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I sat up a little. "Wait... how did you know?"
我坐直了一点。“等等...你怎么知道的？”
"Patsy told me."
“帕特斯告诉我了。”
I blinked at her. "She did? Before the dinner?"
我对她眨着眼：“真的？在晚餐之前？”
"No, no. After." She hesitated, then said, "Patsy's been over several times this week. She's... she's going through a very rough time."
“不，不，之后。”她犹豫着，然后说：“这周帕特斯过来过几次。她...她正经历着艰难的时期。”
"How come?"
“怎么会？”
Mom let out a deep breath and said, "I think you're mature enough to keep this inside these four walls, and I'm only telling you because... because I think it's relevant."
妈妈吐出个深呼吸说道：“我认为你已经足够成熟，能够保守秘密，而我告诉你只是因为...因为有些关系。”
I held my breath and waited.
我屏住呼吸等待着。
"Patsy and Rick have been having ferocious fights lately."
“帕特斯和里克最近一直在凶猛地争吵。”
"Mr. and Mrs. Loski? What about?"
“洛世奇先生和太太？关于什么？”
Mom sighed. "About everything, it seems." "I don't understand."
妈妈叹口气。“关于所有的事，似乎是。” “我不理解。”
Very quietly my mother said, "For the first time in her life, Patsy is seeing her husband for what he is. It's twenty years and two children late, but that's what she's doing."
我妈妈非常平静地说：“她一生中的第一次，帕特斯看清了他的丈夫。已经过了二十年，有了两个孩子，但是她现在才看清。”
She gave me a sad smile. "Patsy seems to be going through the same thing you are."
她给了我一个悲伤的微笑。“帕特斯似乎在和你经历一样的事。”
The phone rang and Mom said, "Let me get that, okay? Your dad said he'd call if he was working overtime, and that's probably him."
电话响了，妈妈说：“我去接一下，好吗？你爸爸说如果要加班他会打电话来，那有可能是他。”
While she was gone, I remembered what Chet had said about someone he knew who had never learned to look beneath the surface.
她离开的时候，我想起来切特说过他认识的一个人从来不知道看看表面以下。
Had he been talking about his own daughter? And how could this happen to her after twenty years of marriage?
他当时说的是自己的女儿吗？这怎么会发生在二十年的婚姻生活后？
When my mother came back, I absently asked, "Is Dad working late?"
当我妈妈回来时，我心不在焉地问：“爸爸要加班吗？”
"That wasn't Dad, sweetheart. It was Bryce."
“那不是爸爸，甜心。是布莱斯。”
I sat straight up. "Now he's calling? I have lived across the street from him for six years and he's never once called me! Is he doing this because he's jealous?"
我坐直了。“现在他打来了？我们住在他家对面六年他从没打给我！他做这些是因为嫉妒吗？”
"Jealous? Of whom?" So I gave her the blow-by-blow, beginning with Mrs. Stueby, going clear through Darla, the auction, the furball fight, and ending with Bryce trying to kiss me in front of everybody.
“嫉妒？谁？” 所以我极为详细地告诉了她，从史努比太太开始，然后是达拉，拍卖，绒毛球打架，最后是布莱斯试着当着所有人的面吻我。
She clapped her hands and positively giggled. "Mom, it's not funny!"
她拍着她的手咯咯笑了起来。 “妈妈，这不好笑！”
She tried to straighten up. "I know, sweetheart, I know."
她试着改正。“我知道，甜心，我知道。”
"I don't want to wind up like Mrs. Loski!"
“我不想有洛世奇太太的结果！”
"You don't have to marry the boy, Julianna. Why don't you just listen to what he has to say? He sounded desperate to talk to you."
“你不需要嫁给那个男孩，朱莉安娜。你为什么不听听他想说的？他听起来极其需要和你谈谈。”
"What could he possibly have to say? He's already tried to blame Garrett for what he said about Uncle David, and I'm sorry, but I don't buy it.
“他可能会说什么呢？他已经试着把他说大卫叔叔的话怪在加瑞特身上，但是我不买账。
He's lied to me, he hasn't stood up for me... he's... he's nobody that I want to like. I just need some time to get over all those years of having liked him."
我对我撒了谎，他没有帮我...他...他不是我要喜欢的人。我只是需要点时间克服这么多年的喜欢。”
Mom sat there for the longest time, biting her cheek. Then she said, "People do change, you know. Maybe he's had some revelations lately, too.
妈妈在那儿坐了最长的时间，咬着她的脸。然后她说：“认识会变的，你知道。也许他最近也有了些启示。
And frankly, any boy who tries to kiss a girl in front of a room full of other kids does not sound like a coward to me." She stroked my hair and whispered, "Maybe there's more to Bryce Loski than you know."
坦白的说，任何男孩要是想在一个都是人的房间里亲一个女孩，在我听来并不像个懦夫。”她轻抚着我的头发低语道：“也许布莱斯比你所了解的更多。”
Then she left me alone with my thoughts. My mother knew I needed time to think, but Bryce wouldn't leave me alone.
然后她让我带着我的想法单独呆着。我妈妈知道我需要时间，但布莱斯不肯离我远点。
He kept calling on the phone and knocking on the door. He even snuck around the house and tapped on my window!
他不断打我家电话，敲我家门。他甚至溜到房子侧面敲我的窗户！
Every time I turned around, there he was, pestering me. I wanted to be able to water the yard in peace.
每一次只要我转头，他就在那儿，纠缠着我。我想要平静地给院子浇水。
I wanted not to have to avoid him at school or have Darla run block for me. Why didn't he understand that I wasn't interested in what he had to say?
