Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 As much as I wanted to squish the pastrami with my sneaker and then serve it to Nick, a little voice inside me said, You can't do that at your mom's restaurant. You don't know my mom, but she's a clean freak. At home, she vacuums under the couch first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Those poor dust balls never even have a chance to get to know one another under there. That same little voice inside didn't stop there. It went on to say that squishing the pastrami under my feet would be a really mean thing to do. That little voice had so much to say that I decided I had better listen to it. I bent down and picked up the pile of pastrami and plopped it back on the wax paper. I wiped off as much of the tomato slime as I

尽管我很想用我的运动鞋把熏牛肉压扁，然后端给尼克吃，但我心里有一个小小的声音说：你不能在你妈妈的餐馆里这么做。 你不了解我妈妈，但她是个洁癖狂。 在家里，她每天早上的第一件事和晚上的最后一件事就是用吸尘器清扫沙发下面。 那些可怜的灰球根本没有机会去了解对方。 内心的声音并没有就此停止。 它接着说，在我的脚下压扁熏牛肉是一件非常卑鄙的事情。 这个小小的声音有很多话要说，我决定最好还是听听它。 我弯下腰，捡起那堆熏牛肉，扑通一声把它放回蜡纸上。 我尽可能多地擦掉了番茄黏液

could and walked over to the sink. I turned on the water, not too hot and not too cold. Then I held the pastrami under it. To be sure I got it really clean, I added just one tiny drop of liquid soap. There were two bottles of soap there. One smelled like coconuts. The other smelled like roses. I picked the coconut one. I thought it would give the pastrami a nice fruity touch. Let me just say this. It's amazing how many bubbles one little drop of soap can make. The pastrami looked like it swallowed a bubble maker. I quickly looked over my shoulder to see if Carlos was on his way back. He was! As fast as I could, I rinsed the bubbles off one more time and tossed the meat onto a paper towel to dry it. "Hey, Little Man," Carlos said, looking at the paper towel. "You don't have to dry off our pastrami. People like it when it's juicy."

他走到水池边。 我打开水，不太热也不太冷。 然后我把熏牛肉放在它下面。 为了确保我把它弄干净，我只加了一小滴液体肥皂。 那里有两瓶肥皂。 一个闻起来像椰子。 另一只闻起来像玫瑰。 我选了椰子的。我觉得这会让熏牛肉有一种水果味。 我这么说吧。一小滴肥皂能产生这么多泡泡，真是不可思议。 熏牛肉看起来就像吞了一个泡泡机。 我迅速回头看了看卡洛斯是否在回来的路上。 他是!我以最快的速度再次冲洗掉泡沫，把肉扔到纸巾上擦干。 “嘿，小家伙，”卡洛斯看着纸巾说。 “你不需要把我们的熏牛肉弄干。 人们喜欢它多汁的样子。”

"Oh, then McKelty's going to love this pile," I said. Carlos made the two triple-decker sandwiches in no time. On Nick's, he piled on my pastrami, a glob of coleslaw, and some Swiss cheese. On Mr. McKelty's sandwich, he put roast beef, cheddar cheese, and another glob of coleslaw. Dropping two pickles on each of the plates, he said, "If you carry one, I'll take the other. Teamwork, Little Man, that's what it's all about." Carlos handed me the plate with Nick's sandwich, and he took Mr. McKelty's. As we crossed the restaurant, I glanced down at Nick's sandwich. I thought that I saw a tiny bubble squirting out from the meat. Could it be? No, not possible. I rinsed that pastrami really well. At least I think I did. I hope I did. I'm sure I did. Well, pretty sure.

“哦，那麦凯尔蒂一定会喜欢这堆东西的，”我说。 卡洛斯很快就做好了两个三层三明治。 在尼克的店里，他给我加了五香熏牛肉、一团凉拌卷心菜和一些瑞士奶酪。 在麦凯尔蒂的三明治上，他放了烤牛肉、切达奶酪和另一团凉拌卷心菜。 他把两个咸菜放在每个盘子里，说：“你拿一个，我拿另一个。” 团队合作，小个子，这就是一切。” 卡洛斯把装着尼克三明治的盘子递给我，然后拿了麦凯尔蒂先生的。 当我们穿过餐厅时，我瞥了一眼尼克的三明治。 我觉得我看到一个小气泡从肉里喷出来。 是吗？不，不可能。 我把熏牛肉冲洗得很好。 至少我是这么认为的。我希望是这样。 我确信我做到了。嗯，很确定。

