Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 Charlie pawed his way through the bathroom door and sprang down the corridor. When he turned the corner, there they all were, as planned: Flora, Wogan, Mohsen and, in the middle of them, pinned against the basement door, was Dylan. Charlie was pleased to see that, even though they knew he was coming, his friends still all did a leap of fright when they saw him. It was human instinct– if you see a huge lion pad towards you, you fear for your life. Charlie strode up to Dylan, jumped up on his hind legs, and placed his front paws either side of Dylan's head. He breathed heavily on Dylan's face, a low rumbling growl, deep in his throat, which seemed to shake the air. Dylan whimpered and slipped to the floor.

第十三章查理蹑手蹑脚地穿过浴室的门，沿着走廊跳了下来。 当他转过拐角时，他们都在那里，正如计划的那样：弗洛拉、沃根、莫森，在他们中间，被钉在地下室门上的是迪伦。 查理很高兴地看到，尽管他的朋友们知道他要来，但他们看到他时还是吓得跳了起来。 这是人类的本能——如果你看到一头巨大的狮子向你逼近，你会担心自己的生命安全。 查理大步走向迪伦，用后腿跳起来，把前爪放在迪伦头的两侧。 他对着迪伦的脸重重地吸了一口气，低沉的咆哮声在他的喉咙深处，似乎在撼动空气。 迪伦呜咽着滑倒在地板上。

'I… know… that's you… Charlie!' Dylan snivelled. 'You won't do anything to me. You wouldn't dare!' Flora kneeled down and spoke quietly to Dylan. 'We thought you'd say that. But you need to understand– you've made Charlie desperate. He's willing to do anything. And if that means…' Flora left the threat hanging but, to emphasise the point, Charlie widened his jaws over Dylan's face, letting hot drool drip down into his gibbering mouth. Dylan squirmed backwards, desperate to get away from the glistening teeth. 'OK!' he whimpered. 'OK! You can have the key!' Dylan reached into his pocket, but then his face went even paler, if that was possible. He checked his other pocket, panicking. 'It's gone!' he said. 'The key! It's gone!' 'CHILDREN!' came a sudden scream from the far end of the corridor. It was Mr Wind, his face a red explosion. 'GET AWAY FROM THAT LION!' Instead of getting away from that lion, which would be the perfectly normal course of action,

“我……知道……那是你……查理！”迪伦一把鼻涕一把泪的。 “你不能对我做什么。 你不敢！”弗洛拉跪下来，轻轻地对迪伦说。 “我们就知道你会这么说。 但你要明白，你让查理绝望了。 他愿意做任何事。 如果那意味着……”弗洛拉没有威胁他，但为了强调这一点，查理张开下巴捂住迪伦的脸，让滚烫的口水流进他那叽叽喳喳的嘴里。 迪伦向后蠕动着，拼命地想要离开那闪亮的牙齿。 “好吧!他呜咽着说。“好吧!你可以拿着钥匙！”迪伦把手伸进口袋，但他的脸变得更苍白了，如果可能的话。 他检查了另一个口袋，惊慌失措。 “这是不见了!他说。的关键!它是不见了!“孩子!走廊尽头突然传来一声尖叫。 是风先生，他的脸涨得通红。 “离那头狮子远点！”他没有逃离狮子，这是完全正常的行动，

Mohsen, Flora and Wogan all groaned and slapped their foreheads.fn1 'Argh! Not now!' gasped Flora. 'Go away, Mr Wind!' 'SAVE YOURSELVES!' Mr Wind cried, bravely charging forward. Flora, Mohsen, Wogan and Charlie the lion all froze in horror. Dylan saw his moment. He sprang up and sprinted away as fast as his terrified jelly legs would carry him, leaving the friends' plans in tatters. 'RUN, CHILDREN! What's wrong with you! For the love of all that's holy, WHY WON'T YOU RUN?!' cried Mr Wind. Inspiration suddenly hit Wogan like a dozen hamsters dropped out of a plane without parachutes. 'Don't worry, sir!' he said, patting Charlie the lion. 'It's fine! This is my pet.' Wogan, Flora and Charlie the lion turned in unison to Wogan, in total disbelief. This had to be Wogan's most ludicrous, doomed-to-fail idea ever. And there was some stiff competition for that title. 'He's harmless,' Wogan continued, ruffling Charlie's mane, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of his head telling him that this was his most ludicrous and doomed-to-fail idea yet. 'Perfectly safe.' Mr Wind paused, panting, his face getting redder and redder. 'PERFECTLY SAFE?! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? It was just attacking Van der Gruyne!'

