20 Grounded

Chapter 20 Grounded The twins had done a lot of foolish things in their lives to make their parents angry. There was the time they jumped off a trampoline with umbrellas. The time they dialed 911 to see how long it would take for the cops to show up. The time they thought it would be fun to roll down the hill near the mall in shopping carts. Coke wound up in the emergency room after that one. But they had never done anything as foolish, dangerous, and yes, let's say it—stupid—as going on a joyride in a recreational vehicle. "Are you kids out of your minds?" Mrs. McDonald shouted when Coke pulled the RV back into the parking spot. "Do you have one brain between the two of you? What were you

这对双胞胎一生中做过许多蠢事，惹父母生气。 有一次他们带着伞从蹦床上跳下来。 那次他们打911想看看警察多久才会来。 那时他们以为坐着购物车从商场附近的山上滚下来会很有趣。 那之后可口可乐就进了急诊室 但是他们从来没有做过像开着休闲车兜风那样愚蠢、危险，是的，让我们说——愚蠢的事情。 “你们这些孩子疯了吗？”当可口可乐把房车拉回停车位时，麦克唐纳太太喊道。 “你们俩有一个脑子吗？” 你在干什么？

thinking? We could all be in jail right now! You said you were going to look for souvenirs! Where were you? We thought the RV had been stolen!" Veins were sticking out of Mrs. McDonald's neck. People were starting to stare. It was causing a scene on the street. "Oh, don't worry," Dr. McDonald assured the gathering crowd. "This isn't child abuse, folks. My kids just went out for a little ride... in our rented RV! They turn thirteen years old the day after tomorrow. I guess they think they're old enough to drive now." "Can't blame you for screaming at 'em, pal," a guy walking by said. "If they were my kids, I'd ship 'em off to military school." "We're really sorry, Dad," Pep said sincerely as she scampered into the backseat where she belonged. "We'll never do it again." "Why did you do it this time?" asked her mother. "Do you have an explanation? I'd like to hear it."

在想什么?我们现在可能都进监狱了！你说你要去找纪念品的！你去哪儿了？ 我们还以为房车被偷了呢！”麦克唐纳太太的脖子上冒出了静脉。 人们开始盯着他看。 这在街上引起了轩然大波。 “哦，别担心，”麦克唐纳博士向聚集的人群保证。 “各位，这不是虐待儿童。 我的孩子们刚出去兜风了… 在我们租的房车里！后天他们就满十三岁了。 我猜他们认为自己已经长大了，可以开车了。” “我不怪你对他们大喊大叫，伙计，”一个路过的人说。 “如果他们是我的孩子，我会把他们送到军校去。” “我们真的很抱歉，爸爸，”佩普真诚地说，她跑进了属于她的后座。 “我们再也不会这么做了。” “这次你为什么要这么做？”她妈妈问。 “你能解释一下吗？” 我想听听。”

Pep looked at her brother, who was slinking out of the driver's seat. "Uh, we went to do a dump," Coke said. It was the truth, technically. "You went to do a dump!?" Dr. McDonald was incredulous. "That was the job you gave me," Coke reminded him. "The holding tank was really full, Dad. I promised I would do a dump today, and I felt bad that I forgot to do it yesterday. I always keep my promises, y'know." Dr. McDonald was too upset to speak. He slapped his forehead and walked around in a circle on the sidewalk trying to regain his composure. "Who said you could drive?" asked Mrs. McDonald. "You're always telling us that we should take the initiative," Coke said lamely. "You're minors!" Dr. McDonald said, exploding. "It's against the law for you to drive a motor vehicle! You could have been arrested!

佩普看了看她的弟弟，他正从驾驶座上溜出来。 “呃，我们去便便了，”科克说。 严格来说，这是事实。 “你去拉屎了！？”博士。 麦克唐纳不相信。“那是你给我的工作，”科克提醒他。 “水箱真的满了，爸爸。 我答应今天要大便，昨天忘记了，我感到很难过。 你知道，我总是信守诺言的。” 麦克唐纳医生难过得说不出话来。 他拍了拍额头，在人行道上转了一圈，试图恢复镇静。 “谁说你能开车的？”麦克唐纳太太问。 “你总是告诉我们，我们应该采取主动，”可口可乐笨拙地说。 “你是未成年人!”麦克唐纳博士突然爆发了。 “你驾驶机动车是违法的！”你可能会被逮捕的！

