Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 THREE NIGHTS LATER FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2018 HOLLY'S HOUSE AROUND 6:30 P.M. Josh reached across the picnic table for another taco. "Josh!" Mom laughed. "That's your third one!"

第六章三晚后2018年7月20日星期五下午6:30左右霍莉家 乔希把手伸到野餐桌的另一边去拿另一个墨西哥卷饼。 “杰克!”妈妈笑了。“这是你的第三个了！”

"Fourth," Josh said, smiling at Aunt Nicole. "These are the best tacos I've ever had." A pink tongue shot up—ffffffft!—and snatched a piece of lettuce from the air as it tumbled from Josh's taco. "Looks like Bubbles likes tacos, too," Mom said. More laughter rose up, and a warm feeling spread from Josh's head to his toes. Mom had the right idea, to come out here. Josh missed Dad a ton. And it was weird not to be able to text Greg twenty times a day. But Mom was already back to her old self, and Josh felt calmer than he had in over a week. He looked at Holly, who smiled at him over her taco. She was definitely different. Holly had never played a video game in her life. She could name every bird that flew by but not one basketball player. "Who's that?" she'd asked the other day, pointing at the picture of LeBron James on Josh's

“第四，”乔希对妮可姨妈微笑着说。 “这是我吃过的最好吃的玉米饼。” 一条粉红色的舌头喷了出来！然后从空中抓住了一片从乔什的玉米卷上掉下来的生菜。 “看起来泡泡也喜欢玉米饼，”妈妈说。 更多的笑声响起，一种温暖的感觉从乔希的头蔓延到他的脚趾。 妈妈来这里是对的。 乔希非常想念爸爸。一天不能给格雷格发20条短信感觉很奇怪。 但妈妈已经恢复了原来的样子，乔希也觉得比一个多星期以来平静多了。 他看了看霍莉，霍莉边吃玉米卷边对他微笑。 她绝对与众不同。 霍莉一生中从未玩过电子游戏。 她能叫出飞过的每一只鸟的名字，但就是叫不出一个篮球运动员的名字。 “那是谁？”那天，她指着乔希家的勒布朗·詹姆斯的照片问道

T-shirt. "You've never heard of LeBron James, the greatest player in the NBA?" "I don't really care about basketball." Holly shrugged. Josh just shook his head. Because what could he even say? But somehow he and Holly got along. And surprisingly, it wasn't boring here, even without TV or video games or YouTube. He and Holly hung out with Bubbles and watched King Kong. They stuffed their faces with Aunt Nicole's brownies and cookies. And they spent the rest of the time roaming around the forest behind the house. Hiking wasn't so bad, it turned out. Josh actually felt a little scared at first, being in the middle of a massive forest. He kept thinking of a movie he and Greg had watched, where two kids get lost for weeks. They stay alive by eating grasshoppers and moss.

t恤。“你从来没听说过勒布朗·詹姆斯，NBA最伟大的球员？”“我真的不关心篮球。” 冬青耸耸肩。乔希只是摇了摇头。 因为他还能说什么呢？ 但他和霍莉相处得很好。 令人惊讶的是，即使没有电视、电子游戏或YouTube，这里也不无聊。 他和霍莉和泡泡一起玩，看《金刚》。 他们把妮可阿姨做的布朗尼和饼干塞满了自己的脸。 剩下的时间他们在房子后面的森林里闲逛。 事实证明，徒步旅行并没有那么糟糕。 乔希一开始确实有点害怕，因为他身处一片巨大的森林之中。 他一直在想他和格雷格看过的一部电影，里面有两个孩子迷路了好几个星期。 它们靠吃蚱蜢和苔藓维持生命。

But Holly knew her way around. They brought plenty of cookies and thermoses of lemonade. And sometimes they saw cool stuff, like a huge spider covered with fur, and a hawk flying overhead with a mouse gripped in its feet. It was a bummer they weren't allowed to swim in the river; Holly said it was too dangerous to swim without a grown-up watching them. That really stank because there was an old zip line stretching across the river. It was attached to this big tree right on the riverbank. If Josh had a zip line in his backyard, he and Greg would be on it 24-7. Too bad Holly wasn't the zip-line type. She'd never even been on it! Josh was finishing up his rice and beans when a dusty red pickup truck came zooming down the driveway. "It's Lucas and Eleanor!" Holly exclaimed, rushing off the porch to greet the man and woman who got out.

