2. Magic in the Air

"When was the last time you saw Fidget?" asked Kirsty's mom as she poured some coffee for the Twitchings. "Yesterday afternoon," Mrs. Twitching replied. "It's very strange, because usually she doesn't miss a single meal." "Kirsty and I could help you look for her," suggested Rachel. "Good idea," Kirsty agreed, finishing her cereal. "Let's go now." "And I'll check our garden and the barn," added Mr. Tate. As Kirsty and Rachel got up from the table, Kirsty stared extra-hard at the Twitchings' heads. She thought she could see wisps of smoke there again, but they were so pale and misty, it was hard to be sure. "Rachel," Kirsty said quietly as they headed outside, "did you notice anything funny about the Twitchings today?" Rachel looked confused.

“你最后一次见到烦躁是什么时候？”柯斯蒂的妈妈一边给奇奇一家倒咖啡，一边问。 “昨天下午。”特维奇太太回答。 “这很奇怪，因为她通常不会错过一顿饭。” “科斯蒂和我可以帮你找她，”雷切尔建议道。 “好主意，”科斯蒂同意道，吃完了她的麦片。 “我们现在走吧。”“我还要检查一下我们的花园和谷仓，”泰特先生补充说。 当科斯蒂和瑞秋从桌子旁边站起来时，科斯蒂特别仔细地盯着奇奇夫妇的头。 她觉得自己又能看到那里有一缕一缕的烟雾，但它们太苍白、太模糊了，很难确定。 “雷切尔，”她们朝外面走去时，科斯蒂轻声说，“你注意到今天奇奇一家有什么奇怪的事吗？”瑞秋看起来很困惑。

"What do you mean?" Kirsty told her about the wisps of smoke. "I'm not sure if I really saw them or not," she finished. "Do you think they could have been magic?" Rachel asked. Kirsty felt a thrill of excitement. "Maybe," she said eagerly. "While we're looking for Fidget, we'd better keep our eyes open for magic, too!" The girls walked into the village, keeping their eyes peeled for the tabby cat, but there was no sign of her.

“你是什么意思？”柯斯蒂告诉她那缕缕烟雾的事。 “我不确定我是否真的看到了他们，”她最后说。 “你觉得它们会是魔法吗？”雷切尔问道。 柯斯蒂感到一阵兴奋。 “也许吧，”她急切地说。 “我们在找烦躁的时候，最好也留心看看有没有魔法！”姑娘们走进村子，睁大眼睛寻找那只虎斑猫，但没有她的踪影。

"I hope Fidget isn't lost for good," Kirsty said, looking around. "Oh!" Kirsty hadn't been watching where she was going, and she'd bumped into someone. "I'm so sorry," Kirsty said politely.

“我希望烦躁不会永远消失。”柯斯蒂说着环顾四周。 “噢!”科斯蒂没有注意她要去的地方，她撞到了一个人。 “我很抱歉，”科斯蒂礼貌地说。

The woman glared at her. "Why don't you be more careful?" she said grumpily, and hurried off. "Well!" Rachel gasped. "That wasn't very nice." But Kirsty looked confused. "That was Mrs. Hill, one of my mom's friends, and she's usually very nice," she said. "I wonder what's wrong?" Rachel nudged her. "Look over there," she whispered. Outside the post office, two men were arguing. They both looked very grouchy. Then Mrs. Burke, who ran the post office, came out to see what was going on. Kirsty was surprised to see that her usually happy face was grumpy and sad. "There's something strange happening," she whispered to Rachel as they went into the park. "Everybody's in a terrible mood. Look at the kids on the swings."

那女人怒视着她。“你为什么不更小心一点呢？”她生气地说，然后匆匆走开了。 “好吧!”瑞秋深吸一口气。“那可不太好。” 但是科斯蒂看起来很困惑。 “那是希尔夫人，我妈妈的一个朋友，她通常都很好，”她说。 “我想知道出了什么事？”瑞秋推了推她。 “看那边，”她低声说。 在邮局外面，两个男人在争吵。 他们俩看上去都很不高兴。 这时，经营邮局的伯克太太出来看看发生了什么事。 柯斯蒂惊讶地看到她平时快乐的脸变得暴躁和悲伤。 “发生了一些奇怪的事情，”当他们走进公园时，她低声对雷切尔说。 “每个人的情绪都很糟糕。 看看荡秋千的孩子们。”

Rachel stared at the children in the playground. They didn't seem to be having fun at all. Every single one of them looked sad! They didn't even cheer up when the ice-cream truck stopped close by. The girls stopped at the park gate. "I think we've been all over Wetherbury, and there's no sign of Fidget anywhere." Kirsty sighed, glancing at her watch. "We'd better go home, Rachel. It's almost time for lunch."

雷切尔盯着操场上的孩子们。 他们似乎一点也不开心。 他们每个人看起来都很伤心！当冰淇淋车停在附近时，他们甚至没有高兴起来。 女孩们在公园门口停了下来。 “我想我们已经把威瑟伯里找遍了，哪儿也没有烦躁的踪影。” 柯斯蒂叹了口气，看了看表。 “我们最好回家，瑞秋。 快到午饭时间了。”

Rachel nodded. "We can always keep searching later this afternoon." The girls turned back toward the Tates' house. On the way, they passed the tiny movie theater. The Saturday morning show had just finished, and the audience was pouring out. Just like everyone else, the people looked grouchy. "It must have been a sad movie," Rachel whispered to Kirsty. "But it wasn't," Kirsty replied, frowning. "Look." She pointed to the poster outside the movie theater. "This hilarious film is a must. You'll split your sides laughing," Rachel read. "Well, the audience definitely didn't find it very funny," she continued. "Look at their faces." Kirsty stared at the people walking gloomily out of the theater. Suddenly, her heart began to pound. There they were again! She could definitely see cloudy smoke drifting over people's heads, just like she'd noticed over her next-door neighbors. "Look, Rachel!" She nudged her friend. "There's that smoke again."

雷切尔点了点头。“我们可以在下午晚些时候继续搜索。” 姑娘们转身向泰茨家走去。 在路上，他们经过了一家小电影院。 星期六上午的节目刚刚结束，观众蜂拥而出。 就像其他人一样，这些人看起来很不高兴。 “那一定是部悲伤的电影，”瑞秋低声对柯斯蒂说。 “但事实并非如此，”科斯蒂皱着眉头回答。 “看。”她指着电影院外的海报。 “这部搞笑的电影是必须的。 你会捧腹大笑的，”瑞秋读道。 “嗯，观众肯定不觉得这很有趣，”她继续说道。 “看看他们的脸。”柯斯蒂凝视着那些忧郁地走出剧院的人们。 突然，她的心开始怦怦直跳。 他们又来了！她可以清楚地看到云雾在人们头顶上飘过，就像她在隔壁邻居身上看到的那样。 “看,瑞秋!”她轻轻地推了推她的朋友。 “又有烟了。”