Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 SUNDAY NOVEMBER 4, 2001 2:15 P.M. The air was crisp and chilly. Lucas stood at the edge of the field. The sounds of football filled the air — the cheers of the crowd, the trill of the ref's whistle, the laughs of little kids playing tag in front of the snack bar. Mom and Dad were up in the bleachers. They waved at him. He waved back. A player ran off the field for a drink of water.

第十二章2001年11月4日星期日下午2:15 空气清新而寒冷。 卢卡斯站在场边。 空气中充满了足球的声音——人群的欢呼声，裁判哨声的颤音，小吃店前孩子们玩捉人游戏的笑声。 妈妈和爸爸在露天看台上。 他们向他挥手。他也挥了挥手。 一名球员跑出场地去喝水。

"Hey, Lucas!" he said. It was James, one of Mark's twins — Lucas had finally learned to tell them apart. "Hey, buddy," Lucas said. "Great game." The little boy smiled up through his face mask. Lucas held out his hand to high-five and the kid gave it a good whack. James ran back out on the field. Lucas turned, hoping James didn't see the tears in his eyes. He just needed a few seconds to pull himself together. He was getting better at it. And besides, he'd known this would be a tough day. This was the first game since Mark's funeral. The stands were filled with Ladder 177 guys and their families, all cheering for Mark's boys. Lucas was helping out the new coach. Some guys kept calling to Lucas from the stands. Half the Jaguars had come, too. Lucas wasn't on the team anymore. But he hadn't lost football. Or the guys. He took a deep breath.

“嘿，卢卡斯!”他说。是马克的双胞胎之一詹姆斯——卢卡斯终于学会了区分他们。 “嘿，伙计，”卢卡斯说。“大博弈”。 小男孩透过面罩向上微笑。 卢卡斯伸出手来击掌，那孩子狠狠地拍了一下。 詹姆斯跑回球场。 卢卡斯转过身来，希望詹姆斯没有看到他眼中的泪水。 他只需要几秒钟来振作起来。 他做得越来越好了。 而且，他知道这将是艰难的一天。 这是马克葬礼后的第一场比赛。 看台上坐满了梯子177的男孩和他们的家人，都在为马克的孩子们加油。 卢卡斯在帮助新教练。 有些人一直在看台上叫卢卡斯。 一半的美洲虎也来了。 卢卡斯已经不在队里了。 但他并没有失去足球。 或者是男生。他深吸了一口气。

Yes, this would be a tough day — but a good one. Dad had told Lucas it would get easier, as time passed. He didn't mean easy. It meant that there would be minutes — like these — when he wasn't buried by sadness, when he wasn't stuck in the terror of that day in September. When he didn't think about the planes, or the thousands of people who'd died in the towers, or the faces of the men who'd planned the attacks. The worst memories were from after he and Dad had escaped the dust, when they finally made it to the firehouse. Each hour had brought a new horror: the second tower collapsing, news that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, outside Washington, D.C., and that another plane had been heading for the Capitol or the White House, but had crashed in Pennsylvania. There was the moment when they found out about Mark. Then Georgie. Then Chief. The other men had made it back, one by one. Covered in dust and ash. Some dripping with

是的，这将是艰难的一天，但却是美好的一天。 爸爸告诉卢卡斯，随着时间的推移，事情会变得容易一些。 他不是说容易。这意味着会有几分钟——就像这样——他不会被悲伤所掩埋，不会被九月那天的恐怖所困。 当他没有想到飞机，没有想到在双子塔丧生的成千上万的人，也没有想到策划袭击的人的脸。 最糟糕的记忆是在他和爸爸逃离尘土之后，他们终于到达了消防站。 每一个小时都有新的恐怖事件发生:第二座塔楼倒塌，一架飞机撞上华盛顿特区外的五角大楼，还有一架飞往国会大厦或白宫的飞机在宾夕法尼亚州坠毁。 当他们发现马克的事时。 然后乔吉。当时的首席。其他人一个接一个地回来了。 被灰尘和灰烬覆盖着。一些滴着

blood. By that afternoon, there was only one man missing: Uncle Benny. The guys had seen him running into Tower 1, determined to get to the burning floors, to get as many people out as he could. Lucas could see the doom in the eyes of the other men as they talked about Uncle Benny. But he'd sat on the floor of the firehouse, his eyes glued to the door. Waiting. Waiting. Praying. Dad had been right there with him. That was one good thing that had come out of that day — Lucas and Dad. They'd marched out of the dust holding hands and just kept on marching, together. Last week Dad even brought the Seagrave model up from the basement. The real rig was wrecked. So Dad figured they should finish this one, and bring it to the firehouse. They worked on it some nights when neither of them could sleep.

