Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 That night at dinner, I waited until dessert to bring up the topic. "Mom, stay calm," I said as she plopped down a bowl of purple goop in front of me. Whatever was in that bowl was pretending to be pudding, but it didn't fool me. I saw the little chunks of eggplant in there. "I have something to ask you. And here it is. Can I go to work with you tomorrow? It's Take Your Child to Work Day." "Hank, why did you wait so long to ask me?" "That's a good question, Mom. And I wish I had an answer. But your answer has to be yes." "Well, it's a very busy day tomorrow," my mom said. "But you haven't left me much choice. I guess you can come."

那天晚上吃饭的时候，我一直等到吃甜点的时候才提起这个话题。 “妈妈，冷静点，”我说着，她扑通一声把一碗紫色的黏糊糊的东西放在我面前。 不管碗里是什么，它都在假装是布丁，但它骗不了我。 我看到了茄子的小块。 “我有事要问你。 这就是。我明天能和你一起去上班吗？ 今天是带孩子上班日。” “汉克，你为什么等了这么久才问我？”“这是个好问题，妈妈。 我也希望我有个答案。 但你的回答必须是肯定的。” “嗯，明天是很忙的一天，”我妈妈说。 “但你让我别无选择。 我想你能来。”

"Mom, how come Hank gets to go to work with you and I don't?" my little sister, Emily, demanded. As usual, Emily had her pet iguana, Katherine, draped around her neck. She was feeding her little bits of a disgusting brown banana, which Katherine was snapping up with her long pink tongue. "Are you in Ms. Flowers's class?" I asked Emily. "No," she answered. "Are you a second-grader?" "No." "Is tomorrow Take Your Child to Work Day in your class?" "No."

“妈妈，为什么汉克可以和你一起去上班，而我却不能？”我的小妹妹艾米丽问道。 像往常一样，艾米丽把她的宠物鬣蜥凯瑟琳挂在脖子上。 她正在喂她一小块恶心的棕色香蕉，凯瑟琳正用她粉红色的长舌头狼吞虎咽地吃着。 “你是弗劳尔斯老师的学生吗？”我问艾米丽。 “不，”她回答。“你是二年级学生吗？”“没有。” “明天是你们班的带孩子上班日吗？”“没有。”

"Well then, Emily, you've answered your own question," I said. "Oh, by the way, your lizard is spitting up banana. You might want to change your sweater." "Come on, Katherine," Emily said. "Mommy's going to wipe off your chin." Emily stood up and headed toward her bedroom. "Maybe you haven't noticed," I called after her, "but your overgrown toad doesn't have a chin." "Hank," my mom said. "That's very hurtful. You know how close Emily and Katherine are." "I was just saying the truth," I said. "You know, Hank"—my dad cleared his throat like he was going to make a speech —"when you work in the deli tomorrow, you can't say everything that pops into your mind. You have to be pleasant to the customers. You can't be rude like you were to Emily and Katherine."

“那么，艾米丽，你已经回答了你自己的问题，”我说。 “哦，顺便说一下，你的蜥蜴在吐香蕉。 你也许该换件毛衣了。” “来吧，凯瑟琳，”艾米丽说。 “妈妈要给你擦下巴了。” 爱米丽站起身，朝她的卧室走去。 “也许你没有注意到，”我在她身后喊道，“但你那只长得太大的癞蛤蟆没有下巴。” “汉克，”我妈妈说。“这太伤人了。 你知道艾米丽和凯瑟琳有多亲密。” “我只是说了实话，”我说。 “你知道吗，汉克”——我爸清了清嗓子，好像要发表演讲似的——“明天你在熟食店工作的时候，你不能什么话都脱口而出。 你必须对顾客友好。 你不能像对艾米丽和凯瑟琳那样无礼。”

"No problem," I assured him. "I'm a people person. I'm never rude to humans. I save that for reptiles." "Let's talk about what some of your responsibilities will be tomorrow," my mom said. "Would you like to take the customers' orders?" That seemed exciting and fun, until I realized that I'd have to write down their orders. And that meant spelling. I'm pretty sure I know how to spell "milk." And I have a shot at spelling "bread" correctly. But

“没问题，”我向他保证。 “我是一个善于交际的人。我从不对人类无礼。 我把它留给爬行动物。” “我们来谈谈明天你的责任是什么，”妈妈说。 “你愿意帮顾客点菜吗？”这似乎令人兴奋和有趣，直到我意识到我必须写下他们的订单。 这意味着拼写。我很确定我知道怎么拼“milk ” 我有机会拼对“面包”。 但

"pastrami".. no way, José! "I was thinking, Mom, that something involving cream cheese might be good. I can fill up all those metal pans with different kinds of cream cheese and make cool swirls on top. I could even make a happy face with olives." "This is a business, Hank, not an art project," my dad grumbled. "You know what," my mom said, "we don't have to talk about this anymore tonight." Boy, was I thankful for that. One of my dad's favorite dinnertime topics is what I did wrong during the day and how I can improve. "Since tomorrow is so busy," my mom said, "I'm just going to put Carlos in charge of you, Hank." She gave me a big smile. "Don't worry. I know he'll find lots of interesting work for you to do." That sounded great. I went to bed thinking about all the fun I'd have getting to act like a real grown-up. In my mind, I made a list of about a million fun things I could do in the deli.

“那”。没门，约瑟！“妈妈，我在想，带奶油奶酪的东西可能不错。 我可以在所有的金属锅里装满不同种类的奶油奶酪，然后在上面做一个很酷的漩涡。 我甚至可以用橄榄做出一张笑脸。” “这是生意，汉克，不是艺术项目，”爸爸抱怨道。 “你知道吗，”我妈妈说，“今晚我们不必再谈这个了。” 天啊，我为此心存感激。 我爸爸最喜欢的晚餐话题之一是我白天做错了什么以及我该如何改进。 “既然明天太忙了，”妈妈说，“汉克，我就让卡洛斯来管你吧。” 她给了我一个大大的微笑。“别担心。 我知道他会给你找很多有趣的工作做。” 听起来不错。上床睡觉的时候，我想象着自己能像个真正的成年人那样行事是多么有趣。 在我的脑海里，我列了一张清单，上面写着我可以在熟食店做的一百多件有趣的事情。

All you have to do is turn the page to see a few of them.

你所要做的就是翻页看看其中的一些。