Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 TWENTY-ONE HOURS EARLIER SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2005 10:00A.M. THE TUCKERS' HOUSE, THE LOWER NINTH WARD, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Barry sat on the steps of his front porch. His best friend, Jay, huddled next to him. Jay wanted to see the drawing rolled up in Barry's hands. "Show me!" Jay said, leaning so close Barry could smell egg sandwich on his breath.

第二章二十一个小时前，2005年8月28日星期日上午十时 塔克家，新奥尔良下九区，路易斯安那州巴里坐在前廊的台阶上。 他最好的朋友杰伊蜷缩在他旁边。 杰想看到画卷在巴里手里。 “给我!”杰说，靠得很近，巴里都能闻到他嘴里的鸡蛋三明治味。

Barry elbowed him back, laughing. He knew Jay was excited. They both were. The next day was the deadline for Acclaim Comic Books' "Create a Superhero" contest. For the past three weeks, Barry and Jay had been working nonstop on their creation. They'd come up with everything together — their hero's name, his costume, even his secret star, which was the source of his amazing powers. But it had been Barry's job to draw him. He'd stayed up past midnight the last three nights, adding his finishing touches. "Okay," Barry said, clearing his throat and standing up like an announcer facing an anxious crowd. "This is the moment you've been waiting for. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Akivo!" He unrolled the paper and watched Jay's eyes get wider behind his scratched-up glasses. Barry's cheeks heated up. He'd worked hard on the drawing. Of course he'd never admit it to Jay, but it was almost like Akivo was his brother. A seven-foot-tall brother with bulging muscles, hawk wings, titanium armor, and eyes that could see through walls.

巴里笑着用肘推开他。 他知道杰伊很兴奋。他们都是。 第二天是Acclaim漫画公司“创造超级英雄”比赛的截止日期。 在过去的三个星期里，巴里和杰伊一直在不停地创作他们的作品。 他们一起想出了所有的东西——他们的英雄的名字，他的服装，甚至他的秘密星星，这是他神奇力量的来源。 但画他是巴里的工作。 前三个晚上，他都熬到半夜，做最后的润色工作。 “好吧，”巴里说，他清了清嗓子，站了起来，就像一个面对焦虑人群的播音员。 “这是你等待已久的时刻。 女士们先生们，欢迎Akivo!”他把报纸展开，看着杰的眼睛在他那破烂的眼镜后面睁大了。 巴里的脸颊热了起来。他很努力地画这幅画。 当然，他永远不会向杰伊承认这一点，但阿基沃就像他的兄弟一样。 他身高七英尺，肌肉鼓鼓的，有着鹰一般的翅膀，钛合金盔甲，还有一双能看穿墙壁的眼睛。

Jay rose to his feet. "That's amazing," he said in a shocked whisper. "The wings look real. And that fire…" He pointed to the flames coming out of Akivo's silver boots. Barry had worked for three hours on those flames, mixing orange and red and yellow with a bit of blue until they looked like they would burn your fingers if you touched them. They both stood there for a minute, staring at the drawing. Then Jay started jumping up and down. "We're going to win the contest!" Jay yelled. "We're going to win the contest!" Barry started jumping too. He knew that hundreds of people were entering, and not only kids. Some people drew on computers. Others made videos. All Barry had were the colored pencils Mom and Dad had bought him for his last birthday. Still, Barry was a believer. He had gotten that from his mom. And at that minute, Barry let himself believe that he and Jay just might win first place—$250 to split and the comic book, starring Akivo, that Acclaim would create. Barry

