16

We were really careful, and everything held together. But when we put in the last brick at the top, we realized we forgot to build a DOOR. Rowley started hyperventilating, and I knew if I didn't DO something, he was gonna suck up all the oxygen in there. So I busted through the top and took a big gulp of fresh air. Some neighborhood kids had been watching us build our igloo, and with my head sticking up, I must've looked like an easy target.

我们格外小心，搭好的结构结结实实没散架。 可等我们把最顶上那块冰砖放好，才发现我们居然忘了留门！ 罗利开始喘得上气不接下气，我知道再不做点什么，他就要把这儿的氧气全吸光了。 于是我砸破冰屋顶钻出去，狠狠吸了一大口新鲜空气。 附近几个小孩一直在看我们搭冰屋，我脑袋露出来的时候，肯定看着就是个活靶子。

After those idiots ran out of snowballs, they climbed on top of the igloo. But it wasn't meant to support any extra weight, and within a few seconds the whole thing came crashing down. Me and Rowley were lucky to crawl out of there ALIVE. Once we pulled ourselves out of our ruined igloo, I decided that we'd had enough fun for one day. So we went back to the house, and this time Mom let us IN.

那帮笨蛋扔完雪球，直接爬到了冰屋顶上。 可冰屋本来就撑不住额外的重量，没几秒钟整个冰屋就塌了。 我和罗利能活着爬出来已经够走运了。 我俩从废墟里爬出来，我觉得这天已经玩够了。 于是我们回了家，这次妈妈终于让我们进门了。

I told Mom what happened at the empty lot, and how she needed to go out there and yell at those stupid kids for us. But Mom said that learning to deal with "conflict" is part of growing up, and that me and Rowley were gonna have to deal with this on our OWN. I didn't like the sound of THAT. I thought the whole POINT of having parents is that you've got someone to solve your problems FOR you. Dad was listening from the other room, and he had a TOTALLY different take. He said that the neighborhood kids had just declared WAR on me and Rowley, and if we didn't fight BACK, they'd think it was OK to attack us whenever they WANTED.

我告诉妈妈空地里发生的事，让她出去帮我们骂骂那帮坏小孩。 可妈妈说，学会处理矛盾是成长的一部分，我和罗利得自己解决这件事。 我可一点都不喜欢这个说法。 我本来觉得，有家长的意义就是有人帮你解决问题啊。 爸爸在隔壁房间听着，他的想法完全不一样。 他说那帮小孩已经向我和罗利宣战了，要是我们不反击，他们就会觉得随时都能随便欺负我们。

Dad said that when HE was growing up, his neighborhood turned into a BATTLEFIELDevery time it snowed. Kids built giant snow forts and had epic snowball fights, and everyone was part of a different "clan." Dad said each clan had its own FLAG, and when you captured somebody else's fort, you planted a flag to mark your territory. Well, Rowley thought WE should form a clan, and he really liked this FLAG idea. I thought it seemed kind of DUMB, but as long as making a flag gave us an excuse to be INDOORS for a while, I was all for it.

爸爸说，他小时候，每当下雪，他家小区就会变成战场。 小朋友们搭巨型雪堡，打轰轰烈烈的雪仗，每个人都加入不同的帮派。 爸爸说每个帮派都有自己的旗帜，攻下别人的堡垒后，就要插旗标记领地。 罗利听了觉得我们也该组个帮派，他特别喜欢插旗子这个主意。 我觉得这主意挺傻的，但反正做旗子能让我们多在屋里待一会儿，我就同意了。

We found an old pillowcase in the laundry room, and got some markers out of the junk drawer in the kitchen. We started by trying to come up with a NAME for our clan. Rowley said he wanted us to be "Hufflepuff," but I said if we were gonna do this, I wanted our name to be something ORIGINAL. We argued back and forth for a while about our name, and I realized we weren't gonna agree on one. So we talked about how our flag should LOOK. Rowley wanted our symbol to be a WOLF, but I wanted something even fiercer than THAT, so we'd scare kids off. I thought a bloody battle-axe would do the trick, but of course Rowley didn't like that idea. So we compromised and put the two things TOGETHER.

我们在洗衣房找到一个旧枕套，又从厨房杂物抽屉拿出了几支马克笔。 我们一开始先想帮派对的名字。 罗利想叫我们“赫奇帕奇”，可我说要做就得起个原创的名字。 我们为名字吵了半天，我发现我俩根本达不成一致。 于是我们转而去讨论旗子该画成什么样。 罗利想要狼当标志，我想要比狼更凶猛的东西，好吓跑那帮小孩。 我觉得带血的战斧就很合适，不过罗利当然不喜欢这个主意。 最后我们各退一步，把两个东西都画上去了。

But when you add an axe and a wolf, you just get a dead wolf, which isn't gonna scare ANYONE. We were going to start over and make a new flag, but when I got another pillowcase, Mom told us we needed to go back outside. So we got on our snow gear and went to the empty lot. The kids who wrecked our igloo had moved on to other things, so me and Rowley had the empty lot all to ourselves. We used the snow from the igloo as a starting point, and made a fort that could hold up to an attack.

可斧头加狼，结果就是一只死狼，根本吓不到任何人啊。 我们正打算重新做一面旗子，可我刚拿到新枕套，妈妈就催我们出门了。 于是我们穿好雪地装备，去了那块空地。 弄坏我们冰屋的小孩已经去玩别的了，这块空地就归我和罗利独享了。 我们用原来冰屋的积雪当底子，搭了一座能扛住进攻的雪堡。