Chapter 7

Chapter seven, Frankie and Ashley arrived bright and early the next morning. I had already put out three pairs of my mom's rubber gloves on the dining- room table. Next to the gloves, I laid out the butterfly net that came with my Junior Science Explorer Kit. Next to that, I added a medium- size strainer that my mom uses for making some of her horrible vegetable dishes. And next to that, I placed the plastic container that we use to store leftover potato salad. "What's going on?" Frankie asked me, looking at the assortment of things I had put out on the table. "Welcome to Fred's search-and-rescue team," I answered.

第七章，弗兰基和艾希礼第二天一大早就到了。 我已经把妈妈的三副橡胶手套放在饭厅的桌子上。 在手套旁边，我放了一个蝴蝶网，那是我的初级科学探索工具包附带的。 在那旁边，我加了一个中等大小的过滤器，我妈妈用它来做一些可怕的蔬菜菜。 在它旁边，我放了一个塑料容器，我们用来储存剩下的土豆沙拉。 “发生什么事了？”弗兰基看着我放在桌上的各种各样的东西问我。 “欢迎加入弗雷德的搜救队，”我回答。

"Where's the team?" Ashley asked. "We're it. And these are our tools." "A butterfly net?" Frankie asked. "Some people call it that. I prefer to call it a Frog Scooper." "And what's the strainer for?" Ashley asked. "I couldn't find another net. So the plan is we wait until my mom and dad leave for the movies. The minute Emily gets picked up for her reptile show and Papa Pete arrives to watch us, we set out on our frog-finding mission." "You actually think that Fred is somewhere out in the neighborhood?" Frankie asked. "I was watching him when we walked home from school, Frankie. And I saw him looking at that puddle on 78th Street. The one in front of Mr. Park's grocery store. I'm pretty sure that's where he would go." "Are you saying," Ashley asked, pushing her glasses up on her nose, "that you think Fred took the elevator down to the street and hopped away?" "Why not?" I answered. "He's got suction

“球队在哪里？”阿什利问道。 “我们。这些就是我们的工具。” “蝴蝶网？”弗兰基问道。 有些人这么叫它。 我更喜欢叫它青蛙铲。” “过滤器是干什么用的？”阿什利问道。 “我找不到另一张网。 所以我们的计划是等到我爸妈去看电影。 艾米丽被接去看爬行动物表演，皮特爸爸来看我们，我们就开始了寻找青蛙的任务。” “你真的认为弗雷德就在附近的某个地方？”弗兰基问道。 “我们放学回家的时候，我一直看着他，弗兰基。 我看见他在看78街的水坑。 朴先生杂货店门前的那个。 我很确定他会去那里。” “你是说，“艾希礼问，一面把眼镜推到鼻子上，”你认为弗雷德乘电梯到了街上，然后跳着走了？”“为什么不?”我回答。 “他有吸盘

cups on his toes, so he could climb up to the elevator buttons with no problem." "I guess anything's possible," Frankie said with a shrug. We raced around gathering the rest of the supplies: granola bars in case we got hungry, a magnifying glass to look for frog footprints, and pad of paper to write down clues. As I bent down to look for a pen on the coffee table, I almost tripped over Cheerio. "Hankster, what's that your crazy dog is doing?" Frankie asked. Cheerio had picked up one of my mom's roses and was walking across the living room with it between his teeth. "Hey, those are Mom's flowers," I said, taking the rose out of his mouth. "If Dad sees