杰伊站了起来。“太不可思议了，”他震惊地低声说。 “翅膀看起来是真的。还有那堆火……”他指着从阿奇沃的银靴子里冒出来的火焰。 巴里在火焰上工作了三个小时，把橙色、红色、黄色和一点蓝色混合在一起，直到它们看起来像你一碰就会烧伤你的手指。 他们俩站在那儿，盯着那幅画看了一会儿。 然后杰伊开始上蹿下跳。 “我们要赢得比赛了!”Jay喊道。 “我们要赢得比赛了!”巴里也开始跳起来。 他知道有成百上千的人正在进来，而且不仅仅是孩子。 有些人用电脑画画。 其他人则制作视频。巴里所有的东西都是爸爸妈妈给他买的彩色铅笔。 尽管如此，巴里还是一个信徒。 他从他妈妈那里学来的。 在那一刻，巴里让自己相信，他和杰伊可能会赢得第一名——50分，由阿基沃主演的漫画书，将由Acclaim公司创作。 巴里

and Jay loved comic books. They'd been collecting them since they'd learned to read. "We're going to be rich!" Jay sang. "And famous!" said Barry. They were so busy jumping and dancing and hooting, they didn't notice Abe Mackay and his killer dog, Cruz, watching from the sidewalk. Abe's laughter got their attention. Abe was a huge guy — almost twice the size of Barry. His booming laugh practically shook the ground. Barry and Jay froze. The hairs on Barry's arms stood up straight. Jay's cocoa skin turned gray. Abe was in middle school, just a year older than Barry and Jay. They used to all be friends. But Abe had changed since his dad had gone away two years earlier. Now he and his grandma lived alone. The Mackays' house used to be one of the nicest in their neighborhood. It was painted bright sky blue. Abe's grandma used to have a yard full of flowers you could smell a block away. But now the garden was dead and the house was gloomy. Abe didn't go to school much anymore, and he'd started hanging around

杰伊喜欢漫画书。 自从他们学会了阅读，他们就一直在收集它们。 “我们要发财了!”周杰伦唱了。 “而且出名!”巴里说。他们忙着又跳又跳又叫，没有注意到亚伯·麦凯和他的杀人狗克鲁兹在人行道上看着他们。 亚伯的笑声引起了他们的注意。 亚伯是个大块头，几乎是巴里的两倍大。 他那洪亮的笑声几乎震撼了大地。 巴里和杰僵住了。巴里手臂上的汗毛竖了起来。 杰伊的可可色皮肤变成了灰色。 亚伯在上中学，只比巴里和杰大一岁。 他们过去都是朋友。 但自从他父亲两年前离开后，亚伯已经变了。 现在他和他的奶奶独自生活。 麦凯家的房子曾经是他们附近最好的房子之一。 它被漆成明亮的天蓝色。 亚伯的奶奶曾经有一个院子，里面满是鲜花，隔着一个街区就能闻到花香。 但现在花园死气沉沉，房子阴森森的。 亚伯不再经常去学校了，他开始在附近闲逛

the older boys whose vrooming motorcycles kept everyone up at night. And then there was his new dog. He looked like a big mutt. He had a square head, and the tips of his pointy ears flopped over. But Abe said that he was a special breed from Asia, trained by the Chinese army, and that his jaw was strong enough to bite through metal. "He's trained to kill," Abe had bragged. "On my command. He goes right for the neck. One bite is all it takes."

大男孩们的摩托车让大家夜不能寐。 然后是他的新狗。 他看起来像一只大杂种狗。 他的脑袋是方的，尖尖的耳尖耷拉着。 但安倍说，他是来自亚洲的特殊品种，受过中国军队的训练，他的下巴足够强壮，可以咬穿金属。 “他受过杀人训练，”亚伯吹嘘道。 “听我的命令。他直接打在脖子上。 咬一口就够了。”

"Why'd you stop dancing?" Abe asked now, spitting onto the sidewalk. "Cruz loves to dance!" He bent down to unhook the dog's leash. "Go!" Abe shouted. "Go get 'em, Cruz!"

“你为什么不跳舞了?”亚伯边问边往人行道上吐唾沫。 “克鲁兹喜欢跳舞!”他弯下腰解开狗的皮带。 “走吧!”安倍喊道。“去抓他们，克鲁兹!”