20 Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Losers. That's what Charles Chiltington thought about sentimental saps like Kyle Keeley. A damsel in distress starts screaming and he forgets all about winning the game to go rescue her? What a pathetic loser. Unless, of course, Haley Daley was screaming because she had already found the alternate exit. That made Charles laugh. Impossible.

第20章失败者这就是查尔斯·奇廷顿对凯尔·基利这种多愁善感的笨蛋的看法。 一个遇险的少女开始尖叫，他忘记了赢得比赛去救她? 真是个可悲的失败者。当然，除非海莉·戴利尖叫是因为她已经找到了备用出口。 这使查尔斯哈哈大笑。不可能的。

Although quite pretty, Haley Daley, the princess of the seventh grade, was a total airhead. There was no way a dumb girl like her could've outsmarted Charles Chiltington. It was time to play his hunch. Twice already, the head librarian, Dr. Zinchenko, had said, "The library staff is here to help you find whatever it is you are looking for." She said it once when they were just about to enter the library, again when she was reading the laundry list of rules. Well, what Charles was looking for was a way out of the building that wasn't the front door and wouldn't set off any alarms. That was why he kept coming back to the lobby with the gurgling fountain. Why he kept studying the display case labeled "Staff Picks: Our Most Memorable Reads." "The staff is here to help," he muttered. "These are staff picks. Ipso facto, this has to be some sort of enormous clue." Inside the sealed bookcase, Charles saw twelve book covers.

七年级的公主海莉·戴利虽然很漂亮，但却是个十足的傻瓜。 像她这样的蠢女孩不可能比查尔斯·齐灵顿聪明。 是时候发挥他的直觉了。 图书馆馆长，Dr。 津琴科说:“图书馆的工作人员会帮助你找到你想要的任何东西。” 当他们正要进入图书馆时，她说了一次，当她在阅读一长串的规则时，她又说了一次。 查尔斯要找的是一条不从前门出去又不会触发任何警报的路。 这就是为什么他总是回到喷泉汩汩作响的大厅。 为什么他一直在研究那个标有“员工精选:我们最难忘的读物”的展示柜。 “工作人员是来帮忙的。”他喃喃地说。 “这些都是员工挑选的。事实上，这一定是某种巨大的线索。” 在密封的书柜里，查尔斯看到了十二本书的封面。

One for each of the twelve twelve-year-old players? he wondered. The display items weren't actual books. They were cover art mounted on book-sized foam core. Three covers were lined up on each of the case's four shelves. Since they weren't actual books with spines, none of the covers included their call numbers. Charles focused on the three books lined up on the bottom row. Hoosier Hospitality was on the left. In the Pocket: Johnny Unitas and Me was in the middle. The Dinner Party was on the right. Charles decided to concentrate on the Johnny Unitas title. He moved into the rotunda and did a quick card catalog search on one of the desktop computers. When he typed "In the Pocket," a matching cover image popped up. But still no call number. In the spot where the identifier should have been, there were instead a censor's thick black box and the words "I.D. Temporarily Removed from System."

12个12岁的球员每人一个? 他想知道。展出的物品并不是真正的书。 它们是装在书本大小的泡沫芯上的封面画。 箱子的四个架子上各有三个盖子。 因为它们不是真正的有刺的书，所以封面上都没有它们的书号。 查尔斯把注意力集中在最下面一排的三本书上。 Hoosier Hospitality在左边。 口袋里:约翰尼·尤尼塔斯和我在中间。 晚宴在右边。 查尔斯决定把精力集中在约翰尼·尤尼塔斯的头衔上。 他走进圆形大厅，在一台台式电脑上快速搜索了一下卡片目录。 当他输入“在口袋里”(In the Pocket)时，一个匹配的封面图像弹出。 但还是没有电话号码。在标识符应该出现的地方，取而代之的是一个厚厚的黑盒子，上面写着“身份证” 暂时从系统中删除。”