但霍莉熟悉周围的环境。 他们带来了很多饼干和装满柠檬水的热水瓶。 有时他们会看到一些很酷的东西，比如一只浑身是毛的大蜘蛛，一只脚上抓着一只老鼠的鹰从头顶飞过。 他们不被允许在河里游泳，这是件遗憾的事；霍莉说没有大人看着他们游泳太危险了。 那真的很臭，因为有一条旧的滑索穿过河。 它被绑在河岸上的一棵大树上。 如果乔什的后院有个滑索，他和格雷格就会24小时都在上面了。 可惜霍莉不喜欢滑索。 她根本就没坐过！乔希正在吃完他的米饭和豆子，这时一辆满是灰尘的红色皮卡从车道上疾驰而来。 “是卢卡斯和埃莉诺！”霍莉惊呼道，冲出门廊去迎接走出来的那对男女。

"You'll love these two," Aunt Nicole said to Mom. "They're great friends of ours. They help us with the reptile shelter. Eleanor actually grew up with Hector." Hector was Holly's dad, Josh knew. He'd died from cancer about three years ago, Mom had said. Holly had mentioned him a few times, her voice proud and sad at the same time. He seemed like a great guy. Eleanor greeted Josh with a booming hello and a crushing hug. Lucas was quieter, but still super friendly. "Join us for dinner!" Aunt Nicole said, clearing away space for two more plates. But Eleanor shook her head. "We'd love to, but we're zonked. And we need a shower; we must stink of smoke." "We just finished a shift at the fire station," Lucas added. "Four days on duty without a break." Wow! Josh thought. Firefighters!

“你会喜欢这两个的，”妮可姨妈对妈妈说。 “他们是我们的好朋友。 他们帮我们建爬行动物庇护所。 埃莉诺其实是和赫克托一起长大的。” 乔什知道赫克托是霍莉的爸爸。 妈妈说，他大约三年前死于癌症。 霍莉提到过他几次，她的声音既骄傲又悲伤。 他看起来是个很棒的人。 埃莉诺跟乔希打了个招呼，热烈地拥抱了他一下。 卢卡斯比较安静，但仍然非常友好。 “和我们一起吃晚饭吧！”妮可姨妈一边说，一边腾出地方再放两个盘子。 但埃莉诺摇了摇头。 “我们很想去，但是我们太累了。 我们需要洗个澡；我们身上一定有烟味。” “我们刚在消防站换班，”卢卡斯补充说。 “连续四天值班，没有休息。” 哇!杰克的想法。消防队员!

"And we have to go back for another shift tomorrow," Eleanor said. "We just stopped by to drop off a special supper for King Kong." She held up a shoebox, wrapped in tape, with holes punched through the top. Josh could hear noises coming from inside the box. Squeak squeak. Squeak. "Nice big rat for his dinner," Lucas said. "Someone trapped it at the station, in our pantry." Holly looked at Josh. "Pythons only eat live prey." Josh winced. He wanted King Kong to have a good dinner. But it was too bad for the rat that snakes didn't like tacos. "King Kong will love it," Holly said to Lucas. "He's having a tough time with his shedding." "Well, hopefully this cheers him up," Lucas said. "I'll be right back." He took the box and headed to the garage. Eleanor sat down with them at the table, and Josh grabbed another taco. But he'd barely taken a

“明天我们还得回去换班，”埃莉诺说。 “我们只是顺路过来给金刚送一顿特别的晚餐。” 她拿起一个用胶带包着的鞋盒，上面打了几个洞。 乔什能听到盒子里有声音。 Squeak吱吱声。吱吱声。“好大的老鼠当他的晚餐，”卢卡斯说。 “有人把它困在车站的储藏室里了。” 霍莉看着乔希。“蟒蛇只吃活的猎物。” 杰克了。他想让金刚吃顿好饭。 但是蛇不喜欢玉米饼对老鼠来说太糟糕了。 “金刚会喜欢的，”霍莉对卢卡斯说。 “他正在经历一段难熬的脱毛期。” “嗯，希望这能让他振作起来，”卢卡斯说。 “我马上就回来。”他拿着箱子朝车库走去。 埃莉诺和他们一起坐在桌旁，乔希又拿了一个墨西哥卷饼。 但他几乎没有吃过