血。到那天下午，只剩下一个人不见了:本尼叔叔。 那些人看到他冲进1号塔楼，决心冲到燃烧的楼层，尽可能多地把人救出来。 当其他人谈论本尼叔叔时，卢卡斯可以从他们的眼中看到厄运。 但他坐在消防站的地板上，眼睛紧盯着门。 等待。等待。祈祷。 爸爸一直陪在他身边。 这是那天发生的一件好事——卢卡斯和爸爸。 他们手牵着手走出尘土，继续前进，一起。 上周爸爸甚至把西格雷夫的模型从地下室搬了上来。 真正的钻机失事了。所以爸爸认为他们应该完成这个，把它带到消防站。 有几个晚上，他们俩谁也睡不着，他们就一起干。

Sometimes Mom would sit with them. All they had to do now was paint it. The score was tied in the fourth quarter. The other team called a time-out. The kids all ran to the sidelines, surrounding their coach. He stood there with his cane, his left arm in a sling, his shamrock tattoo peeping out from the top of the cast. Uncle Benny. "We have some champions here!" he boomed, turning to wink at Lucas. Yes, Uncle Benny had made it out. He'd come down the stairs of the North Tower a minute before it collapsed, carrying a wounded man on his back. He got himself and the man under an engine truck and saved both of their lives. He was in bad shape when he crawled out — shattered ankle, busted arm, collapsed lung. He was rushed to the hospital. Word didn't reach the firehouse until early in the evening. That is one memory that Lucas kept in his heart — the moment he heard that Uncle Benny was safe.

有时妈妈会和他们坐在一起。 他们现在所要做的就是粉刷它。 在第四节时比分打平。 另一队喊暂停。 孩子们都跑到场边，围住了他们的教练。 他拄着拐杖站在那里，左臂吊着吊带，石膏顶上露出了三叶草纹身。 本尼叔叔。“我们这里有几个勇士!”他大声说，转过头来对卢卡斯眨了眨眼睛。 是的，本尼叔叔逃出来了。 在北塔倒塌前一分钟，他背着一个受伤的人从楼梯上下来。 他把自己和那个人挤到一辆卡车下面，救了他们俩的命。 当他爬出来的时候，他的情况很糟糕——脚踝骨折，手臂骨折，肺部衰竭。 他被紧急送往医院。 消息直到傍晚才传到消防站。 这是卢卡斯一直铭记在心的一段记忆——他听到本尼叔叔安全的那一刻。

Lucas walked over as the kids ran back onto the field. Uncle Benny had dropped his cane. So he leaned on Lucas as they stood and watched the kids play. Their quarterback took the ball and then hurled it. It was a terrible pass. Impossible to catch. But James took off after it. The crowd stood and cheered. Uncle Benny and Lucas laughed as they watched James go, go, go. Mark's little boy ran with all of his might, his legs pumping, his arms reaching up, his face turned fearlessly toward the bright blue sky.

孩子们跑回球场时，卢卡斯走了过来。 本尼叔叔的手杖掉在地上了。 于是，他靠在卢卡斯身上，看着孩子们玩耍。 他们的四分卫接住球，然后把它扔了出去。 那是一次糟糕的传球。不可能抓到。 但詹姆斯追着它跑了。 人群站起来欢呼。 本尼叔叔和卢卡斯看着詹姆斯走，走，走，笑了。 马克的小男孩用尽全力地跑着，他的腿跳动着，他的手臂向上伸着，他的脸无畏地转向明亮的蓝天。