"Here you go, gentlemen," Carlos said to the McKeltys as he slid his plate onto the table. "The best-looking sandwiches in the city. From, if I do say so myself, two of the best-looking guys in the city." Carlos tapped the top of his spiky hair and flashed a confident smile. Mr. McKelty let out a friendly laugh. Then he picked up his sandwich. "I can't wait to dig in to this beauty," he said. Nick the Tick had already dug in to his. Even though his mouth is the size of a dinosaur cave, he could only fit in two out of the three layers. One of them was the pastrami layer. I held my breath while he started to chew. All of a sudden, he wrinkled up his nose, his mouth, and then his entire face. He looked like the raisin you leave behind in your cereal bowl. "Ugh," he said, spitting some pastrami into his hand. "This meat tastes like coconuts." As he spoke, a thin bubble flew out of his mouth and popped in the air.

“给你们，先生们，”卡洛斯一边把盘子放到桌上，一边对麦凯尔蒂夫妇说。 "全城最好看的三明治。 如果我必须这么说的话，那是城里两个最帅的家伙。” 卡洛斯拍了拍他的尖发梢，露出自信的微笑。 麦凯尔蒂先生发出一声友好的笑声。 然后他拿起他的三明治。 他说：“我迫不及待地想要深入了解这个美丽的地方。” 扁虱尼克已经开始吃他的了。 尽管他的嘴有恐龙洞那么大，但他只能钻进三层中的两层。 其中之一是熏牛肉层。 他开始咀嚼时，我屏住呼吸。 突然间，他皱起了鼻子、嘴巴，然后是整张脸。 他看起来就像你留在麦片碗里的葡萄干。 “呃，”他说，把一些熏牛肉吐在手上。 “这肉尝起来像椰子。” 他说话的时候，一个细细的泡泡从他嘴里飞出来，在空中爆裂。

"Coconuts?" Carlos said with a laugh. "You've got some imagination, kid." Carlos turned to Mr. McKelty. "How's the roast beef?" "Tastes like roast beef to me," Mr. McKelty answered. "That's what I'm talking about," Carlos said. While they were chatting, I glanced back at Nick to see more bubbles drift out of his mouth. "What did you put in here, Zipperhead?" McKelty said. "This is the worst sandwich I've ever had." He threw the sandwich down onto the table, missing the plate entirely. "Nick!" his father said. "That is a very rude thing to do."

“椰子吗?”卡洛斯笑着说。 “你真有想象力，孩子。” 卡洛斯转向麦凯尔蒂先生。 “烤牛肉怎么样？”“我觉得尝起来像烤牛肉，”麦凯尔蒂回答。 “我说的就是这个，”卡洛斯说。 他们聊天的时候，我回头看了尼克一眼，看到他嘴里冒出了更多的泡泡。 “你在这里放了什么，拉链头？”McKelty说。 “这是我吃过的最难吃的三明治。” 他把三明治扔到桌子上，盘子完全没碰着。 “尼克！”他父亲说。“这是一件非常粗鲁的事情。”

"I agree with you," Carlos said. "I'm riding the same train you are." Nick stood up, picked up his napkin, and spit out what was in his mouth. "That's what I think of your sandwich," he said, staring at me. A little drool slid down the side of his mouth. "That's it," Mr. McKelty said. "Even if you don't like the taste of your sandwich, this is not the way we behave in a restaurant. May we just have our bill, please? Obviously my son needs a lesson in manners before we go out to lunch again." Carlos grabbed the plates and went back to the counter to prepare the bill. McKelty frowned at me, but I just gave him the old Zipzer smile. As I turned to walk away, I could hear his father saying, "That Hank's a nice boy. You two should be friends. You could learn a few things from him." "Yeah, like how to flunk a spelling test," McKelty said. "He's great at that."

“我同意你的看法，”卡洛斯说。 “我和你坐同一列火车。” 尼克站起来，拿起餐巾，把嘴里的东西吐了出来。 “这就是我对你的三明治的看法，”他盯着我说。 一点点口水从他的嘴角滑了下来。 “就是这样，”麦凯尔蒂说。 “即使你不喜欢三明治的味道，这也不是我们在餐厅的行为方式。 请给我们账单好吗？ 显然，在我们再出去吃午饭之前，我儿子需要上一堂礼仪课。” 卡洛斯抓起盘子，回到柜台准备账单。 麦凯尔蒂朝我皱了皱眉头，但我只是给了他一个老派的微笑。 当我转身走开时，我听到他父亲说：“汉克是个好孩子。 你们俩应该做朋友。 你可以从他身上学到一些东西。” “是的，就像如何在拼写测试中不及格一样，”麦凯尔蒂说。 “他很擅长这个。”