6 I Am in for a Surprise

Chapter 6 IN WHICH I Am in for a Surprise I hear the latch on the root cellar door thump and close my journal. Alice must be getting something for supper. I have put off talking to her about Frightful long enough. I get to my feet. Stepping out of the darkness of my tree into the bright light, I squint, then walk to the cellar. No one is there. The door is closed, and the lock, which is a board that lies across two brackets, is tilted and is almost out at one end. Someone was here, but it wasn't Alice. She's too protective of our hard-won supplies to leave the lock ajar. It must have been Jessie Coon James. She's always fiddling with this lock. In fact, I made it because Jessie once opened the door with her little handlike paws and helped herself to venison and nuts. From the looks of things, I had best make a better lock. She has this one all but figured out.

第六章 等着我的是一场惊喜 我听到地窖门的闩扣咔哒一响，赶紧合上了日记本。 爱丽丝肯定是来拿做晚饭的食材了。 关于福莱特的事，我已经拖得够久，没找她谈了。 我站起身来。 走出树屋的黑暗，来到明媚的阳光下，我眯起眼睛，朝着地窖走去。 那儿一个人都没有。 门关着，那把架在两个挂钩上的木板锁歪歪扭扭，一头都快掉下来了。 有人来过这儿，但肯定不是爱丽丝。 她那么宝贝我们好不容易攒下的存粮，绝不会就这么半开着门不锁好。 肯定是浣熊杰茜·库恩·詹姆斯干的。 她总爱摆弄这把锁。 其实，我当初做这把锁就是因为杰茜之前用她那小手似的爪子扒开门，偷吃了我们的鹿肉和坚果。 看样子，我最好做一把更结实的新锁。 这一把都快被她琢磨透了。

As I open the door, the clean scent of apples greets me. They came from the trees Great-grandfather Gribley planted. Even though they're now old and choked by forest, they produce plenty of apples for Alice and me. I decide to bake a squash for supper. I feel my way to the back of this cave, which I dug into the side of the hill to keep our food dark and cool. The cattail rush basket in which we store the hickory nuts is almost empty. That's funny. Although I took some to Delhi with me, I didn't think I'd taken that many. I wonder if that raccoon of mine did get in here after all. There might be a hole in the stone wall that I faced the cave with. I check the other supplies. The basket of groundnuts is almost empty. It couldn't be Jessie. She makes a complete shambles of the cellar when she gets in. So it must be Alice. She brought back a wild-food cookbook from the library last week and mentioned that one of the recipes called for lots of nuts. I step over the jars of maple syrup that Alice and I made last February and pick up a squash. Alice

我推开门，一股清新的苹果香气扑面而来。 这些苹果长在格里布利曾祖父种下的树上。 虽然这些树已经年纪很大，还被森林里的其他植物挤着，但还是结了好多苹果，够我和爱丽丝吃。 我打算烤个南瓜当晚饭。 我摸索着走到地窖深处，这个地窖是我挖在山坡里的，刚好能让存粮待在阴凉黑暗的地方。 我们装山核桃的蒲草筐几乎空了。 这有点不对劲。 我去德里的时候确实带走了一些，但肯定没拿这么多啊。 我暗自琢磨，难道我的那只浣熊真的进过这里？ 我砌在地窖正面的石墙，说不定破了个洞。 我检查了其他存粮。 装野豆的筐也几乎空了。 这不可能是杰茜干的。 她要是闯进来，肯定把地窖翻得乱七八糟。 那一定是爱丽丝拿的。 她上周从图书馆带回一本野生食物食谱，还说有个食谱需要用到好多坚果呢。 我跨过我和爱丽丝去年二月做好的枫糖浆罐子，拿起了一个南瓜。 爱丽丝

planted squash seeds a year ago, and they grew as big as pumpkins—some plants like our poor soil. After locking the door securely by wedging a stone in the brace, I carry the vegetable to my outdoor kitchen and start off for the tree house and Alice. The trail to her house is bordered with stones she gathered and put there. She wanted to edge all the paths, but I objected. Bordered trails get too much use. The wildflowers can't push up, and when they don't grow, the soil erodes and is carried into the streams by the rain. The best thing to do, I told Alice, is to take different routes from place to place, or put a log across an old path and let it rest. I kick leaves onto her trail to protect it. Jessie Coon James walks up to me. "Hello there, Jessie," I say as my old friend greets me with a chittering purr. Gathering her up in my arms, I give her a big hug. Gently she sticks her black paws in my ears, feels my cheek, then turns around, and, hanging onto my neck with her hind legs, reaches down into my pocket with her front paws. She finds the venison.

一年前种下了南瓜籽，长出的瓜大得像南瓜——有些植物就喜欢我们这儿贫瘠的土壤。 我在锁扣里塞了块石头把门锁牢，捧着南瓜走到户外厨房，接着就出发去树屋找爱丽丝。 通往她树屋的小路，两边都摆着她捡来的石头。 她想给所有小路都镶上石头边，我不同意。 镶了边的小路大家会总走它，用得太多。 野花就长不出来了，没有野花固土，泥土会被雨水冲进溪流里。 我告诉爱丽丝，最好的办法就是每次走不同的路，或是把横木挡在旧路上，让旧路歇一歇。 我踢了些落叶盖在小路上保护它。 杰茜·库恩·詹姆斯朝我走了过来。 “你好呀，杰茜，”我的老朋友吱吱哼着蹭过来打招呼，我开口说道。 我把她抱进怀里，给了她一个大大的拥抱。 她轻轻把黑爪子伸进我的耳朵，摸了摸我的脸颊，然后转过身，用后腿勾住我的脖子，把前爪伸进我的口袋里掏。 她摸到了鹿肉。