Scrolling further down the screen, Charles came across a rather unusual annotation: "You didn't really think we'd make it that easy, did you?" Charles grinned. The computer was telling him he was on the right track. He glanced up from the desk. The Children's Room was directly in front of him. The book about Johnny Unitas, with its cartoony cover depicting a football player wearing a number nineteen jersey and dropping back to launch a pass, was most likely a children's book. Of course, it was also a sports biography. So would it be shelved with sports books, biographies, or children's books? Charles went back to the computerized card catalog. He read the book's description: "Billy wants to be a great quarterback like his hero, Johnny Unitas, but his coach is worried he'll get hurt." It sounded like fiction. A made-up story. It had to be in the Children's Room. As Charles crossed the slick marble floor, something else struck him.

往下滚动屏幕，查尔斯看到了一个相当不寻常的注释:“你不会真的认为我们会让它变得那么容易吧?”查尔斯咧嘴一笑。 电脑告诉他，他的方向是对的。 他从桌子上抬起头来。 孩子们的房间就在他的正前方。 这本关于约翰尼·尤尼塔斯的书很可能是一本儿童读物，它的卡通封面描绘了一个穿着19号球衣的足球运动员，他后撤传球。 当然，这也是一本体育传记。 那么，它会和体育书籍、传记或儿童书籍放在一起吗? 查尔斯回到电脑卡片目录。 他读了这本书的描述:“比利想成为像他的英雄约翰尼·尤尼塔斯那样伟大的四分卫，但他的教练担心他会受伤。” 这听起来像小说。一个虚构的故事。 肯定是在儿童房。 当查尔斯走过光滑的大理石地板时，另一件事打动了他。

This was like Hüsker Dü?, a memory game he had played when he was in kindergarten. He was on a hunt to find a hidden match for the football book cover he had just memorized. This was, in short, another memory game—that was why the Staff Picks display had been subtitled "Our Most Memorable Reads." "Clever, Lemoncello," he mumbled. "Very clever indeed." Charles entered the children's department. It didn't take him very long to find the book, because In the Pocket was propped up on a miniature stand on top of a shelf. "Found it!" Charles proclaimed. Then, savoring the moment, he picked up the book and read the title out loud: "In the Pocket: Johnny Unitas and Me." All of a sudden, a row of animatronic geese tucked into a corner of the room started honking and singing. "They call him Mr. Touchdown, yes, they call him Mr. T." The squawking birds startled Charles so much he dropped the book.

这就像h<s:1> sker Dü?这是他在幼儿园时玩过的记忆游戏。 他正在寻找一个隐藏的匹配他刚刚记住的足球书封面。 简而言之，这是另一个记忆游戏——这就是为什么教鞭精选展示的副标题是“我们最难忘的读物”。 “聪明，莱蒙塞洛。”他咕哝着。 “确实很聪明。”查尔斯进了儿童部。 他没花很长时间就找到了那本书，因为《口袋里》被搁在书架顶上的一个小架子上。 “找到了!”查尔斯宣布。 然后，享受着这一刻，他拿起书，大声读了书名:《口袋里:约翰尼·尤尼塔斯和我》。 突然，一排藏在房间角落里的电子鹅开始鸣叫和唱歌。 “他们叫他达阵先生，是的，他们叫他t先生。” 嘎嘎叫的鸟儿把查尔斯吓得把书掉在地上。

When he did, a four-by-four card fluttered out from behind its cover. Charles bent down to pick it up. Printed on the card was a black-and-white silhouette. A quarterback, wearing a number nineteen jersey (just like Johnny Unitas), was arching back his arm to throw a pass. Charles grinned. He was definitely on the right track. He tucked the silhouette card into his pocket and hurried back to the lobby to memorize more book covers.

当他这样做的时候，一张四乘四的卡片从盖子后面飘了出来。 查尔斯弯下腰把它捡起来。 卡片上印着一个黑白剪影。 一个穿着19号球衣的四分卫(就像约翰尼·尤尼塔斯一样)，正弓起手臂准备传球。 查尔斯咧嘴一笑。他的思路绝对是对的。 他把剪影卡塞进口袋，匆匆回到大厅去背更多的书封面。