Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 My grandfather, Papa Pete, picked us up from school after practice. "How come Dad didn't wait around to walk us home?" I asked him. "He had to go pick up some doggy treats for Cheerio. You know how grumpy that little puppy gets when he rolls over and there's no biscuit for him." We left school and headed down 78th street toward Broadway. "So how are my favorite basketball players?" Papa Pete asked as we walked. "Not so good," I answered. "Ms. Adolf didn't have a team jersey for Hank," Frankie explained. its not about the uniform, Hankie," Papa Pete said, giving my shoulder a squeeze.

我的祖父，皮特爸爸，训练结束后去学校接我们。 “爸爸为什么不留下来送我们回家呢？”我问他。 “他得去给麦圈买些狗粮。 你知道那只小狗在没有饼干的情况下翻了个身，会变得多么暴躁。” 我们离开学校，沿着78街朝百老汇大街走去。 “我最喜欢的篮球运动员怎么样了？”皮特爸爸边走边问。 “不太好，”我回答。 “阿道夫女士没有为汉克准备队服，”弗兰基解释说。 “这不是制服的问题，汉克，”皮特爸爸说着，捏了捏我的肩膀。

"Basketball is about having fun and playing your best." "Well, it's not fun when you play like me," I said. "I couldn't put a ball in the basket if it were as big as the ocean." "Maybe you're not the best shooter in the world," Ashley said to me, "but you can sure pass the ball." "It takes all kinds of skills to make a team," Papa Pete said. "Take Larry Green on my bowling team, the Chopped Livers. He has never thrown a strike in all of our games. But he brings homemade doughnuts, and that keeps us all happy." "I didn't even know doughnuts could be homemade," Frankie said. "Someone has to make them," Papa Pete answered with a grin. "They don't grow on trees." Frankie and Ashley burst out laughing, but not me. I was still feeling down in the dumps. Of course, Papa Pete noticed right away.

“篮球就是玩得开心，发挥出你最好的水平。” “嗯，当你像我这样玩的时候就不好玩了，”我说。 “如果篮子和海洋一样大，我也不能把球放进篮子里。” “也许你不是世界上最好的射手，”阿什利对我说，“但你肯定能传球。” “组成一个团队需要各种各样的技能，”皮特爸爸说。 “比如拉里·格林在我的保龄球队，剁肝队。 在我们所有的比赛中，他从来没有投出一个好球。 但他带来了自制的甜甜圈，这让我们都很开心。” “我甚至不知道甜甜圈也可以自制，”弗兰基说。 “总得有人做吧，”皮特爸爸笑着回答。 “它们不是长在树上的。” 弗兰基和艾希礼突然大笑起来，但我没有。 我仍然感到情绪低落。 当然，皮特爸爸马上就注意到了。

"I have an idea," he said. "Let's stop at Harvey's and get ourselves a slice of pizza. My treat." The pizza cheered me up a little. It's hard to feel too terrible when pepperoni is involved. But by the time I got home to our apartment, I was feeling bad again. It didn't help that I had to show my dad the big blue T-shirt. "This isn't much of a jersey," he said. "Is this what all the kids are wearing?" "I was the last picked, and they ran out of the real ones," I answered.

“我有个主意，”他说。 “咱们在哈维家停下来，吃块披萨吧。 我请客。”披萨让我高兴了一点。 只要有意大利辣肠就不会感觉太糟。 但当我回到我们的公寓时，我又感觉不舒服了。 我不得不给爸爸看那件蓝色的大t恤，这也无济于事。 他说：“这不是一件像样的球衣。” “所有的孩子都穿这个吗？”我回答说：“我是最后一个被摘的，他们把真果子都吃光了。”

"Looks like I'm going to have to have another little chat with Ms. Adolf," my dad said. "I hope it goes better than the last one," I said. I was headed to my room when Emily called out, "By the way, Hank, someone named Heather Payne called for you. She's a girl." "I know, Emily," I said. "She's in my class." "Your new girlfriend left her number." "She's not my girlfriend, Emily. She happens to be a girl who is a friend." That wasn't actually true. I had never hung out with Heather Payne. She had never called me before. I wondered what she wanted to talk about. I went into the living room, picked up the phone, and dialed her number. "Hello. Harry's Haircuts," said a voice on the other end of the phone. "You grow it, we snip it." "May I please speak with Heather Payne?" "Never heard of her, kiddo. You got the wrong number."

