Chapter 15

Chapter 15 What's Wrong with Maxwell? Evan kept his promise to her. But it took a while. First there was the commotion of Mrs. Treski hugging them both about a hundred times. Then Pete phoned the police to call off the search party. Then Evan told everyone how they'd found Grandma because Jessie had figured it out, because Jessie was so smart. She liked that part. Then there was dinner, which was just canned soup and cold sandwiches because no one had the energy to cook a real meal but everyone was starving. And then Mrs. Treski said she wanted to get Grandma to bed early, never mind that it was New Year's Eve. Which is when Jessie said she wanted to go see Maxwell, and Evan said he'd walk her over. The snow had stopped falling and a bright moon had broken through the

第十五章麦克斯韦怎么了？ 埃文信守了对她的承诺。 但这花了一些时间。首先是特雷斯基太太拥抱他们俩一百次的骚动。 然后皮特打电话给警察，要求取消搜索队。 然后埃文告诉大家他们是怎么找到奶奶的，因为杰西想到了，因为杰西太聪明了。 她喜欢那部分。然后是晚餐，只有罐头汤和冷三明治，因为没有人有精力做一顿真正的饭，但每个人都饿了。 然后特雷斯基太太说她想让奶奶早点上床睡觉，不管今天是除夕。 这时杰西说她想去见麦克斯韦尔，埃文说他会送她过去。 雪已经停了，一轮明亮的月亮从天空中钻了出来

clouds, so Mrs. Treski said yes. But be back soon. When Maxwell's house came into view, Evan stopped on the path. "I'll wait back at the house, okay? Just call when you want to come home." Evan had never been inside Maxwell's house, so maybe he felt funny about going in. Or maybe Evan just didn't want to talk to Maxwell's mom about what had happened that afternoon. Jessie could understand that. She had hoped to avoid Mrs. Cooper altogether—somehow slip inside unnoticed. Maybe she wasn't even home? But instead, Maxwell's mom answered the door and asked Jessie to sit in the living room while she finished loading the dishwasher. Jessie sat down on the couch and looked at the photographs on top of the piano. There were dozens of them, and they were all of Maxwell. Mrs. Cooper walked out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishtowel. She sat on the couch next to Jessie. Usually, Jessie felt comfortable

所以特雷斯基夫人同意了。 不过我很快就会回来。当麦克斯韦的房子映入眼帘时，埃文在小路上停了下来。 “我在家里等着，好吗？” 你想回家的时候就打个电话。” 埃文从来没有进过麦克斯韦的房子，所以也许他觉得进去很有趣。 或者埃文只是不想和麦克斯韦的妈妈谈论那天下午发生的事情。 杰西能理解这一点。 她本来希望完全避开库珀太太——不知怎么地偷偷溜进去。 也许她根本不在家？ 但相反，麦克斯韦的妈妈开了门，让杰西坐在客厅里，等她把碗碟放进洗碗机。 杰西坐在沙发上，看着钢琴上的照片。 他们有几十个人，他们都是麦克斯韦的人。 库珀太太走出厨房，用抹布擦干双手。 她坐在杰西旁边的沙发上。 通常，杰西觉得很舒服

around grownups—sometimes more comfortable than with kids. But not this time. Mrs. Cooper stared at her, with a look as hard as granite. "So. What happened this afternoon?" Jessie took a minute to think. Should she tell the whole story? Or would Maxwell get in trouble? Had they broken any rules? What if she just left out the part about spying? In the end, she figured the whole story was going to come out anyway. She might as well give it up now. So she told Mrs. Cooper everything, from the very beginning. About the missing bell. And what Maxwell overheard on the bus. And the stakeout and how wrong it had gone. She described the frog and then the rock through the window and how Maxwell ran away screaming. Mrs. Cooper listened without saying a word. When she was done talking, Jessie waited for Mrs. Cooper's response, but all she said was "I wish those boys had never moved to the

和大人在一起——有时比和孩子在一起更舒服。 但这次不是这样。库珀太太目不转睛地盯着她，目光冷酷得像花岗岩。 “所以。今天下午发生了什么事？”杰西想了一会儿。 她应该把整个故事讲出来吗？ 或者麦克斯韦会有麻烦吗？ 他们违反了什么规定吗？ 如果她只是省略了监视的部分呢？ 最后，她觉得整个故事终究会水落石出。 她不妨现在就放弃。 所以她从一开始就把一切都告诉了库珀太太。 关于失踪的铃铛。还有麦克斯韦在巴士上听到的。 还有监视，还有那是多么的错误。 她透过窗户描述了青蛙和石头，以及麦克斯韦是如何尖叫着跑开的。 库珀太太静静地听着，一句话也没说。 杰西说完话后，等着库珀太太的回答，但她只说了一句话：“我真希望那些男孩从来没有搬到纽约。

