16 The Guy with the Black Cowboy Boots

Chapter 16 THE GUY WITH THE BLACK COWBOY BOOTS "Hey guys, guess what?" Mrs. McDonald said excitedly. "It says here that there's a flying saucer parked in a field in Mars, Pennsylvania." "No!" shouted Dr. McDonald. "We're not going!" He had nothing against flying saucers or visiting the town of Mars, Pennsylvania. But Dr. McDonald was anxious to get to Washington. He had never been to the National Air and Space Museum. The World War II Memorial had not been built the last time he was in the nation's capital. The McDonalds weren't planning to spend a lot of days in Washington, and one of them would be taken up by his sister-in-law's wedding. So he didn't want to waste time looking at flying saucers in

第十六章穿黑色牛仔靴的人“嘿，伙计们，你们猜怎么着？”麦克唐纳太太兴奋地说。 “这里说有一个飞碟停在宾夕法尼亚州火星的一块地里。” “不！”麦克唐纳医生喊道。 “我们不去！”他不反对飞碟，也不反对参观宾夕法尼亚州的马尔斯镇。 但麦克唐纳医生急于去华盛顿。 他从未去过国家航空航天博物馆。 他上次访问美国首都时，二战纪念碑还没有建成。 麦当劳夫妇本来不打算在华盛顿待太长时间，而且其中一个人还要去参加他嫂子的婚礼。 所以他不想把时间浪费在飞碟上

Pennsylvania. Mrs. McDonald continued to leaf through her guidebook. "There's a zombie museum near Pittsburgh," she noted. "It's in the mall where they shot the movie Dawn of the Dead." "No!" said Dr. McDonald. "We could visit Mister Ed's Elephant Museum in Orrtanna," she said. "It has over six thousand—" "No!" "In North Huntingdon, there's a McDonald's that has a fourteen-foot-tall Big Mac—" "No!" "They have a Big Mac Sauce Gun—" "No!" "There's this place called the House of Oddities near Pittsburgh—" "No!" "It's only a few miles out of our way—" "No!" Dr. McDonald had been pretty flexible and understanding up until this point. He had agreed to

宾夕法尼亚州。麦克唐纳太太继续翻阅她的旅游指南。 “匹兹堡附近有一个僵尸博物馆，”她说。 “就在电影《亡灵黎明》拍摄的商场里。” “不！”麦克唐纳医生说。“我们可以参观奥塔纳的埃德先生大象博物馆，”她说。 “它有六千多——”“不！”“在北亨廷顿，有一家麦当劳有一个14英尺高的巨无霸——”“不！”“他们有一把巨无霸酱枪——”“不！”“匹兹堡附近有个地方叫怪屋——”“不！”“离我们的路只有几英里——”“不！”博士。 在此之前，麦克唐纳一直很灵活，也很善解人意。 他已经同意

stop at just about every ridiculous tourist trap as they made their way cross-country. They had visited museums devoted to Pez, yo-yos, mustard, and cannibals. They had visited the largest ball of twine in the world. They had even visited the second largest ball of twine in the world. But now he felt the need to assert himself—especially after the Hoover Historical Center turned out to be about the vacuum cleaner instead of the president. So he drove on. In Pennsylvania, Interstate 76 is called the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It extends 359 miles across the state. Some people call it the "Tunnel Highway" because it goes through a number of tunnels that were blasted in the mountains. There was little traffic on the turnpike, and they were making good time. But eventually driver fatigue set in and Dr. McDonald pulled off I-76 near Somerset, Pennsylvania. It was just a few miles to Pioneer Park Campground, at the foot of the Laurel Ridge Mountains. After a quick dinner, the family went their

在他们穿越国家的路上，在每一个荒谬的旅游陷阱前停下来。 他们参观了有关Pez、溜溜球、芥末和食人族的博物馆。 他们参观了世界上最大的麻线球。 他们甚至参观了世界上第二大的麻线球。 但现在他觉得有必要表明自己的立场——尤其是在胡佛历史中心原来是关于吸尘器而不是总统之后。 于是他继续开车。在宾夕法尼亚州，76号州际公路被称为宾夕法尼亚收费公路。 它横跨全州359英里。 有些人称它为“隧道公路”，因为它穿过许多在山上炸开的隧道。 收费公路上车辆稀少，他们开得很快。 但最终司机开始感到疲劳。 麦克唐纳在宾夕法尼亚州萨默塞特附近的I-76号公路上停车。 这里离劳雷尔岭山脚下的先锋公园露营地只有几英里的路程。 匆匆吃过晚饭后，一家人就各自回家了

separate ways for a while. Dr. McDonald bought a newspaper and found an empty hammock where he could read. Mrs. McDonald updated the Amazing but True website. Coke went to check out the lake, where some kids were fishing. Pep worked on the latest cipher they had received, with no success. The McDonalds had enjoyed a lot of togetherness over the last two weeks, and everybody was starting to feel the need for a little alone time. As darkness fell, they all returned to the RV to go to bed. In the middle of the night, Coke began talking in his sleep. "Don't wanna go to Washington," he grunted, almost incoherently. "Mrs. Higgins… bowler dudes… Archie Clone… Don't wanna go… Wanna go home…" Eventually, the noise woke up his parents. They climbed out of bed to make sure Coke was okay. "Don't wanna go… D.C.… Don't wanna go… Wanna go home…" "He's having a nightmare," Dr. McDonald

