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The stainless steel skewer that Xavier Cunningham found in his backyard two Septembers ago was about a foot and a half long and the width of his pinkie.
兩年前，澤維爾·坎寧安在自家后院發現了一根不銹鋼串肉桿，大約有一英尺半長，和他小手指的寬度差不多。
One end had four sharp prongs, and the other had a single point—it was the kind of rod used to cook rotisserie chicken over a grill.
它一端有四個尖頭，另一端只有一個尖頭——那是一種用來在烤架上烤制烤雞的桿子。
It also made the perfect spear, and Xavier and his friends Silas and Gavon, all ten years old, took turns seeing who could chuck it the farthest.
它也是個完美的矛，十歲的澤維爾和他同歲的朋友輪流比試誰擲地更遠。
When they got bored, they ditched the skewer near a neighbor's tree house, sticking the four prongs in the ground as an anchor.
玩的無聊了，他們就把這個桿子放在鄰居家樹屋邊上，把四箭頭的一端插在地上，當作一個錨。
They then climbed up the tree house's ten-foot ladder.
然后他們就爬上樹屋的十英尺的梯子。
Apparently, the boys hadn't seen the large wasp nest wrapped around the back of the tree, for once they were in the hut they were under attack.
很明顯，孩子們沒有看見那只繞在樹后的大馬蜂窩，因為他們一進了小屋就受到了攻擊。
The swarm was so aggressive that Silas kneeled in the corner and started praying.
蜂群非常兇猛，塞拉斯跪在角落里開始祈禱。
"I'll get my mom!" Xavier said as he descended the ladder. About halfway down, a wasp stung his left hand.
“我去找我媽！”澤維爾說在他從梯子上下來時，下到一半的時候，一個馬蜂叮了他的左手。
Xavier swatted at it with his right, lost his balance, and fell, facedown.
澤維爾用右手猛擊它，失去平衡，臉朝下倒了下去。
Before breaking his fall with his arms, he felt a sting just under his left eye.
在他用胳膊防止摔倒之前，他感受到左眼下方的刺痛。
Was that a wasp? he wondered. In fact, it was the skewer. About six inches of it was now buried in his head.
這也是馬蜂蟄的嗎？他在想。實際上，那是尖桿。它插進了澤維爾頭部六英寸深。
Screaming, he got up and ran to his home, some 50 feet away.
尖叫著，他起身跑到50英尺外自己的家中。
Gabrielle Miller, 39, was upstairs folding laundry in the house she shared with her husband, Shannon Miller, and their four children.
39歲的加布里埃爾·米勒正在樓上疊衣服，她和丈夫香農·米勒以及他們的四個孩子一起住在這棟房子里。
Shannon, a teacher, had taken two of their kids to an arcade, while Gabrielle, who manages a title-insurance business, stayed home with Xavier and his 14-year-old sister, Chayah.
加布里埃爾經營著一家產權保險公司，香農則是一名教師。那天香農帶著兩個孩子去了一家游樂場，而加布里埃爾則在家里照看澤維爾和他14歲的姐姐查亞。
She heard her son screaming and thought, When will he grow out of this stuff?
她聽到自己的兒子的喊聲，就在想，什么時候他才能長大呢？
Xavier—called Bear by his family, after a story Shannon had told him as a toddler—always made a fuss over the smallest scratch.
香農在他蹣跚學步時給他講了一個故事后，他的家人就叫他“熊”。澤維爾總是有一點小事就大驚小怪。
If one of their two dogs jumped up on him, he'd start screaming; he was too scared to walk Max, the coonhound he'd gotten as a puppy, because the dog pulled on the leash.
如果他們的兩條狗中的一條跳到他身上，他就會尖叫起來；他太害怕了，不敢遛他小時候得到的那只獵浣熊犬馬克斯，因為那只狗會拉皮帶。
Gabrielle was almost down the stairs, Chayah right behind her, when Xavier pushed the front door open, shrieking, "Mom, Mom!" Chayah took one look and fled back upstairs in horror.
在加布里埃爾幾乎要走下樓梯時，澤維爾推開前門，尖叫著：“媽媽，媽媽！”在她身后的查亞看了一眼，驚恐地跑回樓上。
Gabrielle was trying to make sense of what she was seeing. "Who shot you?!" she said.
加布里埃爾想搞清楚她看到的情況。她說，“誰射擊你了？！”
It looked like there was an arrow through her son's face, and a single trickle of blood ran down from it.
看起來有一支箭插在兒子的臉上，一股鮮血流了出來。
On the back of his neck was a lump—the tip of the skewer that hadn't pierced the skin. "Chayah, go find the boys.
他脖子后面鼓了起來-箭的尖端沒有穿過皮膚。“查亞，去找找別的小孩。
I'm taking Bear to the hospital!" As Gabrielle backed the car out into the road, a neighbor watching them thought, That boy's not coming home.
我帶熊兒去醫院！”當加布里埃爾把車倒在馬路上時，一個鄰居看著他們，心想：那個男孩回不了家了。
Emergency room personnel acted quickly when Xavier walked in, giving him painkillers and send- ing him for X-rays.
當澤維爾走進醫院時，急診室的工作人員迅速采取了行動，給他開了止痛藥，并給他拍了x光片。
The skewer didn't appear to have hit his spine, but an X-ray can't show tissue damage.
尖桿似乎沒有擊中他的脊柱，但x光片無法顯示組織損傷。
