“Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?” Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.
“Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?” Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.
It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.
“It's Monday,” he told his mother. “The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television.”
Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. Still, you weren't eleven every day.
Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.
“Found the perfect place!” he said. “Come on! Everyone out!”
It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.
“Storm forecast for tonight!” said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. “And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!”
A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.
“I've already got us some rations,” said Uncle Vernon, “so all aboard!”
It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.
The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.
Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.
“Could do with some of those letters now, eh?” he said cheerfully.
He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.
"親愛(ài)的,不如我們回家去吧。"幾小時(shí)后,帕尤妮亞姨媽小心翼翼地提出建議,可是維能姨丈好像聽(tīng)不到她說(shuō)話,沒(méi)有人知道他在找什么。他載著他們開(kāi)進(jìn)了一片森林的深處,下車看了看,搖了一下頭,又回到車?yán)锢^續(xù)開(kāi)車。同樣的情形還發(fā)生在一片農(nóng)田的中央,或者一架吊橋的中間和一座高樓的頂層停車場(chǎng)。
"爸爸是不是已經(jīng)瘋掉了?"那天下午達(dá)德里這樣遲鈍地問(wèn)帕尤妮亞姨媽。維能姨丈把車停在海邊,把他們都鎖在車?yán)锶缓笞约弘x開(kāi)了。
天下起雨來(lái),巨大的雨滴敲擊著車頂。達(dá)德里小聲地哭起來(lái)。
"今天是星期一。"他告訴他媽媽,"今天晚上有'巨人哈伯特'看。我想找一個(gè)有電視機(jī)的地方。"星期一,哈利忽然想起了什么。如果今天是星期——只要有達(dá)德里在,他就會(huì)知道今天是星期幾,達(dá)德里是個(gè)電視迷——那么明天,星期二便是哈利的第十一個(gè)生日了。當(dāng)然,他的生日也并不代表就一定會(huì)開(kāi)心——去年,杜斯利家送給他一只掛衣架和維能姨丈的一雙舊襪子。但是,你不可能天天都過(guò)十一歲生日啊。
維能姨丈回來(lái)了,臉上笑瞇瞇的。他拎著一只長(zhǎng)條的包囊,但是當(dāng)帕尤妮亞姨媽問(wèn)他買(mǎi)了什么東西的時(shí)候他一個(gè)字都沒(méi)答。
"我找到一個(gè)絕好的地方!"他叫道,"快來(lái)!每個(gè)人都出來(lái)。"車外非常冷。維能姨丈所指的地方看上去像一片通向大海的巖石群。在巖石的頂部是你所能想象的世界上最小最簡(jiǎn)陋的棚房,很顯然那里沒(méi)有電視機(jī)。
"今晚預(yù)報(bào)會(huì)有暴風(fēng)雨!"維能姨丈一邊說(shuō)一邊興奮地拍著手。
"但是這個(gè)好心人答應(yīng)借他的船給我們用!"
一個(gè)沒(méi)牙的老頭蹣跚地向他們走過(guò)來(lái),臉上邪邪地笑著,手指向了漂浮在鐵青色的海水之上的一艘舊劃船。
"我已經(jīng)給每個(gè)人都準(zhǔn)備好了食物。"維能姨丈說(shuō),"大家快上船吧!"船里冷得像冰窖,冰冷的海水噴涌上來(lái),雨水鉆進(jìn)了他們的脖子,凜冽的北風(fēng)像鞭子一樣抽打著他們的面龐。大概過(guò)了幾小時(shí)他們才到達(dá)那片巖石,維能姨丈深一腳淺一腳在前面帶路,向那間破舊得幾乎要垮掉的破房子走去。
房間里更為恐怖,散發(fā)出一股濃烈的海藻味。冷風(fēng)從木頭做的墻壁縫間呼嘯而入,壁爐又空又潮濕,屋子里面只有兩間房子。
維能姨丈所準(zhǔn)備的食物不過(guò)是每人一包薯?xiàng)l和四只香蕉。他打算用空的薯?xiàng)l包裝袋來(lái)點(diǎn)火,可是袋子冒了一陣煙就滅了。
"不如用那些信來(lái)點(diǎn)火吧。"他興奮地說(shuō),維能姨丈看上去心情好極了,很顯然他認(rèn)為沒(méi)有人有可能在暴風(fēng)雨中把信送到一個(gè)孤島上來(lái)。哈利私下里也這么認(rèn)為,雖然他并不希望事情是這樣子。