Chapter 1

I SURVIVED HURRICANE KATRINA, 2005

我从2005年的卡特里娜飓风中幸存下来

CHAPTER 1 MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2005 7:00 A.M. THE LOWER NINTH WARD, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Hurricane Katrina was ripping apart New Orleans, and eleven-year-old Barry Tucker was lost and alone, clinging to an oak tree for dear life. He'd fallen off the roof of his house and been swept away in the floodwater. The raging current had tossed and twisted him, almost tearing him to pieces. He would have drowned,

第一章二零零五年八月二十九日星期一上午七时 卡特里娜飓风席卷了新奥尔良，11岁的巴里·塔克迷失了方向，孤身一人，紧紧地抓着一棵橡树。 他从屋顶上掉了下来，被洪水冲走了。 汹涌的水流把他翻腾扭曲，几乎把他撕成碎片。 他会淹死的，

but somehow Barry had grabbed hold of the tree. With every bit of strength in his body, he'd pulled himself out of the water and wrapped his arms and legs around the trunk. Now he was holding on, with no idea what to do next. Wind howled around him. Rain hammered down. And all Barry could see was water. Swirling, foaming, rushing water. The water had washed away his whole neighborhood. Pieces of it floated by. In the dirty gray light, Barry saw jagged hunks of wood, shattered glass, a twisted bicycle, a refrigerator, a stuffed penguin, a mattress covered with a pink blanket. He tried hard not to imagine what else was in that water or what had happened to all his neighbors … and his mom and dad and little sister, Cleo. What if they'd all fallen into the water too? What if … Wait! What was that sound? Was someone calling his name? "Dad!" Barry screamed. "Mom! Cleo!" No. It was just the wind shrieking. Even the sky was terrified of this storm.

但巴里不知怎么抓住了那棵树。 他用尽全身的力气，把自己从水里拉了出来，用胳膊和腿抱住树干。 现在他在坚持，不知道下一步该做什么。 风在他周围呼啸。大雨倾盆而下。 巴瑞只能看到水。 漩涡，泡沫，奔涌的水。 洪水冲走了他的整个街区。 碎片飘了过去。在灰暗的灯光下，巴里看到了参差不齐的木头、破碎的玻璃、一辆扭曲的自行车、一台冰箱、一只毛绒企鹅和一张铺着粉红色毯子的床垫。 他努力不去想象水里还有什么，不去想象他所有的邻居、他的父母和小妹妹克莱奥都发生了什么。 如果他们也都掉进水里了呢? 如果……等等!那是什么声音? 有人在叫他的名字吗? “爸爸!”巴里尖叫。“妈妈!克莱奥!”不。 只是风在尖叫。 连天空都害怕这场风暴。

Barry was shaking now. Tears stung his eyes. And then he heard a new sound, a cracking and groaning, above the wind and rain. He stared in shock at what was floating in the water. A house. Or what was left of it. One side was torn off. It moved through the flood slowly, turning. Its blown-out windows seemed to stare at Barry. The splintered wood looked like teeth in a wide-open mouth. And it was coming right at him.

巴里开始发抖了。泪水刺痛了他的眼睛。 然后，他听到了一个新的声音，噼啪声和呻吟声，在风雨之上。 他吃惊地盯着漂在水里的东西。 一所房子。或者它还剩下什么。 有一面被撕掉了。它慢慢地在洪水中移动，转弯。 那扇被吹破的窗户似乎在盯着巴里。 劈开的木头看起来就像张大嘴巴里的牙齿。 它正朝他冲过来。