Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 It was Saturday afternoon, at ten past two. Mohsen, Flora and Charlie were waiting round the corner from Van der Gruyne Industries, all with small rucksacks on their backs. Flora had instructed them to each bring a bag with sensible emergency supplies. Flora's bag contained a bottle of water, a torch, a compass, four apples and a whistle. Charlie's had a four-pack of Mars bars and a small collection of pebbles that he'd forgotten to take out. All Mohsen had in his bag was a half-empty sandwich box that he'd been munching through on the way. They were alternately looking at their watches and down the street. A few mangy-looking pigeons were pecking around them, hunting for crumbs. The wait for Saturday had seemed interminable for the friends. The closer they got to the day, the more nervous they had become. And now the moment had arrived and their nerves were jangling. 'I will absolutely LOSE my rag COMPLETELY if Wogan doesn't turn up VERY QUICKLY!' Flora

第八章那是星期六下午，两点十分。 莫森、弗洛拉和查理都背着小帆布背包，在范德格鲁恩工业公司的拐角处等着。 弗洛拉指示他们每人带一个袋子，里面装着实用的应急用品。 弗洛拉的包里装着一瓶水、一支火把、一个指南针、四个苹果和一个哨子。 查理有四包玛氏巧克力棒和一小堆他忘了拿出来的鹅卵石。 莫森的包里只有一个半空的三明治盒，他在路上一直在吃。 他们一会儿看表，一会儿沿街走。 几只看上去脏兮兮的鸽子在他们周围啄食，寻找面包屑。 对朋友们来说，星期六的等待似乎是无止境的。 离那一天越近，他们就越紧张。 现在这一刻到了，他们的神经都紧张起来了。 “如果沃根不赶快出现，我一定会气疯的！”植物区系

seethed. A moment or two later, Wogan tore round the corner, pedalling furiously on his bike. 'Sorry I'm late, guys,' he puffed. 'I… erm… forgot I had to… erm… help my mum with the gardening. So I came straight from doing that.' Flora eyed Wogan beadily. 'You're not late because you've been with Daisy all day then?' 'No! No way!' Wogan replied, looking indignant at the very suggestion. 'I told you! I've been gardening.' 'Wogan. Tell me. What's that you're wearing on your head?' Wogan looked blank for a moment, then his hand shot to his head. On his head was a headband, and sticking out of the headband was a huge sparkly silver unicorn horn. 'Ah,' said Wogan. 'Yes. I see.' 'Do you often do gardening dressed as a unicorn?' Flora asked. 'I… Yes. I do.' 'And remind me again. Does Daisy like unicorns?' 'Yes,' replied Wogan in a tiny voice just above a whisper. 'Hmm,' hmmed Flora. 'Did you hear that?' said Mohsen, nudging Charlie. 'That's a totally new type of hmm. It sounded to me like a furious hmm.'

生气地说。一两分钟后，沃根急匆匆地拐过街角，疯狂地蹬着他的自行车。 “抱歉我来晚了，伙计们。”他喘着气说。 “我……嗯……忘了我得……嗯……帮我妈妈做园艺。” 所以我直接从那开始。”弗洛拉狠狠地盯着沃根。 “你迟到不是因为你一整天都和黛西在一起吧？”“不!没门!”沃根回答道，似乎对这个建议感到愤怒。 “我告诉过你！”我一直在园艺。“Wogan。 告诉我。你头上戴的是什么？”沃根愣了一会儿，然后用手捂住了头。 他头上戴着一条发带，从发带里伸出来的是一个巨大的、闪闪发光的银色独角兽角。 “啊，”沃根说。‘是的。我明白了。“你经常打扮成独角兽做园艺吗？”植物问道。 “我……是的。我做的事情。”“再提醒我一次。 黛西喜欢独角兽吗？“是的，”沃根用比耳语还小的声音回答。 “嗯，”弗洛拉哼着。“你听到了吗？”莫森说，用胳膊肘捅了捅查理。 这是一种全新的嗯。 我听起来像是一声狂怒的‘哼’。”

'Not now, Mohsen,' said Wogan, anxiously looking at Flora. 'And tell me,' continued Flora, 'does a sparkly unicorn horn count as dressing in dark clothes?' 'I guess not… Should I take it off then?' 'Yes! You should! We are trying to be inconspicuous!' 'Oh, Wogan,' said Mohsen, shaking his head sadly. 'This Daisy is really turning your head. You need to keep your eye on the game.' But Wogan, with a determined look on his face, folded his arms and kept the unicorn horn on his head. 'It is! Has anybody got any water? I'm pretty thirsty after that bike ride.' Flora handed him her bottle of emergency water. Wogan drained the bottle completely in three gulps and gasped with satisfaction. 'Well, anyway,' said Charlie, as the four friends began slowly walking towards the side entrance of Van der Gruyne Industries, 'at least he's here now. So, what's the plan, then?' They all turned to Flora. 'Why are you all looking at me? I've told you my plan. We come here, Charlie turns into an animal, helps us to break in, we steal back the gold, then leave.'

