The Beautiful Plain

Laura didn’t remember moving to Platte, Nebraska.

劳拉不记得搬到了内布拉斯加州普拉特。

She had only been three when her father took the job of planning commissioner for the county.

当她的父亲担任县规划专员时，她才三岁。

Nor did she remember a moment when Carrie wasn’t her closest friend.

她也不记得嘉莉曾经不是她最亲密的朋友。

Even though Carrie was a farm kid and Laura a city kid, a fact that typically divided every Platte classroom as true and straight as the dirt roads, the two had been inseparable since the day they met in Miss Clearman’s kindergarten.

尽管嘉莉是一个农场孩子，劳拉是一个城市孩子，这一事实通常将普拉特的每个教室都像土路一样真实而笔直地分开，但自从他们在克利尔曼小姐的幼儿园相遇的那天起，两人就形影不离。

They both arrived holding Clifford lunch boxes in their hands and had cried when their mothers left them the first morning.

他们俩手里都拿着克利福德午餐盒到达，第一天早上，当母亲离开他们时，他们都哭了。

Miss Clearman had taken one blond-headed girl and one brown-headed girl, the only two in tears, under her wing-like arms, her ample breasts pushing into their bodies, and said, “I think the two of you should be friends.” And they had been ever since.

克莱曼小姐把唯一两个泪流满面的金发女孩和棕色头发的女孩抱在她翅膀般的手臂下，用她丰满的乳房抵住她们的身体，说：“我认为你们两个应该成为朋友。”从那时起他们就一直如此。

Carrie lived fifteen miles from Platte on a farm that stretched across two counties.

嘉莉住在距普拉特十五英里的一个横跨两个县的农场里。

As an adult, Laura would come to understand that this fact alone was what allowed Carrie to cross the city/rural line at school: wealth.

成年后，劳拉逐渐明白，正是这个事实让嘉莉能够在学校跨越城市/乡村的界限：财富。

As a child, Laura just felt lucky to be chosen by a girl who went to Chicago every summer to buy school clothes.

小时候，劳拉只是觉得自己很幸运，能被一个每年夏天去芝加哥购买校服的女孩选中。

Carrie and her two older siblings rode the school bus each morning.

嘉莉和她的两个哥哥姐姐每天早上都乘坐校车。

It picked them up at 6AM—a time of morning that was dark much of the school year—and drove the gravel roads of Hamilton County for close to two hours before arriving at the school.

它在早上 6 点（学年大部分时间都是天黑的早晨）接他们，并在汉密尔顿县的碎石路上行驶了近两个小时，然后到达学校。

Laura didn’t even have to get out of bed until 7:30, and her father often dropped her off on his way downtown.

劳拉甚至要到 7 点 30 分才起床，她的父亲经常送她去市中心。

Maybe if Laura hadn’t missed her mother that first morning of kindergarten, hadn’t responded to that clawing fear with tears; maybe if Miss Clearman hadn’t pulled the two of them into her bosomy embrace, then somehow Laura wouldn’t have found herself in the Pierce barn at the age of twelve pushing Kelly Spranger from the loft.

或许，如果劳拉没有在幼儿园的第一个早上想念她的母亲，没有用泪水来应对那种撕心裂肺的恐惧的话；或许，如果克利尔曼小姐没有把她们两个搂进怀里，那么十二岁的劳拉就不会发现自己在皮尔斯谷仓里把凯利·斯普兰格从阁楼上推了出来。

Miss Clearman seemed to cast some kind of spell with her pronouncement, ordain the certainty of that future August afternoon.

克利曼小姐的声明似乎施展了某种咒语，注定了未来八月下午的确定性。

At the age of five, Carrie had lifted her tear-streaked face, hiccupped once, and then reached for the hand of Laura’s that didn’t cling to her Clifford pail.

五岁时，嘉莉抬起她布满泪痕的脸，打了一次嗝，然后伸手去握住劳拉的手，那只手没有握住她的克利福德桶。

Laura didn’t let go.

劳拉没有放开。

An only child in a home filled in equal parts by silence and books, Laura was grateful for a friend.

