12 Grand Finale

Chapter 12 Grand Finale grand finale (n) the last part of a performance, typically the most exciting spectacle of the show "Take a break," Evan said to Jessie on Friday afternoon. They had been running through the show for the past hour, and they were both hot and tired. The outdoor thermometer read ninety-two degrees, but the air was so sticky and thick that it felt like a hundred. To make things more difficult, odd gusts of wind would occasionally blow through, upsetting the prop table, sending the cards flying into the air, then disappearing, leaving the air even heavier than before. Evan knew Jessie was doing her best to keep everything in place, but she only had two hands. And then Professor Hoffmann started to act strange. He kept hopping around the edges of his

星期五下午，埃文对杰西说：“休息一下吧。” 在过去的一个小时里，他们一直在看演出，又热又累。 室外温度计上的读数是92度，但空气又粘又浓，让人感觉像华氏100度。 让事情变得更困难的是，偶尔会有一阵风吹过，掀翻道具桌，把卡片吹到空中，然后消失，让空气变得比以前更重。 埃文知道杰西在尽她最大的努力把一切都安排好，但她只有两只手。 然后霍夫曼教授开始表现得很奇怪。 他一直在他的

large cardboard box. Twice he kicked over his water bowl. And whenever Evan picked him up, he trembled. "It's the barometric pressure," said Jessie. "We measured it today at school. It's dropping because of the storm." "Rabbits don't have weather stations!" said Evan crossly. He was frustrated because he hadn't had a chance to practice the grand finale. "Animals can tell, though. They can sense changes in air pressure, and they can hear infrasound. Professor Hoffmann knows that Annabelle is coming." "Well, if he's so smart, does he know when Dad's going to get off the phone?" "No," said Jessie thoughtfully. "I don't think so." "Jess, that wasn't a real question!" "Then why did you ask it?" asked Jessie. She was setting up the cards for the first card trick exactly the way he had taught her, but the wind kept blowing the cards off the table. "We should practice inside," said

大纸板箱。他两次把水碗踢翻了。 每当埃文把他抱起来，他就发抖。 “这是气压，”杰西说。 “我们今天在学校测量了它。 因为暴风雨，它在下降。” “兔子没有气象站！”埃文生气地说。 他很沮丧，因为他没有机会练习最后一曲。 “不过，动物是可以分辨的。 它们能感知气压的变化，还能听到次声。 霍夫曼教授知道安娜贝尔要来了。” “好吧，如果他那么聪明，他知道爸爸什么时候会挂断电话吗？”“不，”杰西若有所思地说。 “我不这么认为。”“杰西，这不是一个真正的问题！”“那你为什么问这个？”杰西问。 她正按照他教她的方法把牌摆好，准备玩第一个纸牌魔术，但风不停地把牌从桌子上吹走。 “我们应该在室内练习，”他说

Jessie. "I can't practice the grand finale inside! I need the hole in the floor, remember?" "Well, practice everything else inside and then, when Dad gets off the phone, practice the grand finale outside." "But he hasn't gotten off the phone for the last three hours! He's never going to get off the phone." Evan needed his dad because after Jessie's panic attack yesterday, his dad had offered to be the one to climb into the basket and disappear. At first Evan had thought it wouldn't work. His dad was a whole lot bigger than Jessie, and Evan didn't think he could fit inside the basket. But it turned out that if his dad scrunched his legs in a particular way, he could just barely squeeze inside with the lid closed. Evan had felt so glad—so grateful—that his dad was willing to do the trick in Jessie's place. The show wouldn't be ruined! He could still perform the Amazing Disappearing Trick. But after walking through the illusion once

杰西。“我不能在里面练习压轴曲！”我需要地板上的洞，记得吗？”“好吧，先在屋里练习其他的，等爸爸挂了电话，再到外面练习压奏曲。” “但是他已经三个小时没挂电话了！”他永远都挂不掉电话。” 埃文需要他爸爸，因为杰西昨天恐慌发作后，他爸爸主动提出要爬进篮子里消失。 起初，埃文认为这行不通。 他的爸爸比杰西大得多，埃文觉得他装不进篮子里。 但事实证明，如果他的父亲以一种特殊的方式蜷缩他的腿，他几乎不能在盖上的情况下挤进去。 埃文感到非常高兴——非常感激——他的爸爸愿意代替杰西做这件事。 演出就不会被毁了！他还能表演神奇消失魔术。 但走过一次幻觉之后

yesterday, their dad had been too busy to rehearse any more. "I've got it, Evan," he had said. "It's not that complicated. We can practice more tomorrow if you want." But when tomorrow became today, his dad had been even busier. Something important was happening somewhere in the world that had their dad's full attention. "C'mon," said Evan. "Let's take all this stuff inside. Maybe we should take the curtains down, too," he added, eyeing the long red velvet drapes they had hung over the proscenium arch. Every once in a while the drapes would flap vigorously in the wind before dropping back to their usual droopy positions. "No," said Jessie. "The storm isn't going to get us. It's tracking west by about two hundred miles." She sounded disappointed. Jessie liked to see things firsthand. Evan looked at the curtains. It would be hard to get them down without help. Even though Evan was

