Chapter 23

chapter twenty-three We roll past Joe's Pizza. The windows glow and music drifts into the streets. Our monster friends don't know what it's like to grieve. At the tree house, we all help Warg up, inside. She settles into a chair. It's my gaming chair —the RollMaster781—and she perches on it in a strange, cartoonish way. One by one, her eyes blink open, on and off like twinkling Christmas bulbs. She looks around, her body of eyes scanning the tree house. "What is this place?" "Our home," I say. Dirk chuckles in a soft, sad way. "Welcome to the tree house at the end of the world...." "Let's get her some water," June says to Quint. "Wait, do the monsters drink water?" "I think so," Quint says. "Although, I've never actually seen any partake in H2O."

第二十三章我们滚过乔比萨店。 窗户发光，音乐飘进街道。 我们的怪物朋友不知道悲伤是什么感觉。 在树屋，我们都帮小王爬了起来。 她坐到椅子上。这是我的游戏椅——rollmaster781——她以一种奇怪的、卡通的方式坐在上面。 她的眼睛一个接一个地睁开，像圣诞节的灯泡一样忽明忽暗。 她环顾四周，她的眼睛扫视着树屋。 “这是什么地方？”“我们的家，”我说。 德克轻声地、悲伤地笑了起来。 “欢迎来到世界尽头的树屋....” “我们给她倒点水吧，”琼对昆特说。 “等等，怪物喝水吗？”“我想是的，”昆特说。 “不过，我从来没见过有人喝过水。”

"She's gotta replenish all those tears, right?" June says. "She must be dehydrated." I whirl around. My hands are shaking. "GUYS! Just get something!" June and Quint hurry to Quint's room, where he keeps his gadgets and science-y things. My head hangs—staring down at my sneakers for a long, long time. Finally, I look up at Warg. "I don't understand," I say, and I'm not sure if I'm angry or just confused. "I thought you didn't care about anyone? You live up on the farm, all alone.... Why do you get to be sad?"

“她得补充眼泪，对吧？”6月说。 “她一定是脱水了。”我旋转着。 我的手在发抖。“男人!去找点什么吧！”琼和昆特匆匆来到昆特的房间，那里放着他的小玩意和科学用品。 我垂着头，盯着我的运动鞋看了很长很长时间。 最后，我抬头看着王。 “我不明白，”我说，我不确定我是生气还是只是困惑。 “我还以为你谁也不在乎呢？” 你住在农场，独自一人.... 你为什么要伤心呢？”

It is exactly because I care that I have isolated myself that caring. It is a flaw in my being. Do you know how it feels to grow attached to a creature who cannot grow attached in return? After a long moment, I quietly say, "Oh." "And now you know my secret," Warg whispers. "This whole time we just thought you were a big grumper," Dirk says. That's when we hear June scream. A moment later, she appears in the doorway. Her face is part shock, part crazy-pants

正是因为我在乎，我才把自己孤立了出来。 这是我的缺陷。你知道爱上一个生物却得不到回报是什么感觉吗？ 过了好一会儿，我轻声说：“哦。” “现在你知道我的秘密了。” “一直以来，我们都以为你是个大发牢骚的人，”德克说。 这时我们听到了琼的尖叫。 过了一会儿，她出现在门口。 她的表情一半是震惊，一半是疯狂

excitement. And then Quint is there, too. A TV is cradled in his arms, the cord snaking around his leg— he's attempting to rush into the room with it. But the TV doesn't fit through the doorway and there's a smack when it bangs into the wall, sending him tumbling back. "Ahem," he says, readjusting himself. He tries walking in backward, but the TV is still just as wide. Another smack. He finally sneaks through sideways, and when he turns around, I see... Whoa.

兴奋。然后昆特也在那里。 他怀里抱着一台电视，电视线缠绕在他的腿上——他正试图带着电视冲进房间。 但是电视放不进门口，当它撞到墙上时发出一声巨响，把他摔了回来。 “嗯哼，”他说，调整了一下自己。 他试着倒着走进去，但电视还是一样宽。 另一个味道。他终于从侧面溜了过去，当他转身时，我看到…… 哇。

The TV recording is paused. But there, on the screen, I see— June's parents. Their names. "It worked," she says breathlessly. "They're OK. My parents are OK—and they're out there somewhere...." I look to Quint. "And... and yours, buddy?" He blinks quickly. He's chewing on his lip. "I don't know. I'm—I'm too scared to look. It's recorded. I just need to rewind. But I'm not sure if..." His voice trails off and his eyes drift away from us. I swallow and decide this is a best friend's job. Like ripping off the Band-Aid. I press the REWIND button. Thousands of names speed in reverse. It's like watching a Star Wars opening scrawl, but upside down. We stand, all of us in silence, for some of the longest minutes of my life. And then— I see the name. Baker. Then—oh no—another Baker. And another.

电视录像暂停。 但在屏幕上，我看到了琼的父母。 他们的名字。“它起作用了，”她气喘吁吁地说。 “他们好了。我的父母没事，他们就在外面的某个地方....” 我指望昆特。“和…你呢，伙计？”他眨了眨眼睛。 他在咬自己的嘴唇。“我不知道。 我太害怕了，不敢看。 这是记录。我只需要倒带一下。 但我不确定是否……”他的声音越来越小，目光也渐渐离开了我们。 我咽了口气，觉得这是最好的朋友的工作。 就像撕掉创可贴一样。 我按了倒带键。 成千上万的名字倒转着。 就像在看《星球大战》的开场涂鸦，只不过是倒过来的。 在我生命中最漫长的几分钟里，我们所有人都默默地站着。 然后，我看到了名字。 面包师。然后，哦，不，另一个贝克。 和另一个。

"Quint, there are, like, a gajillion Bakers! Why do you gotta have such a popular last name?!" "JACK, C'MON!" Quint shouts. The names creep past, slower, and then I pause. I swallow. There's a lump in my throat. His mom. His dad. I see their names. And I say, with a smile, "If I was a lousy friend, I could mess with you so hard right now...."

“昆特，那里有无数的面包师！”你为什么要有一个这么受欢迎的姓氏？！”“杰克,来吧!”昆特喊道。 名字慢慢地闪过，慢慢地，然后我停了下来。 我吞下。我的喉咙哽住了。 他的妈妈。他的父亲。我看到了他们的名字。 我笑着说：“如果我是个糟糕的朋友，我现在就可以狠狠地捉弄你....”