劳拉是独生子，家里充满了沉默和书籍，她很感激有一个朋友。

“You wanna sit by me?” Carrie asked that kindergarten morning through tears that made her eyes shine rather than redden.

“你想坐在我身边吗？”嘉莉在幼儿园的那个早晨，泪流满面地问道，她的眼睛没有变红，而是闪闪发亮。

For much of her early life, that single question was the most precious gift Laura had ever been given—more cherished than her Barbies or her Baby Alive or her Sunshine family dolls.

在她早年的大部分时间里，这个问题是劳拉收到的最珍贵的礼物——比她的芭比娃娃、她的 Baby Alive 或她的阳光家庭娃娃更珍贵。

Laura nodded, and the two of them found conjoined desks at the very front of the classroom.

劳拉点点头，两人发现教室最前面有一张连体课桌。

At lunch, outside under the row of cottonwoods lining the elementary school playground, they opened their Clifford lunch boxes to discover they had each been given the same granola bar: Nature Valley, crunchy peanut butter.

午餐时，在小学操场两旁的一排杨树下，他们打开克利福德午餐盒，发现他们每个人都得到了同样的格兰诺拉麦片棒：自然谷，松脆的花生酱。

They ate lunch together every day.

他们每天一起吃午餐。

“Let me out!” Kelly pleaded.

“放我出去！”凯利恳求道。

“This isn’t funny.”

“这不好笑。”

The cardboard bent with a stiff kick from the inside.

纸板被从内侧猛烈一踢而弯曲。

Laura could almost make out the outline of Kelly’s boots.

劳拉几乎可以辨认出凯利靴子的轮廓。

She must have turned onto her back somehow, maybe during the tortuous ride up the stairs.

她一定不知怎么地翻了个身，也许是在曲折上楼的过程中。

Several times they had almost dropped the box, struggling between their own balance and the shifts Kelly initiated.

有几次，他们在自己的平衡和凯利发起的转变之间挣扎，差点把盒子掉下来。

Laura and Julia had been below, pushing the box with their heads and shoulders more than with their arms.

劳拉和朱莉娅一直在下面，用头和肩膀推箱子，而不是用手臂。

Carrie moved backwards up the stairs lifting and pulling where she could but mostly just encouraging Laura and Julia along.

嘉莉向后退上楼梯，尽其所能地举起并拉动，但主要只是鼓励劳拉和朱莉娅一起走。

“Five more steps, four more.

“还有五步，还有四步。

You’re almost there.”

你就快到了。”

When they finally breached the edge of the loft and shoved the box along the wooden floor, bird crap and mouse droppings rolling like ball bearings beneath the weight, Laura almost cried with relief.

当他们终于冲破阁楼的边缘，把盒子推到木地板上时，鸟粪和老鼠粪便在重压下像滚珠轴承一样滚动，劳拉几乎松了一口气，哭了。

Her arms trembled and her legs felt weak.

她的手臂在颤抖，双腿发软。

She knew they were never going to launch Kelly from the loft door, but it was a miracle they didn’t drop her on the way up the stairs.

她知道他们永远不会把凯利从阁楼门口推出去，但他们没有在上楼梯的路上把她扔下去真是个奇迹。

Laura began to wonder just when Carrie would call the whole thing off.

劳拉开始想知道嘉莉什么时候才能取消这一切。

Kelly had remained quiet as they climbed, mostly because when they had first set out, at stair two, Kelly had started to flail about, asking where they were taking her, and the box had slipped off the stair and back to the floor, landing on its side.

他们爬上去的时候，凯莉一直保持安静，主要是因为当他们第一次出发时，在二号楼梯上，凯莉开始扭动，询问他们要带她去哪里，然后盒子从楼梯上滑下来，回到地板上，摔在一边。

“Stop moving, Kelly,” Carrie had ordered when they righted the box, Kelly sliding like a bowling ball, and set out again.

“别动，凯利。”当他们扶正箱子时，凯莉命令道，凯利像保龄球一样滑动，然后又出发了。

“We have to focus.” From that point on, Kelly remained still and quiet.

“我们必须集中注意力。”从那时起，凯利就一直保持着安静。

The loft ran less than half the distance of the barn, and there was barely room to stand between the rafters.

