Chapter 9

Chapter nine, A few seconds later, we heard a door slam, then footsteps sloshing through the mud. They were coming toward our tepee. I gulped. Cheerio buried his head in my lap, and Emily buried her head in my mom's lap. "It's probably just the groundskeeper, Elvis What's-his-name," Frankie said. "It's Jed What's-his-name," I answered. The footsteps grew closer and closer. "Where is everyone?" a voice called out. Wait a minute. I knew that voice. "We're in here, Dad!" I shouted. "In where? I don't see the tent." "It's a tepee now. Come in!"

几秒钟后，我们听到门砰地一声关上，接着是泥泞中晃动的脚步声。 他们朝我们的帐篷走过来。 我一饮而尽。麦里奥把头埋在我腿上，艾米丽把头埋在我妈妈的腿上。 “可能是场地管理员，猫王什么的，”弗兰基说。 “是杰德，他叫什么？”我回答。 脚步声越来越近了。 “人都到哪儿去了？”一个声音喊道。 等一下。我认得那声音。 “我们在这里，爸爸！”我叫道。 “在哪里?我没看到帐篷。” “现在它是一个圆锥形帐篷。进来!”

I lifted a side and stuck my head out. My dad got down on his knees and crawled in. "I was so worried," he said. "I should never have left you guys." "Hank took very good care of us," my mom told him. "The tent blew totally away," Emily chimed in, "and Hank went out in the dark and found it." "I lost our flashlight, though, Dad. I'm sorry." My dad reached out and put his arm around my shoulder. "Don't you even think about that," he said. "You did a great job looking after everyone. I was the one who got scared, but you—you were the brave one. You showed a lot of courage. And you took responsibility. I'm so proud of you, son." My ears nearly flew off my head. Usually my dad tells me that I need to take more responsibility. But here he was telling me how

我抬起一侧，把头探了出来。 我爸爸跪了下来，爬了进去。 “我很担心，”他说。 “我就不该离开你们” “汉克把我们照顾得很好，”妈妈告诉他。 “帐篷被风吹走了，”艾米丽插嘴说，“汉克在黑暗中出去找到了它。” “可是我把手电筒弄丢了，爸爸。 我很抱歉。”爸爸伸出手搂住了我的肩膀。 “你想都别想，”他说。 “你把每个人都照顾得很好。 我才是那个害怕的人，而你才是勇敢的人。 你表现出了很大的勇气。 你承担了责任。 我真为你骄傲，儿子。” 我的耳朵差点掉下来。 通常我爸爸告诉我，我需要承担更多的责任。 但现在他告诉我该怎么做

proud he was of me. Wow, that made me so happy. "Thanks, Dad," I said. "But I have to tell you that Frankie helped me a lot." "I bet he did." My dad reached out and put his other arm around Frankie. "You boys are good friends." "And the important thing is that we're all safe and dry and together," my mom said. Just then, some rainwater dribbled in through the crack where the pole was attached to the tent. "Well, pretty dry," I said. "A little water never hurt anyone," my dad said. "We're not going to melt, are we, kids?" "We could go back to the car for shelter," my mom said. "We like it in here," Frankie and I said. "Okay," my dad said. "Let's settle in until the rain stops. I'm not leaving you guys ever

他为我感到骄傲。哇，这让我很高兴。 “谢谢，爸爸，”我说。“但我必须告诉你，弗兰基帮了我很多。” “我打赌是他干的。”爸爸伸出手，用另一只胳膊搂住弗兰基。 “你们是好朋友。” “重要的是我们都很安全，很干燥，而且都在一起，”我妈妈说。 就在这时，雨水从连接帐篷的柱子的裂缝里滴了进来。 “嗯，很干，”我说。 “一点点水不会伤害任何人，”我爸爸说。 “我们不会融化的，对吧，孩子们？”“我们可以回到车里避雨，”妈妈说。 “我们喜欢这里，”弗兰基和我说。 “好吧，”爸爸说。“我们先安顿下来，直到雨停。” 我不会离开你们的

again." We snuggled together in our tepee and listened to the rain. In the green glow of the light stick, it seemed very peaceful in there. Even my dad was calm. "I have a great idea," my mom said after a while. "How about a little snack to take our minds off the rain." She looked around the tepee. "I don't see the red-and-white food cooler." "We used it to hold down the tepee," Frankie said. "Do you want me to go out and get stuff from it?" I asked. "Thanks, Hank, but it's my turn," Dad said.

