4 WAITING

CHAPTER 4 WAITING Sassafras hopped into my lap and looked up at me. I giggled and tapped his nose. "You missed a spot!" He licked the dot of yogurt off his nose and settled down, purring in my lap. The milk mixture we'd warmed overnight had magically changed into yogurt this morning. Well, I guess not magically. The bacteria had been working on changing the warm milk into yogurt all night. But since I couldn't see the bacteria at work, it did seem a little bit like magic.

第四章等待的黄樟跳上我的腿，抬头看着我。 我咯咯地笑着，拍拍他的鼻子。 “你漏了一个地方！”它舔了舔鼻子上的那点酸奶，在我的腿上打呼噜。 我们昨晚加热的牛奶混合物今天早上神奇地变成了酸奶。 好吧，我想不是魔法。 细菌整个晚上都在把热牛奶变成酸奶。 但由于我看不见细菌在起作用，它看起来确实有点像魔术。

I took another bite. "Yummm. These bacteria are delicious!" I declared. Mom giggled. "The honey I drizzled on top doesn't hurt either, huh?" I smiled and took my last bite. "Do you think Tiny is OK? It's been raining so hard." "Magical creatures tend to heal quickly. I bet he's feeling much better today." Sassafras jumped up in surprise and accidentally bonked my chin. "Ow," I said. "Geez, Sassafras!"

我又咬了一口。“Yummm。 这些细菌真好吃！”我宣布。 妈妈咯咯笑了。“我洒在上面的蜂蜜也不疼吧？”我笑着吃了最后一口。 “你觉得Tiny还好吗？”雨一直下得很大。” “魔法生物往往痊愈得很快。 我敢打赌他今天感觉好多了。” 黄樟惊讶地跳了起来，不小心撞到了我的下巴。 “噢，”我说。“天啊,黄樟!”

But he wasn't looking at me. He was staring at the door to the backyard. He let out a low growl, then jumped down and huddled under the kitchen table. "Mom, what's the matter with Sass—" And then I felt it. The house shook. Dishes rattled. Chairs slid. Tiny! Mom and I dove under the table with Sassafras. I kept my head down with my hand over my neck. I really thought that I'd fixed Tiny's cut. But because our house was shaking so much, I guessed that Tiny

但他没有看我。 他盯着通往后院的门。 他低吼了一声，然后跳下来，缩在厨房的桌子下面。 “妈妈，萨斯怎么了——”然后我就感觉到了。 房子震动了。盘子慌乱。 椅子滑。小!妈妈和我躲在桌子底下，抱着黄樟。 我一直低着头，用手捂着脖子。 我真以为我治好了泰妮的伤口。 但因为我们的房子摇晃得太厉害了，我猜是蒂尼

wasn't feeling any better. "But why is Tiny still limping?" I blurted out. Mom had her head down and neck covered too. "I don't know, sweetie. You'll just have to wait for the doorbell and find out." The shaking stopped, and the doorbell rang. Dad ran into the kitchen. "Are you both OK? What is going on with all of these earthquakes? This is getting out of hand!" As Mom and I crawled out from under the kitchen table, she squeezed my arm and whispered, "You go. I'll talk to Dad." Dad kissed my head and hugged Mom. On my way to the door, I heard Mom tell him that she was having her colleagues look into it. Dad probably thought she meant the professors at the college

感觉也好不到哪里去。 “可是为什么拇指姑娘还一瘸一拐的呢？”我脱口而出。 妈妈也低着头，盖着脖子。 “我不知道，亲爱的。你只要等门铃响就知道了。” 震动停止了，门铃响了。 爸爸跑进厨房。“你们俩还好吗？” 这些地震是怎么回事？ 事情已经失控了！”当我和妈妈从厨房的桌子底下爬出来时，她捏着我的胳膊，低声说：“你走吧。 我要和爸爸谈谈。”爸爸亲了我的头，拥抱了妈妈。 在我去门口的路上，我听到妈妈告诉他，她正在让她的同事调查这件事。 爸爸可能以为她指的是大学里的教授

where she worked, but she really meant me! I grabbed a raincoat and tugged on my rain boots. Between the rain and the ginormous unicorn, there was no way Sassafras was coming with me. I ran out to the barn, avoiding the puddles. Once Tiny was better I had plans to do some serious puddle jumping, but right now I needed to work. Tiny spotted me and took a final hop closer. His good front hoof landed right in an enormous puddle. It created a giant splash of muddy rainwater, which of course completely soaked me. "OOPS." I wiped my face and smiled. It's not every day that you get drenched by a giant unicorn. But my smile quickly faded when I saw Tiny still holding the bad leg in the air. "Hi, Tiny! How is your leg feeling?" I held my breath, hoping to hear it was hurting less. "LEG BAD. OW VERY BAD." I let out my breath, and my shoulders drooped. "Can I look?" Tiny carefully lowered his bad leg, and I began peeling the tape off. Once I had unpeeled the tape

她工作的地方，但她指的是我！我抓起一件雨衣，穿上雨靴。 在大雨和巨大的独角兽之间，萨萨法拉斯不可能和我一起去。 我避开水坑跑向谷仓。 一旦蒂尼好些了，我就打算好好地跳几下水坑，但现在我得干活了。 小拇指发现了我，最后向我靠近了一步。 他那完好的前蹄正好落在一个巨大的水坑里。 它产生了一个巨大的泥泞的雨水飞溅，这当然完全浸透了我。 “哦。”我擦了擦脸，笑了。 被巨型独角兽弄得浑身湿透可不是每天都有的事。 但当我看到蒂尼还举着那条坏腿时，我的笑容很快消失了。 “嗨,小!你的腿感觉怎么样？”我屏住呼吸，希望听到疼痛减轻一些。 “腿不好。太糟糕了。”我呼了一口气，肩膀垂了下来。 “我能看看吗？”蒂尼小心翼翼地放下他那条坏腿，我开始把胶带撕掉。 我一剥开胶带

and the plastic wrap, I gasped. Tiny's cut looked puffy and red— even worse than it had yesterday. If it was puffy and red, it meant Tiny's cut was infected. Tiny's leg was only going to get worse and worse. The antibacterial cream had always worked for me. I didn't know what to try next. I took a deep breath and hollered at the top of my lungs. "MOOOOOOOOOM!!!!"

还有保鲜膜，我倒吸了一口气。 蒂尼的伤口看起来又肿又红——比昨天还要严重。 如果又肿又红，就说明蒂尼的伤口感染了。 拇指姑娘的腿只会越来越糟。 抗菌药膏对我一直有效。 我不知道下一步该做什么。 我深吸了一口气，扯着嗓子大叫起来。 “MOOOOOOOOOM ! !”