Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 It was Dad's voice that broke the silence. "Lucas!" Dad shouted. "Dad," Lucas rasped, spitting dust from his mouth. "Is anyone hurt?" Dad called. People coughed and hacked and sniffed. But nobody seemed to be badly hurt. Dust was everywhere. It coated Lucas, every inch of him. It was in his nose, between his teeth, stuck to his tongue and to the back of his throat. It wasn't like regular dust. Some of the grains were jagged — bits of ground glass. When Lucas tried to brush himself off, the dust cut into his skin.

是爸爸的声音打破了寂静。 “卢卡斯!”爸爸喊道。“爸爸。”卢卡斯嘶哑地说，嘴里吐着灰尘。 “有人受伤吗?”爸爸叫道。 人们咳嗽、砍、嗅。 但似乎没有人受重伤。 到处都是灰尘。它覆盖了卢卡斯的每一寸肌肤。 它在他的鼻子里，在他的牙齿之间，粘在他的舌头和喉咙后面。 它不像普通的灰尘。 有些颗粒是锯齿状的碎玻璃。 当卢卡斯想要掸掉身上的灰尘时，灰尘划破了他的皮肤。

"I have a light," Dad said in a calm and quiet voice. "I'm going to turn it on. Follow the light and come to me. We're going to stay together. We're all going to be all right." There was a click, and then the glow of a small yellow circle. It looked like the moon on a foggy night. The air was filled with white floating dust — to Lucas it seemed like they were trapped inside a snow globe. There were four other people in the store with him and Dad, two women and two men. The younger of the men came from behind the counter of the store. He worked there.

“我有一盏灯，”爸爸平静地说。 “我要把它打开。跟着光来到我身边。 我们要待在一起。 我们都会没事的。” 咔哒一声，然后一个黄色的小圆圈发出了光芒。 它看起来就像雾蒙蒙的夜晚的月亮。 空气中充满了白色的浮尘——对卢卡斯来说，他们似乎被困在一个雪花玻璃球里。 店里还有另外四个人跟他和爸爸在一起，两女两男。 较年轻的那个人从商店的柜台后面走了出来。 他在那里工作。

Dad asked everyone their names. "I want everyone to put a piece of clothing in front of your mouth," he told them. "It's not good to breathe this dust." Lee, the store worker, got big bottles of water for everyone, and rolls of paper towels. Everyone rinsed their mouths. Dad soaked a paper towel and carefully washed Lucas's eyes and face, then he

爸爸问了每个人的名字。 他对他们说:“我要每个人都用一块衣服捂着嘴。” “吸入这种灰尘不好。” 店员李给每个人都准备了大瓶水和几卷纸巾。 每个人都漱口。 爸爸用纸巾泡了水，仔细地洗了卢卡斯的眼睛和脸，然后他

helped the others. Catherine, the younger of the two women, was crying. The other people comforted her. "What was that?" Catherine sobbed. "Was there another plane? Someone said there was another plane." "No," Dad said. "That was not a plane. I think the top part of the building must have come down." The door was stuck. Dad kicked out the jagged glass that clung to the door frame. He stepped out first, then turned to help everyone through, out of the store. Dad had told them he wanted to move quickly. The four strangers started walking, holding hands. But Dad stopped just outside the store, his hand clamped to Lucas's shoulder, staring at the scene of destruction all around them. It seemed to be much worse south of them, where even through the fog of dust, Lucas could see that twisted steel beams and big chunks of concrete filled the streets. Cars were on fire. Fire trucks and ambulances were smashed. A few weak sirens squawked. It

帮助其他人。两个女人中较年轻的凯瑟琳在哭。 其他人安慰她。 “那是什么?”凯瑟琳抽泣着。 “还有别的飞机吗?”有人说还有一架飞机。” “不，”爸爸说。“那不是飞机。 我想大楼的顶部一定是塌了。” 门卡住了。爸爸踢掉了粘在门框上的参差不齐的玻璃。 他先走出去，然后转身帮助大家走出商店。 爸爸告诉他们他想快点行动。 四个陌生人开始手拉着手往前走。 但是爸爸在店外停了下来，他的手紧握着卢卡斯的肩膀，盯着他们周围被毁灭的景象。 南边的情况似乎更糟，即使透过尘土的迷雾，卢卡斯也能看到扭曲的钢梁和大块的混凝土填满了街道。 汽车着火了。消防车和救护车被砸毁。 几声微弱的警笛在鸣叫。 它

sounded like the trucks were crying for help. All around them, people climbed out of windows and doorways. Everyone was coated with the white dust. Lucas thought of a book he'd read on World War II last year. There were pictures of cities that had been bombed and burned to the ground. That's what this scene reminded him of — war. Dad was looking intently south, like he was searching for something. "It's gone," he said in a soft voice that only Lucas could hear. "What's gone?" Lucas said. "One of the towers," Dad said. "The entire building collapsed." Nothing around them looked like the wreckage of a collapsed 110-story building. Where were the big hunks of glass and steel, the smashed office furniture and computers, the miles of wires and pipes? "Where is it?" Lucas said. There was nothing but dust. "It's all around us," Dad said. The dust, Lucas realized. That was the tower. It was practically all that was left.

听起来像是卡车在呼救。 在他们周围，人们从窗户和门口爬了出来。 每个人身上都沾满了白色的灰尘。 卢卡斯想起了他去年读过的一本关于二战的书。 有一些城市被轰炸并被夷为平地的照片。 这一幕使他想起了战争。 爸爸目不转睛地朝南看，好像在找什么东西。 “它不见了，”他用只有卢卡斯能听见的柔和的声音说。 “什么走了?”卢卡斯说。 “其中一座塔，”爸爸说。 “整座建筑都倒塌了。” 他们周围没有任何东西看起来像倒塌的110层建筑的残骸。 大块的玻璃和钢铁、被砸碎的办公家具和电脑、绵延数英里的电线和管道都到哪里去了? “它在哪儿?”卢卡斯说。 除了灰尘什么都没有。 “它就在我们身边，”爸爸说。 是灰尘，卢卡斯意识到。那是塔。 这几乎是剩下的一切了。

Lucas tried not to think about how many people might still be in the buildings — the men and women working there, the hundreds of firefighters and police and paramedics who were on the scene. Georgie and Mark. Uncle Benny. Lucas tried not to think about the people who might have been in that building when it came down. Dad would have been — if he hadn't come looking for Lucas in the firehouse. Dad took Lucas's hand and held it tight. "We need to move fast," he said. The other tower, Lucas realized. If the first one could fall, the second one could, too. And so they began their march north, Dad and Lucas together. The dust cleared as they reached Chambers Street. All of a sudden the world was bright again. But it didn't matter, Lucas realized. It didn't matter how far they walked, or how much time went by. Nothing would ever be the same again.

卢卡斯尽量不去想有多少人可能还在大楼里——在那里工作的男男女女，在现场的数百名消防员、警察和护理人员。 乔治和马克。本尼叔叔。 卢卡斯尽量不去想大楼倒塌时可能在里面的人。 要不是爸爸来消防站找卢卡斯，他早就死了。 爸爸紧紧握住卢卡斯的手。 “我们需要快速行动，”他说。 另一座塔，卢卡斯意识到。 如果第一个可以倒下，第二个也可以。 于是他们开始向北行进，爸爸和卢卡斯一起。 他们到达钱伯斯街时，尘土散去。 突然间，世界又亮了起来。 但这并不重要，卢卡斯意识到。 不管他们走了多远，也不管过了多长时间。 一切都将不再一样。