Mom and I could have been arrested! The police would say we're neglecting our kids! Did you ever think of that?" "Calm down, Dad," Coke said. "You'll give yourself a coronary. Everything's fine. We did the dump. The RV doesn't have a scratch on it, and nobody got hurt. So what's the big deal?" Dr. McDonald climbed into the driver's seat mumbling "It's a rental!" and how this sort of thing never happened when he was a kid. He drove out of Darwin aggressively, stomping on the gas pedal at every green light and stomping on the brake when the lights turned red. It was the only way he could express his anger. They drove in silence for several miles until Coke worked up the courage to speak. "May I ask one question, Dad?" "What is it?" Dr. McDonald said sharply. "When we're at home and you ground us, we have to stay in the house. I understand that. But how do you ground us when we're in an RV?" Pep rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she wished,

妈妈和我差点被抓起来！警察会说我们忽视了我们的孩子！你想过吗？”“冷静点，爸爸，”可口可乐说。 “你会让自己得冠心病的。 一切都很好。我们做了倾倒。 房车上一点划痕都没有，也没人受伤。 所以这有什么大不了的？”博士。 麦克唐纳爬上驾驶座，嘴里嘟囔着“这是租来的！”，还说他小时候从来没有遇到过这种事。 他咄咄逼人地开车驶出达尔文，每次绿灯时都猛踩油门，红灯时又猛踩刹车。 这是他表达愤怒的唯一方式。 他们默默地开了好几英里，直到可口可乐鼓起勇气开口说话。 “我可以问一个问题吗，爸爸？”“什么事？”博士。 麦克唐纳厉声说。“当我们在家的时候，你让我们禁足，我们就得待在家里。 我理解。但是当我们在房车里的时候，你怎么把我们禁足呢？”佩普翻了个白眼。 有时，她希望，

her brother should just keep his mouth shut. "I'll tell you how," Dr. McDonald replied. "Your mother and I are going out to a nice dinner and a movie tonight... alone. You two are going to stay at the campground and think about what you did." "Fair enough," Coke said sheepishly. I don't know if you've ever stayed at an RV campground. Some of them are fully equipped with game rooms, stores, Ping-Pong tables, swimming pools, basketball courts, WiFi, and videos. Others just have an electrical hookup for your RV, a septic tank (so you can do a dump), and pretty much nothing else. Mrs. McDonald purposely found a campground for the night that had no amenities. The place was basically a big parking lot with an office. After he checked in, Dr. McDonald told the twins to get out of the RV. "We'll be at the movies," he said. "See if you can make it through the next few hours without getting into trouble."

她哥哥就该闭上嘴。 “我来告诉你怎么做，”麦克唐纳医生回答。 “你妈妈和我今晚要出去吃顿丰盛的晚餐，看一场电影…… 独自一人。你们两个呆在露营地，想想你做了什么。” “有道理，”可口可乐不好意思地说。 我不知道你有没有在房车露营地待过。 其中一些设施齐全，有游戏室、商店、乒乓球桌、游泳池、篮球场、WiFi和视频。 其他的只是给你的房车接上电，一个化粪池（这样你就可以倒垃圾了），仅此而已。 麦克唐纳夫人特意找了一个没有任何设施的露营地过夜。 这个地方基本上就是一个带办公室的大停车场。 麦克唐纳医生登记入住后，让双胞胎从房车里出来。 “我们会去看电影，”他说。 “看看你能不能挺过接下来的几个小时而不惹麻烦。”

With that, Dr. and Mrs. McDonald drove away. "What do you wanna do?" Pep asked. "I don't know. What do you wanna do?" her brother replied. "I asked you first." There wasn't a whole lot to do. The twins put their backpacks on the nearest picnic table. Coke took out the Frisbee and flipped it casually to his sister. Then he ran about ten yards out into the parking lot. "Do you think what we did was wrong?" Pep asked as she flipped the Frisbee back to him. "Mrs. Higgins tried to kill us!" Coke said. "All we did was do a dump on her head." "No," Pep said, catching his return throw. "I mean, was it wrong to drive the RV?" "Oh," Coke replied. "Well, yeah, that was wrong. But it was right to do the dump on Mrs. Higgins's head, because it prevented her from blowing up the ball of twine. And how could we

说完，麦克唐纳医生和夫人就开车离开了。 “你想做什么？”Pep问道。 “我不知道。你想做什么？”她哥哥回答。 “我先问你的。”没有太多事情要做。 双胞胎把背包放在最近的野餐桌上。 可口可乐拿出飞盘，漫不经心地扔给他妹妹。 然后他跑了大约10码来到停车场。 “你觉得我们做错了吗？”佩普问，她把飞盘扔还给他。 “希金斯太太想杀我们！”可口可乐表示。 “我们只是在她头上拉了一坨屎。” “不，”佩普说，接住了他的回传。 “我是说，开房车有错吗？”“哦，”可口可乐回答。 “嗯，是的，那是错的。 但在希金斯太太的头上拉屎是对的，因为这样可以防止她吹起麻线球。 我们怎么能