莫森、弗洛拉和沃根都呻吟着，拍着额头。fn1”啊!不是现在!弗洛拉喘着气说。 “走开，风先生！”“救救你们自己吧！”风先生喊道，勇敢地向前冲去。 弗洛拉、莫森、沃根和狮子查理都吓呆了。 迪伦看到了他的时刻。他跳了起来，以他那惊恐的果冻腿最快的速度跑开了，把朋友们的计划撕成了碎片。 “跑,孩子!你怎么了？看在上帝的份上，你为什么不跑？！风先生叫道。 灵感突然击中了沃根，就像一打仓鼠从没有降落伞的飞机上掉下来一样。 “别担心，先生！”他拍拍狮子查理说。 “这很好!这是我的宠物。”沃根、弗洛拉和狮子查理异口同声地转向沃根，完全不敢相信。 这一定是沃根有史以来最荒唐、最注定要失败的想法。 这个头衔的竞争非常激烈。 “他是无害的。”沃根继续说，一边捋着查理的鬃毛，无视他脑后唠叨的声音，那个声音告诉他，这是他迄今为止最荒唐、最注定要失败的想法。 “绝对安全”。风先生停了下来，喘着气，他的脸越来越红。 “绝对安全吗? !”你在想什么？ 它只是在攻击范德格鲁尼！”

'No he wasn't!' replied Wogan. 'We were just playing a game.' 'It didn't look like a game to me. The boy was practically wetting himself.' 'It was a game! With my pet lion,' Wogan said with certainty. Mr Wind eyeballed Wogan suspiciously. Flora and Mohsen and Charlie waited for Mr Wind to explode. 'You have a pet lion?' Mr Wind asked. 'That's right, sir,' nodded Wogan innocently. 'A pet lion? As in, a lion that you have as an actual pet?' Wogan simply nodded again, seemingly oblivious to the volcano that was about to erupt. 'And you thought you'd bring your pet lion into my school?' 'Yes, sir.' 'You thought you'd bring a pet lion into my school on the day of the school dance?' 'Yes, sir. I thought he'd enjoy the music.' 'YOU THOUGHT HE'D ENJOY THE MUSIC?' Mr Wind exploded. He practically had steam coming out of his ears. 'ARE YOU INSANE, BOY?' The lion gave a look to Mr Wind, which if Mr Wind was not mistaken said, 'Yes. Wogan is completely insane.' Mr Wind shook his head, convinced he must have imagined it. 'I mean, is it even legal? To keep a lion as a pet. It can't be.' 'It is, sir,' Wogan said. 'I have a special licence.'

“不，他不是！”沃根回答。 “我们只是在玩游戏。”“在我看来，这不像是一场游戏。 那男孩几乎把自己弄湿了。“这是一场游戏！”“和我的宠物狮子一起。”沃根肯定地说。 风先生怀疑地盯着沃根。 弗洛拉、莫森和查理等着风先生爆发。 “你养了一只宠物狮子？”风先生问。 “没错，先生。”沃根天真地点点头。 “一只宠物狮子？”就像你真正养的狮子一样？”沃根只是又点了点头，似乎对即将爆发的火山一无所知。 “你想把你的宠物狮子带到我的学校来？”“是的，先生。”“你想在学校舞会那天带一只宠物狮子到我的学校来吗？”“是的，先生。” 我以为他会喜欢这音乐。“你认为他会喜欢这音乐吗？”风先生爆发了。 他简直气得耳朵冒烟。 “你疯了吗，孩子？”狮子看了风先生一眼，如果风先生没弄错的话，狮子说：“是的。 沃根完全疯了。”风先生摇了摇头，确信这一定是他自己想象出来的。 “我的意思是，这合法吗？” 养狮子作为宠物。这不可能。“是的，先生，”沃根说。 “我有特别执照。”

