17 The Calling Card

Chapter 17 THE CALLING CARD Back in the RV, Coke and his parents were starting to get impatient. Dr. McDonald looked at his watch. "What's taking her so long?" he said. "I thought she was just going to buy herself a souvenir and that would be it." "Women and shopping, Dad," Coke said. "You know." "That's a sexist comment!" said Mrs. McDonald. "How about a little patience? I had to sit and wait for you while you were watching that ball game in Chicago." "She's probably buying up the whole store and wasting money," said Dr. McDonald. "I read an article about this somewhere. People with

回到房车里，科克和他的父母开始不耐烦了。 麦克唐纳医生看了看手表。 “她怎么这么久才来？”他说。 “我以为她只是想给自己买个纪念品，仅此而已。” “女人和购物，爸爸，”科克说。 “你知道。”“这是性别歧视的评论！”麦克唐纳太太说。 “耐心点好吗？” 你在芝加哥看球赛的时候，我不得不坐着等你。” “她可能是在把整个商店都买下来，浪费钱。” 麦当劳。“我在什么地方读过一篇关于这个的文章。 的人

unusual names love to buy things that have their name on it. It validates them. I told you we should have named her Ashley." "You wanted to name her Sprite," said Mrs. McDonald. "One of us should go check on her." "I'll do it," sighed Coke. Coke hopped out of the RV and jogged down the street to the Birthplace of Pepsi. It was empty, just as it had been the first time he went in. "Pep! You in here?" No answer. Coke looked all around and, seeing no sign of his sister, pushed open the door leading to the back room. It was a small office, also empty. He stopped. Was that a muffled sound coming from below the floor? He found the steps and rushed downstairs. That's where he found his sister, bound and gagged, her feet submerged in a tub of some dark liquid, desperately trying to yell for help. "Pep!" he shouted, taking the scarf off her mouth. "What are you doing here?"

不寻常的人喜欢买有自己名字的东西。 它验证了它们。我告诉过你，我们应该给她起名叫艾希礼的。" “你想给她起名叫雪碧，”麦克唐纳太太说。 “我们其中一个应该去看看她。” “我来吧，”可口可乐叹了口气。 可口可乐跳下房车，沿着街道慢跑，来到百事可乐的诞生地。 里面是空的，就像他第一次进去时一样。 “活力!你在这里吗？”不回答。 科克环顾四周，没有看到妹妹的踪影，便推开了通往后屋的门。 那是一间很小的办公室，也是空的。 他停住了。那是从地板下面传来的低沉的声音吗？ 他找到台阶，冲下楼去。 他在那里发现了他的妹妹，她被绑着，被塞住了嘴，她的脚浸在一盆深色液体里，拼命地想大声呼救。 “佩普！”他嚷道，把围巾从她嘴里拿开。 “你在这儿干什么？”

"Oh, I came down here and tied myself to this chair for the fun of it!" she yelled at him. "You dope! I was kidnapped!" "Hey, don't yell at me," he replied. "I'm rescuing you." "Get me outta here!" she shouted. "Quick, before the acid eats through my flesh!" "I'm working as fast as I can," he said, trying to untangle the ropes around her feet. "Who did this to you?" "Evil Elvis," she told him. "That's what the cipher meant. I was wrong. It wasn't ELVIS LIVE. It was EVIL ELVIS. He's an Elvis impersonator. He's the one who dropped the chest of drawers and the giant brain on me." "What was an Elvis impersonator doing in the Birthplace of Pepsi?" Coke asked. "Trying to kill me!" Pep shouted. "He stuck my feet in the tub of Pepsi so it will eat at my flesh. Hurry up! I think the bone in my leg is about to come through the skin!" Coke stopped. Then he started laughing.

