Chapter 6

Chapter six, "Ashley," I whispered as soon as we walked into the ninety-nine-cent store, "your job is to take Emily over there, to the art-supply section. That way, Frankie and I can pick out the snake without her seeing us." "How am I supposed to do that?" Ashley asked. "You know Emily. She's going to want to go to the snake section." "Tell her that you heard there's a new reptile sticker book," I suggested. "Then go look for it. And take your time." "Right-o, Captain Hank. I'm on it," Ashley said, giving me a salute. I watched her go up to Emily and whisper something in her ear. Emily nodded happily, and the two of them set off for the other side of the store. My dad had already found the crossword

第六章，“艾希礼，”我们一走进那家99美分的商店，我就低声说，“你的工作是带艾米丽到那边，到艺术品供应区去。 这样，弗兰基和我就能在她看不到我们的情况下把蛇挑出来。” “我该怎么做呢？”阿什利问道。 “你知道艾米丽的。她会想去蛇区。” “告诉她你听说有一本新的爬行动物贴纸书，”我建议道。 “那就去找吧。慢慢来。” “好的，汉克船长。我在办，"艾希礼说着，向我敬礼。 我看着她走到艾米丽跟前，在她耳边低语了几句。 爱米丽高兴地点了点头，两人便向商店的另一边走去。 我爸爸已经找到了填字游戏

puzzle book section, and stuck his nose into one of the display books. "Dad," I said. "Frankie and I will be in aisle three if you need us." He was so involved in a puzzle that all he did was grunt. We ran up and down the aisles, looking for the rubber-snake bin. It turned out it was actually in aisle three, between the canned artichokes and the tugboat toothbrushes, just like I remembered. We both dug into the bin, sorting through fat snakes, short ones, green ones... until we came across a black and orange and yellow striped one.

拼图书区，把鼻子伸进了其中一本展示的书里。 “爸爸，”我说。“如果你需要我们，弗兰基和我就在三号通道” 他全神贯注于一个谜题，所做的只是哼哼。 我们在过道里跑来跑去，寻找橡皮蛇箱。 事实证明，它实际上是在第三通道，在洋蓟罐头和拖船牙刷之间，就像我记得的那样。 我们俩都在垃圾桶里翻来翻去，把胖蛇、矮蛇、绿蛇…… 直到我们发现了一条黑橙黄相间的条纹。

"Ginger!" I said. "Hey, nice to see you again." "Don't tell me you and this snake have had pizza together," Frankie said, shooting me a look. "Of course not. Everyone knows rubber snakes can't digest cheese." Frankie burst out laughing. So did I. Unfortunately, we were a little too loud and attracted the attention of a certain almost- seven-year-old sister of mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Emily hurrying over to our

“姜!”我说。“嘿，很高兴再次见到你。” “别告诉我你和这条蛇一起吃过披萨，”弗兰基说，看了我一眼。 “当然不是。大家都知道橡皮蛇不能消化奶酪。” 弗兰基突然大笑起来。 不幸的是，我们的声音有点太大了，引起了我一个快七岁的妹妹的注意。 从眼角余光，我看到艾米丽匆匆朝我们的

aisle, with Ashley following close behind. "I'll distract her," I whispered to Frankie. "You go buy Ginger. I'll pay you back later." With that, I spun around and raced down the aisle toward Emily. "I want to see what's so funny!" she demanded. I put myself right in front of her and tried to puff up my chest so she couldn't see around me. My chest doesn't puff up all that much, so instead, I started talking as fast as I could.

艾希礼紧紧跟在后面。 “我来引开她的注意力，”我低声对弗兰基说。 “你去买金吉。我以后会还你的。” 说完，我转过身，沿着过道向艾米丽奔去。 “我想看看有什么好笑的！”她要求道。 我站到她面前，努力挺起胸膛，这样她就看不见我的周围了。 我的胸部没有那么鼓，所以我开始尽可能快地说话。

"Oh my gosh," I said, pointing to an entire shelf filled with baby shoes. "Look at those. Aren't they the cutest little things you've ever seen?" Emily turned around and looked at the display of baby shoes. Ashley understood what I was doing and jumped right in. "Oh, Emily, those baby shoes would look so perfect on your iguana," she said. "Of course, you'd have to buy two pairs."

“哦，我的天哪，”我指着满满一架子的婴儿鞋说。 “看看那些。它们难道不是你见过的最可爱的小东西吗？”艾米丽转过身来，看着陈列的婴儿鞋。 艾希礼明白我在做什么，马上就跳了进去。 “哦，艾米丽，这些婴儿鞋穿在你的鬣蜥身上太完美了，”她说。 “当然，你得买两双。”

"No problem," I said. "I've saved some allowance money. I'd like to get something for Katherine." "Do you have a fever, Hank?" Emily asked. "I've never heard you say anything nice about Katherine in my entire life." "Well, it's time I did," I said. "She is one lovely lizard." I took Emily by the hand and dragged her over to the baby shoes. I glanced at Frankie and saw that he was heading to the cash register, but he wasn't there yet. I had to stall for a little while longer. So I reached out and picked up two pairs of pink baby sneakers that had rainbow-colored ponies on them. I slipped each shoe onto one of my fingers and moved them up and down like they were dancing. "Hi, Emily," I said in a high squeaky voice. "It's me, Katherine. I'm a happy little iguana because I'm dancing in these baby sneakers. They're so soft, my claws feel like they're walking on pillows." Emily squinted at me like I had lost my

“没问题，”我说。“我存了一些零用钱。 我想给凯瑟琳买点东西。” “你发烧吗，汉克？”艾米丽问。 “我这辈子从没听你说过凯瑟琳的好话。” “好吧，是时候了，”我说。 “她是一只可爱的蜥蜴。” 我拉着艾米丽的手，把她拖到婴儿鞋旁。 我瞥了弗兰基一眼，看到他正朝收银台走去，但他还没有到那里。 我不得不再拖延一会儿。 于是我伸手拿起两双粉红色的婴儿运动鞋，上面有彩虹色的小马。 我把每只鞋都套在一只手指上，像跳舞一样上下移动。 “嗨，艾米丽，”我尖声说。 “是我，凯瑟琳。我是一只快乐的小鬣蜥，因为我穿着这双婴儿运动鞋跳舞。 它们太软了，我的爪子感觉就像在枕头上行走一样。” 艾米丽斜视着我，好像我丢了