尾聲
這些年來,塔瑪尼弄的那棟房子變得越來越不那么可怕,司氏姐妹們也長得越來越不那么神秘。最大的姐姐,瑪拉,那長著一頭黑色飄逸長發的美麗姑娘,嫁給了前市長的兒子,格雷厄姆,而我們的兒子們只能嫉妒地嘆一口氣,把注意力轉向那對孿生姐妹,摩根和瑪麗的身上。當然,奇怪的事件曾發生在婚禮期間——我們還記得當時非常害怕。由於某些原因,我們當時那麼肯定地認為是司氏姐妹們害死了格雷厄姆。也許我們對她們還不夠了解,但事實證明瑪拉是可以想象到的最善良的女人,在以後我們有對她更多的了解后,我們發現她甚至不會去傷害一隻蒼蠅。這是一個極大的誤解——婚禮結束后一個星期左右,格雷厄姆又出現了,毫髮無損。顯然有人綁架了他,並試圖嫁禍於司氏姐妹們...現在那個故事在我們頭腦里已非常模糊。 他那可憐的父母, 在這次事件的繁重壓力下似乎變瘋了,而我們盡了我們最大的努力的來展示我們的同情心。 亨特先生,那位市長,被發現在那座被一場奇怪地震震塌的拘留所的廢墟上,喋喋不休地說著廢話,而亨特夫人,可憐的女人,她似乎一夜之間蒼老了20歲。他們都退休了,副市長接管了市長的職位。很奇怪的是,在格雷厄姆的重新出現后的幾天里,像有一個沉重的負擔卸除了我們的肩膀。我們都喜悅萬分,我們的心靈感到輕鬆和自由,我們舉辦了一個巨大的晚會歡迎格雷厄姆回家,法媽食店在現場提供食物並服務。可憐的亨特父母坐在角落裡生悶氣,不管我們如何努力,他們似乎都不能得到安慰。
時光流逝,人們有去有來,有時新的居民會搬到鎮里。有時我們會迴避,因為警惕陌生的事物是我們的天性,但時間總是經得起考驗。司氏姐妹和她們的母親法媽就曾經是這樣的陌生居民,但現在她們已是小鎮的一部分,我們中的一員。
Epilogue
Over
the years, the house on Tamany Lane grew less frightening and the Switch
sisters grew less mysterious. The oldest one, Mara, a beautiful girl with long
flowing black hair married the former mayor』s son, Graham, while all of our
sons sighed a breath of jealousy, turning their attentions to the twin sisters,
Morgan and Marie. There was that strange event that happened around the time of
the wedding, of course—and we remember at that time being very afraid. We had
been sure, for some reason, that the Switch sisters were guilty of killing
Graham. Perhaps we did not know them well enough then, for it turned out that
Mara was the kindest woman imaginable, and after we got to know her we
understood that she wouldn』t be capable of harming a fly. It was all a giant
misunderstanding—a week or so after the wedding, Graham reappeared, completely
unharmed. Apparently someone had kidnapped him and try to frame the Switch
sisters for it…the story is fuzzy in our heads now. His poor parents seemed to
have gone crazy through the stress of the incident, and we all did our best to
show our sympathy. Mr. Hunter, the mayor, was found babbling nonsense under the
rubble of a house that had fallen in a freak earthquake, and Mrs. Hunter, poor
woman, she seemed to have aged twenty years overnight. They retired, and the
deputy mayor took over governing the town. It was strange.
In the days after Graham』s reappearance, it was like a heavy weight had been
lifted from all of our shoulders. We were all so overjoyed, our minds felt
light and free, and we threw a giant party to welcome Graham home, catered by
Fa』s Foods. The poor Hunter parents sat in the corner, sulking, and couldn』t be
comforted no matter how hard we tried.
Time
passes, people go and people come back, and sometimes new folks come to town.
Sometimes we』ll shy away, being naturally wary of strange things, but always
time will stand the test. The Switch Sisters and their mother Fa were once
those strange new folk, but now they』re a fixture here, almost one of us.