分开一段时间。 麦克唐纳医生买了一份报纸，找了一个空吊床供他看书。 麦克唐纳夫人更新了“神奇但真实”网站。 科克去湖边看了看，那里有几个孩子在钓鱼。 佩普研究了他们收到的最新密码，但没有成功。 在过去的两个星期里，麦当劳一家人欢聚一堂，每个人都开始觉得需要一点独处的时间。 夜幕降临时，他们都回到房车去睡觉了。 半夜，可口可乐开始说梦话。 “我不想去华盛顿，”他咕哝着，几乎语无伦次。 “希金斯太太……打保龄球的家伙……克隆阿奇……不想去……想回家……”最后，喧闹声把他的父母吵醒了。 他们爬下床来确认可乐是否安全。 “我不想去……d.c. ....我不想去……我想回家……” 麦当劳

whispered. "I guess he really doesn't want to go to my sister's wedding," Mrs. McDonald whispered back. "Boys hate getting dressed up," said Dr. McDonald. "I'll bet that's it. When I was a kid, I'd do anything to get out of wearing a jacket and tie." "Shhhh," Mrs. McDonald whispered as she tucked the covers in around Coke. "Everything will be fine, honey." In the morning, they were back on the turnpike by nine o'clock. Pep looked at her new cell phone and announced that it was the first of July. Three days until the big wedding. Two days until … something was going to happen in Washington. She had no idea what it was going to be. He had driven about thirty miles when Dr. McDonald noticed the needle on the gas gauge was only slightly above E. At the next rest area—in Bedford, Pennsylvania—he pulled into the gas station to fill up the tank. While his father took care of the gas and his

小声说。“我猜他真的不想去参加我妹妹的婚礼，”麦克唐纳太太低声回答。 “男孩们讨厌穿得漂漂亮亮的。” 麦当劳。“我敢打赌就是这样。 当我还是个孩子的时候，我愿意做任何事来摆脱穿夹克打领带的习惯。” “嘘，”麦克唐纳太太一边把可乐盖好，一边小声说。 “一切都会好起来的，亲爱的。” 早上9点，他们又回到了收费公路上。 佩普看了看她的新手机，宣布今天是七月一日。 离盛大的婚礼还有三天。 还有两天，华盛顿就要出事了。 她不知道会发生什么。 他开车走了大约三十英里。 麦克唐纳注意到油表上的指针只略高于E点。 在宾夕法尼亚州贝德福德的下一个休息区，他把车开进加油站加油。 而他的父亲负责汽油和他的

sister went to buy a pack of gum, Coke went off to use the restroom. "What's wrong with the bathroom in the RV?" his mother asked. "It's gross, Mom." Coke pulled open the door to the men's bathroom and looked around, just to be on the safe side. Nobody was in there. The three stalls were empty, and Coke went into the middle one. While he was in there doing his business, he heard the door open and footsteps enter the men's restroom. Somebody was whistling "The Yellow Rose of Texas." Coke leaned forward and peeked under the stall door to see that the guy who came in was wearing black cowboy boots. Peeking through the narrow crack near the stall door, Coke could see the guy was wearing a large cowboy hat. But he couldn't see the guy's face. There was the sound of water in a sink, and then the electric hand dryer. The guy was standing just a foot or two away from the stall. It made Coke feel uncomfortable, and he didn't stand up even though he was finished. He

姐姐去买了一包口香糖，可乐去了洗手间。 “房车里的浴室怎么了？”他妈妈问。 “太恶心了，妈妈。”寇克拉开男卫生间的门，环顾四周，只是为了安全起见。 里面没人。三个摊位都是空的，可乐进了中间的那个。 正当他在那里做生意的时候，他听到门开了，有脚步声进入了男厕所。 有人在吹着“德州的黄玫瑰”。 寇克探过身子，从摊位的门缝底下偷看，看到进来的人穿着黑色的牛仔靴。 从货摊门边狭窄的缝隙里，科克看到那个人戴着一顶很大的牛仔帽。 但他看不见那个人的脸。 先是水槽里的水声，然后是电动烘手机的声音。 那家伙站在离摊位一两英尺远的地方。 这让可口可乐感到很不舒服，即使喝完了，他也没有站起来。 他