'A LICENCE? A LION LICENCE? I mean… of all the… Well… GET THAT LION OUT OF HERE! THIS INSTANT! If the school inspectors find out about this, we're in big trouble!' 'OK, sir. If you say so.' Mr Wind turned and walked away, shaking his head and muttering to himself about lion licences. The moment he'd turned the corner, Charlie the lion turned back to normal-Charlie. 'I can't believe,' Flora said to Wogan after a long pause, 'you actually got away with that.' 'I was completely confident,' Wogan replied, nonchalantly. 'I knew it would work.'fn2

“牌照?狮子执照？ 我是说…在所有的…好吧…把那头狮子赶出去！这一刻!如果被学校督学发现，我们就有大麻烦了！“好的，先生。” 既然你这么说。”风先生转身走开了，一边摇着头，一边喃喃自语着狮子执照的事。 在他转过拐角的那一刻，狮子查理又变回了正常的查理。 “我真不敢相信，”停了好一会儿，弗洛拉对沃根说，“你竟然侥幸逃脱了。“我完全有信心，”沃根若无其事地回答。 “我知道它会成功的。

'Anyway!' said Flora, after giving Wogan a final disbelieving stare. 'We need to find Dylan again! And somehow get into that basement!' They hurried back to the disco, but just outside the hall they bumped into Daisy and Lola. 'Ah!' said Lola. 'There you all are. We were just looking for you.' 'We thought you'd want this,' said Daisy, holding up a key. 'It fell out of Dylan's pocket when he was doing the headspin. You know, during the dance-off. I picked it up– thought it might be useful for you.' She handed the key to Flora and walked off, arm in arm with Lola, leaving the four friends slack-jawed and gobsmacked. After a moment of stunned silence, Flora snapped. 'Quick– split up, guys!' she shouted. 'Wogan! Take the key and go with Mohsen to check the animals are safe! Charlie, you come with me and let's stop Dylan showing the video!' Wogan and Mohsen raced off, and Charlie and Flora plunged into the hall. But despite frantic searching, they couldn't find Dylan anywhere. The flashing lights and dancing crowds didn't make their job any easier. Five fruitless minutes later, they stood in the middle of the dance floor in despair. 'I'm done for,' Charlie shouted over the music. 'He's won.' Flora looked at Charlie, lost for words. Wogan and Mohsen suddenly ran up so fast, they nearly bowled them over like skittles.

“不管怎样!弗洛拉说，她最后不敢相信地瞪了沃根一眼。 “我们需要再次找到迪伦！”然后想办法进入地下室！”他们匆匆回到舞厅，但就在大厅外面，他们碰到了黛西和萝拉。 “啊!萝拉说。“你们都来了。 我们正在找你呢。“我们想你会想要这个，”黛西举起一把钥匙说。 “当迪伦做头转时，它从他的口袋里掉了出来。 你知道，在舞会上。 我把它捡起来的——我想它可能对你有用。”她把钥匙交给弗洛拉，然后和萝拉手挽着手走开了，留下四个朋友目瞪口呆。 一阵惊愕的沉默之后，弗洛拉厉声说。 “快——分头行动，伙计们！”她喊道。 “Wogan !拿着钥匙和莫森一起去检查动物们是否安全！查理，你跟我来，让我们阻止迪伦放视频！”沃根和莫森跑开了，查理和弗洛拉冲进了大厅。 但尽管他们疯狂地寻找，还是找不到迪伦。 闪烁的灯光和跳舞的人群并没有使他们的工作变得更容易。 五分钟没有结果，他们绝望地站在舞池中央。 “我完了，”查理在音乐声中喊道。 “他是赢了。”弗洛拉看着查理，不知该说什么好。 沃根和莫森突然跑得飞快，几乎把他们像彩虹糖一样打翻在地。