Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The kids marched next door to Ruth Rose's house. They found Nate in the living room watching a video. His fingers and mouth were stained purple. "Natie, did you take Dink's letters?" Ruth Rose asked. Nate looked at his sister with big blue eyes. He shook his head. "Nope." Ruth Rose glanced at Dink and Josh. She rolled her eyes. "Okay then who took them? We found your jammy fingerprints." Nate hid his hands under his T-shirt. "Steggy did," he said softly.

孩子们向隔壁的露丝·罗斯家走去。 他们发现内特在客厅看视频。 他的手指和嘴巴都染成了紫色。 “妈妈，你拿丁克的信了吗?”露丝·罗斯问。 内特用蓝色的大眼睛看着他的妹妹。 他摇了摇头。“不。” 露丝·罗斯瞥了丁克和乔希一眼。 她翻了个白眼。“好吧，那是谁拿的?” 我们找到了你的脏指纹。” 内特把手藏在t恤下面。 “是斯泰格干的。”他轻声说。

Dink knelt down next to Nate. "Where did Steggy put the envelopes?" he asked. Nate shrugged, watching two dancing dinosaurs on TV. "Who the heck is Steggy?" Josh asked. "His favorite dinosaur," Ruth Rose said. She turned off the TV. "Natie, Dink really needs his letters. Can you show us where Steggy put them?" Nate let out a big sigh. He got up and walked into the kitchen. The kids followed. Nate pulled open the refrigerator door. A stuffed stegosaur sat on a shelf next to a bowl of strawberry Jell-O. Steggy had five blue envelopes in his mouth. Josh laughed. "Yo, Nate, don't you know dinosaurs hate the cold?" Nate pulled Steggy off the shelf and shut the door. "Steggy's playing mailman. It's hot outside," he said.

丁克跪在内特旁边。 “斯泰吉把信封放在哪儿了?”他问。 内特耸了耸肩，看着电视上两只跳舞的恐龙。 “斯蒂格到底是谁?”杰克问。 “他最喜欢的恐龙，”露丝·罗斯说。 她关掉了电视。“亲爱的，丁克真的很需要他的信。 你能告诉我们斯泰格把它们放在哪儿了吗?”内特长叹一声。 他起身走进厨房。 孩子们跟在后面。内特拉开冰箱门。 架子上放着一碗草莓果冻，旁边放着一只剑龙标本。 斯泰吉嘴里叼着五个蓝色信封。 杰克笑了。“嘿，内特，你不知道恐龙讨厌寒冷吗?”内特把斯蒂格从架子上拉下来，关上了门。 “斯泰格要扮演邮差。 外面很热，”他说。

Ruth Rose handed the envelopes to Dink. "It's not nice to take things without asking," she told her brother. "It's okay, Natie," Dink said, examining the envelopes for purple smudges. He wanted the letters to look perfect for Doris Duncan. Dink found a few splotches of grape jam and wiped them off on his pants. When he looked for more purple stains, he noticed the return address again. "This is weird," he said.

露丝·罗斯把信封递给丁克。 “不经询问就拿东西是不好的，”她对哥哥说。 “没关系，纳蒂。”丁克说，一边检查信封上有没有紫色的污迹。 他希望这些信能完美地呈现给多丽丝·邓肯。 丁克发现了几块果酱，就在裤子上擦了擦。 当他寻找更多的紫色污渍时，他又注意到了回信地址。 “这很奇怪，”他说。

Dink showed the return address to Josh and Ruth Rose. "Doris Duncan's mother's name is Bessie Duncan. So why are the letters from O. Bird?" "Maybe O. Bird mailed the notes for her after she died," Josh said. Dink laid the envelopes in a row on the kitchen table. He pulled out the notes and placed them next to their envelopes. "But what about this?" Dink said. "The letters are all dated last week. But Doris Duncan told me her mom died last month!" "Mind if I get us all some milk?" Josh asked. "Go ahead," Ruth Rose said, picking up the empty envelope. "And why would anyone send her own daughter an envelope with nothing in it?" Dink nodded. "It doesn't make any sense," he said, "unless these letters aren't really from her mother." "But why would Doris tell us a story like that?" Ruth Rose wondered. Josh picked up one of the letters. He read it quickly. Then he carefully spilled a small puddle of milk on the writing.

丁克把回信地址给乔什和露丝·罗斯看。 “多丽丝·邓肯的母亲叫贝茜·邓肯。 那么为什么字母O。 鸟?”“也许o·伯德在她死后替她寄了信，”乔希说。 丁克把信封排成一排放在厨房的桌子上。 他把纸条抽出来，放在信封旁边。 “那这个呢?”丁克说。 “这些信的日期都是上周。 但是多丽丝·邓肯告诉我她妈妈上个月去世了!”“介意我给大家倒点牛奶吗?”杰克问。 “去吧，”露丝·罗斯说着，拿起空信封。 “为什么有人会给自己的女儿寄一个信封，里面什么也没有?”丁克点点头。 “这说不通，”他说，“除非这些信真的不是她母亲写的。” “但多丽丝为什么要给我们讲这样的故事呢?”露丝·罗斯纳闷。 乔希拿起其中一封信。 他读得很快。然后，他小心翼翼地把一小滩牛奶洒在字迹上。

"What're you doing!" Dink yelled. "Doris Duncan will kill me!" "Wait a sec." Josh smeared the milk around with his finger. "I read in a spy comic that if you pour milk on invisible ink, you can read it," he said. "Maybe there's a secret message!" They all hunched over the letter. No hidden writing appeared. But now there was a wet, milky blotch over some of the words. "Thanks a lot, Josh," Dink said. "Wait till Doris Duncan sees this!" Ruth Rose blotted the letter with a paper napkin. "Don't worry, it'll dry," she said. She waved the letter in the air, then held it up to the sunny window. "It'd better," Dink said, giving Josh an "or you'll be sorry!" look. "Guys, look at this!" Ruth Rose said. "There are two pinholes in the paper. The holes go right through the letters H and D!" Josh grabbed another letter. He held it next to Ruth Rose's at the window. "This one has a hole too!" he said. "There's a tiny one right through the letter J!"

“你在干什么!”丁克喊道。 “多丽丝·邓肯会杀了我的!”“等一下。” 乔希用手指把牛奶涂了一圈。 “我在一本间谍漫画中读到，如果你把牛奶倒在隐形墨水上，你就能读懂它，”他说。 “也许有秘密信息!”他们都弯着腰看那封信。 没有隐藏的文字出现。 但现在有些字上有一层潮湿的、乳白色的污迹。 “非常感谢，乔希，”丁克说。 “等着多丽丝·邓肯看到吧!”露丝·罗斯用餐巾纸把信吸干了。 “别担心，它会干的，”她说。 她在空中挥舞着信，然后把它举到阳光明媚的窗前。 “最好是这样，”丁克说着，给了乔希一个“不然你会后悔的!”的眼神。 “伙计们，看看这个!”露丝·罗斯说。 “纸上有两个针孔。 这些洞正好穿过字母H和D!”乔希抓起另一封信。 他把它拿在露丝·罗斯的旁边。 “这只也有个洞!”他说。 “字母J正好有一个小洞!”

Dink jumped up and looked at the pinholes. Then he stared at his friends. "Maybe there really is a secret message!" he said.

丁克跳起来，看着那些针孔。 然后他盯着他的朋友们。 “也许真的有秘密信息!”他说。