25 Going for a Ride

Chapter 25 GOING FOR A RIDE Coke felt himself being carried down a flight of stairs, out a door, around a corner, and then up another flight of stairs. "Help!" he could hear his sister shouting. But her voice was muffled, as she, too, was wrapped tightly inside a heavy blanket. Finally, both twins were unwrapped so they could see their kidnappers. "Bowler dudes!" Pep shouted. "Not again!" "At your service," said the bowler dude with the mustache. "At your service," repeated the clean-shaven bowler dude. "I said that already." "And I said it again." "Shut up."

第二十五章兜风可乐觉得自己被人抬着下了一段楼梯，出了一扇门，拐了一个弯，又上了另一段楼梯。 “救命！”他听见妹妹在喊。 但她的声音很低沉，因为她也被紧紧地裹在一条厚厚的毯子里。 最后，两个双胞胎都被打开了，这样他们就能看到绑架他们的人。 “圆顶硬家伙!”Pep喊道。 “不了!”“听候您的差遣，”那个戴礼帽、留着小胡子的家伙说。 “听候您的吩咐，”那个刮得干干净净的保龄球手重复道。 “我已经说过了。”“我又说了一遍。” “闭嘴。”

"You shut up." Aside from the arguing bowler dudes, it was an empty room. There were no windows, and there was just one door. One way out, and the bowler dudes were blocking it. "What are you going to do to us now?" Coke asked defiantly. "You'll find out," the clean-shaven bowler dude said, snickering. With that, both bowler dudes left the room, locking the door behind them. Pep let out the best scream she could muster, but the room was soundproof, of course. Coke looked around for an escape route. There were no vents in the floor, walls, or ceiling. He reached for the cell phone in his back pocket. It was gone. Pep's had been taken away too. When a half hour had passed and the twins hadn't come out of the Museum of the Weird, their parents went inside to get them. Coke and

“你闭嘴。”除了那些吵架的保龄球手，那是一间空屋子。 没有窗户，只有一扇门。 只有一条路出去，那些打保龄球的家伙挡住了。 “你现在要对我们做什么？”可口可乐挑衅地问道。 “你会知道的，”那个刮得干干净净的保龄球手窃笑着说。 说完，两个玩保龄球的家伙都离开了房间，锁上了门。 佩普发出了她所能发出的最大声的尖叫，但房间里当然是隔音的。 可口可乐四处寻找逃生路线。 地板、墙壁和天花板上都没有通风口。 他伸手去拿后口袋里的手机。 它不见了。佩普的也被拿走了。 半个小时过去了，双胞胎还没有从古怪博物馆出来，他们的父母进去接他们。 可口可乐和

Pep, of course, were no longer there. "Have you seen two kids?" Dr. McDonald asked the lady behind the ticket booth. "A boy and a girl? Twins? They're thirteen." "Yeah, I think I saw them in here earlier," the lady replied. "Maybe fifteen minutes ago. They must have left." Dr. and Mrs. McDonald rushed outside and looked up and down the busy street. There were a lot of kids milling around. But not their kids. Reader, as a young person, you can't imagine the feeling that comes over parents when they're out in a public place and their children suddenly are not where they expect them to be. In a matter of seconds, the parents will go from calm and relaxed to believing they will never see their children again. Dr. McDonald dialed the cell phone numbers for Coke and Pep. No answer. Now the McDonalds were getting frantic. The next call was to the police.

当然，佩普已经不在了。 “你见过两个孩子吗？”博士。 麦克唐纳问售票处后面的女士。 “一个男孩和一个女孩？”双胞胎吗?他们十三。” “是的，我想我之前在这里见过他们，”女士回答。 “大概十五分钟前吧。 他们一定是走了。”麦克唐纳医生和夫人冲到外面，在繁忙的街道上四处张望。 有很多孩子在周围闲逛。 但不是他们的孩子。读者们，作为一个年轻人，你无法想象当父母们在公共场合看到他们的孩子突然不在他们期望的地方时的感受。 在几秒钟内，父母就会从平静和放松到相信他们再也见不到他们的孩子了。 麦克唐纳博士拨打了可口可乐和佩普的手机号码。 不回答。现在麦当劳开始疯狂了。 下一个电话是给警察打的。

