Chapter 4

Chapter four, When I get myself into trouble, there are only two ways out, and their names are Frankie Townsend and Ashley Wong. I can't tell you how many times my two best friends have saved me from disaster. Like the time I spilled glue, and my fingers got so stuck together, I couldn't even pick up a pencil. I thought I was going to have to take my spelling test holding the pencil in my mouth, until Frankie and Ashley pulled me to the sink in the back of the room. I didn't know that soaking your hands in warm water would melt the glue away. Too bad they couldn't take my spelling test for me, because as it turned out, I flunked it. So as Emily called her friends, my only thought was to call Frankie and Ashley. "Emergency meeting in the clubhouse," I

当我陷入困境时，只有两条路可走，他们的名字是弗兰基·汤森和阿什利·王。 我不知道有多少次我最好的两个朋友把我从灾难中救了出来。 就像那次我洒了胶水，手指粘在一起，连铅笔都拿不起来。 我以为我要把铅笔含在嘴里参加拼写考试了，直到弗兰基和阿什莉把我拉到房间后面的水池边。 我不知道把手浸在温水里会把胶水融化掉。 可惜他们不能帮我做拼写测试，因为事实证明，我不及格。 所以当艾米丽打电话给她的朋友时，我唯一的想法就是打电话给弗兰基和阿什莉。 “俱乐部召开紧急会议，”我

said into the phone. "Now." Five minutes later, the three of us were in the basement storage room we call our clubhouse. I started to tell them what happened, talking a mile a minute. "Wait a minute, Zip," Frankie interrupted. "You told your sister what?" "And you said you knew who?" Ashley chimed in. "You heard me," I told them, trying to appear like I knew what I was doing. "What's the big deal?" "The big deal," Frankie said, "is that—one— there is no such person as the Westside Wizard." "And two," Ashley added, "even if he did exist, he couldn't pull a snake out of thin air. No one can." "But there actually is a Westside Wizard," I explained. "You're looking at him." I held my arms out and bowed. Frankie shook his head.

对着电话说。“现在。” 五分钟后，我们三个人来到了我们称之为俱乐部会所的地下室储藏室。 我开始滔滔不绝地告诉他们发生了什么事。 “等一下，次波，”弗兰基打断他说。 “你跟你妹妹说了什么？”“你说你认识谁？”艾希礼插嘴说。 “你们听到了，”我告诉他们，努力装出一副知道自己在做什么的样子。 “这有什么大不了的？”“重要的是，”弗兰基说，“根本就没有西区巫师这个人。” “第二，“艾希礼接着说，”即使他真的存在，他也不能凭空拉出一条蛇来。 没人能做到。”“但确实有一个西区巫师，”我解释说。 “你正看着他呢。”我伸出双臂，鞠了一躬。 弗兰基摇了摇头。

"Uh-oh," Frankie said. "Here comes one of Hank's totally crazy plans." "You know how to pull scarves out of a top hat, right?" I began. "You can teach me that trick. Then all we have to do is tie a snake to the end of the scarves. Ba-boom, it's magic." "Where are we supposed to get this snake?" Ashley asked. "In the snake aisle at the ninety-nine-cent store?" "Great idea, Ashweena!" I said. "They actually have rubber snakes there. We'll go and pick one that looks really real, like with a forked tongue and everything." "Well, even if we do find a real-looking snake," Ashley said, "you still have to figure out a way to look like a wizard. You're not exactly a Harry Potter lookalike."

“哦哦，”弗兰基说。“汉克有一个疯狂的计划。” “你知道怎么把围巾从礼帽里拉出来，对吧？”我开始。 “你可以教我那个把戏。 然后我们要做的就是在围巾的末端绑一条蛇。 砰，这就是魔法。”“我们上哪儿去弄这条蛇呢？”阿什利问道。 “在99美分商店卖蛇的过道里？”“好主意，阿什维娜！”我说。 “他们实际上有橡胶蛇。 我们去挑一个看起来很真实的，比如有分叉的舌头什么的。” “好吧，即使我们真的找到了一条长得像真的蛇，”艾希礼说，“你还是得想办法让自己看起来像个巫师。 你长得不像哈利·波特。”

"You can help me make a costume," I said to her. "You're good at that." I could see that this idea interested Ashley. She pushed her glasses back on her nose and twirled her ponytail. She does that when she's thinking. "Well, you'd need a great costume so Emily doesn't recognize you," she said. "A wizard hat and robe, a big long beard, and maybe some sunglasses that cover up most of your face." "And I can change my voice so that it sounds all deep and old and wizardy." I was starting to love this idea. I switched into my best wizard voice. "Behold, with a wave of my arms, I will cast a powerful spell on you," I growled. "You sound like a frog with a cold," Frankie said. "Okay, maybe my wizard voice isn't great now, but I can work on it. I'll study old Mizbam the Mighty cartoons." Suddenly, Frankie's eyes lit up. "My big brother Otis went to his sixth-grade Halloween parade as Mizbam the Mighty," he

