Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 MONDAY, JULY 23, 2018 AROUND 7:15 A.M. HOLLY'S HOUSE Josh woke up early Monday. Mom was still fast asleep in the bed next to his. Josh eyed his duffel bag, which sat on the floor, almost all packed. He

2018年7月23日星期一上午7:15左右 霍莉的房子周一，乔希很早就醒了。 妈妈还在他旁边的床上睡得很熟。 乔希看着他的行李袋，它放在地板上，几乎都装好了。 他

and Mom were leaving today at noon, driving to the airport and flying back to New Jersey. Holly had helped Josh pack last night. "Bubbles is going to miss you," she'd said, folding one of Josh's T-shirts. "I think she might hide in your suitcase." "I'd love that," Josh said, smiling as he pictured a giant lizard tail sticking out of the duffel. "But I might have a problem going through airport security." That cracked them both up. He was definitely going to miss Bubbles, Josh thought now as he tossed around in the bed. And he already missed King—the snake still hadn't shown up. But Josh also couldn't wait to get back to his real life. He wanted to see Dad, shoot hoops with Greg, jump into their pool. He lay there a few minutes more, already dreading the endless drive to the airport. Finally

和妈妈准备今天中午离开，开车去机场，然后飞回新泽西。 霍莉昨晚帮乔什收拾了行李。 “泡泡会想你的。”她一边说，一边叠起乔什的一件t恤。 “我想她可能藏在你的行李箱里。” “我很乐意，”乔希笑着说，他想象着一条巨大的蜥蜴尾巴从帆布包里伸出来。 “但我可能在通过机场安检时遇到麻烦。” 这使他们俩都笑了。 他肯定会想念泡泡的，乔什在床上翻来覆去地想着。 他已经错过了国王——那条蛇还没有出现。 但乔什也迫不及待地想回到他的现实生活中。 他想看爸爸，想和格雷格一起打篮球，想跳进他们家的游泳池。 他在那儿又躺了几分钟，已经开始担心去机场的漫长路程了。 最后

he slid out of bed. He figured he'd go get Bubbles and wait on the porch for everyone to get up. Josh threw on his clothes and went downstairs to the kitchen. Aunt Nicole had baked blueberry muffins last night. He grabbed one and took a bite—crazy good!—then stuffed the whole thing into his mouth. He was helping himself to a second muffin when he spotted Aunt Nicole's laptop sitting open on the table. He eyed it, thinking about the Yankees. Had he really not checked his scores in a whole week? He sat down at the table and brushed the crumbs from his fingers. He knew Aunt Nicole wouldn't mind if he used her computer for a minute. A few clicks later, he was scrolling through the scores. Yes! The Yanks had creamed the Red Sox last night. He checked on a few more games. And then, almost without thinking, he googled Dad's name.

他悄悄下了床。他想他应该去找泡泡，然后在门廊上等大家起床。 乔希匆匆穿上衣服，下楼去了厨房。 妮可阿姨昨晚烤了蓝莓松饼。 他抓了一个，咬得好极了！——然后把整个东西塞进嘴里。 正当他吃第二块松饼时，他看到妮可姨妈的笔记本电脑打开在桌子上。 他看着它，想着北方佬。 他真的一整个星期都没有检查过他的分数吗？ 他在桌边坐下，拂去手指上的面包屑。 他知道妮可姨妈不会介意他用一会儿她的电脑。 点击几下后，他正在浏览比分。 是的!洋基队昨晚大胜红袜队。 他又看了几场比赛。 然后，他几乎不假思索地在谷歌上搜索了爸爸的名字。

He was sure no one was writing those garbage articles anymore. That's why he almost choked on his muffin as he saw the headline of the first article: Tim Wallace, New Jersey Banker, Sentenced to 8 Months in Jail Josh laughed out loud. What a joke! If anyone should go to jail, it was whoever wrote these lies! But then Josh saw where this article was from: the New York Times. The New York Times was not a trashy newspaper. Mom and Dad always said it was the best newspaper in the world. What was going on? Josh started to read the article. But then he heard voices—Mom, Aunt Nicole, Holly. Everyone was awake and heading downstairs. Almost without thinking, Josh pushed away from

