17 TIME TO CHECK

CHAPTER 17 TIME TO CHECK Mom said there was no telling what the grumplets would do next—we just had to wait and hope. Sassafras and I did our best to keep busy. We went on a lot of hikes, built forts, had playdates with friends, made kale chips, and crafted. It was getting hotter and hotter, so we went to the stream to cool off. I eagerly rolled up my pants and waded into the stream. The merhorses chased me and licked my ankles, which made me crack up. Sassafras was, of course, staying dry on the shore, watching us play. "Hey, Sassafras!" I said between fits of laughter. "It's been a long time since any of our friends have been really grumpy." "Meow!" he exclaimed. He turned to chase a

第十七章检查的时间妈妈说，谁也说不准小矮人接下来会做什么——我们只能等着，抱着希望。 萨萨弗拉斯和我尽量让自己忙碌起来。 我们去远足，建堡垒，和朋友一起玩，做甘蓝片，做手工。 天气越来越热，所以我们到小溪边凉快一下。 我急切地卷起裤子，涉水跳入小溪。 那些马追着我，舔着我的脚踝，弄得我浑身发抖。 当然，萨萨弗拉斯呆在岸边，看着我们玩耍。 “嘿,黄樟!”我笑着说。 “我们的朋友很长时间没有真的脾气暴躁了。” “喵！”他叫道。他转身去追一只

cricket in the grass. "Do you think Mom will drive us out to check on the grumplets yet?" I asked him as I smiled down at the merhorses in the water. "Mrrowww," he said, distracted by the cricket chase, followed by a much louder "MEOW!" That couldn't be good. I looked over to see Sassafras giving Pip an angry look. "Ah, crickets are delicious." Pip rubbed his belly. "Sorry, old friend." I shuddered, thinking of how crunchy crickets must be. Ew. "Hey, Zoey!" Pip called. "I thought I heard you laughing. I wanted to ask you—are the grumplets officially gone? No one's seen them in the forest lately."

草地上的蟋蟀。“你觉得妈妈会开车送我们去看看小矮人吗？”我微笑着对着水里的人鱼问他。 “喵！”他说，被追蟋蟀的声音分散了注意力，接着是一声更响亮的“喵！”那可不太好。 我看过去，看到萨萨弗拉斯生气地看了皮普一眼。 “啊，蟋蟀真好吃。” 匹普揉了揉肚子。“对不起，老朋友。” 想到蟋蟀一定很脆，我打了个寒颤。 电子战。“嘿,佐伊!”皮普。 “我好像听到你在笑。 我想问你，小矮人真的走了吗？ 最近没人在森林里见过他们。”

I wiggled my fingers underwater to wave goodbye to the merhorses and carefully waded over to the shore. "We were just talking about asking Mom if she'd drive us over to check. Want to come?" Pip hopped up on my head, and I took him and Sassafras across the stream and back to my house. We all pleaded with Mom until she agreed to take us. We were just getting in the car when I remembered my camera. "One sec!" I said and

我在水下摆动手指，向人鱼挥手告别，然后小心翼翼地涉水上岸。 “我们正打算问妈妈能不能开车送我们过去看看。 你想来吗？”匹普跳到我的头上，我带着他和檫檫穿过小溪回到我的房子。 我们都恳求妈妈，直到她同意带我们去。 我们刚上车，我就想起了我的相机。 “一秒!”我说并且

dashed off to get it. Once we got to the berry patch, we noticed there were a few ripe ones that were uneaten. "That's a good sign, right?" I asked. "Maybe they've already moved on." "Could be," Mom said, fanning herself. We peeked in the hollow tree trunk. It looked like it had been slept in, but we couldn't see or hear the grumplets anywhere. "Mrrowww!" called Sassafras from farther away. We followed the sound, and I squatted down next to him. "What did you find, buddy?" Sassafras put his nose to a patch of what had once been mud. I brushed aside some grass and branches and sure enough—we saw grumplet footprints that the heat had dried into the mud.

跑去拿了。一到浆果地，我们注意到有几颗成熟的浆果还没有被吃掉。 “这是个好兆头，对吧？”我问。 “也许他们已经离开了。” “有可能，”妈妈一边扇着扇子一边说。 我们在中空的树干里偷看。 它看起来像是被睡过了，但我们既看不见也听不到小矮人的声音。 “先生！”萨萨拉斯从远处喊道。 我们跟着声音走，我蹲在他旁边。 “你发现了什么，伙计？”黄樟草把他的鼻子放到了一块曾经是泥的地方。 我拨开一些草和树枝，果然，我们看到了小耗子的脚印，那是由于泥土里的热气干了。

"Mom!" I exclaimed. "These are leading away from the forest, right? Do you think the grumplets have moved on? Maybe they're looking for more berries farther away?" "It looks like it!" Mom gave me a high-five. I reached into my backpack and pulled out my camera. "I forgot to take a photo when the grumplets were around. Do you think you could get a photo of us by the grumplet footprints for my science journal?" Mom took the camera, and Pip and Sassafras

“妈妈!”我叫道。“这些都是远离森林的，对吗？” 你觉得小矮人已经离开了吗？ 也许他们在更远的地方寻找更多的浆果？”“看起来是这样！”妈妈跟我击掌。 我把手伸进背包，拿出相机。 “当小矮人在附近的时候，我忘了拍照。 你能不能帮我在小矮人的脚印旁照张相，放到我的科学杂志上？”妈妈拿着相机，还有皮普和萨萨弗拉斯

and I gathered around the footprints and grinned. At home, as I went to put the photo into my science journal, I noticed a sweet smell. "No way," I said to myself as I tilted the photo left, then right. Yep. I could just barely make out the sparkly strands of Pip's joy floating around him. After I glued down the scented photo, I opened my science journal to a new blank page so it was ready for the next magical creature we would meet.

我围着脚印笑了。 回到家，当我把这张照片放进我的科学杂志时，我注意到一股甜甜的味道。 “不可能，”我对自己说，一边把照片向左倾斜，然后向右倾斜。 是的。我只能勉强辨认出皮普周围闪烁的喜悦。 在我把有香味的照片粘好后，我打开我的科学日记，翻到新的空白页，这样我们就可以看到下一个神奇的生物了。