Chapter 11

Chapter eleven The next day was party day. The sun decided to come out bright and clear. Emily took it as a sign. "You see," she said at breakfast. "Even the sun is happy that it's my birthday." "I bet the Westside Wizard made the sun come out," I said, popping the rest of my buttered toast in my mouth. "Do you really think so, Hank?" she asked, her eyes wide with excitement. "He must have incredible powers." "Of course he does." I gulped. "Let's just hope he brings them all with him today." I got up and hurried into my room. i practiced the trick for one hour straight. I got it right about half of the time. That was better than

第十一章第二天是聚会日。 太阳决定出来时又亮又清。 艾米丽认为这是一个信号。“你看，”早餐时她说。 “连太阳都很高兴今天是我的生日。” “我敢打赌是西区巫师让太阳出来的。”我说着，把剩下的黄油吐司塞进嘴里。 “你真的这么认为吗，汉克？”她问，兴奋地瞪大了眼睛。 “他一定有不可思议的力量。” “他当然知道。”我一饮而尽。 “我们只希望他今天把他们都带来了。” 我起身匆匆走进我的房间。 我连续练习了一个小时。 我猜对了一半。 这比

getting it right none of the time. But not as good as getting it right all of the time. At a few minutes before noon, I took my costume and headed for the clubhouse. Our living room was already filling up with kids. Frankie and Ashley were waiting for me at the elevator in the basement. "It's crazy up there in my living room," I told them. "It's swarming with first-graders. They're like bees... but without stingers." Frankie and Ashley helped me into my costume. Ashley adjusted my beard and added more tape to make sure it held on to the sunglasses. "Okay, you're ready," Frankie said, checking me up and down. We headed to the elevator. I was pretty nervous.

每次都做不对。 但总不如每次都做对。 在离中午还有几分钟的时候，我穿上我的戏服，向俱乐部会所走去。 我们的客厅里已经挤满了孩子。 弗兰基和阿什莉在地下室的电梯里等我。 “我的客厅里太疯狂了，”我告诉他们。 “那里挤满了一年级学生。 他们就像蜜蜂……但是没有毒刺。” 弗兰基和阿什莉帮我穿上戏服。 阿什利调整了我的胡子，又加了一些胶带，以确保它能粘住太阳镜。 “好了，你准备好了，”弗兰基说，上下打量着我。 我们走向电梯。 我很紧张。

"I'm going to go out there first and get all those wild kids to sit down," Frankie said calmly. "Ashley will wait by the front door of your apartment." I nodded, trying to listen carefully. Frankie continued. "When she hears me say Make some noise for the Westside Wizard, she'll open the door. That's when you come in and work your way through the crowd. Be sure not to step on any kids while you're at it." "Yeah," Ashley agreed, "because if you do, they'll kick you. Trust me, I know." When the elevator doors opened on the tenth floor, I could feel my heart beating fast under my heavy wizard coat. "I hope this goes okay," I whispered to Ashley. "You did the trick perfectly last night," she reminded me. "Just do everything you practiced and it will be fine." Frankie went into the living room. From the hall, I could hear his introduction. The kids applauded and cheered. Ashley opened the

“我要先出去，让那些野孩子们坐下来，”弗兰基平静地说。 艾希礼会在你公寓的前门等着。" 我点点头，试着仔细听。 弗兰基继续说。“当她听到我说‘为西区巫师发出点声音’时，她就会开门的。 这时你就进来，从人群中挤过去。 注意不要踩到任何孩子。” “是啊，“艾希礼同意了，”因为如果你这样做，他们会踢你的。 相信我，我知道。”当电梯门在十楼打开时，我能感觉到我的心在我厚重的巫师外套下狂跳。 “我希望一切顺利，"我低声对艾希礼说。 “你昨晚的魔术做得很好，”她提醒我。 “只要做你练习过的一切，就会没事的。” 弗兰基走进客厅。 从大厅里，我能听到他的介绍。 孩子们鼓掌欢呼。 艾希礼打开了门。

door for me. This was it. Showtime. I walked into the living room, holding my arms high up in the air. "Behold, all you tiny tots," I called out in my best wizard voice. "The Westside Wizard has arrived." From the corner of my eye, I could see Papa Pete, leaning against the wall. He winked. I wondered how he knew it was me. As I walked by the kids, I could hear lots of oohs and ahhs coming from their direction. Hey, this was working! At least it was until one little boy with a mouthful of jelly beans reached up and tugged on my coat. I whirled around and gave him the stare of a lifetime. "What is your name, child?" I boomed. "Eugie Pasos," he said. "Well, Eugie, the wizard does not like to be touched," I growled. "Nor does his coat!" Eugie actually looked kind of scared, and leaned back away from me. I was feeling the wizard power, and it felt good. When I reached the front of the crowd, I

给我开门。就是这样。好戏上演。 我走进客厅，双手高举在空中。 “瞧，你们这些小家伙。”我用自己最好的巫师声音喊道。 “西区巫师来了。” 从眼角余光，我能看到皮特爸爸靠在墙上。 他眨了眨眼。我不知道他怎么知道是我。 当我从孩子们身边走过时，我能听到从他们的方向传来许多“哦”和“啊”的声音。 嘿，这是有效的！至少是这样，直到一个满嘴软糖的小男孩伸出手来拽我的外套。 我转过身来，狠狠地瞪了他一眼。 “孩子，你叫什么名字？”我蓬勃发展。 “尤吉·帕索斯，”他说。“好吧，欧吉，巫师不喜欢被碰。”我咆哮道。 “他的外套也没有！”尤吉看起来有点害怕，向后靠了靠，远离了我。 我感受到了巫师的力量，感觉很好。 当我走到人群前面时，我

turned slowly to face them. "Is there an Emily Zipzer here?" I half- shouted. Emily was sitting cross-legged in the front row, holding Cheerio in her lap. He is such a long wiener dog that even when curled up, his hind legs were hanging over on the rug. When he saw me, Cheerio sniffed the air and let out a little whimper. I looked away, hoping he wouldn't recognize me. Emily put Cheerio down and jumped up to face me. "Here I am, Oh Great Wizard," she said. "Did you bring a snake for me?" "Why, yes I did," I called out. "But let me warn you, folks. You all must stay seated and

慢慢地转身面对他们。 “这里有艾米莉·齐泽尔吗？”我半叫了一声。 艾米丽盘腿坐在前排，把麦圈放在腿上。 它是一条长长的腊肠狗，即使蜷缩起来，它的后腿也悬在地毯上。 当他看到我时，麦圈嗅了嗅空气，呜咽了一声。 我把目光移开，希望他认不出我。 艾米丽放下麦圈，跳起来面对我。 “我在这里，伟大的巫师。”她说。 “你给我带蛇来了吗？”“啊，是的。”我叫道。 “但是让我警告你们，伙计们。 你们都必须坐好