neighborhood." "Me, too," said Jessie, thinking about the missing bell. She was sure the boys had it hidden somewhere. "But why is Maxwell afraid of them? He's bigger than they are." "They tease him. Play mean jokes on him. About a month ago, they tricked Maxwell into climbing inside a cardboard moving box. They said it was a game. But instead of a game, they taped him up inside the box and left him like that—for hours. Maxwell doesn't like tight spaces." "That's horrible," said Jessie. She couldn't imagine being trapped like that. It made her legs and arms feel twitchy just to think about it. Mrs. Cooper looked across the room, then shook her head slowly. "They're just mean boys." They sure were. But why? Were they born that way? Were some people born one way and some people another? "You can go see Maxwell now, if you want,"

社区。”“我也是，”杰西说，想着丢失的铃铛。 她肯定孩子们把它藏在什么地方了。 “可是麦克斯韦为什么害怕他们呢？” 他比他们都大。” 他们取笑他。跟他开刻薄的玩笑。 大约一个月前，他们骗麦克斯韦爬进了一个纸板移动箱。 他们说这是一场游戏。但他们没有玩游戏，而是把他绑在盒子里，就这样呆了几个小时。 麦克斯韦不喜欢狭小的空间。” “太可怕了，”杰西说。 她无法想象自己会被那样困住。 光是想想，她的腿和胳膊就会抽搐。 库珀太太看了看房间的另一头，然后慢慢地摇了摇头。 “他们都是些坏孩子。”他们确实是。 但是为什么呢?他们天生如此吗？ 是不是有些人生来就是这样，有些人生来就是那样？ “你现在可以去见麦克斯韦尔了，如果你愿意的话。”

said Mrs. Cooper, standing up and snapping the dishtowel over her shoulder. "He's in his room playing a video game." Jessie jumped off the couch and headed for the stairs that led down to the basement, which was where Maxwell's bedroom was. She was on the third step when she stopped and turned around. "Mrs. Cooper?" said Jessie. "What's wrong with Maxwell?" Mrs. Cooper paused in the doorway to the kitchen and looked at her. "He's just different, that's all. He sees things differently than we do. He feels the world in a different way, too. Things bother him that wouldn't you or me, like loud noises or changes in his routine or new people. To us, they're no big deal, but to Maxwell, they're a very big deal. And even though Maxwell's incredibly smart, there are some things he has trouble understanding. Like feelings. He has a really tough time understanding feelings."

库珀太太说着站了起来，啪地一声把抹布搭在肩上。 “他在房间里玩电子游戏。” 杰西从沙发上跳下来，奔向通往地下室的楼梯，那是麦克斯韦的卧室。 当她走到第三级台阶时，她停了下来，转过身来。 “库珀太太？”杰西说。 “麦克斯韦怎么了？”库珀太太在厨房门口停了下来，看着她。 “他只是与众不同，仅此而已。 他看问题的角度和我们不一样。 他也以不同的方式感受世界。 一些你我不会打扰他的事情，比如嘈杂的噪音，他日常生活的改变，或者新认识的人。 对我们来说，这没什么大不了的，但对麦克斯韦来说，这可是件大事。 尽管麦克斯韦非常聪明，但有些事情他还是无法理解。 喜欢的感觉。他真的很难理解别人的感受。”

"Oh," said Jessie. Like me, she thought. She found Maxwell leaning against the giant gorilla pillow that sat at the head of his bed. The arms of the gorilla wrapped around Maxwell, as if the big furry ape were trying to reach the game controller Maxwell held in his hands. Maxwell didn't even look up when Jessie walked in. "Hey," she said. Maxwell nodded his head, his eyes never leaving the screen. Jessie stared at the TV! The game was one of those questing games, where dwarves and dragons and giants and other magical characters fight each other and collect treasure. Pretty soon she was sitting on the edge of the bed, as caught up in the game as Maxwell was. "Can I try?" asked Jessie. "No, I'm right in the middle of a quest. Later." "When, later?"

“哦，”杰西说。像我一样，她想。 她发现麦克斯韦靠在床头的一个巨大的大猩猩枕头上。 大猩猩的手臂缠绕着麦克斯韦，好像这只毛茸茸的大猿想要够到麦克斯韦手里的游戏控制器。 杰西进来的时候，麦克斯韦连头都没抬。 “嘿，”她说。麦克斯韦尔点了点头，眼睛一直盯着屏幕。 杰西盯着电视！这款游戏是一款探索游戏，在游戏中，矮人、龙、巨人和其他魔法角色相互战斗，收集宝藏。 不一会儿，她就坐在床边，和麦克斯韦尔一样沉浸在游戏中。 “我能试试吗？”杰西问。 “不，我正在进行任务。 后来。”“当,后来呢?”