10 Dinner, Interrupted

10 Dinner, Interrupted So, why did you do it? asked Mum in between a mouthful of shepherd's pie and a glug of red wine. "Why did I do what?" said Peanut. "Why did you deliberately do something that would put you in detention? That's your fourth in three weeks. Oh, that. Well, basically, I keep getting detentions because... ALL OF THE TEACHERS AT ST HUBERT'S ARE ABSOLUTE IDIOTS!" Peanut felt herself getting cross at the mere thought of Death Breath. Don't raise your voice at me, young lady. I think it's about time you grew up, that's what I think. You can't go around drawing vampire zombies in your exercise books. You're not seven years old!"

10 被打断的晚餐 好了，你为什么要这么做？ 妈妈咬了一口牧羊人派，喝了一口红酒，开口问道。 “我做什么了呀？”皮娜说道。 “你为什么故意做那种会惹来留堂处分的事？ 这已经是你三周里第四次留堂了。 哦，那件事啊。 嗯，说白了，我一直被留堂都是因为…… “圣休伯特所有的老师全都是彻头彻尾的傻瓜！” 皮娜光是想到那个外号“死神气息”的老师，就忍不住一肚子火气。 别对着我大吼大叫，小姑娘。 我觉得你该长大了，我就是这么认为的。 你不能总在练习本里画吸血鬼僵尸啊。 你早就不是七岁小孩了！

"First, I am pretty grown-up, actually. Second, it wasn't a vampire zombie, it was a vampire unicorn. And third, why don't you just leave me alone?" I agree with Peanut," said Little-Bit without looking up from her plate of Dino Bites. "Nobody asked you," snapped Mum. "Peanut, I know you have yet to find your feet at St Hubert's, but I expect you to at least put some effort in. Why don't you try to make some friends? That'd be a start, at least. A phone started to ring. Mum jumped up from her chair and rummaged through her handbag. "Oh, where is it? Ah, here we go." She slid her finger across the screen. "Hello...? Oh, hi, Milton." She was talking in that strange voice that Peanut didn't recognise. "Is this about the Globetown report? Is there something else I need to include? Oh... Oh, I see. Right. Well, er, that would be. lovely. Yes, yes, six thirty tomorrow evening is fine. Yes. Thank you. I'll, er, I'll see you in the morning. OK then. Goodnight. Peanut eyed her mum suspiciously. "Please tell me that what just happened isn't what I think just happened," she said, a bead of sweat appearing on her forehead. "Well, that depends on what you think happened, doesn't it? Eat your dinner, Peanut. "Oh, it's "Peanut" again, is it? Not Pernilla? I wonder what you'll refer to me as tomorrow night on your date

“首先呀，我其实已经很成熟了。 其次，那不是吸血鬼僵尸，是吸血鬼独角兽。 第三，你能不能别管我了？” “我同意皮娜的话，”小丽特头都没抬，盯着自己盘子里的恐龙鸡块说道。 “没人问你意见，”妈妈厉声说道。 “皮娜，我知道你还没适应圣休伯特的生活，但我至少希望你用点心啊。 你为什么不试着交几个朋友呢？ 至少这也算是个好开始呀。 这时有手机响了起来。 妈妈从椅子上跳起来，在手提包里翻找起来。 “哎呀，我的手机在哪呢？ 啊，找到了。” 她用手指滑了一下手机屏幕。 “喂……？ 哦，你好啊，米尔顿。” 她说话的语气怪怪的，皮娜从来没听过她用这种声音说话。 你是说全球镇那份报告吗？ 还有什么我需要补充进去的内容吗？ 哦…… 哦，我明白了。 好的。 嗯，那，这样的话，那会 很不错。 好的好的，明晚六点半没问题。 好的。 谢谢你。 我，嗯，我们明天早上见。 那就这样， 晚安。 皮娜狐疑地打量着妈妈。 “拜托告诉我，刚才发生的事不是我想的那样，”她说道，额头上都冒出了一滴汗珠。 “咳，这要看你觉得发生了什么，对不对？ 快吃你的饭，皮娜。 “哦，又改口叫我‘皮娜’了是吗？ 不叫佩妮拉了？ 我都好奇明天晚上你约会的时候，会怎么称呼我呢

with Mr Stoneyface Greasyboy!" "That's enough! Milton has simply invited me to dinner tomorrow night to discuss my career path." Mum's face flushed. "There's nothing more to it than that. Leo, will you be able to look after your sisters after the childminder goes home?" "I guess," said Leo, shrugging and avoiding eye contact with his mother. They were the first words he'd spoken since they'd been at the table. "OK!" shouted Peanut. "Stop the world, I'm getting off!" "Pardon?" said Mum. Have you totally forgotten about Dad? I cannot believe you are going to pretend he never existed and start going out with that horrible man! If Dad was here "Well Dad's not here, is he?" said Mum icily. "No. He's probably been kidnapped and is being held against his will in some awful dungeon somewhere. Meanwhile, you are totally ignoring it and going out on dates!" "He has not been kidnapped, Peanut. He left us. He wrote months ago to tell us that he'd left us." "He would never do that! You know he'd never do that!" Peanut's voice was cracking. "You know what? I've just about had enough of answering to a twelve-year-old child. If you don't like it then you can just... go to your room. Oh, don't worry. I'm going!"

