Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 "Mom," I said, walking up to her. "I want you to stay calm." "I don't like the sound of this," she said. She put down the coffee pot and put her hands on my shoulders. "You look so serious," she said. "Last time I saw that look, you left the front door open and Cheerio ran away. Remember, we had to spend the whole afternoon searching the apartment building until we found him." "Yeah, but it was so cute when we found him in the laundry room, all curled up in Mrs. Fink's warm clothes right out of the dryer," I said. "Her sweat socks were hanging off his ears. You've got to admit that was funny, Mom." I tried to laugh and hoped my mom would, too.

“妈妈，”我边说边走向她。 “我希望你保持冷静。” “我不喜欢这种说法，”她说。 她放下咖啡壶，把手放在我的肩膀上。 “你看起来很严肃，”她说。 “上次我看到那个表情时，你没关前门，麦圈跑了。 记住，我们花了整个下午的时间才找到他。” “是啊，但当我们在洗衣房发现他的时候，他真是太可爱了，蜷缩在芬克太太从烘干机里拿出来的温暖的衣服里，”我说。 她的运动袜挂在他的耳朵上。 你得承认这很有趣，妈妈。” 我试着笑，希望妈妈也能笑出来。

"Hank," she said, not laughing even a little, "you can't turn everything into a joke. This is my business, and we have to take it seriously. So just tell me what happened." "It's about those men at Table Seven. They want to see you. I kind of messed up their order a little tiny bit." "How tiny is a little bit?" "Let's just say there was pickle juice on their waffles." "Oh, this isn't good." She shook her head. "And blueberries on the cheeseburger. I thought I told Vlady the right order, but..." She didn't even let me finish. She just spun around and marched right over to the men. I hid behind the bagel counter as I watched her talking to them. Her hands were flying all over the place, and I knew she was apologizing. My mom is so good at talking with people, I was sure she could make the men understand. I was positive—right up to the moment they grabbed their jackets and walked out without

“汉克，”她说，一点也不笑，“你不能把每件事都变成笑话。 这是我的事，我们必须认真对待。 所以告诉我发生了什么。” “是关于七号桌的那些人。 他们想见你。我有点打乱了他们的顺序。” “一点点到底有多小？”“这么说吧，他们的华夫饼上有泡菜汁。” “哦，这可不妙。”她摇了摇头。 还有芝士汉堡上的蓝莓。 我以为我告诉夫人的顺序是对的，可是……” 她甚至没让我说完。 她只是转过身，径直向那些人走去。 我躲在百吉饼柜台后面，看着她和他们说话。 她的手到处乱晃，我知道她在道歉。 我妈妈很擅长与人交谈，我确信她能让男人们理解。 我是肯定的——直到他们拿起外套，没穿就走了的那一刻

paying. My mom was frowning as she walked back to me. "How did it go?" I asked hopefully. "It went well for the diner down the block," she said. "That's where they're going." "Oh, Mom, I'm so sorry," I said. "It's my fault. You don't have to give me my allowance for the next three weeks." "Hank, how did this happen?" she asked. "Those three men all wanted a lot of food," I said, the words just pouring out of my mouth. "And I couldn't write it down quickly enough and even if I could, I didn't know how to spell a lot of the words like 'syrup' or 'sausage.' So I tried to

支付。我妈妈皱着眉头走回我身边。 “怎么样？”我满怀希望地问。 “这条街那头的那家餐厅进展得很顺利，”她说。 “那就是他们要去的地方。” “哦，妈妈，我很抱歉，”我说。 “这是我的错。接下来的三个星期你不用给我零用钱了。” “汉克，这是怎么回事？”她问。 “那三个人都想要很多吃的，”我说，话刚从嘴里说出来。 “我不能很快地把它写下来，即使我能，我也不知道如何拼写很多单词，比如‘糖浆’或‘香肠’。”所以我试着

remember it all in my head, but my head didn't cooperate and got it all mixed up." "I understand, but what you did was wrong," she said. "If you knew you couldn't remember the order, you should have asked for help. If you know you can't do something, don't try to hide it. Just ask for help." That was easy for her to say. She almost never has to ask for help. There are so many things I can't do that I would be asking for help every two seconds. And that's embarrassing. Just then, the front door of the deli swung open, and my grandfather, Papa Pete, burst in.

我把这些都记在脑子里了，但是我的脑子不配合，把它们都搞混了。” “我理解，但你做错了，”她说。 “如果你知道你记不住订单，你应该寻求帮助。 如果你知道你做不到某件事，不要试图隐藏它。 寻求帮助吧。”她说得很容易。 她几乎从不需要寻求帮助。 有太多的事情我做不到，以至于我每隔两秒钟就会寻求帮助。 这很尴尬。就在这时，熟食店的前门开了，我的祖父皮特爸爸闯了进来。

He was wearing his favorite red sweat suit that makes him look like a giant strawberry. "Oh, here's my favorite grandson," he said, giving me a bear hug. "I'm your only grandson, Papa Pete." "Which is exactly why you're my favorite," he said, and let out a big laugh. That laugh changed my whole mood. "Hank is working here today," my mom said. "And we're looking for a job he'd be comfortable doing." "I know exactly what Hank should do," Papa Pete said. "I used to run this place, remember? And not to brag, but I was known

他穿着他最喜欢的红色运动服，看起来像一个巨大的草莓。 “哦，这是我最喜欢的孙子，”他说着，给了我一个熊抱。 “我是你唯一的孙子，皮特爸爸。” “这正是我最喜欢你的原因，”他说着，大笑起来。 那笑声改变了我的整个心情。 “汉克今天在这里工作，”我妈妈说。 “我们在找一份他会觉得舒服的工作。” “我知道汉克应该怎么做，”皮特爸爸说。 “我以前是这里的老板，记得吗？” 我不是吹牛，但大家都认识我

as the King of the Triple-Decker Sandwich. How would you like to learn how to make one, Hankie?" "Could I, Mom?" I asked. "Sure," she said. "That sounds like a good job for you. I'll be busy filling the order for the Teacher Appreciation Dinner. So Papa Pete is in charge of you." "Don't worry about Hankie and me," Papa Pete said. Then, turning to me, he added, "Step into my office, youngster, and I'll teach you the tricks of the trade." I followed Papa Pete over to the sandwich- making area, where Vlady and Carlos were just starting to prepare for the lunch rush. "Vlady, my good man," Papa Pete said, slapping him on the back. "Nice to see you." "Welcome back, Papa Pete," Vlady said. "We miss you around here."

三层三明治之王 汉克，你想不想学做一个呢？”“我可以吗，妈妈？”我问。 “当然，”她说。“听起来对你来说是个好工作。 我要忙着准备老师答谢晚宴。 所以皮特爸爸在管你。” “别担心我和汉克，”皮特爸爸说。 然后，他转向我，补充说：“到我的办公室来，年轻人，我会教你这一行的诀窍。” 我跟着皮特爸爸来到三明治制作区，弗莱迪和卡洛斯正开始为午餐高峰做准备。 “夫人，我的好人，”皮特爸爸拍拍他的背说。 “很高兴见到你。”“欢迎回来，皮特爸爸，”弗莱蒂说。 “我们这里都很想你。”