Two Hundred and Ten Thousand

Ana put the brush down in the bucket. Red water splashed onto her trainers. Behind her she could hear Daniel standing very still, and Maureen in her doorway, pretending not to listen. The canal was quiet. Somewhere a duck complained about something.

安娜把刷子放回水桶里。红色的水溅到了她的运动鞋上。在她身后，她能听到丹尼尔静静地站着，莫琳站在自家门洞前，假装没有在听。运河很安静。不知在什么地方，一只鸭子正叫着抱怨什么。

She thought very carefully about every word before she said it. She had promised herself never to lie to Jess again. She had also promised Walter a week. For a second those two promises seemed to pull her in opposite directions, so hard that she could not breathe.

她在开口之前，仔细考虑了每一个字。她曾向自己保证，再也不对杰丝撒谎。她也答应过多给沃尔特一周时间。有那么一瞬间，这两个承诺似乎在把她拉向相反的方向，拉扯得她几乎无法呼吸。

“I’m not going to lie to you, Jess,” she said finally. “Not ever again. So I’m going to tell you the only true thing I’m allowed to say. It isn’t my story. It belongs to your family. But there is more to it than what the newspaper says, and more than what the town thinks. You need to ask your grandfather. Not next month. Soon. Today, if you can.”

“我不会对你撒谎的，杰丝，”她终于说道。“再也不会了。所以我要告诉你我被允许说的唯一实话。这不是我的故事，它属于你的家人。但事情并不像报纸上写的那么简单，也不像镇上人想的那样。你需要去问你爷爷。不是下个月，是尽快，如果可以的话，就今天。”