23 The North Draw

23 The North Draw

23 北境洼地

Welcome... trumpeted Peanut, "...to The North Draw, Chroma!" They stood looking out over the undulating, snowy plains. "It's so beautiful," said Rockwell. "It certainly is," agreed Peanut. It looks just like She was interrupted by the sound of the door behind them opening and closing. They spun around to see Little-Bit standing there in her school uniform. "PEEEEEEAüAAANNNNNNNNUUUUTTTTTTTT!" She ran up to her sister and threw her arms around her. "Little-Bit! What are you doing here?" "I heard you talking about another world and that Daddy might be in it and I wanted to see it. To see him. Let me come With you. Pleeeeease. "We should take her back," said Rockwell. Little-Bit fixed Rockwell with a steely look over Peanut's shoulder. "Is he your boyfriend?" "No!" snapped Peanut. "He's my... He's my... study buddy." "I bet he wants to be your boyfriend.

欢迎……花生高声宣布：“……欢迎来到北境洼地，珂罗玛！” 他们站在这里眺望着起伏连绵的雪原。 “这儿太美了。”罗克韦尔说。 “确实很美。”花生赞同道。 它看起来就像——话没说完，他们身后的门就开了又关。 他们猛地转身，看到小比特穿着校服站在那儿。 “花——————生——————！” 她跑向姐姐，张开双臂抱住了她。 “小比特！ 你怎么会在这儿？” “我听到你说有另一个世界，爸爸可能就在那儿，我想来看看。 看看爸爸。 让我跟你们一起走吧。 拜——托——了。 “我们该把她送回去。”罗克韦尔说。 小比特从花生肩膀上方，冷冷地盯着罗克韦尔。 “他是你的男朋友吗？” “才不是！”花生急忙打断。 “他是我的…… 他是我的……学习搭档啦。” “我敢说他肯定想当你男朋友。

"I do not!" squeaked Rockwell, his voice at least three octaves higher than usual. "Peanut, I really think we should take her back right now. "I WANT TO STAY!" "He's right, LB." "Pleeeeease, Peanut. I won't stay for long. Just let me explore with you for a little while." "She might actually be able to help," said Peanut, looking at Rockwell. "She's the smartest five-year-old I've ever met. Of course she is." He shook his head slowly. "OK, Little-Bit," said Peanut, "You can stay for now. But only till we find Doodle's owners, then you have to go straight home. Rockwell looked heavenwards. Little-Bit stuck her tongue out at him over Peanut's shoulder. "So," said the little girl, "who's Doodle?" At that moment, a small dog exploded out of the group of trees just ahead of them and bounded towards Peanut. "This—" Peanut laughed—'is Doodle." He jumped into her arms and started licking her face. Aw, he's so cute!" Little-Bit giggled. "He is rather adorable," agreed Rockwell. And he appears a drawing. A living, breathing drawing. tobe... Before they had a chance to stroke him, he jumped from Peanut's arms, barked twice and

“我才没有！”罗克韦尔慌得小声叫起来，声音比平时高了至少三个八度。 “花生，我真觉得我们现在就得把她送回去。 “我就要留在这儿！” “他说得对，小比。” “求求你了，花生。 我不会待很久的。 就让我跟你们一起逛一小会儿嘛。” “她说不定真能帮上忙呢，”花生看着罗克韦尔说道。 “她是我见过最聪明的五岁小孩。 她当然很厉害呀。” 罗克韦尔慢慢摇了摇头。 “好吧，小比特，”花生说，“你可以暂时留下来。 但只能待到我们找到杜德尔的主人，之后你就得立刻回家。 罗克韦尔无奈地望向天空。 小比特在花生肩膀后面朝他吐了吐舌头。 “那么，”小女孩说，“杜德尔是谁呀？” 就在这时，一只小狗从前方的树林里窜出来，蹦跳着朝花生跑来。 “这呀——”花生笑了——“就是杜德尔。” 他跳进花生怀里，开始舔她的脸。 哇，他好可爱呀！” 小比特咯咯地笑了起来。 “他确实挺讨人喜欢的，”罗克韦尔赞同道。 而且他看起来像是一幅画。 一幅活的、会呼吸的画。 好……像…… 他们还没来得及摸他，他就从花生怀里跳出来，叫了两声，接着

turned several circles in front of her. He then sprinted off past the copse before stopping, looking back and barking again. "I think he wants us to follow him," said Rockwell. Hang on a second," said Peanut. I'm just going to rub the door out. We don't want anybody else following us, do we?" "Wait!" shouted Rockwell. "How can you be sure that a new door will take us back to your room and not some other kid's?" Peanut paused. He was right. "OK. Time for another one of your controlled tests," she said, before quickly drawing a new door next to the existing one. When she'd finished, she opened it and peeked through. "Yup. It's definitely my room. Rockwell nodded as she shut the door and proceeded to rub them both out with the pencil's eraser. When Peanut had finished, they started to walk towards the dog and, sure enough, when they got to within five metres of him, he ran ahead, turned to face them again, and barked. "Where are you taking us?" whispered Peanut. The dog led them across the valley, up the other Side, and around a small peak. As they turned the corner, they saw a thin plume of pencil-dust smoke coming from a tree stump on the side of the hill. Doodle ran towards it. As they got closer, they realised that the stump was actually

在她面前转了好几个圈。 接着他飞快冲过小树林，停下脚步转过身又叫了一声。 “我觉得他想让我们跟着他走，”罗克韦尔说。 “等一下哦，”花生说。 我要把原来的门擦掉。 我们可不想让别人跟着我们过来，对不对？” “等等！”罗克韦尔大喊。 “你怎么能确定新门会通向你的房间，而不是别的哪个孩子的房间呢？” 花生顿住了。 他说得没错。 “好吧。 那就再来一次你的可控测试吧，”她说完，飞快地在原有门的旁边画了一扇新门。 画完之后，她打开门往里面瞟了一眼。 “没错。 这肯定是我的房间。 她关上门，接着用铅笔橡皮把两扇门都擦掉，罗克韦尔点了点头。 花生擦完后，他们就朝着小狗走去，果然，他们走到离杜德尔五米以内的地方，他就往前跑，再转过身对着他们叫了一声。 “你要带我们去哪儿呀？”花生轻声问道。 小狗领着他们穿过山谷，爬上对面的山坡，绕过了一座小山峰。 他们转过拐角，看见一缕铅笔灰做的烟从山坡边的一个树桩里袅袅升了起来。 杜德尔朝着那边跑了过去。 他们走近才发现，那个树桩其实是

a small chimney. Next to it was a large, heavy- looking metal ring attached to a small backplate embedded in the snow. Doodle stood above it and barked three times. They heard the sound of approaching footsteps beneath the ground and then, to their surprise, a giant trapdoor opened in the snow. A woman's head appeared, her white hair piled up into a neat bun with two very old-looking pencils, one pink and one blue, sticking out of it. She smiled broadly. "Hello, young strangers!" she beamed. "What are you doing all the way out here? Quick! Come in, before they see you.

一个小烟囱。 烟囱旁边有个沉甸甸的大金属环，固定在嵌进雪里的一块小背板上。 杜德尔站在金属环上方，叫了三声。 他们听到地下传来越来越近的脚步声，接着，出乎他们意料的是，雪地里一扇大大的活板门打开了。 一个女人探出头来，她的白发盘成整齐的发髻，插着两支看起来很旧的铅笔，一支粉色一支蓝色。 她笑得十分开朗。 “你们好呀，陌生的小朋友们！” 她乐呵呵地说道。 “你们跑到这么远的地方来做什么呀？ 快点！ 进来吧，别让他们看见你们了。