4 Switch

Chapter 4 Switch switch (v) to secretly exchange one object for another; (n) a sudden change in plans "What do you mean?" asked Evan. His mother had been preparing for this trip for weeks. She'd done all the laundry in the house, put fresh sheets on the beds, and scrubbed the bathroom clean. "That was Peggy on the phone," said their mom. "She's fine. She'll be fine. But she got in a small accident this morning, and, well, she's in the hospital with a broken arm." "What bone did she break?" asked Jessie. Evan glared at his sister. "She already said, Jessie. Her arm." His brain was ticking through the possibilities of who could stay with them: Grandma, no. Pria, their high school babysitter, no. Mrs. Blom, a neighbor who lived one street over, no.

第4章开关开关(v)将一件物品秘密交换为另一件物品；“你是什么意思？”埃文问。 他的母亲为这次旅行准备了好几个星期。 她把家里所有的衣服都洗了，把新床单铺在床上，把浴室擦洗得干干净净。 “是佩吉打来的电话，”他们的妈妈说。 “她很好。她会没事的。 但是今天早上她出了一场小事故，她的胳膊骨折了，现在在医院里。” “她摔断了哪根骨头？”杰西问。 埃文怒视着妹妹。 “她已经说过了，杰西。 她的手臂。”他的脑子里不停地想着谁能和他们呆在一起：奶奶，不行。 普里亚，他们高中的保姆，不。 布隆太太，住在另一条街的邻居，不知道。

"But which bone?" insisted Jessie. "There are three bones in the arm: the humerus, the radius, and the ulna." She tapped each part of her arm as she recited the three bones. "I don't know," said their mother, shaking her head as if she still couldn't believe what she was saying. "All I know is that it's a bad break. They're pretty sure she's going to need surgery. And that means... I'm not going anywhere." She plopped down onto the seat of a kitchen chair. The chair groaned loudly, as if it might collapse in despair. "Goodbye San Francisco! Goodbye mini-vacation! Goodbye!" Mrs. Treski started to laugh, but Evan thought she looked as if she could cry at any moment. Each cheek had a bright red spot at its highest point. "You seem relieved," said their dad, draining his coffee cup and then getting up for more. As if he lives here! thought Evan. As if it's his house! Although, in truth, it had been, once. "Well, I'm not sorry to miss the airport and the

“但是哪根骨头呢？”杰西追问。 手臂上有三块骨头：肱骨、桡骨和尺骨。 她一边背诵这三块骨头，一边轻拍着手臂的每一部分。 “我不知道，”他们的母亲说，摇着头，好像她仍然不敢相信自己说的话。 “我只知道这是个坏运气。 他们很确定她需要做手术。 这意味着……我哪也不去。” 她扑通一声坐在厨房的椅子上。 椅子发出巨大的呻吟声，似乎要在绝望中倒下。 “再见，旧金山！”再见迷你假期!再见!”特雷斯基太太笑了起来，但埃文觉得她看起来好像随时都会哭。 每只脸颊的最高点都有一个鲜红的斑点。 “你们好像松了一口气，”他们的爸爸说，喝干了咖啡杯里的水，然后站起来再喝一杯。 好像他住在这里似的！认为埃文。 好像这是他的房子似的！虽然，事实上，曾经有过一次。 “嗯，我不后悔错过机场和……

flight, that's for sure," said their mother. "But I was looking forward to seeing Joanna. And San Francisco. And then, too, there's the money..." Mrs. Treski was a freelancer. That meant she got paid only when she worked. There was no such thing as a steady paycheck in their house. If she didn't go on this trip, her client wouldn't give her any money. And that meant trouble when it was time to pay the bills. "Oh, well," said their dad. "Freelance assignments come and go. You'll get something else, right?" Evan wanted to shout, It's not that easy! What did his dad know about how hard his mom worked? Sometimes he sent money, but sometimes he didn't. His mom could never count on it. She tried not to let it show, but Evan had overheard enough phone conversations and seen the worry on her face to know that paying the bills each month was hard. Grownups thought kids didn't notice this stuff, but Evan did. And it stirred up in him that old fear that had set in after the divorce and never quite went

逃跑，那是肯定的，”他们的母亲说。 “但我很期待见到乔安娜。 还有旧金山。再说，还有钱……” 特雷斯基太太是个自由职业者。 这意味着她只有在工作时才能得到报酬。 他们家没有稳定的收入。 如果她不去旅行，她的客户不会给她一分钱。 这就意味着在支付账单的时候会有麻烦。 “哦，好吧，”他们的爸爸说。 “自由职业者的任务来来去去。 你会得到别的东西的，对吧？”埃文想喊，没那么容易！他爸爸知道他妈妈工作有多努力吗？ 有时他给我寄钱，有时不寄。 他妈妈永远也不会指望他。 她尽量不让自己表现出来，但埃文偷听到了足够多的电话交谈，看到了她脸上的担忧，知道每个月付账单很困难。 大人们以为孩子们不会注意到这些东西，但埃文注意到了。 这激起了他内心的恐惧，那是离婚后产生的，一直没有完全消除的恐惧