“啊，我到这儿来，把自己绑在这把椅子上，就是为了好玩！”她对他喊道。 “你酷毙了!我被绑架了！”“嘿，别对我大喊大叫，”他回答说。 “我在救你。”“把我弄出去！”她喊道。 “快，在酸腐蚀我的肉之前！”“我正在尽可能快地工作，”他说，试图解开缠在她脚上的绳子。 “这是谁干的？”“邪恶的埃尔维斯，”她告诉他。 “这就是那个密码的意思。 我错了。这不是猫王的现场表演。 是邪恶的埃尔维斯。他是个猫王模仿者。 是他把五斗柜和大脑袋扔到我身上的。” “一个模仿猫王的人在百事可乐的诞生地做什么？”可口可乐问道。 “想杀我！”Pep喊道。 “他把我的脚放在百事可乐的桶里，这样它就会吃掉我的肉。 快点!我想我腿上的骨头就要穿破皮肤了！”可口可乐公司停止了。 然后他笑了起来。

"What's so funny?" Pep asked. "Stop laughing at me!" "You think dipping your feet in soda is going to make your flesh dissolve?" Coke asked, doing his best to avoid doubling over. "It won't?" Pep said meekly. "That's one of those urban legends, you dope!" Coke told her. "Soda can't do that." "It can't?" "Of course not," Coke said as he removed the last of the rope that was binding her. "That's one of those stories that gets passed around on the internet so much that people think it's true. It's a hoax. There's more acid in orange juice than in Pepsi. See for yourself. Your feet are fine." Pep pulled her feet out of the tub and counted her toes. Satisfied that all ten were still there, she wiped them on Coke's shirt and put her sneakers back on. "Why would Evil Elvis do this?" she asked her brother. "He could have killed me easily

“什么事这么好笑？”Pep问道。 “别笑我了！”“你以为把脚浸在苏打水里就能溶解你的肉吗？”可口可乐问道，尽量避免重复。 “不会?”佩普温顺地说。 “这是都市传说之一，你个笨蛋！”科克告诉她。 “苏打水做不到这一点。”“不能?”“当然不是，”科克边说边解开绑在她身上的最后一根绳子。 “这是那些在互联网上广为流传的故事之一，人们认为这是真的。 这是个骗局。橙汁中的酸比百事可乐中的酸多。 你自己看吧。你的脚很好。” 佩普把她的脚从浴缸里拉出来，数了数她的脚趾头。 她满意地发现，这十只鞋都还在，于是在科克的衬衫上擦了擦鞋，又穿上了运动鞋。 “为什么邪恶的猫王要这样做？”她问她的哥哥。 “他可以轻而易举地杀死我

enough if he wanted to." "This is his calling card," Coke guessed. "He wants us to know he's out there, watching us. He's trying to get into our heads. Mind games, you know. And he's probably nuts, like those other people who have been chasing us." "He told me he's going to get you after he takes care of me," Pep told her brother. "Oh yeah?" Coke said. "Not if I get him first. And he's gonna have to do more than stick my feet in a tub of soda pop." They ran out of the Birthplace of Pepsi and back down the street to the RV. "So what did you buy?" Dr. McDonald asked Pep as he started up the engine. "Nothing." "All that time and you didn't buy anything?" said Mrs. McDonald. "What were you doing in there? We were starting to get nervous." "Not to worry, Mom," Coke explained. "Pep got kidnapped by an evil Elvis impersonator who tied her to a chair and said he was going to soak

只要他愿意，就够了。”“这是他的名片，”科克猜测道。 “他想让我们知道他在那里，看着我们。 他想进入我们的大脑。 心理游戏，你懂的。他可能疯了，就像那些一直在追我们的人一样。” “他告诉我，在他照顾好我之后，他会把你带走，”佩普告诉她的哥哥。 “哦?”可口可乐表示。“如果我先抓到他就不会。 他要做的可不止是把我的脚放进汽水桶里" 他们跑出了百事可乐的诞生地，沿着街道回到了房车。 “那你买了什么？”博士。 麦克唐纳一边发动引擎，一边问佩普。 “没什么。”“那么长时间你什么也没买吗？”麦克唐纳太太说。 “你在里面干什么？” 我们开始紧张起来。” “别担心，妈妈，”科克解释道。 “佩普被一个邪恶的猫王模仿者绑架了，他把她绑在椅子上，说他要去泡她

her feet in Pepsi until it ate away at her flesh." "Kids …," muttered Dr. McDonald, shaking his head.

她的脚浸在百事可乐里，直到它侵蚀了她的肉。” “孩子们……”麦克唐纳医生摇着头喃喃地说。