阁楼的长度不到谷仓的一半，椽子之间几乎没有站立的空间。

This had been the original barn on the Pierce property, raised back when the entirety of the Pierce farm could be seen from the porch.

这是皮尔斯庄园原来的谷仓，当从门廊可以看到整个皮尔斯农场时，它就被抬高了。

Carrie’s grandfather or maybe great grandfather had built it with his sons, the planks brought in from Omaha since any hardwood around Platte had long been cut down.

嘉莉的祖父或者曾祖父和他的儿子们建造了这座建筑，木板是从奥马哈运来的，因为普拉特周围的硬木早已被砍伐。

Decades later, Mr. Pierce farmed with his brothers and had no use for the old wooden barn.

几十年后，皮尔斯先生和他的兄弟们一起务农，不再使用旧的木制谷仓。

Tall silos and storage bins lay scattered across their vast property, most of them metal.

高大的筒仓和储物箱散布在他们广阔的土地上，其中大部分是金属的。

Unlike the other Harvester silos around, Mr. Pierce had paid to have his painted green, the color of money he said when Laura asked him why.

与周围其他收割机筒仓不同的是，皮尔斯先生花钱将他的筒仓漆成了绿色，当劳拉问他为什么时，他说这是钱的颜色。

You could see a Pierce silo from the interstate and know it on sight.

您可以从州际公路上看到皮尔斯筒仓，并且一眼就能认出它。

And the interstate was dotted by them.

州际公路上也布满了它们。

The old wooden barn sat close to the family house and was mostly used to store Mrs. Pierce’s garden tools or old wringer tubs and rusted furrows.

旧的木制谷仓靠近家庭住宅，主要用来存放皮尔斯夫人的园艺工具或旧绞水桶和生锈的犁沟。

In the fourth grade, Laura had suggested that the Jackrabbits’s meet in the loft rather than in the buggy bushes behind her house, but Carrie had refused.

四年级时，劳拉曾建议长耳大野兔在阁楼见面，而不是在她家后面的马车灌木丛中，但嘉莉拒绝了。

Some relative had hanged themselves from the rafter years ago, something about the price of corn and subsidies and ruin, and Carrie said the barn was haunted.

几年前，一些亲戚在房椽上上吊自杀，原因是玉米价格、补贴和毁灭，嘉莉说谷仓闹鬼。

She refused to go inside, kept Hero with the other horses in a stable built for the single purpose of housing thoroughbreds.

她拒绝进去，把希罗和其他马一起关在一个专门为饲养纯种马而建的马厩里。

So, it was surprising to Laura that Carrie chose the loft for the initiation.

因此，劳拉对嘉莉选择阁楼作为启蒙仪式感到惊讶。

When Laura asked why, Carrie just shrugged her shoulders and responded, “We need a second floor.”

当劳拉问为什么时，嘉莉只是耸耸肩，回答道：“我们需要二楼。”

Carrie looked directly at Laura.

嘉莉直视劳拉。

They were sitting at the kitchen table in Laura’s quiet house, her father at work and her mother at some kind of teacher meeting.

他们坐在劳拉安静的房子里的厨房桌子旁，她的父亲在工作，她的母亲正在参加某种教师会议。

Moments before they had been practicing their cheer routine for try outs and now drank water that Laura’s mother kept chilled in a glass pitcher decorated with lemons.

不久前，他们还在为选拔赛练习欢呼，现在喝的是劳拉母亲在饰有柠檬的玻璃水罐中冷藏的水。

“We’re in junior high now,” Carrie responded and downed the remains of her water.

“我们现在上初中了，”嘉莉回答道，喝掉了剩下的水。

She set the empty glass on the table with enough force to settle the matter.

她用足够的力气将空玻璃杯放在桌子上，以解决这件事。

“Do you want to spot me?” Carrie asked, and Laura stood to follow.

“你想发现我吗？”嘉莉问道，劳拉站起来跟在后面。

Following was something she did well.

以下是她做得很好的事情。

It was her preferred position: second.

