Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Amends amends (amends), n. Legal compensation (of money or other valuable assets) as a repair for loss, damage, or injury of any kind. In his whole life, Evan had never gone this long without eating. And the weirdest thing of all was that he wasn't even hungry anymore. Sometime around two o'clock on Saturday afternoon, his hunger had just disappeared. Like turning off a light switch. He felt empty and light and a little buzzy in his head. But not hungry. He hadn't even planned it. Yesterday, he'd come home and eaten his dinner, as usual. And then the sun went down and he thought about Adam and Paul,

第十六章补偿；修正； 赔偿（金钱或其他有价值的资产）作为任何形式的损失、损害或伤害的补偿 埃文一生中从来没有这么长时间不吃东西。 最奇怪的是，他甚至都不饿了。 星期六下午两点左右，他的饥饿感消失了。 就像关掉电灯开关一样。 他感到空虚、轻松，脑子里有点嗡嗡作响。 但不饿。他甚至没有计划过。 昨天，他像往常一样回家吃晚饭。 太阳下山后，他想起了亚当和保罗，

and he wondered if they had started fasting and if they would make it all the way till tomorrow night. And then he wanted to see if he could do it. Go twenty-four hours without food. Just wanted to see what it was like, and if he had the strength to do it. And that got him thinking about the Day of Atonement. The less he ate, the more he thought, until here he was, sitting on his branch of the Climbing Tree, way up high with the leaves whispering to him and the birds pecking for their last snack of the day and late-afternoon shadows beginning to stretch across the yard. He began to think about his sins. And that was a hard thing to think about. Did he really have any sins? He didn't know. But there was one thing he did know. Right now, he felt lousy. And Evan knew that when he felt really bad, that usually meant he'd done something he regretted. Evan regretted that whole basketball game. He wished he hadn't played like that. He wished Megan hadn't seen him play like that. Or Jessie. Or anyone.

他想知道他们是否已经开始禁食了，他们是否能坚持到明天晚上。 然后他想看看自己能不能做到。 24小时不吃东西。 只是想看看那是什么感觉，看看他是否有力量去做。 这让他想到了赎罪日。 他吃得越少，想得越多，直到他来到这里，坐在攀缘树的树枝上，高高在上，树叶对他窃窃私语，鸟儿啄食着一天最后的点心，傍晚的影子开始在院子里蔓延。 他开始思考自己的罪过。 这是一件很难考虑的事情。 他真的有罪吗？ 他不知道。但有一件事他是知道的。 现在，他感觉糟透了。埃文知道，当他感觉很糟糕时，通常意味着他做了自己后悔的事情。 埃文很后悔那场篮球赛。 他希望自己没有那样演奏。 他真希望梅根没看到他那样玩。 杰西。或任何人。

He wished he hadn't been such a jerk. The game kept playing over and over in his head, every perfect shot looping through his brain, and it made him feel sick. He was never going to know what had happened to that missing money, but crushing Scott on the basketball court wasn't going to change that. Evan climbed down from the tree and went into the house. Jessie was in the kitchen with a mixing bowl and a bunch of ingredients spread out on the countertop: flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. "What'cha makin'?" he asked as he walked through. "Your favorite. Chocolate chip." "Thanks," said Evan, grabbing his baseball hat from the front hall closet and heading for the door. "Where are you going?" asked Jessie. "Scott's." "No!" said Jessie. "Don't do that." "Quit worrying! Tell Mom where I went, okay?" Jessie followed him to the door. "And don't eat all the cookies before I get back," he shouted over his

他真希望自己没有那么混蛋。 这场比赛在他的脑海里一遍又一遍地上演，每一个完美的击球都在他的脑海里循环，这让他感到恶心。 他永远不会知道那笔丢失的钱发生了什么，但在篮球场上击败斯科特也不会改变这一点。 埃文从树上爬下来，走进了房子。 杰西在厨房里，拿着一个搅拌碗，一堆配料摊在台面上：面粉、糖、黄油和鸡蛋。 “你在做什么？”他走过时问道。 “你最喜欢的。巧克力。” “谢谢，”埃文说着，从前厅的壁橱里抓起他的棒球帽，朝门口走去。 “你要去哪里？”杰西问。 “斯科特的。”“不！”杰西说。 “不要那样做。”“退出担忧!告诉妈妈我去哪儿了，好吗？”杰西跟着他走到门口。 “在我回来之前，别把饼干都吃了。

shoulder. He didn't really have a plan. In the back of his mind he figured a handshake and at least one "I'm sorry" were somewhere in his future. Beyond that, he didn't know what would happen. Scott's house was a short bike ride away from Evan's, but his neighborhood was a world apart. The houses were huge and had fancy bushes planted in little groups and two-car attached garages and lawns that looked like they were edged with a razor blade. As Evan walked up the brick path to the front door, he noticed that the two large maple trees in the yard were beginning to turn. They would drop a lot of leaves next month, but Evan knew that Scott never had to rake because his family had a service that took care of the yard. When the front door opened, Evan wasn't surprised to see Scott standing there. Evan could hardly ever remember Scott's parents answering the door. He looked better than he had yesterday, that was