跟那个石头脸油腔男出去约会呀！” “够了！ 米尔顿只是邀请我明晚一起吃饭，聊聊我的职业发展。” 妈妈的脸一下子涨红了。 “这事就这么简单，没别的。 里奥，保姆回家之后，你能照顾好你的妹妹们吗？” “大概吧，”里奥说道，耸了耸肩，不敢和妈妈对视。 这是他们上桌吃饭以来，他说的第一句话。 “行了！”皮娜大喊道。 “别再说了，我受够了，我不干了！” “你说什么？”妈妈说道。 你完全把爸爸忘了对不对？ 我真不敢相信，你居然假装他从没存在过，还要跟那个讨厌的男人约会！ 要是爸爸在这儿…… “哼，爸爸又不在这儿，对不对？”妈妈冷冰冰地说道。 “没错。 他肯定是被绑架了，被人关在某个可怕的地牢里，根本没办法自己回来。 可你呢，你完全不当回事，还出去约会！” “他没有被绑架，皮娜。 他离开我们了。 几个月前他就写信告诉我们，他离开我们了。” “他绝对不会这么做！ 你知道他绝对不会这么做的！” 皮娜的声音已经哽咽了。 “你知道吗？ 我已经受够了被一个十二岁的小孩指责了。 你要是看不惯，那就回你自己房间去。 哼，你别担心， 我这就走！”

Peanut stomped out of the dining room, making as much noise with her feet on the stairs as she possibly could. She ran into her bedroom, slammed the door shut behind her and dived on to the bed.

皮娜跺着脚走出餐厅，故意把楼梯踩得咚咚响，弄出好大动静。 她冲进自己的卧室，“砰”地一声带上门，一头扑到了床上。

She lay still, breathing deeply as her heart rate gradually slowed and returned to normal. After a few minutes, she rolled across her duvet and reached out to her bedside table for the wooden box full of Post-it notes. She slowly ran her

她静静地躺着，大口呼吸，心率慢慢降了下来，恢复了正常。 几分钟之后，她翻过被子，伸手够向床头柜，去拿那个装满便利贴的木盒子。 她慢慢地伸出

fingers over the letters carved into the lid before she opened it. Looking at the pictures Dad had drawn over the years was always comforting. It made Peanut feel as if he were nearby. He might have written the words "Love you forever x" on more than 2,000 drawings, but she never tired of reading them. "I love you too, Dad," she whispered. "I'm going to find you. I promise. She tipped all of the notes on to her bed and spread them out on the duvet. Mickey Mouse, Paddington Bear, that cute scribbly dog, and hundreds of other familiar faces stared back at her. As Peanut reached over to grab a particularly intricate mini-version of a painting called The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, she knocked the empty box with her elbow, and it crashed to the floor. A shout came from downstairs: "If you know what's good for you, you'll stop throwing things around your room, young lady!" Peanut sighed and bent down to pick up the box. As she lifted it back on to the bed, she felt a slight movement within. She looked inside. There was nothing there. She shook it. There it was again. A very faint tapping sound. What could it be? She felt all around the interior, the long sides, the short Sides, the bottom. Ah. A bit of give. She tried to lever the edges. Nothing. Then she pushed the base with her fingers. Suddenly, something seemed to release, like a push-click cupboard door. It popped open.

打开盒子前，她先摩挲了一下盒盖上刻的字母 看看爸爸这么多年画的画，总能让她安心 这让花生觉得，爸爸仿佛就在她身边 两千多张画里，爸爸几乎都写了“永远爱你❤️”，可花生百看不厌 “我也爱你，爸爸，”她轻声说 “我一定会找到你 我保证。 她把所有画稿都倒在床上，摊在被子上 米老鼠、帕丁顿熊、那只乱涂出来的可爱小狗，还有上百张熟悉的脸庞都望着她 花生伸手去拿一幅做工格外精细的古斯塔夫·克里姆特名作《吻》的迷你画时，手肘撞到了空盒子，盒子“哐当”掉在了地上 楼下传来一声大喊：“小姑娘，你要是识相就别再在房间里乱扔东西了！” 花生叹了口气，弯腰去捡盒子 把盒子放回床上时，她感觉到盒子内部轻轻动了一下 她朝里面看去 里面什么都没有 她晃了晃盒子 那种动静又出现了 还有非常轻微的轻敲声 会是什么呢？ 她摸遍了盒子内壁，长侧壁、短侧壁、盒底都摸了一遍 啊 有一块有点松 她试着撬了撬边缘 没打开 接着她用手指推了推盒底 突然，有东西松开了，就像按弹式橱柜门那样 它一下子弹开了