11. A Very Unusual Football

Chapter 11 A Very Unusual Football "Cheer up, Roscoe," said Emma on the bus that afternoon. "I'll bet Hamilton is just playing hide-and-seek," said Gus. "A really, really long game of hide-and-seek." Some kids in the middle of the bus were throwing a football back and forth. "No throwing things!" shouted the bus driver. "Or maybe he went on a trip," said Emma. "Yeah," said Gus. "Maybe he's flying around the world. He could be anywhere by now!"

“振作起来，罗斯科，”那天下午艾玛在公共汽车上说。 “我敢打赌汉密尔顿只是在玩捉迷藏，”格斯说。 “一场非常非常长的捉迷藏游戏。” 一些孩子在公共汽车中间来回扔足球。 “不许扔东西!”司机喊道。 “也许他去旅行了，”艾玛说。 “是的，”格斯说。“也许他在环游世界。 他现在可能在任何地方!”

I sighed. The ball flew past us. It was big and pink. And fluffy. It was for sure not a football. "Touchdown!" yelled one of the kids. "No football on the bus!" yelled the driver. "That's not a football," Emma pointed out. "It's fuzzy. And it's wearing a dress." I looked. I swallowed. I jumped right out of my seat.

我叹了口气。球从我们身边飞过。 它又大又粉。和毛茸茸的。 那肯定不是足球。 “触地得分!”一个孩子喊道。 “公车上不准踢足球!”司机喊道。 “那不是足球，”艾玛指出。 “这是模糊的。它穿着裙子。” 我看了看。我吞下了。我从座位上跳了起来。

Even though that's a really bad idea on a bus. "THAT'S NOT A FOOTBALL! THAT'S MY PIG!!!" I screamed. The throwing stopped. The kids stopped. The BUS stopped. "Excuse me?" said the driver.

尽管在公共汽车上不是个好主意。 “那不是足球!”那是我的猪!!”我尖叫起来。 投掷停止了。孩子们停了下来。 公共汽车停了下来。“你说什么?”司机说。

"HAMILTON!!!" I ran over as fast as I could. A little boy was holding him. A kindergartner. "Here," he said. "You can have him. Truth is, he kind of smells, you know?" "He's wearing a dress!" I cried. Poor Hamilton. He looked so embarrassed. "We thought he was a girl," the boy said. I hugged that pig and I kissed that pig and I didn't care who saw me. Then I took off his dress. I saw Max at the back of the bus. He was shaking his head. And laughing with his friends. His friends who were way too cool to have stuffed animals. Then Max looked right at me.

“汉密尔顿! !”我以最快的速度跑过去。 一个小男孩抱着他。 幼儿园里的小孩。“给你，”他说。 “你可以拥有他。事实是，他有点臭，你知道吗?”“他穿着裙子!”我哭了。 可怜的汉密尔顿。他看起来很尴尬。 “我们以为他是个女孩，”男孩说。 我拥抱那只猪，亲吻那只猪，我不在乎被谁看见。 然后我脱下了他的衣服。 我看见麦克斯在巴士后面。 他摇着头。和他的朋友们一起欢笑。 他的朋友们太酷了，没有毛绒玩具。 然后马克斯盯着我。

And he gave me a wink that only I could see. My dad was working in his attic office when I got home. I ran straight upstairs and told him the amazing wonderful story of Hamilton's return. "This little girl found him on the sidewalk!" I said. "The sidewalk?" Dad said. "I think maybe he fell out of my backpack when I was doing somersaults on the way home," I said. "Like this." I did a quickie somersault example. I kind of knocked into Dad's trash can. "Oops," I said. "So the girl said she took Hamilton home. And she named him Darlene." Dad shook his head. "Poor Hamilton."

他对我眨了眨眼睛，只有我能看见。 我到家时，我爸正在阁楼办公室里工作。 我径直跑上楼，把汉密尔顿回来的奇妙故事告诉了他。 “这个小女孩在人行道上发现了他!”我说。 “人行道上?”爸爸说。“我想可能是我在回家的路上翻筋斗的时候，他从我的背包里掉了出来，”我说。 “这样。”我做了一个快速翻筋斗的例子。 我不小心撞到爸爸的垃圾桶了。 “哎呀，”我说。于是女孩说她把汉密尔顿带回家了。 她给他起名叫达琳。” 爸爸摇了摇头。“可怜的汉密尔顿。”

"And her mom said Hamilton smelled bad. So she put him in the washing machine. Can you believe it?" "That must have been scary for Hamilton," Dad said. "So then the girl put a dress on him. Only her mom said he was still too yucky. Which he is not." I took a whiff of Hamilton. He still smelled sort of piggy-flavored. But soapy too. I hoped the soapy smell would wear off. "So then the girl gave Hamilton to her brother to use as a football," I said. I took a deep breath. "Period," I said. "End of story. No more discussion."

她妈妈说汉密尔顿身上很难闻。 所以她把他放进了洗衣机。 你能相信吗?”“那对汉密尔顿来说一定很可怕，”爸爸说。 于是女孩给他穿上了一件衣服。 只有她妈妈说他还是太恶心了。 但他不是。”我吸了一口汉密尔顿的味道。 他身上还是有猪的味道。 但也有肥皂。我希望肥皂味会慢慢消失。 “于是那个女孩把汉密尔顿给了她哥哥当足球用，”我说。 我深吸了一口气。“句号，”我说。 “故事结束了。不要再讨论了。”