Chapter 12

As I twirled the snake above my head, Cheerio leaped off Emily's lap and flew through the air toward my beard. Grabbing the end with his mouth, he pulled on it like a play toy. I think he thought it was Mousie, his white furry toy that I throw across the room for him to catch. Anyway, he yanked on it with all his might. "Cheerio, get down," I said in my wizard voice. "How do you know my dog's name?" Emily called out. Oops. "The wizard knows all," I said, covering my mistake. I should have known that Cheerio would

当我在头顶上旋转那条蛇时，麦圈从艾米丽的腿上跳下来，飞向我的胡子。 他用嘴抓着尾巴，像玩玩具一样拉着它。 我想他以为那是他的白色毛绒玩具“老鼠”，我把它扔到房间另一头让他去接。 总之，他用尽全力猛拉。 “喂，下来。”我用巫师的声音说。 “你怎么知道我狗的名字？”艾米丽喊道。 哦。“巫师什么都知道，”我说，掩饰我的错误。 我早该知道麦圈会

recognized my scent. He sniffed the air, his little brown nose working as hard as it could. He was so glad to see me, he jumped up even higher, getting a big hunk of my beard in his mouth. He tugged and growled at it, just like we do when we wrestle with Mousie. I tried desperately to hold on to my beard. But Cheerio thought we were playing, and pulled even harder. With one mighty tug, he yanked the entire beard off my face, pulling the sunglasses off along with it. I watched in horror as the beard and sunglasses went flying through the air. I just stood there with my own face hanging out. All the little kids burst into wild laughter. Ashley took off after my beard, which was still stuck in Cheerio's mouth. Frankie, good friend that he is, tried to save the day. "As you can see, kids, the wizard has

认出了我的气味。他用褐色的小鼻子使劲地嗅着空气。 他见到我很高兴，跳得更高了，嘴里叼着我的一大块胡子。 他又拽又吼，就像我们和老鼠摔跤时那样。 我拼命地想抓住我的胡子。 但麦圈以为我们在玩，就更用力地拉。 他用力一拉，把我的胡子从脸上扯了下来，把墨镜也扯了下来。 我惊恐地看着他的胡子和墨镜飞到空中。 我只是站在那里，露出自己的脸。 所有的小孩都爆发出狂笑。 阿什莉追着我的胡子跑了，胡子还卡在麦圈的嘴里。 弗兰基，他的好朋友，想要挽救局面。 “你们也看到了，孩子们，那个巫师

magical powers and can change his face to look like anybody." "That's not anybody!" Emily screamed. "It's just my goofball brother, Hank." "Okay," I said. "It is me. But I still made a snake appear, didn't I? And how cool is that! Happy birthday, sis." "You call that a snake?" Emily cried. "I call that a thing that you got on sale at the ninety- nine-cent store." All the kids were howling with laughter now, but not Emily. She looked like she was going to cry. "Hey, Emily," Eugie called out. "You promised us a real snake, not some stupid rubber thing." Emily stood up and started to run to her bedroom. My mom caught her halfway. "Well, we still have delicious cake, everyone," she said, trying extra hard to be cheerful. "Emily, come on. Let's light the candles." She put her arm around Emily and gently

他有魔法，可以把脸变成任何人的样子。” “那不是任何人！”艾米丽尖叫。 “是我的笨蛋哥哥汉克。” “好吧，”我说。“是我。 但我还是让蛇出现了，不是吗？ 这是多么酷啊！生日快乐，姐姐。” “你管那叫蛇？”艾米丽哭了。 “我把它叫做你在99美分商店里打折买到的东西。” 现在所有的孩子都放声大笑，但艾米丽除外。 她看起来好像要哭了。 “嘿，艾米丽，”尤吉喊道。 “你答应给我们一条真蛇，不是什么愚蠢的橡胶东西。” 爱米丽站起来，开始向卧室跑去。 我妈妈半路上抓住了她。 “大家好，我们还有好吃的蛋糕，”她说，努力让自己高兴起来。 “艾米丽，别这样。让我们点上蜡烛吧。” 她轻轻地搂着爱米丽

led her back to the dining-room table, where the cake was waiting. It was shaped like a snake, and when Emily saw it, she almost burst into tears again. "I wish that was real," she said. "I'd have it eat Hank." Just then, the doorbell rang. My dad made his way across the living room to answer it while Papa Pete helped my mom light the candles. "Before you blow out the candles, make a wish, sweetie," she said.

领她回到餐桌旁，蛋糕在那里等着她。 它的形状像一条蛇，当艾米丽看到它时，她几乎又哭了起来。 “我希望这是真的，”她说。 “我会让它吃掉汉克。”正在这时，门铃响了。 爸爸穿过客厅去接电话，皮特爸爸帮妈妈点蜡烛。 “亲爱的，在你吹灭蜡烛之前，许个愿吧，”她说。

"I wish Ginger the snake was here," Emily said. "She is," a voice rang out. Everyone's head spun around at the same time and we saw Ralph being led into the dining room by my dad. Ginger was wrapped around his arm, and Boris the skink was happily riding on his shoulder. Everyone in the room let out a gasp, the loudest one coming from my sister, Emily. "Ginger!" she screamed, dashing over to Ralph and reaching out to pet Ginger gently on

“我真希望那条蛇金格在这里，”爱米丽说。 “她是。”一个声音响起。 每个人的头都同时转了过来，我们看到拉尔夫被我爸爸带进了餐厅。 金儿搂着他的胳膊，小蜥蜴鲍里斯愉快地骑在他的肩上。 房间里的每个人都倒吸了一口气，最响的是我妹妹艾米丽。 “金格！”她尖叫着，冲到拉尔夫面前，伸出手轻轻地抚摸着金格

her head. "I can't believe you came. Daddy, thank you so much!" "I didn't do anything," my dad said. "Neither did I," my mom added. "Me neither," Papa Pete said. "It was your big brother, little lady," Ralph said. "He came all the way to my apartment to invite me here today." "But you said you couldn't make it," I said to Ralph. "I left the other party early so I could pay Emily a visit," Ralph answered. "Why?" I asked him. I didn't understand. Ralph took off his big brown hat and turned to Emily. "I was mighty impressed with your brother, Hank," he said to her. "He wanted this to be the best birthday you ever had. When I was your age... hey, even now... I wish I'd had a brother like that. Hank really cares about you. And I just couldn't say no to him." Emily turned around slowly and looked me right in the eyes. "You did this for me?" she whispered.

她的头。“我不敢相信你来了。 爸爸，非常感谢您！”“我什么也没做，”爸爸说。 “我也不知道，”妈妈补充说。 “我也是，”皮特爸爸说。 “是你的哥哥，小姑娘，”拉尔夫说。 “他今天大老远来到我的公寓，邀请我来这里。” “可是你说过你来不了的，”我对拉尔夫说。 “我提前离开了另一个派对，以便去看望爱米丽，”拉尔夫回答。 “为什么?”我问他。我不明白。 拉尔夫摘下他的棕色大帽子，转向爱米丽。 “你哥哥汉克给我留下了深刻的印象，”他对她说。 “他希望这是你度过的最棒的生日。 我像你这么大的时候……嘿，即使是现在…… 真希望我有个那样的哥哥。 汉克真的很在乎你。 我就是无法拒绝他。” 艾米丽慢慢地转过身来，直视着我的眼睛。 “你这么做是为了我？”她低声说。