21 The Bandolier

21 The Bandolier Peanut woke at 6.59 a.m. and jumped straight out of bed. She had lain awake half the night formulating a plan and it was time to put it into action. She picked up her dressing gown from the floor and removed the thick cord from the belt loops. Then she dug out Granny's old sewing box, threaded a needle with some thick cotton and sewed the two ends of the cord together. Next, she cut several rectangles of differing sizes from the main body of the dressing gown, and stitched them on to the towelling loop. She then put her right arm through it and pulled the whole thing over her head, so that it hung down diagonally across her body like a bandolier. Finally, she loaded it up with a carefully chosen selection

21 挎弹带的小花生早上六点五十九醒来，立刻蹦下了床。 她半宿都醒着琢磨计划，现在终于到了行动的时候。 她从地上捡起睡袍，从腰带袢里抽出了那根粗绳。 接着她翻出奶奶的旧针线盒，穿好粗棉线，把绳子的两头缝在了一起。 接下来，她从睡袍衣身剪下好几块大小不一的长方形布片，缝在了那根绳圈上。 随后她把右臂穿进去，再把整个绳圈套过头，让它斜挎在身上，就像一条子弹带。 最后，她往里面装进了一批精心挑选的

of art materials: a big block of charcoal, three permanent markers of varying thicknesses, a brush pen, two paintbrushes, a small tin of watercolours, a can of spray paint and, of course, the yellow pencil. On the back, she attached four empty water bottles that she'd fished out of the recycling bin. Then she picked up the strip of passport photos of her and her dad, folded it in half and put it in the front pocket of her dungarees. She looked in the mirror and nodded. "OK. I'm ready." "PEANUT!" came a cry from downstairs. "I HAVE TO GO TO WORK EARLY. CAN YOU DROP LITTLE-BIT AT SCHOOL ON YOUR WAY TO ST HUBERT'S PLEASE? OH, AND YOUR FRIEND ROCKWELL IS HERE AGAIN." "OK, MUM. I'LL BE DOWN IN A SECOND." Quickly Peanut grabbed the sewing box, the scissors and what was left of the dressing gown and stuffed them all into her wardrobe. Just as she was pulling the bandolier off over her head, the door opened and Rockwell walked in. "Your mum said I could come up. Hope you don't mi— What is that?!" Peanut sighed. "OK, OK. There have been a few, um, developments. I think you'd better sit down." And for the third time in twenty-four hours, she told him everything.

画材：一大块木炭、三支粗细不同的油性马克笔、一支软头笔、两支画笔、一小罐水彩、一罐喷漆，当然，还有那支黄铅笔。 她在带子背面绑了四个空水瓶，都是她从回收箱里捡出来的。 接着她拿起印着她和爸爸的护照照片条，对折后塞进了背带裤的前口袋。 她对着镜子看了看，点了点头。 “好啦。 我准备好了。” “小花生！”楼下传来一声喊。 “我得提早去上班。 你去圣于贝尔的路上，能不能顺路送小比特去学校呀？ 哦对了，你的朋友罗克韦尔又来了。” “好的，妈妈。 我这就 马上下来。” 小花生飞快抓起针线盒、剪刀，还有睡袍剩下的部分，把它们全都塞进了衣柜。 她刚把子弹带从头上摘下来，门就开了，罗克韦尔走了进来。 “你妈妈说我可以上来。 希望你别介——这是什么东西？！” 小花生叹了口气。 “好了好了。 出了点，嗯，新状况。 我觉得你最好先坐下。” 于是，二十四小时之内第三次，她把所有事情都告诉了他。