Chapter 9

Saturday The following Saturday Dev and I spent the morning rehearsing the magic trick in his garden. Dev made a special, showbiz accessory for Hulk but Hulk refused to co-operate until we took it off. He doesn't like cherry pink, taffeta bow ties. I don't blame him. I thought it would be difficult getting Hulk in and out of the box without

接下来的星期六，戴夫和我花了一个上午在他的花园里排练魔术。 戴夫为绿巨人做了一个特别的娱乐配件，但绿巨人拒绝合作，直到我们把它取下来。 他不喜欢樱桃粉色的塔夫绸领结。 我不怪他。我觉得让绿巨人进出箱子会很困难没有

scaring him but he seemed to enjoy the attention. It is miles better than being stuck in a hutch being fed manky noodles out of Oli's hair, that's for sure. Just as I was draping a cloth over the closed box, we heard sniggering. I looked over the fence and found EVIL TWINS crouched behind it! They had squeezed through the gap in the fence into Mr Pike's garden and had been watching us the whole time. They soon scarpered when we told them Mr Pike was coming out with a big stick. HA HA! After lunch, me and Dev took Oli into town to buy him his new Luke

吓到他了，但他似乎很享受这种关注。 这比被困在厨房里用奥利的头发喂面条好多了，这是肯定的。 正当我把一块布盖在封闭的盒子上时，我们听到了窃笑。 我从栅栏那边看过去，发现“邪恶双胞胎”正蹲在栅栏后面！他们从篱笆的缝隙里挤进派克先生的花园，一直在注视着我们。 当我们告诉他们派克先生拿着一根大棒出来时，他们很快就逃走了。 哈哈!午饭后，我和戴夫带奥利去镇上给他买新的卢克

Skywalker action figure. It was going to cost me my birthday money from Uncle Jim and Aunt Tanya put together. But I thought it was a fair swap for the use of a live guinea pig. Cruckshank's Toy Shop only had one latest model Luke Skywalker left on the shelf. Lucky for Oli. I don't think I could have been bothered to make the trip in again just to buy a silly doll. After a quick calculation I worked out I would get precisely one pence change from my two crisp ten-pound notes– practically daylight robbery! The shop assistant (or Malcom as it said on his name badge) got Luke out of the box to demonstrate. He got way too excited about jointed limbs for a man in his mid-fifties. While him and Oli

天行者人偶。吉姆叔叔和坦尼娅姨妈给我的生日钱加起来就要花光了。 但我觉得用一只活的豚鼠做交换很公平。 克鲁克山克玩具店的货架上只剩下一个最新的卢克·天行者模型。 奥利很幸运。我想我不会再为了买一个傻娃娃而不厌其烦地跑一趟。 经过快速计算，我算出我的两张崭新的10英镑钞票正好能换回1便士——简直是光天化日之下的抢劫！店员（或者像他的姓名牌上写的那样叫马尔科姆）把卢克从箱子里拿出来演示。 对于一个五十多岁的人来说，他对关节假肢太兴奋了。 当他和奥利

chatted, me and Dev looked around the shop until we ran out of things to sniff and prod. When we returned they were still at it so I fluttered my money impatiently at him. 'Oh, yes that'll be nineteen pounds ninety-nine then,' said Malcom, hurrying across to the till. He put Luke in a bag and ceremoniously handed me the one pence change. I tried not to weep as I put it in the charity box on the counter and apologised to the photo of the golden Labrador dog for the blind on the front of it while I did so. We'd only been in Cruckshank's for twenty minutes but it felt like an hour! Time sure crawls by in the company of Malcom. It was too early to head home. EVIL TWINS

我和戴夫聊着天，在店里四处张望，直到没有东西可以嗅和戳。 当我们回来时，他们还在忙活，所以我不耐烦地朝他挥舞着我的钱。 “哦，对了，那就是19英镑99美分。”马尔科姆说着匆匆走向收银台。 他把卢克放进一个袋子里，恭恭敬敬地递给我一便士的零钱。 当我把它放进柜台上的慈善箱时，我试着忍住眼泪，并向它前面的金色拉布拉多盲人狗的照片道歉。 我们只在克鲁克山克呆了二十分钟，但感觉就像一个小时！和马尔科姆在一起，时间过得真快。 现在回家还太早。 邪恶的双胞胎

would still be at our house chopping off flower heads with a cricket bat or running over slugs with their tricycles. We went to the café and Dev got us chips for lunch. At a quarter to one, we caught the bus. Back home we discovered that the twins hadn't left yet. Apparently, Mr Tatlock was stuck at work and wasn't coming to collect them for at least another hour. UGH. We went into the garden to check on Hulk and found he wasn't in his hutch. 'Ah, he'll be asleep inside his wooden house,' said Oli, opening up the latch. He put his hand in and lifted the lid of the house. It was empty inside! 'OH NO, HE'S GONE!'

还会在我们家用板球棒砍花或者骑着三轮车碾过鼻涕虫。 我们去了咖啡厅，戴夫给我们买了薯条当午餐。 差一刻一点，我们赶上了公共汽车。 回到家，我们发现那对双胞胎还没有离开。 显然，塔特洛克先生被工作困住了，至少一个小时后才会来接他们。 啊。我们走进花园去看绿巨人，发现他不在他的笼子里。 “啊，他会在他的木屋里睡觉的。”奥利说着打开门闩。 他把手伸进去，掀开了房子的盖子。 里面是空的！“哦，不，他走了！”

said Oli. He scrabbled around in the hay with his hand. Then he looked under a bunch of shredded paper, searched in the food bowl, and peered under a lone sunflower seed. (He was quite desperate).

奥利说。他用手在干草里乱摸。 然后他在一堆碎纸下面找了找，在碗里找了找，在一颗孤零零的葵花籽下面看了看。 （他非常绝望）。