6 WHERE ARE YOU, MISS PEPPY-PANTS

WHERE ARE YOU, MISS PEPPYPANTS? Bean was a spy. Pressing her back against the wall, she moved down the hall without making a sound. It was harder to be a spy on the stairs because the handrail poked her in the back. Still, she was pretty quiet.

你在哪儿，辣裤小姐？ 比恩是个间谍。她把背靠在墙上，悄无声息地穿过大厅。 在楼梯上当间谍更难，因为扶手会戳到她的后背。 不过，她还是很安静。

When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she edged silently toward the living room and peeked around the door. But Nancy wasn't there. Hmm. Maybe the kitchen. She slithered toward the door. Empty. Where was Nancy? Bean got a little bit of a funny feeling. What if Nancy was gone? "Nancy?" she said softly. There was no answer. "Nancy?" she said in a regular voice. Nothing. "Nancy?" "I'm in here." Nancy was in the bathroom. "Don't come in."

当她走到楼梯底部时，她悄悄地向客厅走去，从门缝里偷偷地看了看。 但是南希不在那里。嗯。 也许是厨房。她向门口滑去。 空的。南希在哪里？比恩有一点奇怪的感觉。 如果南希不见了呢？“南希？”她轻声说。 没有人回答。“南希？”她用正常的声音说。 什么都没有。“南希?”“我在这里。” 南希在浴室里。 “别进来。”

Bean went down the hall and stood outside the bathroom door. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Nothing. None of your business. Don't come in." Nancy's voice was tight. She didn't sound like a camp counselor anymore. "Are you going to throw up?" Bean asked sympathetically. She knew what that was like. "No! Go away!" Nancy clicked the lock on the door. What happened to Miss Peppy-Pants? wondered Bean. What was Nancy doing in there? Quietly Bean pressed her ear to the door. She could hear water running, but she could also hear other sounds. Click. Click. Rattle. "Bean? Is that you?" said Nancy from inside the bathroom. Bean didn't say anything. She was perfectly quiet. Click. Swish. Spray. The sound of a glass bottle being put down.

比恩穿过大厅，站在浴室门外。 “你在干什么？”她问。 “没什么。不关你的事。 别进来。”南希的声音很紧张。 她听起来不像夏令营辅导员了。 “你要吐吗？”比恩同情地问。 她知道那是什么感觉。 “不!走开!”南希咔哒一声把门锁上了。 小妹小姐怎么了？ 想知道Bean。南希在里面做什么？ 比恩悄悄地把耳朵贴在门上。 她能听到流水声，但她也能听到其他声音。 点击。点击。喋喋不休的人。“豆? 是你吗？”南希在浴室里问。 比恩什么也没说。她非常安静。 点击。时髦的。喷雾。玻璃瓶被放下的声音。

All of a sudden, Bean knew. This bathroom was where Bean's mom kept her makeup. Nancy was not supposed to mess around with her mother's makeup. Bean's mother had told Nancy about a thousand times that she was too young to wear makeup. Nancy always said that everyone wore it. Then Bean's mom said that if everyone put their head in the fire, that still wouldn't make it a good idea. Then Nancy usually cried. They had this conversation a lot. Now Nancy was in the bathroom putting on makeup. Some babysitter. She was supposed to be keeping Bean safe and good, and instead she was in the bathroom being bad herself. Bean was just about to

突然间，比恩明白了。 这个浴室是比恩妈妈放化妆品的地方。 南希不应该乱弄她妈妈的化妆品。 比恩的母亲告诉过南希一千遍，说她还太小，不适合化妆。 南希总说每个人都戴。 然后比恩的妈妈说如果每个人都把头放进火里，那仍然不是一个好主意。 这时南希通常会哭。他们经常这样谈话。 这时南希正在浴室化妆。 一些保姆。她应该保护比恩的安全，而她自己却在浴室里做坏事。 比恩正要这么做

point this out when she heard a squeaky meow on the back porch. Ivy had arrived. Since Nancy was locked in the bathroom, she probably couldn't hear Ivy come in. But they sneaked anyway. Ivy took off her shoes, and they slid silently across the kitchen and through the hall. Without a word, they tiptoed upstairs and into Bean's room, closing the door behind them. "Well?" said Bean. "Did you get the rope?" "Sort of," said Ivy. She looked worried. "It's not exactly rope." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bundle of string. It was thick string, but it was definitely string. They both stared at it. "It was all I could find," Ivy said.

当她听到后院传来吱吱的猫叫声时，就指出来。 艾薇来了。由于南希被锁在浴室里，她可能听不见艾薇进来。 但他们还是偷偷溜了出去。艾薇脱下鞋子，她们悄悄地滑过厨房，穿过门厅。 他们二话没说，蹑手蹑脚地上楼，走进比恩的房间，随手关上了门。 “怎么样？”比恩说。“你拿到绳子了吗？”“差不多吧，”艾薇说。 她看上去很担心。“它不完全是绳子。” 她把手伸进口袋，掏出一捆绳子。 那是粗线，但绝对是线。 他们俩都盯着它。“这是我能找到的所有东西，”艾薇说。

"I guess I could try it," said Bean. But she knew she wouldn't. It was string. If she made a ladder out of it, it would snap in two, and she would plunge to the ground and break both her legs. Dang. A perfectly good idea down the drain. "We could throw your mattress out the window and then try to land on it," Ivy suggested.

“我想我可以试试，”比恩说。 但她知道她不会。 是绳子。如果她用它做梯子，梯子就会断成两截，她就会摔到地上，摔断两条腿。 见鬼。一个完美的主意付诸东流了。 “我们可以把你的床垫扔出窗外，然后试着降落在上面。”艾薇建议道。