9 Grounded!

Nine grounded AS HIS PARENTS PREPARED dessert and Harris was walking toward the den, he spotted Zeke's parents in the front hallway. They were both leaning into the coat closet. "Are you looking for something?" Harris asked.

当他的父母准备甜点，哈里斯朝书房走去时，他看到齐克的父母在前面的走廊里。 他们俩都把头探进衣帽间。 “你在找什么东西吗？”哈里斯问道。

Quar and Xad turned around quickly. The both looked embarrassed. In reality, they were researching the clothes in the closet. But they couldn't say that to Harris. Zeke walked in and spoke up. "My parents left the dessert they brought in the closet," he said.

夸尔和萨德迅速转过身来。 两人都显得很尴尬。 实际上，他们是在研究衣橱里的衣服。 但他们不能对哈里斯这么说。 齐克走进来，大声说： “我父母把他们带来的甜点留在了壁橱里，”他说。

"That's right," said Quar. She reached back into the closet and pulled out a white cake with colorful frosting in a pattern of square shapes. Uh, great," said Harris. "You can just bring that into the den." But Harris was suspicious. This sounds fishy to me, he thought. They never even wore coats and had no reason to go into that closet! Why would they have put a cake in there?

“没错。”夸尔说。 她把手伸进壁橱，拿出一个白色的蛋糕，上面有五颜六色的糖霜，呈方形图案。 嗯，太好了。”哈里斯说。“你可以把它带进书房。” 但哈里斯很怀疑。 我觉得这听起来很可疑，他想。 他们甚至从不穿外套，也没有理由去那个衣橱！他们为什么要在里面放蛋糕？

Harris joined the others in the den. He picked up a knife to cut a piece of the cake and noticed that the squares in the frosting had changed into a series of wavy lines. Harris looked around. Everyone was chatting, sipping coffee, and happily eating dessert. Zeke and his parents were even using utensils now. It would have seemed perfectly normal if not for everything else Harris had already seen.

哈里斯和其他人一起进了洞穴。 他拿起刀子切一块蛋糕，注意到糖霜上的方块变成了一系列波浪线。 哈里斯环顾四周。大家都在聊天，喝着咖啡，开心地吃着甜点。 齐克和他的父母现在甚至开始用餐具了。 如果不是哈里斯已经看到的其他一切，这一切似乎再正常不过了。

Why does no one but me ever seem to notice all the strange stuff that happens around Zeke and his family? he wondered. The appetizer that suddenly cooked itself, the refilling glass, the food appearing magically in front of Zeke, Quar, and Xad, the changing cake frosting, not to mention everything that happened at Zeke's house and also at school. It's all too much. And yet nobody sees it but me!

为什么除了我，似乎没人注意到齐克和他家人周围发生的奇怪的事情？ 他想知道。开胃菜突然自己煮熟了，续杯，食物神奇地出现在齐克、夸尔和扎德面前，蛋糕糖霜的变化，更不用说齐克家和学校里发生的一切了。 太多了。可是除了我没有人看见！

"Well, we would like to thank you for a lovely evening," Quar said when everyone had finished dessert. "But we should be getting home." Quar, Xad, and Zeke all stood up. This is it! Harris thought. My best chance to prove that Zeke's an alien is about to end. I can't take it anymore. I have to convince them. They have to have noticed something. It's now or never! Harris stood up.

当大家都吃完甜点后，夸尔说：“嗯，我们想谢谢你让我们度过了一个愉快的夜晚。” “但我们应该回家了。” 夸尔、萨德和齐克都站了起来。 就是这样！哈里斯认为。 我证明齐克是外星人的最好机会就要结束了。 我再也受不了了。我必须说服他们。 他们一定注意到了什么。 机不可失失不再来！哈里斯站了起来。