“你可以帮我做一套服装，”我对她说。 “你很擅长这个。”我看得出艾希礼对这个主意很感兴趣。 她把眼镜推回到鼻子上，捻了捻马尾。 她在思考的时候就会这么做。 “嗯，你需要一件很棒的服装，这样艾米丽就不会认出你了，”她说。 “戴一顶巫师帽，穿一件长袍，留着又长又大的胡子，也许还能戴上遮住大半张脸的太阳镜。” “我可以改变我的声音，让它听起来深沉、古老、充满魔法色彩。” 我开始喜欢上这个主意了。 我用我最好的巫师声音说话。 我咆哮着说：“看哪，我要挥动双臂，向你施展强有力的咒语。” “你听起来像一只感冒的青蛙，”弗兰基说。 “好吧，也许我现在的巫师嗓音不太好，但我会努力的。 我要研究老米兹巴姆的漫画。” 突然，弗兰基的眼睛亮了起来。 他说：“我哥哥奥蒂斯（Otis）在六年级的万圣节游行中装扮成米兹巴姆（Mizbam）

said. "I'll bet my mom packed his costume away in one of these boxes. It would be perfect for you!" We jumped up and started reading the labels of all the cardboard boxes that lined the shelves of the storage room. Summer clothes. Stuffed animals. Pots and pans. Soccer trophies. Finally, we came to one labeled OTIS. We pulled it down and took off the top. Frankie searched the box, sorting through some baby pictures of Otis. Then he picked up one and burst out laughing. "Don't tell Otis," he howled, "but here he is lying on a furry rug, with his naked butt sticking up in the air." Ashley and I cracked up. "Oh, here's what we're looking for," Frankie said, reaching way down to the bottom of the carton. He pulled out a pointed hat and a black robe with shiny silver stars. There was even a long white beard made out of cotton balls glued together. "It's perfect," Ashley said. "Try it on, Hank."

说。“我敢打赌，我妈妈把他的戏服装进了其中一个盒子里。 这对你来说再合适不过了！”我们跳起来，开始阅读储藏室货架上所有纸板箱的标签。 夏天的衣服。毛绒动物玩具。 锅碗瓢盆。足球奖杯。 最后，我们来到一个标着奥的斯的地方。 我们把它拉下来，把顶部取下来。 弗兰基翻遍了盒子，整理着奥蒂斯的一些婴儿照片。 然后他拿起一个，突然大笑起来。 “别告诉奥蒂斯，”他吼道，“他躺在一张毛茸茸的地毯上，光着屁股翘在空中。” 艾希礼和我笑了。“哦，这就是我们要找的东西，”弗兰基说着，把手伸到纸板箱的底部。 他掏出一顶尖顶帽子和一件镶着闪亮银星的黑袍子。 甚至还有用棉球粘在一起的长长的白胡子。 “太完美了，”艾希礼说。 “试试吧，汉克。”

I slipped the robe over my head. Otis is tall, so the robe was very long on me. The arms almost touched the ground. When I slipped the beard around my ears, the end of it went down to my belly button. "Looks good," Frankie said, "but I still know it's you." "We need dark glasses," Ashley suggested, "to cover the rest of your face." She looked over the boxes and found one labeled MRS. FINK'S VACATION ITEMS. Inside, she found a large polka-dot bathing suit, lots of flowered sun hats, and a hot-pink pair of sunglasses covered with rhinestones. "Oh no, I'm not wearing those," I said. "Well, you can hope Emily doesn't recognize you," Ashley said with a shrug. "But I think she will, because I can." "Okay, you win." I took the pink sunglasses from Ashley and put them on.

我把长袍套在头上。 奥蒂斯个子高，所以我穿的袍子很长。 手臂几乎碰到了地面。 当我把胡子绕到耳朵上时，它的末端一直垂到我的肚脐。 “看起来不错，”弗兰基说，“但我还是知道是你。” “我们需要一副墨镜，“艾希礼建议说，”把你的脸遮住。" 她看了看那些盒子，发现了一个标签是MRS。 芬克的度假用品。在里面，她发现了一件大圆点泳衣，许多带花的太阳帽，还有一副镶着水钻的亮粉色太阳镜。 “哦，不，我不穿。”我说。 “好吧，你可以希望爱米丽不会认出你来，"艾希礼耸耸肩说。 “但我想她会的，因为我能。” “好吧，你赢了。”我从阿什利手里接过那副粉红色的太阳镜，戴上了。