Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 Lydia whipped out her phone and typed a quick text. She showed Abbi the screen. Abbi gave her a thumbs-up. "Excuse me, sir?" Abbi called out. Mr. Stevie turned back toward them. He was smiling again. But he seemed nervous, too. "Come along, kids. I gotta feed the sheep once I see you off." Abbi pointed at the feet of the alpaca she had tried to feed earlier. Its nails were painted the exact same rainbow shades as the ribbon tied around her wrist.

莉迪亚掏出手机，快速地打了一条短信。 她把屏幕给阿比看。 阿比朝她竖起大拇指。 “对不起，先生。”阿比喊道。 史蒂夫先生转过身来对着他们。 他又笑了。但他似乎也很紧张。 “来吧，孩子们。送你走后我得去喂羊。” 阿比指着她之前想喂的羊驼的脚。 它的指甲被涂成和她手腕上的丝带一模一样的彩虹色。

"Did Ms. Margery paint these nails?" she asked. "Was she gonna enter this alpaca in the costume contest instead of Alpaca in Wonderland?" Mr. Stevie's face paled. "Oh, uh, we thought we were allowed to enter two different alpacas. But turns out we read the rules wrong." He laughed. It sounded faker than the other times he'd laughed. "Can't win 'em all, right?"

“这些指甲是玛杰里女士涂的吗？”她问。 “她是要让这只羊驼参加服装比赛，而不是让它参加《仙境中的羊驼》吗？”史蒂夫先生脸色苍白。 “哦，嗯，我们以为我们可以进入两只不同的羊驼。 但事实证明，我们读错了规则。” 他笑了。这口气比他以前笑得还要假。 “总不能把他们都赢吧？”

Abbi thought back to what Patricia had said to Ms. Margery: "This costume contest comes with a hefty prize." Then Abbi thought about what Mr. Stevie had said: "Money's been tight lately." She felt a hunch deep in her belly. She ran with it. "It's a shame no one'll get to win now," she said. He snapped his head toward Abbi. "What d'you mean?" "Well, with the alpacas missing, they can't exactly crown a winner, can they? That's what the staff at the fair said, right, Lydia?"

阿比回想起帕特丽夏对布朗夫人说过的话。 玛杰里：“这次服装比赛有一大笔奖金。” 然后阿比想起了史蒂夫先生说过的话：“最近手头很紧。” 她感到肚子深处有一种预感。 她带着它跑了。“很遗憾，现在没有人能赢了，”她说。 他朝阿比猛地一摇头。 “你这是什么意思？”“嗯，羊驼不见了，他们不能确定谁是赢家，不是吗？” 集市上的工作人员是这么说的，对吧，莉迪亚？”

"Right!" Lydia said. "That's exactly what they said!" Daniel nodded, catching on. "They'll probably have to cancel the whole event." "They can't do that! Not after everything! We need that money," Mr. Stevie yelled. "Alpaca in Wonderland should win! He's the only one left. Of course he should win!" Abbi made her voice as innocent as possible. "How did you know he was the only one left? I don't think we ever said that. Did we, guys?" Lydia quickly shook her head. Her dark- brown curls bounced around her shoulders. "We sure didn't, Abbi." The trio stared at Mr. Stevie. He stared at them, too, from Abbi to Lydia to Daniel down to Barkley and back again.

“没错!”利迪娅说。“他们就是这么说的！”丹尼尔点点头，明白了。 “他们可能不得不取消整个活动。” “他们不能那样做！”发生了这么多事情！我们需要那笔钱，”史蒂夫喊道。 “梦游仙境的羊驼应该赢！”他是唯一剩下的了。 他当然会赢！”阿比尽量让自己的声音显得天真。 “你怎么知道他是唯一剩下的人？” 我想我们从来没这么说过。 是吗，伙计们？”丽迪雅赶紧摇了摇头。 她那深褐色的卷发在肩膀上起伏。 “我们当然没有，阿比。”三个人盯着史蒂夫先生。 他也盯着他们，从阿比到莉迪亚，到丹尼尔，再到巴克利，再回来。

"No?" Mr. Stevie said. He was clearly sweating. "I think you probably did. Yeah, you did." Abbi inched closer to him. Slowly, so as not to spook him.

“没有吗?”史蒂夫说。他显然在流汗。 “我想你可能知道。 是的，你做到了。”阿比慢慢靠近他。 慢慢来，免得吓着他。

"Why did you do it, Mr. Stevie?" Abbi asked in a gentle, low voice. "Why did you take the alpacas?"

“你为什么要这么做，史蒂夫先生？”阿比轻声细语地问。 “你为什么要带走羊驼？”