Chapter 5

Chapter 5 A few minutes later, the kids reached Josh's house. Josh marched around the house to the backyard. His twin brothers, Brian and Bradley, were playing with blocks on the picnic table. Under the table, Josh's dog, Pal, was sound asleep. "Where's Mom?" Josh asked the twins.

几分钟后，孩子们到了乔希的家。 乔希绕着房子走到后院。 他的双胞胎兄弟布莱恩和布拉德利正在野餐桌上玩积木。 在桌子下面，乔希的狗，帕尔，睡得很熟。 “妈妈在哪儿?”乔希问双胞胎。

"I'm out here!" came a voice from the vegetable garden. Josh ran toward his mother, yelling, "I need some garlic!" Ruth Rose shook her head. "Do you think Josh is serious about this vampire stuff, or is he just fooling around?" she asked Dink. Dink shrugged. "I think he really believes that guy is a vampire," he said. "What do you think?" Ruth Rose asked. "I don't believe in vampires," Dink said. "But what about those Band-Aids?" Dink and Ruth Rose sat at the table with Brian and Bradley. The twins each had a pile of letter blocks and were trying to make words. "What are you spelling?" Dink asked them. "Our names, but we don't know how to spell!" Bradley said. "I'll help you," Ruth Rose said. "Do you know what letter your names begin with?" "B!" both boys yelled. They each picked out a B block.

“我在外面!”一个声音从菜园里传来。 乔希跑向他妈妈，大喊:“我需要一些大蒜!”露丝·罗斯摇了摇头。 她问丁克:“你觉得乔什对吸血鬼的事是认真的吗，还是只是在闹着玩?” 丁克耸耸肩。“我觉得他真的相信那个人是吸血鬼，”他说。 “你觉得怎么样?”露丝·罗斯问。 “我不相信有吸血鬼，”丁克说。 “但是那些创可贴呢?”丁克和露丝·罗斯与布莱恩和布拉德利坐在桌旁。 这对双胞胎每个人都有一堆字母积木，正在拼单词。 “你在拼什么?”丁克问他们。 “我们的名字，但我们不知道怎么拼写!”布拉德利说。 “我会帮你的，”露丝·罗斯说。 “你们知道你们的名字是以什么字母开头的吗?”“B!”两个男孩都叫道。 他们每人挑了一块B块。

"That's right," Ruth Rose said. She selected four more blocks to spell out B-R-I-A-N. "That spells Brian," she said. She chose some more blocks and spelled B-R-A-D-L-E-Y. Josh came and sat down with them. He had an armload of green stalks with white bulbs on one end. "Ew!" cried Brian. "Smelly!" "Yuck!" yelled Bradley. The two boys raced away from the table holding their noses. "So this is what garlic looks like when it's growing," Dink said, sniffing one of the stalks. Ruth Rose held her nose. "Did you tell your mom why you want the garlic, Josh?" Josh grinned slyly. "I didn't tell her about Vampire Man," he said. "I just said I needed garlic for an experiment." Josh started weaving stalks together. "I think I'll pass on the garlic," Dink said. "Okay, but don't try to steal mine when the vampire sneaks up on you," Josh said.

“没错，”露丝·罗斯说。 她又选了四个积木拼出B-R-I-A-N。 “那就是布莱恩，”她说。 她又选了一些积木，拼出B-R-A-D-L-E-Y。 乔希走过来和他们坐在一起。 他抱着一大堆一头长着白色球茎的绿茎。 “恶心!”布莱恩叫道。“臭!”“恶心!”布拉德利喊道。 两个男孩捂着鼻子跑开了。 “这就是大蒜生长时的样子，”丁克一边闻着其中一根茎，一边说。 露丝·罗斯捏着鼻子。“你告诉你妈妈你为什么想吃大蒜了吗，乔希?”乔希狡黠地笑了笑。 “我没有告诉她关于吸血鬼的事，”他说。 “我只是说我需要大蒜做实验。” 乔希开始把茎编在一起。 “我想我还是不吃大蒜了，”丁克说。 “好吧，但是当吸血鬼悄悄靠近你的时候，不要试图偷走我的。”乔什说。

"I wish I could remember where I saw him before today," Ruth Rose said. She spelled out Dr. Cula with blocks. "You forgot his first initial," Dink said. He picked up an A block and slid it between the R and C blocks. Suddenly Josh dropped his garlic stalks. The blocks spelled D-R-A-C-U-L-A. Dink and Ruth Rose stared at the word. To Dink, it seemed as if everything froze. Pal stopped his snoring. "Now do you guys believe me?" Josh whispered. "Well, okay," Ruth Rose said after a minute. "The letters in Dr. Cula's name also spell Dracula. But that's just a coincidence."

“我希望我能记得今天之前在哪里见过他，”露丝·罗斯说。 她用积木拼出了Cula医生。 “你忘了他名字的首字母，”丁克说。 他拿起一块A积木，把它塞到R积木和C积木之间。 突然，乔希扔掉了他的蒜茎。 积木拼成D-R-A-C-U-L-A。 丁克和露丝·罗斯盯着这个字。 对丁克来说，一切似乎都凝固了。 帕尔停止了打鼾。“现在你们相信我了吗?”杰克小声说。 “好吧，”露丝·罗斯过了一会儿说。 “库拉博士名字里的字母也拼成德古拉。 但这只是一个巧合。”

Dink let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "I don't know," he said quietly. "The Band-Aids on Mr. Paskey, Ellie, and Mr. Linkletter could be a coincidence. And anyone could own a black cape. But this …" Dink ran a finger along the seven blocks that spelled Dracula. "This can't be a coincidence!" Ruth Rose sighed. "Okay, I guess I agree that this is all a little spooky," she said. "But I still don't think Dr. Cula is a vampire. I don't believe in vampires, like I don't believe in ghosts." "I don't believe in ghosts, either," Dink said. "But I do believe what I see. I think we should go talk to Officer Fallon." "Okay, let's go see if he believes in vampires," Ruth Rose said. "Wait a sec," Josh said. He had fin-ished weaving a loop of garlic stalks. It was too small to slide over his head, so he plopped it on top of his hair, like a crown. "How do I look?" he asked. "Like a smelly salad," commented Dink.

丁克呼了一口气，他都不知道自己一直在喘着气。 “我不知道，”他平静地说。 帕斯基先生、艾莉和林克莱特先生身上的创可贴可能是巧合。 任何人都可以拥有一件黑色斗篷。 但是这个……”丁克用手指摸了摸代表德古拉的七个街区。 “这不可能是巧合!”露丝·罗斯叹了口气。 她说:“好吧，我想我同意这有点吓人。” “但我仍然不认为。 Cula是个吸血鬼。我不相信有吸血鬼，就像我不相信有鬼一样。” “我也不相信有鬼，”丁克说。 “但我相信我所看到的。 我想我们应该去找法伦警官谈谈。” “好吧，我们去看看他信不信吸血鬼，”露丝·罗斯说。 “等一下，”乔希说。他已经编好了一圈蒜茎。 它太小了，无法套在头上，所以他把它像皇冠一样戴在头发上。 “我看起来怎么样?”他问。 “就像一份有味道的沙拉，”丁克评论道。