Chapter 5

Chapter five, We got started right away. Frankie took the elevator up to his apartment to get the magic trick. While he was gone, Ashley suggested I practice walking around and talking with my costume on. I was pretty good about not tripping on the robe, but the beard was another story. Every time I moved my lips, the beard slipped off my face and landed on the ground. It looked like a fluffy white bunny rabbit fell asleep on my shoes. "This beard isn't working," I told Ashley. "Either it's too big or my face is too small." "I don't think your face is going to grow before the party," Ashley answered. "So we'll have to come up with another way to keep the beard on."

第五章，我们马上开始。 弗兰基乘电梯到他的公寓去表演魔术。 他不在的时候，阿什利建议我练习穿着戏服四处走动和说话。 我还好没被袍子绊倒，但胡子就是另一回事了。 每次我动动嘴唇，胡子就从我脸上滑落，落在地上。 它看起来像一只毛茸茸的小白兔在我的鞋子上睡着了。 “这胡子不行，”我告诉艾希礼。 “不是它太大，就是我的脸太小。” “我看你的脸在晚会前是不会长出来的，"艾希礼回答说。 “所以我们必须想出另一种方法来保持胡须。”

She looked around the storage room and noticed a roll of clear packing tape sitting on one of the shelves. "Just the thing," she said. She took the roll of tape and tore off two small pieces. Then I held very still while she taped the beard to both sides of the pink sunglasses. "Now your beard won't fall down unless you take the sunglasses off," Ashley said. By then, Frankie had returned with the magic trick. To me, it just looked like an empty black velvet bag.

她环顾了一下储藏室，发现其中一个架子上放着一卷透明的包装胶带。 “正是这样，”她说。 她拿起一卷胶带，撕下两小段。 然后，她把胡子贴在粉红色太阳镜的两边时，我静静地站着。 “现在你的胡子不会掉下来，除非你把太阳镜摘下来，”阿什利说。 到那时，弗兰基已经带着魔术回来了。 对我来说，它就像一个空的黑色天鹅绒包。

"Oh, but feast your eyes on this," Frankie said, turning the bag inside out. "What do you see?" "An empty bag." Frankie turned the bag right-side out, so it was back to normal. Then with a big smile, he reached in and pulled out a long chain of colored scarves. "Zengawii!" he said. "It's magic." "How'd you do that?" I asked. "Very well." Frankie laughed. "That's what us magicians always say when someone asks how we do a trick." "Come on, Frankie. You have to tell me," I said. "How else am I going to learn?"

“哦，不过好好看看这个吧，”弗兰基说着，把袋子翻过来。 “你看到了什么？”“一个空袋子。” 弗兰基把包的右边翻了出来，所以又恢复正常了。 然后，他带着灿烂的微笑，伸手拿出一长串彩色的围巾。 “赞加威！”他说。“这是魔法。” “你是怎么做到的？”我问。 “很好。”弗兰基笑了。 “当有人问我们如何变戏法时，我们魔术师总是这么说。” “来吧，弗兰基。你必须告诉我，”我说。 “我还能怎么学？”

"Okay, but you have to promise not to tell. It's the Magicians' Code. We don't share our secrets." "I promise." "Me too," Ashley said. Frankie lowered his voice to a whisper. "The scarves are in a hidden compartment inside the lining of the bag. When you reach inside, you have to open the Velcro pocket to get to the scarves, without anyone seeing what you're doing. It takes practice. You're going to have to spend a lot of time on this trick, Hankster." "Okay," I agreed. "But first let's get the snake, and tie it to the end of the scarves. There's no point in practicing without it. I know right where they are at the ninety-nine-cent store... in between the canned artichokes and the Little Tugboat toothbrushes." "Then what are we waiting for?" Ashley asked. We took the elevator up to the tenth floor and burst into my apartment. My dad was sitting

