12 Accidents Happen

CHAPTER TWELVE ACCIDENTS HAPPEN Solution (noun). When a solvent (milk) dissolves a solute (cocoa powder), you create a solution. In this case, a solution is something you drink, not an answer to a math problem. THE WARM WATER DIDN'T DO THE TRICK. I paced. I tapped my head. Think, Kate. Think. Think! Wait a minute. Instead of just thinking, I needed to gather evidence. Make observations. This time I opened the bag all the way and set it under the bright lights on the kitchen counter. I could see that some of the glue had softened. But not enough. Maybe I just needed to keep the hot rag on the glue longer. This time, I let the glue soften with the rag for a long time. A while later, it was time to test out my hypothesis. When I checked the bag, I was able to rinse it all off! Yes. Yes. Yes. My hunch had been right. But now the fabric was all wet.

第十二章事故发生解决方案（名词）。 当溶剂（牛奶）溶解溶质（可可粉）时，就产生了溶液。 在这种情况下，解决方案是你喝的东西，而不是数学问题的答案。 温水不起作用。 我踱步。我轻敲我的头。 认为,凯特。思考。的想法!等一下。 除了思考，我还需要收集证据。 作观察。这次我把袋子完全打开，放在厨房柜台上明亮的灯光下。 我可以看到有些胶水变软了。 但这还不够。也许我只是需要让热抹布在胶水上多待一会儿。 这一次，我用抹布让胶水变软了很长时间。 过了一会儿，是时候验证我的假设了。 当我检查袋子时，我把它都冲洗掉了！是。 是。是。我的预感是对的。 但现在布料全湿了。

Racing upstairs to the bathroom, I grabbed a hair dryer from the cabinet. Liam knocked around in his bedroom. After I had mentioned cleaning earlier, he had escaped upstairs. "What are you doing?" he called out. "Nothing," I lied as I hustled back downstairs. Well, not exactly a lie. Because after my cleaning and drying, I would be doing nothing. As the hair dryer roared on, Mom stepped into the kitchen. "What's going on in here?" Her eyes lasered on her bag spread open on the kitchen counter. And the hair dryer. I turned off the dryer. "Your bag got a little wet. And gluey. But I took care of it." "Oh, Kate." Her eyebrows knitted together in concern. "I had hoped you'd be more responsible. That you were old enough to take care of the bag." "Mom, I'm super sorry! It was an accident." "You have to think. You can't always be in such a rush." I was going to protest. But I was the one who didn't check to see if the bottle of glue in my emergency kit had been closed tightly.

我跑到楼上的浴室，从柜子里拿了一个吹风机。 利亚姆在他的卧室里四处走动。 在我之前提到打扫卫生之后，他就逃到楼上去了。 “你在干什么？”他喊道。 “没什么，”我一边撒谎一边匆匆下楼。 好吧，不完全是谎言。因为打扫和烘干之后，我就什么都不用做了。 随着吹风机的轰鸣，妈妈走进了厨房。 “这里发生了什么事？”她的眼睛盯着厨房柜台上摊开的包。 还有吹风机。我关掉了烘干机。 “你的包有点湿了。 和胶的。但我已经处理好了。” “噢,凯特。”她担心地皱起了眉头。 “我曾希望你更负责任一些。 你已经长大了，可以照顾这个包了。” “妈妈，我非常抱歉！”这是个意外。” “你必须思考。你不能总是这么着急。” 我本来要抗议的。但我是那个没有检查急救箱里的胶水瓶是否关得严严实实的人。

"I'd like an explanation," Mom said in her firm principal voice. It was too eerily calm. Her dark brown eyes bored into mine, like she could read my thoughts. If Mom had a superpower, it would definitely be mind reading. I blurted out everything that had happened. How I had discovered the gluey mess in her backpack. How upset I had been. How much I had wanted to tell her, but she had seemed so happy about the grant. "Don't worry," I said, trying to sound 100 percent more confident than I felt. "It'll be fine." Her eyes took in the darkened spots on the lining. "Really?" "Okay, maybe not perfect. But almost." Mom combed her fingers through her hair. It was super short with blonde highlights. Once she became principal last year, she said she didn't want to fuss with her long hair. That meant she didn't want any extra problems. Right now, I was her problem. I hated disappointing her in any way. I blinked back tears. "I'm so sorry, Mom. Really. I hope this doesn't hurt your chances." "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out. It's just that I counted on you being careful. Oh, honey." She placed her hand on my shoulder. "It's