这是她最喜欢的位置：第二。

She knew she wasn’t a leader, didn’t want the pressure, was more than happy to be known as Carrie Pierce’s best friend rather than Laura Runnell.

她知道自己不是领导者，不想承受压力，更高兴被称为凯莉·皮尔斯（Carrie Pierce）而不是劳拉·朗内尔（Laura Runnell）最好的朋友。

When Carrie bought rainbow suspenders in third grade, Laura begged her mother for a pair.

当嘉莉三年级时买了彩虹吊带时，劳拉向她妈妈求了一条。

When Carrie’s parents told her she couldn’t see The Wiz because it starred black people, Laura stopped dancing to “Ease on Down the Road” in her bedroom at night.

当嘉莉的父母告诉她，她不能看《绿野仙踪》，因为它由黑人主演时，劳拉晚上就不再在卧室里随着《Ease on Down the Road》跳舞了。

Carrie bobbed her hair, so did Laura.

嘉莉剪了短发，劳拉也剪了头发。

Carrie feathered her hair and Laura learned to wield Aquanet.

嘉莉用羽毛装饰了她的头发，劳拉学会了使用阿奎网。

Her parents wouldn’t buy her Lacoste sweaters or Ralph Lauren polos because of the price, but Laura stood the collars of her knock-off brands and smiled from ear to ear every single time she entered the cafeteria to see that Carrie Pierce had saved her the seat right next to her.

由于价格问题，她的父母不会给她买鳄鱼毛衣或拉尔夫·劳伦马球衫，但劳拉每次走进自助餐厅，都会为她竖起山寨品牌的衣领，看到凯莉·皮尔斯为她留了旁边的座位，笑得合不拢嘴。

“You know the rules, Kelly,” Carrie said as she thumped the top of the box.

“你知道规则，凯莉，”嘉莉一边说，一边敲着盒子的顶部。

“If you want into the Jackrabbits, you have to take the dare.”

“如果你想加入长耳大野兔，你就必须敢于冒险。”

“Come on guys,” Kelly begged.

“来吧，伙计们，”凯利恳求道。

“I’m scared.

“我很害怕。

Let me out!”

放我出去吧！”

They had managed to get the box to the large wooden table that stood at the center of the narrow loft.

他们设法把盒子搬到狭窄阁楼中央的一张大木桌上。

Aside from a few broken ladderback chairs, some dented metal tubs covered in dust, and a short stack of boxes marked Xmas, the table was the only thing in the loft.

除了几张破损的梯背椅、一些布满灰尘的凹痕金属桶和一小堆标有圣诞节的盒子外，桌子是阁楼里唯一的东西。

Laura had no idea why it was there.

劳拉不知道它为什么在那里。

If the table had once been painted, it was now bare.

如果桌子曾经被粉刷过的话，那么现在它就光秃秃的了。

Deep gouges ran the desiccated top.

干燥的顶部有深深的凿痕。

They hadn’t tested the sturdiness of the table before they had lifted the box filled with Kelly, but it hadn’t budged under the weight.

他们在抬起装满凯莉包的盒子之前并没有测试桌子的坚固性，但它在重量下没有动弹。

“What’s going on?” Kelly had asked when they set the box down.

“这是怎么回事？”当他们放下盒子时，凯利问过。

It had been first time she had spoken since the stairs.

这是自从上楼梯后她第一次说话。

She must have been scared to stay that still.

她一定是害怕了，不敢保持这样的姿势。

“We’re pushing you off the loft.” Carrie replied, her voice blank like paper.

“我们正在把你从阁楼上推下来。”嘉莉回答道，她的声音空洞如纸。

That was when Kelly began to kick and scream.

就在那时，凯利开始又踢又叫。

She hadn’t really stopped except to catch a breath.

除了喘口气之外，她并没有真正停下来。

“If you want in,” Carrie said at one of those pauses, “then you go off.

“如果你想进去，”嘉莉在其中一次停顿时说道，“那么你就走吧。

In for off.

进来换下。

That’s the rule.”

这就是规则。”

“No!” Kelly cried.

“不！”凯莉哭了。

“I want out.

“我想出去。

Not in.

不进去。

I want out.”

