4 THE DOORBELL

CHAPTER 4 THE DOORBELL I was so excited. And had so many questions. "Why is purple light coming out of the photo? Because of the magic? And how come I've never seen any of the magical creatures? They do still come here, right? Where do you keep them? Are there some here now?" Mom laughed. "Phew! OK, let's see here. Yes,

第四章门铃我兴奋极了。 有很多问题。 “为什么照片里有紫色的光？” 因为魔法？为什么我从来没有见过任何神奇的生物？ 他们还是会来的，对吧？ 你把它们放在哪里？现在这里有一些吗？”妈妈笑了。 “唷!好的，让我看看。 是，

the photo glows because of the magic. Any time you photograph a magical creature, some of the magic stays in the photo. When a magical animal does need my help, I keep it in our barn. And finally, no, there aren't any magical animals here right now. Sometimes no one needs my help for weeks at a time. This will all make more sense once I've shown you the barn. Come on." As Mom and I walked out to the barn together, I laughed to myself. I never played there because I thought it was super boring. Boy, was I wrong. Mom led me around to the back door of the barn. "Before he left for the forest, Pip added a special doorbell to our barn's back door. I thought I was the only one in the family who could see it. But I'm guessing you'll be able to see it too."

这张照片因为魔法而发光。 每当你拍摄一个神奇的生物时，一些魔力会留在照片里。 当一只神奇的动物需要我的帮助时，我把它放在我们的谷仓里。 最后，这里现在没有任何神奇的动物。 有时几个星期都没人需要我的帮助。 等我带你看了谷仓，你就明白了。 来吧。”当妈妈和我一起向谷仓走去时，我暗自发笑。 我从来没有在那里玩过，因为我觉得那里超级无聊。 天啊，我错了。妈妈把我带到谷仓的后门。 “在他去森林之前，匹普在我们谷仓的后门上加了一个特殊的门铃。 我以为我是家里唯一能看出来的人。 但我猜你也能看到它。”

Sassafras interrupted my mom by meowing loudly. Mom laughed. "Oh yes, I should add that clever animals like Sassafras can see it as well." I knelt down and looked all over the back wall of the barn. "But I don't see anything." "Try lying down on your stomach. Now a little to the left. And down just a tiny bit. Do you see it?" The grass tickled my neck as I lowered my head a little more. All of a sudden, I could see a round button. It looked like a regular doorbell, except this one shimmered in a wave of rainbow colors. I moved my head up a bit and it disappeared. Whoa. No wonder I'd never noticed this before. Although now that I thought about it, I might have at least heard it before. Every once in a while the most beautiful tinkling sound would come from my mom's office. She always told me it was an alarm on her phone reminding her to do something. I guess I never thought to ask what.

黄樟大声喵喵叫，打断了我妈妈的话。 妈妈笑了。“哦，是的，我应该补充一点，像黄樟这样聪明的动物也能看到它。” 我跪下来，看遍了谷仓的后墙。 “但是我什么也没看见。” “试着趴着。 再往左一点。再往下一点。 你看到了吗？”当我把头再低一点时，草地使我的脖子发痒。 突然间，我看到了一个圆形的按钮。 它看起来就像一个普通的门铃，只不过这个门铃在彩虹色的波浪中闪闪发光。 我把头抬起来一点，它就消失了。 哇。难怪我以前从没注意到这一点。 虽然现在我想起来了，至少我以前可能听说过。 每隔一段时间，最美丽的叮叮当当的声音就会从我妈妈的办公室传来。 她总是告诉我，那是她手机上的闹钟提醒她做某事。 我想我从没想过要问什么。

"That bell that rings in our house sometimes? Is that the barn doorbell?" "Yes, that's it. I never know when I'll hear the bell, but whenever I'm home, I'm always listening." "What about when you're gone? What happens then?" "Well, all I can do is hope that I'm here when the bell rings and an animal needs me." I remembered my mom standing in the window, looking out at the barn. She must have been worried about what would happen while she was gone at this

“我们家有时会响的那个铃？” 那是谷仓的门铃吗？”“是的，就是这样。 我不知道什么时候会听到铃声，但只要我在家，我总是在听。” “你走了以后怎么办？” 然后呢？”“嗯，我所能做的就是希望当铃声响起，有动物需要我的时候，我能在这里。” 我记得妈妈站在窗前，望着外面的谷仓。 她一定很担心她离开后会发生什么

conference. Maybe... maybe I could help. "You're going to be gone for a week. That's a long time. If an animal rings the bell while you're gone, do you think maybe I could help them?" I looked down at my feet and poked the ground with my toe. "I mean, I know I'm just a kid. But I could try." My mom smiled. "I was hoping you'd suggest that. Are you sure? It might be a lot to handle. Though you could always call me if you needed help."

会议。也许……也许我能帮上忙。 “你要离开一个星期。 那是一段很长的时间。如果你不在的时候有动物按铃，你觉得我能帮助它们吗？”我低头看了看自己的脚，用脚趾戳了戳地面。 “我的意思是，我知道我只是个孩子。 但我可以试试。”妈妈笑了。 “我正希望你会建议呢。 你确定吗？这可能很难处理。 不过，如果你需要帮助，随时可以打电话给我。”

I nodded and stood up a little straighter. Momput her hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead. "Now I won't have to worry while I'm gone. Thank you." My stomach did flips. On one hand I was super excited to meet a magical animal. On the other hand I was worried that I wouldn't know what to , do. I didn't want to mess up. But my mom was my age when she helped Pip. A kid had done this alone before. Which meant I could handle it. Right?

我点点头，站得更直了一点。 妈妈把手放在我的肩膀上，吻了吻我的额头。 “现在我不在的时候不用担心了。 谢谢你。”我的胃在翻腾。 一方面，我非常兴奋能见到一只神奇的动物。 另一方面，我担心我不知道该做什么。 我不想把事情搞砸。但我妈妈在我这个年纪帮助皮普。 以前有个孩子独自做过这件事。 也就是说我能处理好。 对吧?