“我需要一个解释，”妈妈用她坚定的语气说。 太出奇地平静了。她深棕色的眼睛凝视着我，仿佛能读懂我的心思。 如果妈妈有超能力，那一定是读心术。 我脱口而出所发生的一切。 我是怎么在她的背包里发现那堆黏糊糊的东西的。 我是多么难过啊。我有多么想告诉她，但她似乎对获得资助很高兴。 “别担心，”我说，努力让自己的声音听起来比实际感觉的要自信百分之百。 “会没事的。”她的眼睛看清了衬里上的黑点。 “真的吗?”“好吧，也许不完美。 但几乎。”妈妈用手指梳理头发。 超短的头发加上金色的亮点。 去年当上校长后，她说她不想为自己的长发烦恼。 这意味着她不想有任何额外的问题。 现在，我成了她的麻烦。 我讨厌以任何方式让她失望。 我强忍住眼泪。“我很抱歉，妈妈。 真的。我希望这不会影响你的机会。” “不，我很抱歉。我不是故意要抨击你的。 我只是指望你会小心点。 哦,亲爱的。”她把手放在我的肩上。 “这是

always something, isn't it? Thanks for making such an effort to clean it up. I'm sure it'll be dry by the morning." Furrowing her brow, she inspected the lining. "The grant committee won't be inspecting the inside of the bag anyway. In the future, just try to keep things safer." "I will. You can count on it!" Mom pulled me in for a hug. She smelled like coffee and sweet cream. She always knew how to make me feel better. Soon after project bag cleanup, Birdie came over and asked if I wanted to ride bikes. Of course I did! After I caught her up on the conversation with Mom, we rode over to Oak Bend Pond. It was the perfect antidote to what happened. Being outside in nature always calms me down. Setting our bikes against a large oak tree, I noticed that the trees had changed colors. When I squinted my eyes, the gold, red, and orange leaves looked like dancing flames in the wind. As the branches swayed, I heard blue jays chittering.

总是有事发生，不是吗？ 谢谢你这么努力地清理。 我相信明天早上就会干的。” 她皱起眉头，细看衬里。 “反正拨款委员会也不会检查袋子里面的东西。 在未来，只要努力让事情更安全。” “我会的。你放心好了！”妈妈把我拉过去拥抱了一下。 她身上有咖啡和甜奶油的味道。 她总是知道怎么让我感觉好点。 清理完袋子后不久，小鸟过来问我想不想骑自行车。 当然了！我追上她和妈妈的谈话后，我们骑马去了橡树本德池塘。 这是对所发生的一切的完美解药。 置身大自然总能让我平静下来。 我们把自行车靠在一棵大橡树上，我注意到树已经变了颜色。 当我眯起眼睛时，金色、红色和橙色的叶子看起来就像风中飞舞的火焰。 树枝摇曳的时候，我听到了蓝鸦的啾啾声。

The breeze picked up and blew ripples across the pond. When you think pond, you might get the wrong idea. It was actually a medium-sized lake—forty-two feet deep and over three hundred acres. There were deer, fox and herons, owls and muskrats. Tall silvery cattails framed the shoreline. "I love this place," I said, picking up a speckled rock to skip. It felt smooth and cool in my hand. "Me too," said Birdie, sighing happily. "Didn't you think the play read-through went well?" "Yes, definitely." "Good. I just wish Avery wasn't so cranky about being dragon dance captain. It makes no sense. It's a good part. Two songs and two dances. Plus, she's doing the choreography." "Maybe she's in a bad mood because her braces got tightened," I said. "In soccer practice, she was complaining about it." "Yeah, could be." "I know Avery's parents have that fog smoke machine thingy, but I'm going to figure out how to make dragons breathe smoke. So it looks like it's spurting out of their mouths." "You could really do that?" asked Birdie, her eyes wide. "I think so."

微风吹起，在池塘上掀起涟漪。 当你想到池塘时，你可能会有错误的想法。 它实际上是一个中等大小的湖——42英尺深，三百多英亩。 有鹿、狐狸、苍鹭、猫头鹰和麝鼠。 高高的银色香蒲点缀着海岸线。 “我喜欢这个地方，”我说着，捡起一块有斑点的石头跳了起来。 它在我手里摸起来又滑又凉。 “我也是，”小鸟高兴地叹了口气。 “你不觉得剧本的通读很顺利吗？”“是的,当然有。” “很好。我只希望艾弗里不要因为当舞龙队长而那么暴躁。 这毫无意义。这是一个很好的部分。 两首歌两支舞。另外，她还负责编舞。” “也许她心情不好是因为她的牙套紧了，”我说。 “在足球训练时，她一直在抱怨。” “是的，有可能。”“我知道艾弗里的父母有那个烟雾机之类的东西，但我要想办法让龙呼吸烟雾。 所以看起来像是从他们嘴里喷出来的。” “你真的能做到吗？”伯迪问，眼睛睁得大大的。 “我想是的。”

"That would be so cool." Birdie picked up a flat gray pebble, perfect for skipping. "Thanks for forcing me to do the play. I think it's going to be fun. Even if it meant I got my mom's bag full of glue." "You're welcome," said Birdie, who skipped her rock so it zigzagged across the lake. "Now, that's a good sign," she said with a wink.

“那太酷了。”小鸟捡起一块扁平的灰色鹅卵石，非常适合蹦蹦跳跳。 “谢谢你逼我演这出戏。 我觉得会很有趣的。 即使这意味着我要把我妈妈的袋子装满胶水。” “不用客气，”小鸟说，她跳过她的石头，让它在湖面上蜿蜒而过。 “现在，这是个好兆头，”她眨眨眼说。