杯子戴在脚趾上，这样他就可以毫无问题地爬上电梯按钮。” “我想一切皆有可能，”弗兰基耸耸肩说。 我们四处奔走，收集剩下的补给品：燕麦棒，以防饿了；放大镜，寻找青蛙的脚印；还有一叠纸，记录线索。 当我弯下腰去找咖啡桌上的笔时，我差点被麦圈绊倒。 “汉克斯特，你那只疯狗在干什么？”弗兰基问道。 麦里奥拿起我妈妈的一朵玫瑰，叼着它穿过客厅。 “嘿，那些是妈妈的花。”我说着，把玫瑰从他嘴里拿了出来。 “如果爸爸看到

this, he's going to get mad at me." "Why?" Ashley asked. "You didn't do anything. Cheerio did." "Yeah, but he's my responsibility, just like Fred is... I mean... was." Ashley took the rose from me and put it back in the vase. "How come your dad only bought nine roses? That's weird. People usually buy a dozen." "Oh, that's great," I said. "Now we have one missing frog and two missing roses." "Make that three missing roses," Frankie said with a little smile. "Twelve take away three is nine." "You know me and math," I said. "We're not exactly best buddies." By the time my parents and Emily left and Papa Pete arrived, we had packed all our frog- finding equipment in a shopping bag, and had our jackets and rubber gloves on.

这样的话，他会对我发火的。” “为什么?”阿什利问道。“你什么也没做。 恭喜恭喜。”“是啊，但他是我的责任，就像弗雷德一样…… 我的意思是……是。”艾希礼从我手里接过玫瑰花，放回花瓶里。 “为什么你爸爸只买了九朵玫瑰？” 这是奇怪的。人们通常会买一打。” “哦，那太好了，”我说。 “现在我们少了一只青蛙和两朵玫瑰。” “做三朵少的玫瑰，”弗兰基微笑着说。 “十二减去三等于九。” “你了解我和数学，”我说。 “我们并不是最好的朋友。” 等我父母和艾米丽离开，皮特爸爸来的时候，我们已经把所有寻找青蛙的装备装进了一个购物袋，穿上了夹克，戴上了橡胶手套。

"What's this?" Papa Pete asked when he saw us. "Are we going on a science field trip?" "We're on a mission," I told him. "Fred is lost, and he could be in terrible danger." "Hank thinks Fred ran away to the puddle on Seventy-eighth Street," Frankie added. "That's quite a theory," Papa Pete said. "We better go see if you're right."

“这是什么?”皮特爸爸看见我们时问道。 “我们要去科学实地考察吗？”“我们在执行任务，”我告诉他。 “弗雷德迷路了，他可能有很大的危险。” “汉克认为弗雷德跑到七十八街的水坑里去了，”弗兰基补充说。 “这是一个很好的理论，”皮特爸爸说。 “我们最好去看看你说得对不对。”

That's what I love about my grandfather. He never makes fun of any of my ideas. And he's always willing to try anything. You can't say that about most grown-ups. "Do I have time to grab a cheese Danish from the kitchen?" Papa Pete asked. I shook my head. "We'll snack later. Frogs before food. That's our motto." As we hurried out the door, I noticed Cheerio walking over to the vase and taking another one of my mom's roses. I had no idea why he was suddenly so interested in flowers. Usually all he wants to do is pee on them. But I had no time to find out. I had to get Fred before anything horrible happened to him in that puddle. We couldn't waste any more time. It took forever for the elevator to come. And once it did, it seemed like we would never get down to the lobby. When the doors finally opened, we raced outside. "Here we come, Fred!" I shouted. If only he could hear us...

这就是我爱我祖父的地方。 他从不取笑我的任何想法。 他总是愿意尝试任何事情。 大多数成年人可不能这么说。 “我有时间去厨房拿一个丹麦奶酪吗？”皮特爸爸问。 我摇了摇头。“我们稍后再吃。 青蛙优先于食物。这是我们的座右铭。” 当我们匆忙出门时，我注意到麦里奥走到花瓶前，又拿了一朵我妈妈的玫瑰。 我不知道他为什么突然对花这么感兴趣。 通常他只想在她们身上撒尿。 但我没有时间去寻找答案。 我得赶在弗雷德在水坑里出事之前把他救出来。 我们不能再浪费时间了。 电梯等了好久才来。 一旦它打开了，我们似乎永远也到不了大厅了。 当门终于打开时，我们跑了出去。 “我们来了，弗雷德！”我叫道。 要是他能听到我们就好了……