Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 Abbi worried Ms. Margery's son might try to run once he realized he'd been caught. Instead, his face crumpled. He fell to a squat and held his head in his hands. "We need the money," Mr. Stevie said through tears. "Mom doesn't want to admit it, but the farm's failing."

第八章阿比使阿比太太担心。 玛杰里的儿子一旦意识到自己被抓了，可能会试图逃跑。 相反，他的脸皱了起来。 他蹲了下来，双手抱头。 “我们需要钱，”史蒂夫流着泪说。 “妈妈不想承认，但农场正在衰败。”

"It's failing?" Lydia squealed. "Like it's gonna close down?" He nodded. "Maybe, yeah. It's why I moved back home. I thought if Mom had some extra help, maybe we could…But we failed. I failed." Mr. Stevie sniffled and looked up at the concerned faces watching him. "When I saw the prize money they were offering for the costume contest, I knew it would help. Maybe we could hold on long enough to find a solution." "But you knew there'd be a lot of other alpacas wanting to win, too," Abbi said, putting the pieces together.

“这是失败?”莉迪亚叫苦不迭。 “好像要关门了？”他点了点头。 “也许,是的。这就是我搬回家的原因。 我想如果妈妈有额外的帮助，也许我们可以…但是我们失败了。 我失败了。”史蒂夫先生抽了抽鼻子，抬头看着看着他的那些关切的面孔。 “当我看到他们为服装比赛提供的奖金时，我知道这会有所帮助。 也许我们可以坚持足够长的时间来找到解决办法。” “但你知道会有很多其他羊驼也想赢，”阿比说着，把碎片拼在一起。

He stood up again and looked past Abbi to the alpacas gathered behind them. "I knew Alpaca in Wonderland wouldn't bother following me if I had veggies. It was easy to make sure he was the only one left." Lydia crossed her arms. Her angry face was back. Daniel put a comforting hand on his twin's shoulder. "Your mom almost took the blame, you know," he said. "They thought she'd stolen them."

他再次站起来，目光越过阿比，转向他们身后的羊驼。 “我知道如果我吃蔬菜，仙境里的羊驼就不会跟着我了。 很容易确定他是唯一剩下的人。” 丽迪雅交叉着双臂。她那张愤怒的脸又回来了。 丹尼尔安慰地把手放在双胞胎的肩膀上。 “你知道，你妈妈几乎承担了责任，”他说。 “他们以为是她偷的。”

Somehow Mr. Stevie's face turned even whiter. "No. I didn't mean for it to…I only wanted to help!" "Stevie Ashley Meadows!" Ms. Margery's voice was even louder than the peacock's. She stormed toward them, holding her phone up to her ear. Two of the State Fair staff followed behind her. Lydia showed her own phone screen to Mr. Stevie. "I called her a while ago," Lydia said. "She heard everything." "Everything?" Mr. Stevie whispered.

不知怎么的，史蒂夫先生的脸变得更白了。 “没有。我不是故意的……我只是想帮忙！”“史蒂夫·阿什利·梅多斯！”Ms。 玛芝莉的声音比孔雀的声音还大。 她怒气冲冲地朝他们走来，把手机举到耳边。 国家博览会的两名工作人员跟在她后面。 莉迪亚把自己的手机屏幕给史蒂夫先生看。 “我刚才给她打过电话，”莉迪亚说。 “她什么都听见了。”“一切吗?”史蒂夫先生低声说。

Lydia nodded. "Afraid so." As Ms. Margery came ever closer, her son stood. He brushed off his pants. "Guess it's time to face the music. Sorry for getting you kids involved." Abbi handed him her bag of alfalfa sprouts. "Here. You can make it up to the alpacas, at least, while they're waiting for their rides home." She looked at her friends and smiled. "Speaking of, let's go find Uncle Walker. I think I've had enough of the fair for one day."

丽迪雅点了点头。“怕。” 当玛杰里走近时，她的儿子站了起来。 他把裤子刷掉。“我想是时候面对现实了。 抱歉把你们这些孩子卷进来了。” 阿比把她那袋苜蓿芽递给了他。 “在这里。你至少可以在羊驼等车回家的时候补偿它们。” 她看着她的朋友们，笑了。 说到这个，我们去找沃克叔叔吧。 我想我今天已经受够集市了。”