“好吧，但你得保证不说出去。 这是魔术师的密码。我们不分享秘密。” “我保证。”“我也是，"艾希礼说。 弗兰基压低了声音，压低了声音。 “围巾被藏在包里的一个隐藏隔间里。 当你伸手进去的时候，你必须打开魔术贴口袋才能拿到围巾，而不能让任何人看到你在做什么。 这需要练习。你得在这个把戏上花很多时间，汉克斯特。” “好吧，”我同意了。“但首先我们要把蛇抓来，把它绑在围巾的末端。 没有它练习是没有意义的。 我知道99美分商店的确切位置…… 在洋蓟罐头和小拖船牌牙刷之间。” “那我们还在等什么？”阿什利问道。 我们乘电梯上了十楼，冲进了我的公寓。 我爸爸坐着

in his leather chair, doing a crossword puzzle. "Dad!" I said. "We need to make an emergency trip to the ninety-nine-cent store. Can you please take us?" ( My dad didn't look up. He was concentrating. "What's a seven-letter word for this clue: 'You don't want to bite this in public.'" "A crossing guard," I answered. Now my dad looked up. "How did you come up with that, Hank?" I smiled proudly. "My brain is on fire, Dad." My sister, Emily, walked into the living room, putting her nose where it didn't belong, as usual. "First of all," she said. "'Crossing guard' has thirteen letters. And second of all, the answer is 'toenail.'" My dad gave her a big smile. "Thank you, honey," he said. Then he put down his puzzle and said, "We're going to the ninety-nine-cent store. Why don't you join us?" "Noooooooooooo!" Frankie and Ashley and

坐在他的皮椅上，玩填字游戏。 “爸爸!”我说。“我们需要紧急去一趟99美分商店。 你能带我们去吗？”(我爸爸没有抬头。 他在集中注意力。“怎么用七个字母的词来表达这个线索呢：‘你不想在公共场合咬这个。“一个过路警卫，”我回答。 现在我爸爸抬起头来。“你是怎么想到这个的，汉克？”我骄傲地笑了。 “我的脑子着火了，爸爸。” 我妹妹艾米丽走进客厅，像往常一样把鼻子伸到不该伸的地方。 “首先，”她说。“‘过境警卫’有13个字母。 其次，答案是“脚趾甲”。’”爸爸给了她一个大大的微笑。 “谢谢你，亲爱的，”他说。 然后他放下拼图，说：“我们要去99美分商店。 你为什么不加入我们呢？”“Noooooooooooo !”弗兰基和阿什莉

I cried all at once. My dad gave us that look, the one that says we're doing this my way. "Dad, Emily can't come," I tried to explain. "We have secret business to do that only the three of us can know about." "Don't be ridiculous, Hank," my dad said. "We don't have secrets in this family. Emily, get your jacket." Boy, was my dad ever wrong about not having secrets. We had one the size of Jupiter. "Hank," Frankie whispered as we put on our jackets. "We can't buy the snake with Emily there." "Don't worry about it, Frankie," I said with my most confident Zipzer attitude. "I have everything under control. Ashley will walk Emily to the other side of the store, and I'll pay for the snake. I got my wallet right here." I patted my pocket. It was empty. "Okay, so I don't have my wallet right here," I said. I guess the old Zipzer attitude still needed a

我突然哭了起来。我爸看了我们一眼，好像在说要按我的方式来。 “爸爸，艾米丽不能来。”我试图解释。 “我们有秘密的事要做，只有我们三个人知道。” “别傻了，汉克，”爸爸说。 “我们家没有秘密。 艾米丽，穿上你的外套。”天啊，我爸说没有秘密真是错了。 我们有一个木星大小的。 “汉克，”我们穿上夹克时，弗兰基低声说。 “有艾米丽在，我们不能买蛇。” “别担心，弗兰基，”我以最自信的态度说。 “一切都在我的掌控之中。 阿什利会送艾米丽到商店的另一边，我来付蛇的钱。 我的钱包就在这儿。” 我拍了拍我的口袋。它是空的。 “好吧，我的钱包不在这里，”我说。 我想以前齐泽尔的态度还是需要