“看来我还得再和我的同事们聊一聊。 阿道夫，”我爸爸说。“我希望这次比上次好，”我说。 我正要回房间时，艾米丽喊道：“对了，汉克，有个叫希瑟·佩恩的人找你。 她是个女孩。”“我知道，艾米丽，”我说。 “她在我班上。”“你的新女友留下了她的电话号码。” “她不是我的女朋友，艾米丽。 她碰巧是个女孩，是我的朋友。” 这其实不是真的。 我从来没有和希瑟·佩恩一起出去玩过。 她以前从未给我打过电话。 我想知道她想说什么。 我走进客厅，拿起电话，拨了她的号码。 “你好。哈利理发店。”电话那头有人说。 “你种，我们剪。” “我可以和希瑟·佩恩讲话吗？”“从来没听说过她，孩子。 你打错电话了。”

Oh no. It happened again. Every time I try to dial the phone, I press the wrong numbers. Actually, they're the right numbers, they're just in the wrong order. My eyes are looking at the numbers, but my brain mixes them all up. I tried again, pressing each number slowly and carefully. "Hello," a voice said. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was Heather Payne. "Hi, Heather. It's Hank. I'm calling you back." "Yes, I know," she said. "I hear your voice." We were both silent for a few long seconds, then—thank goodness—Heather began to talk.

哦,不。事情又发生了。每次我想拨电话，我都按错号码。 实际上，它们是对的，只是顺序不对。 我的眼睛在看数字，但我的大脑把它们都混在一起了。 我又试了一次，慢慢而小心地按下每个数字。 “你好，”一个声音说。我松了一口气。 是希瑟·佩恩。“嗨,希瑟。 这是汉克。我给你回电话。” “是的，我知道，”她说。“我听到你的声音了。” 我们都沉默了很长一段时间，然后——谢天谢地——希瑟开始说话了。

"Frankie and Ashley suggested that maybe we could all get together in your courtyard tomorrow after basketball practice," she said. "How come?" I asked. "Well, we were talking about how good you are at passing the ball," she said. "You were talking about me?" "Yes. And I have an idea about how you could help us win the game. I think you might just be our Secret Weapon." Me? A secret weapon? Wow, that sounded great. "I'm not sure it will work," Heather said, "but it's worth a try. Are you in for tomorrow after practice?" "In? I'm in like Flynn. I'm in like grin. I'm in like we're going to win!" "You're very good at rhyming," Heather said. "Listen, I have to go and do my subtraction worksheet. See you tomorrow." I hung up the phone and felt pretty good... until I realized that I had the same subtraction worksheet. All those numbers on the page

“弗兰基和阿什利建议，也许明天篮球训练结束后，我们可以在你的院子里聚一聚，”她说。 “怎么?”我问。“嗯，我们在谈论你传球有多好，”她说。 “你是在说我吗？”“是的。 我有个主意，你能帮我们赢得比赛。 我想你可能就是我们的秘密武器。” 我吗?秘密武器？哇，听起来不错。 “我不确定这是否有效，”希瑟说，“但值得一试。 明天训练后你来吗？”“在吗? 我喜欢弗林。我在咧着嘴笑。 我觉得我们要赢了！”“你很擅长押韵，”希瑟说。 “听着，我得去做减法练习题了。 明天见。”我挂了电话，感觉很好…… 直到我意识到我有同样的减法作业。 所有这些数字都在纸上