了。”我们依偎在帐篷里，听着雨声。 在荧光棒的绿光下，里面似乎很平静。 就连我爸爸也很冷静。“我有个好主意，”过了一会儿妈妈说。 “来点零食，让我们不去想雨，怎么样？” 她环视了一下帐篷。 “我没看到红白相间的食品冷却器。” “我们用它来固定帐篷，”弗兰基说。 “你想让我出去从里面拿东西吗？”我问。 “谢谢你，汉克，但轮到我了，”爸爸说。

He crawled under the tepee flap, and I heard him rustling around in the cooler. When he returned, he was carrying plastic baggies filled with graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate squares. "S'mores!" we cheered. "Except we don't have a fire," Emily pointed out. "How are we going to melt everything?" "Don't tell me you've never heard of Zipzer's Famous Cold S'mores?" my dad said. "They're a treat known around the world." "And we're going to make them now," my mom said. For the first time that night, she was actually laughing. She gave each of us two graham crackers, two marshmallows, and two squares of chocolate. "Now make a sandwich," she said. We all did. "And now comes the best part," she said. "Take a bite." To be very honest, I like my s'mores better with a toasted marshmallow and the chocolate

他爬到帐篷盖下面，我听到他在冷藏箱里沙沙作响。 当他回来的时候，他带着装满全麦饼干、棉花糖和巧克力方块的塑料袋。 “S'mores!”我们欢呼着。“除了我们没有火，”艾米丽指出。 “我们怎么才能把所有东西都融化呢？”“别告诉我你从没听说过Zipzer's Famous Cold S'mores?”爸爸说。 “它们是世界闻名的美食。” “我们现在就要做了，”妈妈说。 那天晚上，她第一次真的笑了。 她给了我们每人两块全麦饼干、两块棉花糖和两块巧克力。 “现在做一个三明治，”她说。 我们都是。“现在是最精彩的部分，”她说。 “咬一口。”说实话，我更喜欢我的s'mores加烤棉花糖和巧克力

all melty and smooth. But this s'more was pretty special. As we listened to the rain drip-dropping on our tepee, I thought it was the best midnight snack I'd ever had. Suddenly, inspiration struck me. I opened my mouth and this is what came out: "Oh little s'more That I eat on the floor, You make me so warm and happy. You give me joy Even more than a toy Because you're delicious and snappy." Everyone stopped chewing and looked at me. "Listen to you, Zip," Frankie said. "That's an actual poem." "You see, Hank. I told you that you could do it." My mom smiled. "It's just a little poem," I said. "And it's not even about nature." "But it's funny," Emily said. "And it rhymes."

全都融化了，光滑了。但这次s'more很特别。 当我们听着雨点打在帐篷上的声音时，我觉得这是我吃过的最好吃的夜宵。 突然，我灵机一动。 我张开嘴说：“哦，小s'more，我在地板上吃，你让我如此温暖和快乐。” 你给我的快乐比玩具还多，因为你又好吃又活泼。” 每个人都停止咀嚼，看着我。 “听你说，次波，”弗兰基说。 “这是一首真正的诗。”“你看，汉克。 我告诉过你，你能做到的。” 妈妈笑了。“这只是一首小诗，”我说。 “这甚至与自然无关。” “但这很有趣，”艾米丽说。 “而且还押韵。”