away: that they would have to sell the house and move someplace else. Sure, it was a junky old house, with just about everything broken, but Evan didn't want to leave. "Mom," he said. "You can still go. Jessie and I can sleep over at someone's house. Maybe Adam's or Jack's." "I am not sleeping at someone's house!" said Jessie. "I can't sleep—" She looked at her mother, and Evan could see the panic in her eyes. Jessie had never slept at anyone's house except their own and Grandma's. "Then someone can come here. There's got to be someone..." "Evan, it's too late. My flight leaves in two hours. I can't just call someone up at the last minute and ask them to baby-sit for seven days. These things need to be planned in advance. I called Peggy about this trip two months ago." Evan couldn't accept this. There had to be a way to fix it. "Mom, you have to go..."

他们不得不卖掉房子，搬到别的地方去。 当然，那是一栋破烂的旧房子，几乎所有东西都坏了，但埃文不想离开。 “妈妈，”他说。“你还是可以去的。 杰西和我可以在别人家过夜。 也许是亚当或杰克的。”“我才不要睡在别人家里呢！”杰西说。 “我睡不着——”她看着妈妈，埃文可以看到她眼中的恐慌。 除了他们自己和奶奶家，杰西从来没有在别人家睡过觉。 “然后有人可以来这里。 肯定有人……” “埃文，太晚了。我的航班两小时后起飞。 我不能在最后一刻打电话给别人让他们帮我照看7天孩子。 这些事情需要提前计划。 我两个月前就给佩吉打电话说了这次旅行。” 埃文无法接受。 肯定有办法解决的。 “妈妈，你得走了……”

She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. He could see that she knew what he meant. It had always been like this. He and his mom. They just understood things about each other. "It's charming the way you can't wait to get rid of me, but—" "Dad can stay with us," said Jessie loudly. There was a moment of stunned silence. Evan looked at his father, then back at his mom. "Oh, Jessie," said their mom, shaking her head. "No!" said Evan. It came out louder than he intended. His father cocked his head and looked right at him, as if he'd been poked in the side with a very sharp stick. "Your dad..." began Mrs. Treski, looking for words. "Well, actually, Susan," said their father stiffly, "I could. After all, I am their dad." Evan looked desperately at his mother, but she was staring at his father. "Yay! Hooray! Hip hip hurray!" shouted Jessie, jumping awkwardly into the air and landing heavily

她微笑着把手放在他的肩上。 他看得出她明白他的意思。 一直都是这样。 他和他妈妈。他们只是了解对方的一些事情。 “你迫不及待地想摆脱我的样子很迷人，但是——”“爸爸可以和我们住在一起。”杰西大声说。 一阵惊愕的沉默。 埃文看了看父亲，然后又看了看母亲。 “哦，杰西，”他们的妈妈摇着头说。 “不！”埃文说。声音比他预想的要大。 他父亲歪着头，直勾勾地看着他，好像被一根非常锋利的棍子戳了一下。 “你爸爸……”特雷斯基太太想找点话说。 “嗯，实际上，苏珊，”他们的父亲生硬地说，“我可以。 毕竟，我是他们的爸爸。” 埃文绝望地看着他的母亲，但她却盯着他的父亲。 “耶!万岁!嗨嗨万岁！”杰西喊道，笨拙地跳上空中，重重地落在地上

on her feet. "This is great! This is the best!" She jumped up again and nearly crashed into the table when she came down. "Jessie, stop," said their mother. "Dad can't stay with you while I'm gone." She turned to her ex- husband. "It's a whole week, Jake. You can't stay a whole week with the kids." "Sure, I can," he said. "It's nothing. Seven days." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair, as if he were on the beach, watching a sunset. "You never stay for seven days," Evan said harshly. "You never even stay for two." "Well, this time"—he looked at Evan—"I'm needed." "We don't need you," said Evan, the words sliding from his brain onto his tongue before he even realized he was saying them out loud. "Evan," said his mother in her warning voice. "It's not a question of—Look, Jake. You must have somewhere else you need to go. You've always got

站起来。“这太棒了！”这是最好的！”她又跳了起来，下来的时候差点撞到桌子上。 “杰西，停下，”他们的妈妈说。 “我不在的时候，爸爸不能和你在一起。” 她转向她的前夫。 “整整一个星期，杰克。你不能和孩子们呆一整个星期。” “当然可以，”他说。“没什么事。 七天。”他双臂交叉在胸前，向后靠在椅子上，就像在海滩上看日落一样。 “你从来没待过七天。”埃文严厉地说。 “你连两个人都待不住。” “好吧，这一次，”他看着埃文，“有人需要我。” “我们不需要你。”埃文说，这句话从他的脑子里滑到了舌头上，他甚至还没意识到自己已经大声说出来了。 “埃文，”他妈妈用警告的声音说。 “这不是一个问题——瞧，杰克。 你一定还有别的地方要去。 你总是拥有