The twins were locked in a room just a few blocks away, but there was no way of knowing that. There was nothing for them to do either. Hours passed. At some point, the door flew open and one of the bowler dudes slid in a tray with two burritos on it. Then the door slammed shut again. Other than that, there was no communication. The twins lost track of time. "Why do you think they're holding us here?" Pep asked her brother. "If they wanted to do something to us, they could have done it already." "It's almost like they're waiting for something," Coke replied. They were. The nice detective at the police station helped Mrs. McDonald file a missing persons report. The police would comb the city looking for the twins, she explained calmly. Kids get reported missing all the time. More often than not, they stray a hundred yards from their parents or wander off in search of ice cream. On the very

这对双胞胎被锁在几个街区外的一个房间里，但没人知道。 他们也没什么可做的。 几个小时过去了。不知什么时候，门突然开了，其中一个玩保龄球的家伙滑进一个托盘，上面放着两个墨西哥卷饼。 然后，门又砰地关上了。 除此之外，没有任何交流。 这对双胞胎忘了时间。 “你觉得他们为什么把我们关在这里？”佩普问她的哥哥。 “如果他们想对我们做点什么，他们早就做了。” “就好像他们在等待什么，”可口可乐回答说。 他们。警察局的那位和蔼的侦探帮助麦克唐纳夫人提交了一份失踪人口报告。 她平静地解释说，警察会在全城搜寻这对双胞胎。 经常有孩子被报失踪。 通常情况下，它们会在离父母100码的地方迷路，或者去找冰淇淋。 在…上

rare occasion, a kid is kidnapped. But all threats must be taken seriously. Just before dusk, the door abruptly opened again and both of the bowler dudes came into the room. It was almost a relief for the kids to see human beings, even if it had to be those human beings. The mustachioed one was carrying two rags and some thick rope. He proceeded to tie the twins' hands behind their backs and blindfold them. "Get your paws off of me!" Coke shouted, trying to karate-kick the clean-shaven bowler dude. He knocked the bowler hat off the dude's head but didn't inflict any damage. The big man was not amused. He picked up Coke and hoisted him over his shoulder. His brother did the same to Pep. "Where are you taking us?" she demanded. "Leave us alone!" "You're going for a ride," the clean-shaven bowler dude said. "Kids like rides, don't you?"

很少有孩子被绑架。 但所有的威胁都必须认真对待。 快到黄昏的时候，门突然又开了，两个戴礼帽的家伙走了进来。 对孩子们来说，看到人类几乎是一种解脱，即使是那些人类。 大胡子的那个拿着两块破布和粗绳子。 他接着把双胞胎的手绑在背后，并蒙住他们的眼睛。 “把你的爪子拿开！”可乐喊道，试图用空手道踢那个刮得干干净净的保龄球手。 他把那家伙头上的圆顶礼帽打掉了，但没有造成任何伤害。 大个子不觉得好笑。 他捡起可乐，把他扛在肩上。 他哥哥也这样对佩普。 “你要带我们去哪儿？”她问。 “别烦我们！”“你要去兜风了，”那个刮得干干净净的保龄球手说。 “孩子们喜欢骑马，你呢？”

The twins couldn't see where they were being taken, but they could tell they were carried downstairs and thrown roughly into a van. The ride was short, less than five minutes. They couldn't have traveled even a mile. Coke spent the time trying to free his hands behind his back, but the rope was expertly tied. The van came to a stop. The doors opened. The bowler dudes weren't talking. Coke and Pep felt themselves being picked up and carried a short distance. It was quieter here. The sounds of the city were more distant. They felt themselves being lowered carefully onto something. It was wobbly, not a solid surface. There was the sound of water underneath. "I think we're in a boat," Coke said. "A little boat." "And I'd advise you not to try anything stupid, like jumping out of it," one of the bowler dudes said. "It's really hard to swim with your hands tied behind your back."

这对双胞胎看不见他们被带到哪里，但他们知道他们被带到楼下，被粗暴地扔进了一辆面包车。 路程很短，不到五分钟。 他们连一英里都走不了。 科克花了一些时间试图把双手从背后挣脱出来，但绳子被熟练地绑住了。 货车停了下来。门开了。 那些打保龄球的人不说话。 可口可乐和佩普感到有人把他们抱起来，带着他们走了一小段路。 这里比较安静。城市的声音更遥远了。 他们感到自己被小心翼翼地放到了什么东西上。 它是摇晃的，不是一个坚实的表面。 下面传来了水声。 “我认为我们在一条船上，”科克说。 “一条小船。”“我建议你不要尝试任何愚蠢的事情，比如跳出来，”一个玩保龄球的家伙说。 “双手被绑在背后，真的很难游泳。”