Chapter 8

8 The Fattening Room 'You need to help me unlock the cages,' Fienne said. 'Will you accept this mission, Skipper?' I stood tall and puffed out my chest feathers. I realised I could help. I'd seen the keys to the birdcages near the cookbooks. 'I think I know where the keys are.' Fienne grabbed me. 'Where?' I looked around the room at the terrified pigeons. 'I will rescue you, Pigeon's Promise,' I called up to the crowd of imprisoned birds. 'But I need to help my friend first.'

“你得帮我打开笼子，”费恩尼说。 “你愿意接受这个任务吗，船长？”我站得高高的，吹起胸口的羽毛。 我意识到我能帮上忙。我看到了食谱旁边的鸟笼钥匙。 “我想我知道钥匙在哪儿。”费安抓住了我。 “在哪里?”我环顾房间四周，看着惊恐的鸽子。 “我会救你的，鸽子的诺言。”我向那群被囚禁的鸟儿喊道。 “但我得先帮我的朋友。”

I turned back to Fienne. 'If you help me save Dave, I'll get you the keys.' Fienne nodded. 'Let's go.' Swan listened out for Reginald Grimster, who was now in the garden, talking to someone again on his phone. She waved her wing, giving us the signal to leave. Me and Fienne swooped down the stairs, straight to the fattening room. 'So you're back?' Dave said, smirking as he spotted me. 'Dave, this is important,' I said. 'You are in serious danger. Reginald Grimster plans to turn you into pigeon nuggets, and he's going to eat you!' 'WHAT?!' 'It's true, Dave. You have to believe me.'

我转身对着费安。“如果你帮我救戴夫，我就给你钥匙。”Fienne点点头。 “我们走吧。”斯旺留心听着雷金纳德·格里姆斯特的声音，他现在正在花园里，又在用电话和别人说话。 她挥动翅膀，示意我们离开。 我和费恩冲下楼梯，直奔育肥室。 “那么你回来了？”戴夫看见我，得意地笑着说。 “戴夫，这很重要，”我说。 “你的处境很危险。 雷金纳德·格里姆斯特打算把你们变成鸽子块，然后吃掉你们！“什么? !“是真的，戴夫。” 你必须相信我。”

'Why would a Human want to eat a pigeon?' asked Dave, raising his eyes to the ceiling. 'This is the most catbrained thing you've ever said.' 'I found a room full of trapped pigeons!' I shrieked, shaking my disbelieving friend by the shoulders. 'Where's this room? Where are all these pigeons?' Dave scoffed. 'Show me proof.' Fienne stepped out from behind me. Who is that?' Dave said, shielding as much birdseed from Fienne as he could. 'He's Fienne,' I said.

“为什么人类要吃鸽子呢？”戴夫抬起眼睛望着天花板问道。 “这是你说过的最愚蠢的话。“我发现了一屋子被困住的鸽子！”我尖叫着，摇着我那不信的朋友的肩膀。 “这个房间在哪儿？”这些鸽子都到哪儿去了？”戴夫嘲笑。 “给我看证据。”费恩从我身后走了出来。 那是谁？”戴夫一边说，一边尽可能多地挡住费恩吃的鸟食。 “他是费安，”我说。

'I don't care how he is,' Dave said. 'Who is he?' 'Fienne,' I cried. 'He's Fienne!' 'Yes. But who is he?' 'For Pigeon's sake,' Fienne interrupted. 'My name is Fienne. It's spelled F-I-E-N- N-E.' 'Ah,' Dave said. 'Why didn't you just say that?' 'None of that matters,' I cried, flapping my wings in Dave's face. 'You need to listen to him.' What Skipper said was correct,' said Fienne. 'Reginald Grimster is evil.' 'Don't be ridiculous,' Dave said. 'Just now he came through and complimented me on my plump bottom.'

“我不在乎他怎么样，”戴夫说。 “他是谁？”“费安，”我叫道。 “他是Fienne !“是的。但他是谁？“看在鸽子的份上，”费恩打断他说。 “我叫费安。它的拼写是F-I-E-N- N-E。“啊，”戴夫说。 “你为什么不直接说呢？”“这些都不重要，”我哭着，在戴夫的脸上拍打着翅膀。 “你得听他的。”“船长说得对。”费安说。 “雷金纳德·格里姆斯特是邪恶的。“别傻了，”戴夫说。 “刚才他走过来，夸我屁股丰满。”

'I found a chicken nugget recipe,' I hissed, waving the paper at Dave. 'Thank Pigeon,' Dave said, laughing. 'It's a chicken nugget recipe, Skipper. Not pigeon nugget. You can't make chicken nuggets from a pigeon.' 'He can!' 'Chicken nuggets have to be made from chickens. Not pigeons.' Dave shook his head. 'Otherwise they don't have that succulent chickeny flavour.' 'But didn't you say in the last book that pigeons taste like chicken?' 'Did I?' 'You did.' Dave stopped. His eyes widened. 'There's only one thing we can do then.'

“我找到了一个鸡块的配方，”我低声说，向戴夫挥舞着那张纸。 “谢谢鸽子，”戴夫笑着说。 “这是鸡块食谱，船长。 不是鸽子块。你不能用鸽子做鸡块。“他能！”鸡块必须是用鸡做的。 不是鸽子。”戴夫摇了摇头。 否则就没有多汁的鸡肉味了。“可是你在上一本书里不是说过鸽子吃起来像鸡肉吗？”“是吗？”“是的。”戴夫停了下来。 他睁大了眼睛。“那我们只能做一件事了。”

'Exactly,' I screeched. 'We need to get out of here-' 'And find a bookshop, get the book, come straight back here before we miss the late- afternoon feeding, and then read exactly what I said about pigeons tasting like chicken.' 'Dave! We don't have time for that.' 'How sure was I about us tasting like chicken?' he said, the feathers above his eyes furrowing. 'Very sure.' Dave looked from me to Fienne and back to me again. The deep grey of his face started to pale.

“没错，”我尖叫道。“我们得离开这儿——”“找一家书店，把书买回来，在我们错过下午晚些时候的喂食之前直接回来，然后仔细读我说过的鸽子尝起来像鸡肉的那句话。“戴夫!我们没时间了。“我有多肯定我们吃起来像鸡肉？”他说，眼睛上方的羽毛皱了起来。 “非常确定”。戴夫看看我，看看费安，又看看我。 他那深灰色的脸开始变得苍白。