20

The next morning,I was at Palermo airport and waiting for a flight to Rome from where I could make a connection to the States.

I had nothing to declare and expected to pass quickly through customs.I was one of the few,unluckly enough to be asked to open my suitcases.I waited,pationtly,while the customs officer rummaged through my belongings.I saw that he had taken something out from the bottom of one of the cases.He held it out towards me.

It looked like a block of dark brown toffee.I told him,truthfully,that I had no idea what it was or how it came to be there.I was asked to go into a side room.Two more customs officers came in and I was given a body search.Nothing more was found.I was told to wait.Locked in the room and left with my thought.Though I had never actually seen the substance before,I could make a guess as to what the block of ‘toffee'actually was.If I was right,then someone was making certain that I did not leave the island!

After half an hour,two brown-uniformed Carabinieri appeared.My worst fear was confirmed.I was under arrest for being in possession of a quantity of an illegal drug-cannabis resin.

I was taken back to the police station in Palermo.I asked about my rights to have a lawyer or to to make a phome call,but was told that that would come later.Meanwhile,I was locked in a cell.( 文章閱讀網(wǎng)：www.sanwen.net )

It seemed that my troubles were unending.I certainly needed some help.One thought which did cross my mind was that I might just have a friend on the island.My father had fought with the US Marines in Sicily.He had often spoken of a ‘buddy’,a Captain Jim Jameson.I knew that zhis Captain Jameson had married a Sicilian girl and settled on the island after the war.I even remembered he lived some small town called Adrano.I had no means of knowing whether he was still there or whether he was even alive.like my father,he could be dead.

I decided that if I was given the opportunity then my best hope was to be allowed to contact the American Embassy.It was at that moment that the cell door was unlocked.The man who stepped in was in plain clothes and looked a bit too expensively dressed for a policeman(21).

注釋：

1，a flight to Rome：到羅馬的航班。

2，Rome where I could make a connection to the States.到了羅馬，就能與美國聯(lián)系了。where引導(dǎo)定語從句，作from 的賓語，其先行詞是Rome，from where在從句中做地點(diǎn)狀語。

3，declare：過海關(guān)申報(bào)納稅。

4，unluckly enough：真夠倒霉的。

5，rummage：翻箱倒柜地搜尋。

6，belongings：隨身物品。

7，toffee：乳脂糖。

8，I was under arrest for···cannabis resin:我因私藏大量非法藥品——大麻——而被捕了。be under arrest：被捕；in possession of ：擁有，持有；a quantity of：大量的，若干的；cannabis：大麻； resin：樹脂，樹脂一樣的東西，此處指那塊大麻。

9，unending：沒有盡頭的。

10,One thought which did cross my mind ···on the island:我的確突然想起，可能恰好有一個(gè)人可以求助。全句主干：One thought was that ···。which引導(dǎo)定語從句，其先行詞是thougt，which在從句中作主語；did：助動(dòng)詞，表示強(qiáng)調(diào)；cross one's mind：（想法、念頭等）閃現(xiàn)、掠過頭腦；

11， had fought with the US Marines：曾隨美國海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)作戰(zhàn)。with：作為······的一員；與·····一起（工作，行動(dòng)）。

12，had often spoken of a ‘buddy’：常常談起一個(gè)“哥們” ;buddy：好朋友（常指男子的男性朋友）。

13，a Captain Jim Jameson：一位名叫吉姆·詹姆森的上尉。

20

第二天一早，我就到了巴勒莫機(jī)場，等候到羅馬的航班；到了羅馬，就能夠與美國國內(nèi)聯(lián)系了。

我可沒有什么東西需要申報(bào)納稅的，因此料想會(huì)很快通過海關(guān)。真夠倒霉的，沒幾個(gè)人被要求打開箱子檢查，我就是其中之一。我耐心地等著，隨那個(gè)官員怎么翻查我的隨身物品。只見他從我的一個(gè)箱子底部抽出了一樣什么東西，然后遞到我面前。

這玩意兒像一塊深棕色的乳脂糖。我如實(shí)告訴他，我壓根兒不知道那是什么東西，也不知它是怎么到我箱子里去的。他們把我?guī)У脚赃叺囊粋€(gè)房間，接著又進(jìn)來兩名官員，對(duì)我搜身,并沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)有其他什么違禁品。他們把我鎖在那間屋里，要我呆在那兒，好好想一想。盡管我事實(shí)上從來沒有見過那塊像乳脂糖一樣的東西，我還是能猜出來這究竟是怎么回事。如果我的猜測不錯(cuò)的話，那就是，有人為了把我困在西西里島而玩的陰招。

半小時(shí)后，來了兩個(gè)身穿棕色制服的警察，我最害怕的事終于得到了證實(shí)：我因私藏大量非法藥品——大麻——而被捕了。

我被帶回了巴勒莫警察局。我要求聘請(qǐng)律師的權(quán)力，要求打個(gè)電話。他們說，要過些時(shí)候才行，當(dāng)時(shí)把我關(guān)在一個(gè)很小的房間里。

看來，我的麻煩遠(yuǎn)沒有完,得有人幫我才行。我突然想起，在這個(gè)島上，可能真的恰好有一個(gè)人我還可以求助！我家老爺子曾經(jīng)隨美國海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)在西西里打過仗。他常常談起一個(gè)“哥們”，一位名叫吉姆·詹姆森的上尉。我早就知道，這位詹姆森上尉娶了一位西西里姑娘，戰(zhàn)后就在這個(gè)島上定居了。我甚至記得，他就住在一個(gè)叫阿德拉諾的小鎮(zhèn)上。但他是否還住在那兒呢？甚至，他是否還健在？他也很有可能像我父親一樣，已經(jīng)過世了。

我打定主意，如果有機(jī)會(huì)，首先要求同美國大使館聯(lián)系。就在那時(shí)，門鎖打開了，一名身穿便服的男子跨了進(jìn)來；此人若是警察的話，那么這身衣服似乎昂貴了一些（21）。

注釋：

西西里島登陸戰(zhàn)役:第二次世界大戰(zhàn)期間,盟軍于1943年7月10日至8月17日在意大利西西里島實(shí)施的大規(guī)模登陸作戰(zhàn)。美國第七集團(tuán)軍參加了該次戰(zhàn)役。在西西里戰(zhàn)役中，雖然沒能消滅德軍大量有生力量，但達(dá)到了迫使意大利退出戰(zhàn)爭的政治目的。盟軍占領(lǐng)了西西里島，從此在地中海往來無阻，打開了登陸歐洲的大門，從而加速了意大利的投降。

首發(fā)散文網(wǎng)：http://www.277762.cc/subject/437883/