Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 "Barry! Barry!" Dad was pounding down the stairs. He splashed through the water, grabbed Barry by the arm, lifting him up, and pulled him toward the staircase. Furniture and other objects floated around them like bath toys — the new couch Mom had saved for a year to buy, the little square lamp table where Gramps used to play chess, framed pictures of Barry and Cleo from school. The water was rising fast! It was up to Barry's waist by the time they reached the stairs

第八章“巴瑞!巴里!”爸爸咚咚地走下楼梯。 他溅起水来，抓住巴里的胳膊，把他扶起来，拉他向楼梯走去。 家具和其他物品像洗澡玩具一样漂浮在他们周围——妈妈攒了一年买的新沙发，爷爷以前下棋用的方形小台灯桌，学校里巴里和克莱奥的相框。 水涨得很快!当他们走到楼梯上时，水已经到了巴里的腰部

— and it kept getting higher. It was like their house was a bucket being filled up by the biggest hose in the world. Where was all this water coming from? The water in Gramps's stories hadn't been this wild. Mom burst out of her room with Cleo in her arms as Dad and Barry made it to the top of the staircase. She looked down the stairs and gasped. She wrapped her free arm around Barry, pulling him close. "The levee, Roddy," she said to Dad. "The levee broke?" Barry asked, picturing the Industrial Canal. The canal was five miles long and very deep. Was all that water pouring into their neighborhood? Mom and Dad seemed frozen, staring at the rising water. Panic boiled up inside Barry. "What will happen?" Barry asked. "What will we do? What…" His voice trailed off. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know the answers to his questions. They all stood there, huddled together, watching the water move up the stairs.

——而且越来越高。 他们的房子就像一个水桶，被世界上最大的水管灌满。 这些水是从哪里来的? 爷爷故事里的水从来没有这么狂野。 妈妈抱着克莱奥冲出房间，爸爸和巴里来到楼梯顶上。 她朝楼下看了看，倒吸了一口气。 她用另一只胳膊搂住巴里，把他拉近。 “堤坝，罗迪，”她对爸爸说。 “堤坝决堤了?”巴里问道，想象着工业运河。 这条运河有五英里长，很深。 所有的水都流入了他们的社区吗? 爸爸妈妈似乎僵住了，盯着不断上涨的水位。 巴里的内心沸腾起来。 “会发生什么?”巴里问。 “我们该怎么办?”什么……”他的声音变小了。 他甚至不确定自己是否想知道问题的答案。 他们都站在那里，挤在一起，看着水顺着楼梯往上流。

"We need to go up to the attic," Dad said. "Now." Dad pulled open the hatch in the ceiling and a blast of hot air came down. Barry had been up there only once in his life. It was a tiny space, dark and hot like an oven, with a ceiling that sloped down so you couldn't stand up straight. Cleo started to cry. "No!" she yelled. She tried to run away. "No go up!" Dad caught her. "Cleo!" he said. She struggled to escape, screaming and squirming. There was no way they could force her up the rickety stairs. "It's all right," Barry said, taking hold of his sister's hand. "No! No!" she insisted. "Clee," he said, working hard to keep his voice steady, "Akivo might be up there." Cleo sniffed. She let Barry pick her up, and put her arms around his neck. She buried her head in his chest. She still felt feverish. He held her more tightly. Dad sent Mom up first. Then Barry put Cleo on the ladder and climbed up right behind her.

“我们得上阁楼去，”爸爸说。 “现在。”爸爸拉开了天花板上的舱门，一股热气喷了下来。 巴里一生中只去过那里一次。 那是一个很小的空间，又黑又热，像个烤箱，天花板向下倾斜，你根本站不直。 克莱奥哭了起来。“不!”她喊道。 她试图逃跑。“不，上去!”爸爸抓住了她。 “克利奥!”他说。她挣扎着逃跑，尖叫着，扭动着。 他们不可能强迫她爬上摇摇晃晃的楼梯。 “没关系。”巴里说着，抓住妹妹的手。 “不!不!”她坚持说。“克利，”他说，努力使自己的声音保持稳定，“阿基沃可能在上面。” 克莱奥闻了闻。她让巴瑞把她抱起来，然后搂住他的脖子。 她把头埋在他的胸膛里。 她仍然感到发烧。他把她抱得更紧了。 爸爸让妈妈先上来。然后巴里把克莱奥放在梯子上，跟着她爬上去。