我想出去。”

Carrie didn’t seem to register the request.

嘉莉似乎没有登记这个请求。

Rather, she motioned to Laura and Julia to join her at the wooden table.

相反，她示意劳拉和朱莉娅和她一起坐在木桌旁。

Laura, though, moved away rather than toward, bending to fit the angle of the rafters, searching for the cool shadow at her back.

然而，劳拉却没有靠近，而是朝远处走去，弯下腰以适应椽子的角度，寻找她背后凉爽的影子。

Kelly was clearly panicked, and they could, Carrie could, easily stop at this point, tell Kelly she hadn’t passed, wasn’t a member.

凯莉显然很惊慌，他们可以，嘉莉可以，在这一点上轻易停下来，告诉凯莉她没有通过，不是会员。

It could end.

它可能会结束。

Laura was supposed to be Kelly’s Carrie.

劳拉应该是凯莉的嘉莉。

She knew from the moment her mother first told her about the Spranger family.

从她母亲第一次告诉她斯普兰格家族的那一刻起，她就知道了。

“They’ve just moved to town,” her mother said as they drove home a November afternoon from her final year at elementary school.

“他们刚刚搬到城里，”11 月的一个下午，她从小学最后一年开车回家时，她母亲说道。

“And their daughter is just your age.

“他们的女儿和你年纪相仿。

Poor thing.

可怜的东西。

Having to start sixth grade two months into the year.”

必须在今年两个月后开始六年级。”

They had stopped at one of the three stoplights that ran the length of Cricket Street.

他们在板球街的三个红绿灯之一停了下来。

Her mother held both hands on the steering wheel but looked over at Laura.

她母亲双手握着方向盘，但看着劳拉。

“That has to be so hard.”

“那一定很难。”

Laura squirmed under her mother’s gaze, willed the light to turn green.

劳拉在母亲的注视下蠕动着，希望灯变成绿色。

Laura’s mother taught at the elementary school.

劳拉的母亲在小学教书。

As if having your mother as a teacher in your school wasn’t hard enough, her mom was also the acting vice principal ever since Mrs. Dalton had moved up to the high school.

好像让你妈妈在学校当老师还不够难一样，自从道尔顿夫人升到高中后，她妈妈还担任代理副校长。

Laura had never been a student in one of her mother’s classes—it was against school rules—but at every assembly, she tried to crawl under the bleachers when her mother stepped forward to lead the school spirit song.

劳拉从来都不是她母亲班级的学生——这违反了学校规定——但在每次集会时，当她母亲上前领唱校风歌曲时，她都会试图爬到看台下。

“I’m not sure,” Laura said.

“我不确定，”劳拉说。

The light had turned, and Laura watched the Tasty Freeze pass, then the Runza, then the Jiffy Lube.

灯亮了，劳拉看着美味冷冻店过去了，然后是润扎店，然后是捷飞润滑油店。

“Laura Lynn,” her mother said firmly.

“劳拉·林恩，”她母亲坚定地说。

“That’s ridiculous.

“这太荒谬了。

As far as I know, Kelly is the first new student in our school for well over a year.

据我所知，凯利是我们学校一年多来的第一位新生。

You would notice her.”

你会注意到她的。”

And Laura had.

劳拉也做到了。

She had noticed Kelly for being completely unnoticeable.

她注意到凯利完全不引人注目。

For the first time, Laura understood what it meant to say that someone was “mousy.” Kelly Spranger may have lived in North Carolina, but she certainly didn’t bring anything of the east coast with her.

劳拉第一次明白了说某人“胆小”是什么意思。凯利·斯普兰格可能住在北卡罗来纳州，但她肯定没有带任何东海岸的东西。

Her hair, barely brown, hung straight and appeared to be chewed at the ends.

她的头发几乎是棕色的，笔直地垂下来，发尾似乎被咬过。

Even though it was only early November, she came to school wearing a bulky sweater and corduroy pants in some strange shade of green.

尽管才十一月初，她还是穿着一件宽松的毛衣和灯芯绒裤子来到了学校，裤子的颜色有些奇怪的绿色。

Worst of all, maybe, was that she carried her books in her arms, across her chest like a shield, not a backpack in sight, let alone a Jansport bag like the rest of them.