我不想要在学校避开他或让达拉帮我阻挡他。为什么他不理解我对他想说的不感兴趣？
What could he possibly have to say? Was it so much to ask just to be left alone?
他可能会说什么呢？想要单独呆着真的是要求了太多吗？
Then this afternoon I was reading a book in the front room with the curtains drawn, hiding from him as I had all week, when I heard a noise in the yard.
那个下午我正坐在前厅里看书，拉着窗帘，像我整个星期所做的那样躲着他，却听见了院子里传来一阵噪音。
I peeked outside and there was Bryce, walking across my grass. Stomping all over my grass! And he was carrying a spade! What was he planning to do with that?
我偷看了一眼外面然后布莱斯在那儿，穿过了我的草坪。践踏着我的草！而他还拿着个铲子！他打算用它做什么？
I flew off the couch and yanked open the door and ran right into my father. "Stop him!" I cried.
我从沙发上跑下来，猛地拉开门直接跑向我爸爸。“阻止他！”我喊道。
"Calm down, Julianna," he said, and eased me back inside. "I gave him permission."
“冷静点，朱莉安娜，”他说，把我又安顿回去。“我给了他允许。”
"Permission! Permission to do what?" I flew back to the window. "He's digging a hole."
“允许？做什么的允许？”我冲回窗户。“他在挖个坑。”
"That's right. I told him he could."
“没错。我告诉他可以这么做。”
"But why?" "I think the boy has a very good idea, that's why." "But..."
“但为什么？” “我认为这男孩有个很好的注意，这是为什么。” “但是...”
"It's not going to kill your grass, Julianna. Just let him do what he's come to do."
“这不会杀了你的草，朱莉安娜。就让他做完他来做的事。”
"But what is it? What's he doing?" "Watch. You'll figure it out."
“但是什么呢？他在做什么？” “看着。你会知道的。”
It was torture seeing him dig up my grass. The hole he was making was enormous! How could my father let him do this to my yard?
看着他挖去我的草坪真是种折磨。他挖的坑是巨大的！我爸爸怎么能让他这么对待我的院子？
Bryce knew I was there, too, because he looked at me once and nodded. No smile, no wave, just a nod.
布莱斯也知道我在那儿，因为他看了我一次并点头了。没有微笑，没有招手，只是个点头。
He dragged over some potting soil, pierced the bag with the spade, and shoveled dirt into the hole. Then he disappeared.
他拖来一些盆栽土，用铲子把土块敲碎，然后往坑里铲了些土。然后他消失了。
And when he came back, he wrestled a big burlapped root ball across the lawn, the branches of a plant rustling back and forth as he moved.
而当他回来时，他扛着一个用麻布包好的巨大根团穿过草坪，植物的枝条在他移动时发出沙沙的响声。
My dad joined me on the couch and peeked out the window, too.
我爸爸也加入我坐在沙发上偷看着窗外。
"A tree?" I whispered. "He's planting a tree?"
“一棵树？”我低语道，“他在种树？”
"I'd help him, but he says he has to do this himself."
“我想帮他，但他说这件事他必须单独完成。”
"Is it a... " The words stuck in my throat.
“那是...”那些字卡在了我的喉咙里。
I didn't really need to ask, though, and he knew he didn't need to answer. I could tell from the shape of the leaves, from the texture of the trunk.
但我根本不必问，而他也知道他不必回答。我从树叶的形状，从树干的纹路就能看出。
This was a sycamore tree. I flipped around on the couch and just sat. A sycamore tree.
那是棵梧桐树。 我弹到沙发上就坐在了那儿。一棵梧桐树。
Bryce finished planting the tree, watered it, cleaned everything up, and then went home. And I just sat there, not knowing what to do.
布莱斯种完了树，浇了水，清理了所有东西，然后回家了。而我就坐在那儿，不知道该做什么。
I've been sitting here for hours now, just staring out the window at the tree. It may be little now, but it'll grow, day by day.
现在我已经坐了几个小时，就盯着窗外的树。也许它现在还很小，但它会生长，一天又一天。
And a hundred years from now it'll reach clear over the rooftops. It'll be miles in the air! Already I can tell -- it's going to be an amazing, magnificent tree.
一百年以后它会到达房顶。在空中几英里高！我现在就知道--它会成为一棵神奇的，壮丽的树。
And I can't help wondering, a hundred years from now will a kid climb it the way I climbed the one up on Collier Street?
而我忍不住想知道，一百年后会有一个孩子爬上树，像我爬上科里尔街的那棵树一样吗？
Will she see the things I did? Will she feel the way I did? Will it change her life the way it changed mine?
她会看见我所看见的吗？她会和我有一样的感受吗？这会像改变我一样改变她的生活吗？
I also can't stop wondering about Bryce. What has he been trying to tell me? What's he thinking about?
我也忍不住想到布莱斯。他想要告诉我什么呢？他在想什么呢？
I know he's home because he looks out his window from time to time. A little while ago he put his hand up and waved. And I couldn't help it -- I gave a little wave back.
我知道他在家，因为他时不时地看着窗外。不久前他举起了手挥了挥。而我无法控制--我也挥了挥手。
So maybe I should go over there and thank him for the tree. Maybe we could sit on the porch and talk.
也许我应该走过去谢谢他的树。也许我们会坐在门廊里聊天。
It just occurred to me that in all the years we've known each other, we've never done that. Never really talked.
我意识到我们认识对方这么多年，我们从来没这么做过。没真正地交谈过。
Maybe my mother's right. Maybe there is more to Bryce Loski than I know. Maybe it's time to meet him in the proper light.
也许我妈妈说对了。也许我并不了解布莱斯?洛世奇的全部。也许是时候全面地认识他了。