Dad came up last, and they all sat down together in the darkness. There was barely enough room for the four of them, and they were squashed together. The air was so hot it burned Barry's lungs. It stunk like mildew and dust. He tried not to imagine what was happening just below the attic floor: every single thing they owned — their furniture, Cleo's toys, Mom's cookbooks, Dad's trumpet and all his music — being covered with water. And Akivo. He was trapped in Barry's room somewhere. Lost. For the past few weeks, thinking about Akivo had given Barry the feeling — a secret, happy feeling — that maybe he wasn't really the scared little kid he saw in the bathroom mirror. He and Jay had created something unique, something special. Somehow, the bright colors of Barry's drawing seemed to have gotten inside him. But now the bright and powerful feeling drained away. With every minute that ticked by, Barry felt more helpless and terrified. Cleo was whimpering again. Mom held her on her lap,

爸爸最后一个上来，他们在黑暗中一起坐下。 房间里几乎容不下他们四个人，他们被挤在了一起。 空气太热了，巴里的肺都被烫伤了。 它散发着霉菌和灰尘的臭味。 他试着不去想象阁楼下面发生的事情:他们拥有的每一件东西——家具、克莱奥的玩具、妈妈的烹饪书、爸爸的小号和他所有的音乐——都被水淹没了。 和Akivo。他被困在巴里的房间里。 丢失。在过去的几个星期里，想到阿基沃给了巴里一种感觉——一种秘密的、快乐的感觉——也许他并不是他在浴室镜子里看到的那个害怕的小孩。 他和杰伊创造了一种独特的、特别的东西。 不知怎么的，巴里画的鲜艳色彩似乎进入了他的内心。 但是现在那种明亮而强烈的感觉渐渐消失了。 时间一分一秒地过去，巴里感到更加无助和恐惧。 克利奥又呜咽起来。 妈妈把她抱在腿上，

rocking back and forth, singing softly to calm her. he water was rising past the second floor. They could hear the whooshing and banging of furniture below. What would they do? Where could they go? Barry's whole body was shaking. His mind was spinning. And then Dad leaned in closer. He put one hand on Barry's shoulder and the other on Mom's. "I want you to listen carefully," he said softly. "We are all together. And as long as we're all together, we are going to come through this." Even in the darkness, Barry could see Dad's eyes blazing. "Soon this will be over," Dad said. "We just have to get through the next few hours." Mom wiped away Barry's tears. "We can't stay here in the attic," Dad said. "We're going up onto the roof." Mom's eyes got wider. She swallowed. "All right," she said. "But there's no way out," Barry said. "Yes, there is," Dad said.

摇来摇去，轻轻地唱歌让她平静下来。 水涨过了二楼。 他们能听到下面家具的嗖嗖声和撞击声。 他们会怎么做?他们能去哪里呢? 巴里整个身体都在颤抖。 他的脑子在旋转。然后爸爸靠得更近了。 他一只手搭在巴里的肩上，另一只手搭在妈妈的肩上。 “我要你仔细听着。”他轻声说。 “我们都在一起。只要我们团结在一起，我们就能度过难关。” 即使在黑暗中，巴里也能看到爸爸的眼睛在发光。 “很快就会结束的，”爸爸说。 “我们只需要熬过接下来的几个小时。” 妈妈擦去巴里的眼泪。 “我们不能呆在阁楼上，”爸爸说。 “我们要上屋顶去。” 妈妈的眼睛睁大了。她吞下。 “好吧，”她说。“但是没有办法了，”巴里说。 “是的，有。”爸爸说。

"How?" Barry asked. "Your grandfather." Barry stared at Dad. Gramps had died three years earlier. Dad wasn't the kind who believed in angels flying around. What was he talking about? Dad crawled to the darkest corner of the attic. He started back with what looked like a stick. As he got closer, Barry saw what it was: an ax. "Gramps always said there'd be another bad storm," Dad said. "He kept this ax up here for forty years. And he made sure I knew about it."

“如何?”巴里问。“你的祖父。” 巴里盯着爸爸。祖父早在三年前就去世了。 爸爸不是那种相信有天使飞来飞去的人。 他在说什么? 爸爸爬到阁楼最黑暗的角落。 他拿着一根像棍子的东西往回走。 当他走近时，巴里看到了那是一把斧头。 “爷爷总是说还会有一场大风暴，”爸爸说。 “他把这把斧头放在这里四十年了。 他确保我知道这件事。”