昨天，他们的爸爸太忙了，没有再排练。 “我知道了，埃文。”他说。 “事情没那么复杂。 如果你愿意，我们明天可以再练习。” 但是，当明天变成今天，他的父亲更忙了。 世界上的某个地方正在发生一件重要的事情，引起了他们父亲的全神贯注。 “来吧，”埃文说。“我们把这些东西都拿进去吧。 也许我们应该把窗帘也拉下来，”他补充道，眼睛盯着他们挂在舞台拱门上的红色天鹅绒长窗帘。 每隔一段时间，窗帘就会在风中猛烈地拍打，然后又回落到平常下垂的位置。 “不，”杰西说。“风暴不会袭击我们。 它向西移动了大约200英里。” 她听起来很失望。杰西喜欢亲身体验。 埃文看着窗帘。 没有帮助是很难把它们弄下来的。 尽管埃文

the second-tallest boy in fourth grade, he still wasn't tall enough to take down the curtains without a ladder. And their dad? Evan knew better than to ask for his help. Evan's mother wasn't a whole lot taller than he was, but they made a good team. He could hold the ladder and she could climb up—or the other way around. Whenever there was a tough job to do, they figured out how to do it together: installing the air conditioners, moving the refrigerator, digging up the dead lilac bush. Evan heard the screen door slide open. He looked up, and there stood his father in the doorway with the phone to his ear and a manila folder in his hand. He waved the folder at the two of them. "Take-out," he said. "You pick the place." "I don't want take-out again!" said Jessie. "I want real food." "Sorry, Tootles. I don't have time to cook dinner." "Do you even know how?" Jessie asked. Evan knew she wasn't being sassy. She just had never seen

作为四年级第二高的男孩，他仍然没有高到不用梯子就能拿下窗帘。 他们的爸爸呢？埃文知道最好不要向他求助。 埃文的妈妈比他高不了多少，但他们是好搭档。 他可以扶着梯子，她可以往上爬——或者反过来。 每当有困难的工作要做时，他们就想出办法一起去做：安装空调，搬冰箱，挖死的丁香丛。 埃文听到纱门滑开了。 他抬头一看，只见父亲站在门口，耳边挂着电话，手里拿着一个马尼拉纸夹。 他向他们两人挥舞着文件夹。 “叫外卖，”他说。“你选地方吧。” “我不想再叫外卖了！”杰西说。 “我想要真正的食物。”“对不起,则。 我没时间做晚饭。” “你知道怎么做吗？”杰西问。 埃文知道她不是在装腔作势。 她只是从未见过

their dad cook. But Evan was older, and he could remember a time when their dad would cook huge pancake breakfasts on sleep-in Sundays. That's when their mom got to sleep late and their dad took care of them. It hadn't happened often, but Evan could remember. "I'm an amazing cook," he said, waving the folder again, "but not tonight." Then his attention turned back to his phone call, and he said, "Yes, I'm waiting. No, that isn't the reason..." and he dropped the folder on the porch and went back inside. The pizza was heavy and greasy and sat like a lead ball in Evan's stomach. He'd eaten four slices, which was two more than usual. It wasn't even about being hungry; it was just about wanting to eat. "I feel like I'm going to barf," said Evan. "That's because you ate like a pig," said Jessie. It was her turn to do the dishes, which was lucky for her because there were just two plates and two cups.

他们的爸爸做饭。但埃文年纪大一些，他还记得有一段时间，他们的爸爸会在睡不着的星期天做丰盛的煎饼早餐。 那时他们的妈妈睡得很晚，爸爸照顾他们。 这种事不常发生，但埃文记得。 “我是个很棒的厨师，”他说，又挥舞着文件夹，“但不是今晚。” 然后他的注意力又回到了电话上，他说：“是的，我在等。 不，不是这个原因……” 他把文件夹扔在门廊上，回到屋里。 披萨又重又油腻，在埃文的胃里就像一个铅球。 他吃了四片，比平时多了两片。 这甚至与饥饿无关；只是因为想吃东西。 “我觉得我要吐了，”埃文说。 “那是因为你吃得像猪一样，”杰西说。 轮到她洗碗了，这对她来说很幸运，因为只有两个盘子和两个杯子。