他确信没有人再写那些垃圾文章了。 这就是为什么当他看到第一篇文章的标题：蒂姆·华莱士，新泽西银行家，被判入狱8个月时，他几乎被松饼噎住了。 真是个笑话！如果有人该进监狱，那就是写这些谎言的人！但后来乔希看到了这篇文章的来源：《纽约时报》。 《纽约时报》不是一份垃圾报纸。 爸爸妈妈总是说这是世界上最好的报纸。 发生了什么事？乔希开始读那篇文章。 但接着他听到了声音——妈妈、妮可姨妈、霍莉。 大家都醒了，朝楼下走去。 乔希想都没想就推开了

the table and hopped up. He rushed into the little bathroom off the kitchen and gently shut the door. Voices filled the kitchen. "Pancakes or omelets?" Aunt Nicole asked. The fridge opened and shut. "Josh likes pancakes," Holly said. "Where is Josh?" Mom said. "I thought he'd be down here." "Two muffins are missing," Aunt Nicole said with a laugh. "So we know he's come through here." "I bet he's with Bubbles," Holly said. "I'll go get him." The screen door squeaked open, then slammed closed. Sweat trickled down Josh's back—it was broiling in this little bathroom. He had to get out of here. He was about to flush the toilet, to make it seem he'd been in here for a reason. But then he heard Aunt Nicole gasp. "Trish. Come over here."

桌子跳了起来。他冲进厨房旁边的小浴室，轻轻地关上了门。 厨房里人声鼎沸。 “煎饼还是煎蛋卷？”妮可姨妈问。 冰箱开了又关。 “乔希喜欢煎饼，”霍莉说。 “乔希在哪儿？”母亲说。 “我以为他在下面呢。” “少了两块松饼，”妮可姨妈笑着说。 “所以我们知道他来过这里。” “我打赌他和泡泡在一起，”霍莉说。 “我去找他。”纱门吱吱地开了，然后又砰地关上。 汗水顺着乔什的背淌下来——这个小浴室里热得要命。 他必须离开这里。 他正要冲厕所，好让人觉得他来这里是有原因的。 但接着他听到妮可姨妈喘了口气。 “崔西。到这儿来。”

"What?" Mom said. "This article in the New York Times. It's about Tim. It was up on my computer…" Josh froze. He realized he'd left the article open on the screen. "The article is from this morning," Aunt Nicole said. "Someone must have been using my computer before we came down." "You think it was Josh?" Mom said, her voice dropping down. Josh's whole body started to tingle, like when that car hit Mom on her bike. And when he saw Dad being taken away in handcuffs. It got very quiet—the only sound was a fly buzzing around the window. Josh pictured Mom and Aunt Nicole huddled around the computer. "I have to call Tim," Mom finally said, her voice filled with worry. "We were going to tell Josh everything when we got back." Tell me everything? Josh thought. That meant Mom hadn't been telling Josh the whole story so

“什么?”母亲说。这是《纽约时报》上的一篇文章。 是关于蒂姆的。它在我的电脑上……”乔希僵住了。 他意识到他把那篇文章留在了屏幕上。 “这篇文章是今天早上写的，”妮可姨妈说。 “我们下来之前一定有人在用我的电脑。” “你觉得是乔希干的？”妈妈说，声音放低了。 乔希的全身开始发麻，就像那辆车撞到骑自行车的妈妈一样。 当他看到爸爸戴着手铐被带走。 周围非常安静——唯一的声音是一只苍蝇在窗户周围嗡嗡作响。 乔希想象着妈妈和妮可姨妈挤在电脑前的情景。 “我得给蒂姆打电话，”妈妈最后说，她的声音里充满了担忧。 “我们打算回来后把一切都告诉乔希。” 告诉我一切？杰克的想法。 这意味着妈妈没有告诉乔什整个故事，所以