47 The Chase

47 The Chase Several of the people nearby stopped walking and turned to face the children. "Er, Peanut..." said Rockwell quietly. "What do we do now?" Without hesitating, Peanut reached inside her cardigan and pulled the two-inch paintbrush and the thinnest marker pen from the bandolier. The crowd, seeing the illegal art materials, stepped back slightly. Quick as a flash, Peanut drew eight small circles in two rows of four on the floor. She then painted a thick black bar, big enough for the three children to stand on, across the top of them and drew a vertical line with a T-bar coming up and out of one end of it. "Rockwell, pick up Doodle. Everyone, jump on! Hold

47 追逐 附近不少行人停下脚步，转过身看向几个孩子。 “呃，花生……”洛克威尔轻声说。 “我们现在该怎么办？” 花生毫不犹豫，伸手进开衫，从弹带里摸出两英寸长的画笔和最细的记号笔。 人群看到这些违禁画材，稍稍往后退了几步。 花生快如闪电，在地上画了八个小圆圈，排成两排，每排四个。 接着她在圆圈上方画了一条粗黑杠，宽度够三个孩子站上去，又在一端画了一条竖线，顶端伸出一个横杠。 “洛克威尔，抱上嘟嘟。 大家快跳上来！ 抓好

tight!" yelled Peanut, before kicking off and zooming down the pavement. The makeshift scooter was surprisingly responsive, and Peanut was able to weave her way through the pedestrians with relative ease, despite a myriad of speech bubbles saying things like "CAREFUL!" and "WATCH OUT!" blocking her vision. She looked over her shoulder to see the police car full of bulldogs with its light flashing and the siren on. It was gaining on them. It's no use! They're going to catch us!" shouted Peanut. "There's nothing else for it, we're going to have to split up!" "What do you mean, "split up"?" replied Rockwell. I mean we're going to have to go in different directions. Peanut, in case you'd forgotten, we're all standing on the same scooter. Remember? The one you just painted!"

站稳了！” 花生大喊一声，随即一蹬脚，沿着人行道飞速滑了出去。 这辆临时画的滑板车格外灵活，尽管满屏写着“小心！”“当心！”的提示气泡挡住了视线，花生还是能比较轻松地在行人中穿梭。 她回头一看，那辆坐满斗牛犬警察的警车正亮着灯、拉着警笛追过来。 警车离他们越来越近了。 没用了！ 他们就要抓到我们了！”花生大喊道。 “没别的办法了，我们必须分开跑！” “你说‘分开跑’是什么意思？”洛克威尔回答。 我说我们得往不同方向跑呀。 花生，你该不会忘了，我们全都站在同一辆滑板车上。 还记得吗？ 就是你刚画的那辆呀！”

"THIS IS THE POLICE! PULL OVER!" The bulldogs were now within a few metres of them. "Little-Bit, can you reach the yellow pencil in my bandolier?" "I-I think so. "She let go of Peanut's waist with one hand and managed to reach inside her cardigan with the other. "Got it!" Right. Now, I want you to carefully turn around and sit down. Do it slowly. You can lean back on to my legs for stability." "OK. I'll try." She turned around and sat down. Great!" Peanut swerved to avoid a woman walking several miniature llamas on different-coloured leads. "Careful!" shouted Rockwell. Remember some of us are holding dogs!" Right. Now, LB, I want you to take the pencil, turn it around and rub out a section of the footplate. A straight line right across the middle of it. But... won't that break it?" "That's what I'm hoping!" She darted in between a tiger in a pinstripe suit and a woman eating some candyfloss. "Rockwell, you like skateboarding, right?" swell, yes. But "IF YOU DO NOT STOP, WE WILL BE FORCED TO SHOOT!" The police car was driving on the pavement now about five metres behind them.

