18

I had to put my horn down to fix my shoe, and when I did, the last kid in the woodwind section went through the stage door and let it shut behind him. I tried to open the door, but it was LOCKED, so I pounded on the window. But everyone was tuning their instruments and couldn't hear me.

我不得不放下喇叭去修鞋，当我这么做的时候，木管乐器区最后一个孩子从舞台门进来，让门在他身后关上了。 我想开门，但门是锁着的，所以我使劲敲窗户。 但大家都在调音，听不见我说话。

The concert was about to start, and all I could think about was Dad looking at my empty chair. So I knocked HARDER. Luckily, Rowley saw me at the window, got up from his chair, and opened the door. But then he stepped INSIDE the room and let the door shut BEHIND him. Now we were BOTH stuck. I knocked on the window again, but right at that moment Mrs. Graziano struck up the band and everyone started playing. Now it was HOPELESS, because there was no way anyone was gonna hear me with George Deveney pounding away on his kettledrums.

音乐会就要开始了，我满脑子想的都是爸爸看着我的空椅子。 所以我更用力地敲门。幸运的是，罗利在窗口看到了我，他从椅子上站起来，打开了门。 但随后他走进房间，让门在他身后关上。 现在我们都被困住了。我又敲了敲窗户，但就在这时，格拉齐亚诺太太拉起了乐队，大家开始演奏起来。 现在已经没有希望了，因为乔治·德维尼一直敲着他的铜鼓，没有人会听到我的声音。

When the clarinet section piped in, Rowley went into a PANIC. He started playing along with the rest of the band, which was DEFINITELY not helping matters. It was pretty clear it was gonna be up to me to get us out of there. I tried to pry the door open by putting my foot on the wall and pulling on the handle with all my strength. But I guess my pants couldn't take the stress.

当单簧管部分响起时，罗利陷入了恐慌。 他开始和乐队的其他成员一起演奏，这绝对没有帮助。 很明显要靠我把大家救出来。 我把脚踩在墙上，用尽全身力气拉门把手，想把门撬开。 但我想我的裤子承受不了压力。

I looked in the mirror on the back wall to check the damage, and there was a five-inch tear down the middle of my pants. That was really bad news, because you could see my underwear. I realized that even if we managed to get the door back open, I couldn't go out there with this giant HOLE in my pants. So I looked around the room to see if there was anything I could use to cover up. I found a black binder on Mrs. Graziano's desk, and I slipped it down the back of my pants.

我看了看后墙的镜子，检查损坏情况，发现裤子中间有一条五英寸的口子。 真是个坏消息，因为你可以看到我的内裤。 我意识到，即使我们设法把门打开，我也不能带着裤子上的这个大洞出去。 所以我环顾了一下房间，看看有没有什么东西可以用来掩盖。 我在格拉齐亚诺夫人的桌子上找到了一个黑色活页夹，我把它塞在裤子后面。

The binder covered up the hole pretty well, and from a distance no one would be able to notice. But it was so STIFF, I couldn't actually sit DOWN. So I had to take it out and come up with a different idea. Then I thought of a solution. I grabbed a black marker off Mrs. Graziano's desk and told Rowley to color in the part of my underwear that was showing. That way, no one would even know my pants ripped. Unfortunately, that's right when DAD came through the door. I don't know what it looked like to HIM, but I have a feeling it didn't look GOOD.

活页夹把洞盖得很好，从远处看没有人会注意到。 但它太硬了，我根本坐不下来。 所以我不得不把它拿出来，想出一个不同的主意。 然后我想到了一个解决办法。 我从格拉齐亚诺夫人的桌子上拿起一支黑色马克笔，让罗利在我内衣露出来的部分涂上颜色。 那样就没人知道我裤子破了。 不幸的是，就在这时爸爸进来了。 我不知道他怎么看，但我有一种感觉，看起来不太好。

Thursday No matter how many times I explained to Dad what had happened at the Fall Concert, he didn't want to hear it. He said me and Rowley were goofing off when we should've been performing with the band, and that's all he needed to know. My punishment is two weeks with no television or video games, and I'm not allowed to have friends over after school. The only thing I really CAN do is practice my French horn, which I guess is the point. But practicing that thing stresses me out, and stress makes me HUNGRY. I usually have a whole pillowcase full of candy at this time of year, but since I skipped trick-or-treating to go to that party, I missed out on the best part of Halloween.

星期四不管我跟爸爸解释多少次秋季音乐会上发生的事，他都不想听。 他说我和罗利在混日子而我们本应该和乐队一起演出，他只要知道这些就够了。 我的惩罚是两周不能看电视，不能玩电子游戏，放学后也不能请朋友过来。 我唯一能做的就是练习我的法国号，我想这才是重点。 但是练习那件事让我很紧张，压力让我很饿。 在每年的这个时候，我通常会有一整枕套的糖果，但因为我没有去参加那个派对，所以我错过了万圣节最精彩的部分。