“现在不行，莫森。”沃根说，焦急地看着弗洛拉。 “告诉我，”弗洛拉继续说，“一个闪闪发光的独角兽角算穿着深色衣服吗？“我想没有……那我应该把它摘下来吗？”“是的!你应该!我们尽量不引人注意！“哦，沃根，”莫森悲哀地摇着头说。 “这朵黛西真让你神魂颠倒。 你需要把注意力放在比赛上。”但沃根一脸坚定，双臂交叉，把独角兽的角戴在头上。 “这是!”谁有水吗？ 骑完自行车后我很渴。”弗洛拉递给他一瓶救急用的水。 沃根三口就把瓶子喝光了，满意地倒吸了一口气。 “好吧，不管怎样，”查理说，这时四个朋友开始慢慢朝范德格鲁恩工业的侧门走去，“至少他现在在这里。 那么，计划是什么呢？”他们都转向弗洛拉。 “你们为什么都看着我？” 我已经告诉你我的计划了。我们来到这里，查理变成动物，帮我们破门而入，我们偷回金子，然后离开。”

'You… er… haven't got any more detail than that?' Charlie asked cautiously. 'It's totally fine if you don't!' he added quickly, catching Flora's steely gaze. 'No,' Flora said, 'I don't.' 'You haven't planned beyond this moment?' asked Mohsen. 'Nope,' said Flora. 'So you have no idea what's going to happen and you are hoping it will just come to you as we go along?' 'That's right.' 'You don't think it's quite stressful getting to this point and having no idea what you're going to do next?' 'No!' replied Flora. 'It's actually quite liberating.' 'Well, I hope it all works out in the end,' said Mohsen uncertainly. 'Yes,' agreed Flora. 'So do I.' 'OK,' said Charlie. 'Well, let's look what we have in front of us, and then we can hopefully work out what on earth we are going to do.' What was in front of them was the towering bulk of Van der Gruyne Industries, a vast grey faceless building with a thousand blank windows staring out. Behind it, ink-black licks of clouds scudded across a darkening steely sky. There was a huge metal fence– so tall that if Wogan stood on Mohsen's shoulders, he would just about be able to reach the top. No good for climbing over, though, as it was topped with extra-sharp barbed wire. As it was a Saturday, the office was shut, but security guards were patrolling

“你……嗯……就没有更多的细节了吗？”查理谨慎地问。 “你不去也没关系！”他抓住弗洛拉钢铁般的目光，赶紧补充了一句。 “不，”弗洛拉说，“我不知道。”“你没有计划过这一刻吗？莫森问。 “不，”弗洛拉说。“所以你不知道会发生什么，你只是希望随着我们的前进，它会自然而然地来到你身边？””“是的。“你不觉得走到这一步，不知道下一步要做什么，压力很大吗？”“不!弗洛拉回答。 “这实际上是一种解脱。莫森不确定地说：“好吧，我希望最后一切都能顺利。” “是的，”弗洛拉同意。“我也是。“好吧，”查理说。 “好吧，让我们看看我们面前有什么，然后我们就有希望弄清楚我们到底该怎么做。”摆在他们面前的是范德格鲁恩工业公司高耸的大楼，那是一座灰色的、没有面孔的巨大建筑，窗外有一千扇空白的窗户。 在它后面，墨黑的云层掠过逐渐变暗的钢铁般的天空。 那里有一个巨大的金属栅栏——高到如果沃根站在莫森的肩膀上，他几乎可以到达顶部。 不过，爬过去可不太好，因为它的顶部有特别锋利的铁丝网。 因为是星期六，办公室关门了，但是保安在巡逻

the grounds. Two of them had dogs. Huge German shepherds. Dylan had been true to his word– there did appear to be more guards on duty.

理由。其中两人养了狗。 巨大的德国牧羊犬。迪伦信守了他的诺言——值班的警卫确实增加了。