也许最糟糕的是，她把书抱在怀里，像盾牌一样横在胸前，看不到背包，更不用说像其他人一样拿着 Jansport 包了。

There was no way Laura could be a Carrie to such a girl.

对于这样的女孩来说，劳拉不可能成为嘉莉。

When the first period teacher, Mr. Graham, asked for a volunteer to show Kelly around, Laura had taken out her TrapperKeeper and focused on opening and closing the three metal clasps.

当第一节课老师格雷厄姆先生要求一名志愿者带凯利四处参观时，劳拉拿出了她的 TrapperKeeper，专注于打开和关闭三个金属扣。

Melissa Chaney said she could do it, and Laura’s body flooded with relief.

梅丽莎·钱尼说她能做到，劳拉的身体如释重负。

“I think we should invite her over,” her mother continued, just as they turned into their neighborhood.

“我想我们应该邀请她过来，”当他们走进邻居时，她母亲继续说道。

Two-story houses gathered around a generous green lake that had been made twenty years ago by digging into the silty Nebraska loam.

两层楼的房屋聚集在一个宽阔的绿色湖泊周围，这个湖泊是二十年前通过挖掘内布拉斯加州的粉质壤土而形成的。

Because the water table ran just beneath the topsoil, the sand pit filled to an hourglass-shaped lake in a single day.

由于地下水位正好位于表土下方，沙坑一天之内就填满了沙漏形的湖泊。

Her parents were the very first ones to buy lots on the lake, but others quickly followed.

她的父母是最先在湖边购买土地的人，但其他人很快也纷纷效仿。

The shoreline read like the minutes from a county meeting: the mayor, the county attorney, the county assessor and the city manager.

海岸线读起来就像县会议的记录：市长、县检察官、县评估员和市经理。

Every house sat on a large lot that bordered the lake.

每栋房子都坐落在湖边的一大片土地上。

Almost every house was then surrounded by adjacent empty lots that had been seized to ensure that no one else would build.

几乎每栋房子都被相邻的空地所包围，这些空地已被没收，以确保没有其他人可以建造。

Some of these spaces were inhabited by horses or llamas, but many were just sown with Kentucky blue grass that was carefully cut every weekend.

其中一些空间里栖息着马或美洲驼，但许多空间都刚刚播种了肯塔基蓝草，每个周末都会仔细修剪。

A brown sign with blue cursive lettering welcomed all to Mystique Lake and warned that no one could swim there unless accompanied by a resident.

一块带有蓝色草书字样的棕色标牌欢迎所有人来到神秘湖，并警告说，除非有居民陪同，否则任何人都不能在那里游泳。

In early November the lake sat quiet, except for the moments when scores of Canada geese would descend to the surface to rest before continuing their journey south.

十一月初，湖面一片寂静，只有数十只加拿大雁在继续向南迁徙之前会降落到水面休息的时刻。

“Don’t know,” her mother corrected sharply.

“不知道，”她母亲尖锐地纠正道。

“Two words.

“两个字。

Not one.”

没有一个。”

“Fine,” her mother concluded as they pulled into the garage.

“好吧，”当他们把车开进车库时，她母亲总结道。

Brown leaves fluttered in their wake.

棕色的树叶在他们身后飘扬。

“We can talk about it at dinner with your father.”

“我们可以和你父亲一起吃饭时讨论这个问题。”

The threat remained only a threat, however, as her father arrived home that night upset about the planning commission’s decision to allow a fast-food chain in the historic part of Platte.

然而，威胁仍然只是威胁，因为她父亲那天晚上回到家，对规划委员会允许在普拉特历史悠久的地区开设快餐连锁店的决定感到不安。

The dentist and his family were, for the moment, forgotten.

牙医和他的家人暂时被遗忘了。

From The Beautiful Plain by Jennifer Sinor .

摘自詹妮弗·西诺的《美丽的平原》。

Used with permission of the publisher, University of Nebraska Press.

经出版商内布拉斯加大学出版社许可使用。

Copyright © 2026.

版权所有 © 2026。