"You're real hungry, Jessie," I say. "How come? Hasn't Alice fed you today?" Jessie moved in with Alice when the cold weather arrived last fall and never moved out. Raccoons sleep in dens in the winter. Alice's dimly lit tree house was snug and better than a hollow tree because, when she awoke on warm days, Alice fed her. In February she left to find a mate, but hardly had a week passed before she was back in her tree house. In March she had four babies. She and Alice took care of them until they were on their own. It's unusual for Jessie to be so hungry. One thing Alice does not do is neglect animals. As I mull all this, Jessie climbs up on my shoulder and eats the venison. "Hey," I say, "I know what's the matter with you. Alice isn't here. And she hasn't been for several days, by your appetite." I put her down and run up the steps, notched in a log, to Alice's front porch and push back her blanket door. The light from the Mason-jar window falls on a note lying in plain view on the

“你真的饿坏啦，杰茜，”我说。 “怎么回事呀？ 爱丽丝今天没喂你吗？” 去年秋天降温之后，杰茜就搬去和爱丽丝住，再也没走。 浣熊冬天会躲在洞穴里睡觉。 爱丽丝的树屋光线偏暗，暖乎乎的，比树洞舒服多了，因为天气暖和她醒过来的时候，爱丽丝都会喂她吃东西。 二月的时候她出去找配偶，结果才过了不到一周，就又回到了树屋。 三月份她生下了四个宝宝。 她和爱丽丝一起照顾宝宝，直到小家伙们能独立生活。 杰茜饿成这样太反常了。 爱丽丝绝对不会饿到小动物，她从来不会忽略它们。 我脑子里想着这些事，杰茜已经爬到我肩膀上吃起鹿肉来了。 “嘿，”我说，“我知道你怎么了。 爱丽丝不在这里。 看你饿成这样，她肯定已经好几天不在这儿了。” 我把她放下来，跑上那截刻了台阶的圆木，来到爱丽丝的前廊，推开了她的布门帘。 玻璃罐窗户透进来的光，正好落在一张明晃晃放在

furs. I have a hunch this is not one of her ordinary notes. I snatch it up. It's not dated. "Dear Sam, "I'm leaving. Don't worry about me. I'll be just fine thanks to all you have taught me. Love, Alice." I read the note twice more. Alice has left. I can't believe it, so I read it a fourth time, then walk out on her porch and sit down, dangling my legs in the air. She must be mad at me for not converting to electricity, or because I don't like her stone-lined paths. She might be angry about the irrigation ditch. We argued about it. She claimed it took water from her cascade and plumping mill. I insisted, in fact I thought I proved, that it didn't. Why is she leaving? I ask myself. She can't just walk off this way. Hey, Sam Gribley, I admonish. Didn't you pack up a few belongings, tell your father you were going

毛皮上。 我有种预感，这不是她平常留的便条。 我一把抓过字条。 字条上没写日期。 “亲爱的山姆： 我走了。 不要担心我。 多亏你教给我所有本领，我会过得很好的。 爱你的爱丽丝。” 我把字条又读了两遍。 爱丽丝真的走了。 我不敢相信，又读了第四遍，接着走到门廊坐下，晃着两条腿。 她肯定是生气了，气我不肯装电，或是气我不喜欢她镶了石头边的小路。 她说不定是为灌溉渠的事生气。 我们为这件事吵过架。 她说灌溉渠抢了她小瀑布和磨房的水。 我坚持说没有，其实我觉得我已经证明了没抢水。 她为什么要走呢？ 我问自己。 她不能就这么一走了之啊。 嘿，山姆·格里布利，我告诫自己。 你当年不也是收拾好几件行李，告诉你爸爸你要

to leave, and take off for the adventure of your life? "Okay, Alice," I say out loud. "It's your turn." In fact, Alice is better prepared to take care of herself than I was when I left home. I didn't know anything about the wilderness. She can catch fish with a thorn hook and a line of braided basswood, and she knows the wild edible plants. I back down the steps and pick up Jessie. I am feeling very sorry for myself. Frightful has been confiscated—and now Alice is gone. Even if we did argue a lot, she was good company. "Hall-oo, the tree!" Bando's here! And just in time. I run up the path, trot along the edge of the pond, then, placing my two feet together, leap goatlike down the slope to the millhouse. "Bando!" I cry eagerly and put Jessie down. "What's the matter with you, Sam? You act as if you haven't seen me for years. I was just here." He throws some fine crooked limbs on the ground, reaches into a pocket on his vest, and hands me a pamphlet.

动身出发，开启你人生中的冒险旅程吧？ “好了，爱丽丝，”我大声说道。 “轮到你了。” 其实，爱丽丝比我当初离家时，更会照顾自己。 我那时候对野外生活一窍不通。 她能用荆棘钩搭配椴木搓的线钓鱼，还认得所有可食用的野生植物。 我退着走下台阶，抱起了杰西。 我心里难受极了。 福莱特被抓走了——现在爱丽丝也要走了。 就算我们总吵架，她也一直是个好伙伴。 “喂——树上有人吗！” 班多来了！ 来得太是时候了。 我顺着小路往前跑，沿着池塘边快步走，接着双脚并拢，像山羊一样蹦下山坡，冲向磨坊。 “班多！” 我急切地喊出声，把杰西放了下来。 “你怎么了，萨姆？ 你这样子就像好几年没见过我似的。 我前一阵还来过这儿呢。” 他把几根好看的弯树枝扔在地上，伸手摸进背心口袋，递给我一本小册子。