in jars they sealed shut in boiling water. By now Jackson had eaten so much moose meat he was surprised he didn't have antlers. But he never complained. Three years ago, they couldn't find a moose before winter blasted in. They barely had any meat all winter. Luckily, they had their winter supply of rice and beans and noodles. But they had to be careful. Because if they ran out, they couldn't just drive to a store. They had no car. There were no roads in the bush. The nearest store was in a town about twenty miles away.

“是驼鹿辣椒，”妈妈说。 到了每年的这个时候，他们都因为吃驼鹿肉而恶心死了。 这是它们冬天的主要食物。 在最冷的月份里，它们能吃的大多数动物都躲在地下或冬眠。 一只公驼鹿有600磅肉。 他们会猎杀一只，宰杀，切肉，保存在罐子里，用沸水密封。 到现在为止，杰克逊已经吃了这么多驼鹿肉，他很惊讶自己没有鹿角。 但他从不抱怨。三年前，在冬天来临之前，他们连一头驼鹿都找不到。 他们整个冬天几乎没有肉吃。 幸运的是，他们有过冬的大米、豆子和面条。 但他们必须小心。 因为如果用完了，他们不能直接开车去商店。 他们没有车。灌木丛中没有路。 最近的商店在大约20英里外的一个镇上。

No, living here wasn't always easy. Their cabin had no electricity or running water; their toilet was a hole in the ground. The forest was filled with grizzlies and wolves. A person had to be tough to live in the bush—Alaska tough. Jackson looked around now, shivering a little. His toes were numb. But he smiled to himself as he looked up the river. It curled like an icy blue ribbon through the thick green forest. He'd always felt lucky to live in such an amazing place. Mom led the way on the two-mile journey back home. The sun was starting to go down when the cabin finally came into sight. It was small and plain—just four walls made of logs, with moss stuffed into the cracks to keep out the cold. They were a few steps from the front porch when Mom stopped short. "What's wrong?" Dad asked.

不，住在这里并不容易。 他们的小屋没有电，也没有自来水；他们的厕所是地上的一个洞。 森林里到处都是灰熊和狼。 一个人要想在丛林中生活，就必须很坚强——阿拉斯加的坚强。 杰克逊环顾四周，有点发抖。 他的脚趾麻木了。但他望着河的上游，对自己笑了。 它像一条冰冷的蓝丝带，卷曲着穿过茂密的绿色森林。 能住在这样一个神奇的地方，他一直感到很幸运。 妈妈带路走了两英里回家的路程。 太阳开始下山时，小屋终于出现了。 它又小又简陋——只有四堵用原木砌成的墙，裂缝里塞着苔藓以御寒。 他们走到离前廊几步远的地方，妈妈突然停了下来。 “怎么了?”爸爸问。