的肩膀。他并没有什么计划。 在他的内心深处，他想象着自己将来会握一次手，至少说一句“对不起”。 除此之外，他不知道会发生什么。 斯科特的家离埃文家骑自行车很短，但他的邻居却是两个世界。 这些房子都很大，花里胡气的灌木一簇簇地种着，车库连两辆车，草坪看起来就像用刀片磨过的一样。 当埃文沿着砖路走到前门时，他注意到院子里的两棵大枫树开始转动了。 下个月，他们会掉下很多树叶，但埃文知道斯科特从来不用耙，因为他家有一个服务机构来照顾院子。 当前门打开时，埃文看到斯科特站在那里并不感到惊讶。 埃文几乎不记得斯科特的父母来开门了。 他看起来比昨天好多了，就是这样

for sure. Cleaned up, no blood, and he was wearing jeans, which covered up his knees. But the look on his face was the same—a look of hatred. Pure hatred beamed right at Evan. "Hey," said Evan. "What?" said Scott. "What do you want?" Evan hadn't rehearsed what he was going to say, and now that he had Scott's angry face right in front of him, it was hard to come up with anything on the spot. He stood there for a minute, his mind a blank. What had he come here for? And then he said the only thing he could think of. "I wanted to see your new 20/20." That changed everything. Scott stopped scowling, and his arms loosened up. He waited just a second before saying, "Okay." Then he stepped back to let Evan through. That's how it had been, ever since they were little: Scott Spencer liked showing off his new toys. Evan followed Scott down the flight of stairs to the finished basement, which was a combination

肯定的。清理干净，没有血迹，他穿着牛仔裤，遮住了膝盖。 但他脸上的表情是一样的——仇恨的表情。 纯粹的仇恨向埃文袭来。 “嘿，”埃文说。“什么？”斯科特说。 “你想要什么？”埃文没有排练过他要说什么，现在斯科特愤怒的脸就在他面前，他很难当场想出什么来。 他在那儿站了一会儿，脑子里一片空白。 他到这儿来干什么？ 然后他说了他唯一能想到的话。 “我想看看你的新20/20。” 这改变了一切。斯科特不再愁眉苦脸，双臂放松了。 他等了一会儿才说：“好吧。” 然后他退后一步让埃文通过。 从他们小的时候起就是这样：斯科特·斯宾塞喜欢炫耀他的新玩具。 埃文跟着斯科特下了楼梯，来到了完工的地下室，这是一个组合

playroom and family room. It was mostly the way that Evan remembered it: two couches, the computer desk, the file cabinet with the locked-up snacks, bins of toys and building things, sports equipment, the swinging chair that hung from the ceiling, an electronic keyboard, and a treadmill. The thing that caught his eye, though, was the new TV It was enormous, the biggest flat-screen plasma that Evan had ever seen in his whole life. "Wow!" said Evan. Scott smiled. "Yeah, my dad bought that a few weeks ago. Cool, huh?" Evan noticed the sleek white box hooked up to the TV "Is that the 20/20?" he asked. "Wow, it's so small." "Yeah, but watch what it can do." Scott handed him two thick gloves that looked like hockey gloves, except that they were white, and a pair of heavy, dark goggles that wrapped all the way around his head. Evan took off his baseball cap and put the gloves and goggles on, then Scott pushed a

游戏室和家庭活动室。大部分都是埃文记忆中的样子：两张沙发，一张电脑桌，一个放着零食的文件柜，一箱玩具和建筑材料，运动器材，挂在天花板上的摇椅，一个电子键盘，还有一台跑步机。 然而，引起他注意的是那台新电视，它很大，是埃文一生中见过的最大的平板等离子电视。 “哇！”艾凡说。斯科特笑了。 “是啊，我爸爸几个星期前买的。 酷,不是吗?”埃文注意到连接在电视上的光滑的白色盒子。“那是20/20吗？”他问。 “哇，好小啊。”“是的，但看看它能做什么。” 斯科特递给他两副厚厚的手套，看起来很像曲棍球手套，只是它们是白色的，还有一副沉重的深色护目镜，一直绕着他的头。 埃文摘下棒球帽，戴上手套和护目镜，然后斯科特推了一下