“我们是警察！ 靠边停下！” 斗牛犬警察现在离他们只剩几米远了。 “小不点，你够得到我弹带里的黄色铅笔吗？” “我、我应该可以。 她一只手松开花生的腰，另一只手成功伸进了花生的开衫里。 “拿到了！” 好的。 现在，你慢慢转过身坐下来。 动作放轻柔点。 你可以靠在我腿上保持平衡。” “好的。 我试试。” 她转过身坐好了。 太棒了！” 花生猛打方向躲开一个牵着几只迷你美洲驼的女人，那些羊驼都拴着不同颜色的牵引绳。 “小心！”洛克威尔大喊。 别忘了我们这边还有人抱着小狗呢！” 好的。 好了，小不点，你拿着铅笔，转过来，把脚踏板中间擦掉一块。 顺着中间横擦一条直直的线。 可是……那样滑板不就断了吗？” “我就是希望它断呀！” 她从一个穿细条纹西装的老虎和一个吃棉花糖的女人中间穿了过去。 “洛克威尔，你喜欢玩滑板，对不对？嗯，对啊，但是 “再不停下我们就开枪了！” 警车现在开上了人行道，就在他们身后五米左右的地方。

Do it, LB! Do it now!" The little girl flipped the pencil and rubbed in a straight line as hard as she could across the middle of the footplate. The scooter split in two. "WHOOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!" Rockwell, with Doodle in his arms, suddenly veered sharply to the right and disappeared down an alleyway in between two doughnut shops. At the same time, Peanut and Little-Bit swerved left, straight into the road. The police bulldogs were, understandably, confused. Two of them turned their heads to the left, following Peanut, and the other two followed Rockwell as he went right. Unfortunately for them, no one was looking straight ahead. They were heading, rather rapidly, towards a three-metre-tall model of a chocolate doughnut, covered with sprinkles and painted with the words "STOP HERE FOR THE BEST CHOCOLATE RING ON THE STRIP'. The crash was spectacular!

动手啊，小不点！ 现在就动手！” 小女孩把铅笔翻过来，用尽全身力气在脚踏板中间擦出一条直线。 滑板车裂成了两半。 “哇啊啊啊啊啊啊啊！” 洛克威尔抱着嘟嘟，突然猛拐向右，消失在两家甜甜圈店之间的小巷里。 与此同时，花生和小不点猛拐向左，径直冲上了马路。 不难理解，斗牛犬警察们这下彻底懵了。 两个转头向左追花生，另外两个跟着洛克威尔往右追。 可倒霉的是，没有人看向前方。 他们正飞速冲向一个三米高的巧克力甜甜圈模型，模型上满是糖屑，还写着“想要街区最好吃的巧克力圈，就停这儿”。 这次撞击可太壮观了！

Meanwhile, Peanut tried desperately to avoid the cars in the road. Luckily, there was a traffic jam, but that didn't stop the many spiky BEEP! speech bubbles. After a minute or so she managed to steer back on to the pavement and bring the scooter to a stop next to a bright red kiosk in the shape of an apple. The sign above said: "CUTE FRUIT'. Ten seconds later, Rockwell, holding Doodle in his arms, skated out from between a sushi restaurant and a launderette a few doors down the road. His head and shoulders were covered in something brown and gooey. Doodle was miraculously untouched, "You took your time!" Peanut laughed. "What happened?" "We had a small incident with a vat of chilli," replied Rockwell. "No biggie. I'm fine." He wiped his brow. "Anyone else feeling a bit... hot?" Little-Bit, still holding the pencil, sketched a glass of water and handed it to him, before giving Little Tail back to Peanut. "Thanks," he said, drinking deeply. "So, where are we now?"

与此同时，花生拼命躲开马路上的汽车。 幸好遇上了堵车，但挡不住满屏刺耳的“哔——！” 提示气泡。 过了一分钟左右，她成功把滑板开回人行道，停在一个亮红色苹果造型的售货亭旁。 售货亭上方的牌子写着：“可爱水果店”。 十秒钟后，洛克威尔抱着嘟嘟，从沿路几家店外的寿司店和洗衣店之间滑了出来。 他的头和肩膀沾满了黏糊糊的棕色东西。 嘟嘟奇迹般地毫发无损，“你可真慢！” 花生笑了。 “发生什么事了？” “我们不小心碰了一大桶辣椒酱，”洛克威尔回答。 “没什么大不了的。 我没事。” 他擦了擦额头。 “有没有人觉得有点……热？” 小不点还拿着铅笔，她画了一杯水递给洛克威尔，再把小尾巴还给花生。 “谢谢，”他说完大口喝了起来。 “所以，我们现在在哪儿？”