54 Vincent Fields

54 Vincent Fields The beams from the rising sun cut through the green slats in shards, painting dramatic, stripy shadows across the three children. Little-Bit had been the first to wake. Now she hopped out of bed, stroked a stretching Doodle and opened the shutters. It was already a beautiful morning. The cornfields that they had walked across the night before were resplendent in a host of buttery yellows and golds, and the red road leading out of town cut through them like a hot knife. A murder of crows took off noisily from the fields, flocking in anticipation of an early morning hunt. "Peanut! Rockwell! Get up! It's morning. They breakfasted on fried eggs that Peanut painted as carefully as she could using her watercolours.

54 文森特田野 初升太阳的光束碎金般穿过绿色板条，在三个孩子身上投下了错落醒目的条纹阴影。 小不点是第一个醒过来的。 她立刻跳下床，摸了摸正伸懒腰的嘟嘟，打开了百叶窗。 这已经是个美妙的清晨了。 他们昨夜走过的玉米田，满是黄油般柔和的明黄与金色，灿烂极了，出城的红路像热刀切奶油一样从中穿过。 一群乌鸦呱呱叫着从田里飞起，凑成一群准备开启清晨的捕猎。 “花生！ “罗克韦尔！ “快起床！ “天亮啦。 他们的早餐是煎蛋，这是花生拼尽全力用水彩画出来的。

"They look great," said Rockwell, "They don't taste of fried eggs— more like some sort of mild goat's cheese— but they look great. After they'd eaten, they gathered their things and left the Yellow House. They walked down the deserted red road and back across the cornfields until they reached the curtain of poplar trees that marked the outskirts of the city. From there they turned right and followed the road. As they walked, the sun rose in the sky, causing the children to swelter underneath their straw hats. In contrast, the sunflowers filling the fields basked in the heat, turning their faces to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible. The children were very grateful for the temporary shade the trees provided and tried to linger there for as long as possible, but Doodle, seemingly oblivious to the heat, drove them on relentlessly, turning to bark whenever they stopped. As the sun reached its highest point, they sat underneath a blossoming almond tree, chatting while they ate some lunch (spray-painted hot cross buns that tasted vaguely of turnip). "So Peanut," said Little-Bit, her mouth full of turnipy bread, "which school do you think I'd like best when I'm older? Melody High or St Hubert's?"

“它们看起来真棒，”罗克韦尔说，“虽然吃起来不是煎蛋味——更像是某种温和的山羊奶酪——但样子真的很不错。 吃完饭后，他们收拾好东西，离开了黄房子。 他们沿着空无一人的红路往前走，再次穿过玉米田，走到了作为城市郊野边界的杨树林屏障前。 他们从那里右转，沿着路继续前进。 走着走着，太阳越升越高，孩子们戴着草帽都热得浑身冒汗。 反过来，田里满满的向日葵都舒舒服服在热浪里晒太阳，转过脸拼命吸收维生素D呢。 孩子们特别珍惜树下暂时的阴凉，想要尽可能多待一会儿，可嘟嘟好像一点都不觉得热，一个劲催他们往前走，只要停下就转过身子汪汪叫。 太阳升到最高点时，他们坐在开花的杏仁树下，边聊天边吃午饭——那是喷漆画出来的十字热面包，吃着隐约有点萝卜味。 “所以花生呀，”小不点嘴里塞满了萝卜味面包，问道，“你觉得我长大以后会最喜欢哪所学校呀？ 是梅洛迪高中还是圣休伯特学校？

"Melody High," said Peanut firmly. "Everyone loves it there and St Hubert's is like a kind of prison. "Oh, come on, Peanut," said Rockwell. "There must be something you like about St Hubert's. "Er... I like home time. "You know what I mean. Surely you've learned something interesting since you've been there?" "She's met you," chirped Little-Bit, causing two faces to redden. "I think she's pretty pleased about that!" "Be quiet and eat, LB!" snapped Peanut, but she didn't disagree with her little sister. "Well," continued Peanut, "I suppose the fact that you knew how to design that hang-glider was pretty cool. I wouldn't mind learning how to do something like that. "Yes! I knew it!" enthused Rockwell. "When we get back, I'll lend you this ace book I've got. It's called Aerospace Engineering and the Principles of Flight. Two thousand fun-packed pages of kinematics, dynamics and propulsion. You're going to love it!" Peanut and Little-Bit looked at each other and laughed. One more question," said Rockwell, suddenly looking a bit more serious. "What happens once we've rescued Mr M and your dad?" "Well, I guess we take Mr M back to Mrs M, and then we go home. Mum will be so pleased to see Dad when she realises that he didn't desert us after all. And everything will be OK

“当然是梅洛迪高中，”花生斩钉截铁地说。 所有人都喜欢那儿，圣休伯特就像一座监狱。 “哦，别这么说呀花生，”罗克韦尔说。 圣休伯特肯定有你喜欢的地方呀。 “呃……我喜欢放学回家的时候。 “你懂我意思的。 你去了那儿之后，肯定学到什么有意思的东西了对不对？” “她遇见你啦，”小不点叽叽喳喳说，说得两个人都红了脸。 “我觉得她可开心这件事呢！” “安静吃东西，小不点！” 花生凶了一句，但她并没有反驳小妹妹的话。 “好吧，”花生继续说，“我觉得你会设计悬挂式滑翔机这件事真的超酷。 我也想学点这样的本事。 “没错！ 我就知道！” 罗克韦尔兴奋地说。 “我们回去之后，我借你一本超棒的书。 书名是《航空工程与飞行原理》。 两千页满满的好玩内容，讲运动学、动力学还有推进力呢。 你肯定会喜欢它的！” 花生和小不点对视一眼，都笑了。 “还有一个问题，”罗克韦尔说，他突然变得严肃了一点。 “我们救出M先生和你爸爸之后，接下来要做什么呢？” “唔，我们把M先生送回M太太那里，然后回家呀。 妈妈知道爸爸根本没有抛弃我们，肯定会开心见到他的。 一切都会好起来

again. I'll go back to Melody H—" She stopped herself from finishing the sentence. Ah, yes, of course. You'll go back to Melody High Rockwell sighed— "and I'll be happy for you." He smiled. "I mean it. I'll miss you though. It's been cool having someone to hang out with, even if it is usually at a distance of five metres. Peanut had been so determined not to make any friends at St Hubert's that she hadn't ever considered why Rockwell had been so keen to be her study buddy in the first place. She suddenly realised it was because he was lonely. Rockwell was more than clever enough for St Hubert's, but he didn't fit in with the other kids any more than Peanut did. She smiled. Rockwell. We're friends now. That's not going to change, regardless of which schools we go to. Anyway, you never know. Maybe you'll decide to go to Melody High one day. I think you'd like it.

如常。 我会回去读梅洛迪——”她没把话说完，停住了。 啊，没错，当然了。 你会回去读梅洛迪高中的，罗克韦尔叹道——“我会为你开心的。” 他笑了笑。 “我是说真的。 不过我会想你的。 能有个人一起结伴真的很棒，哪怕我们通常都隔着五米远。 花生之前在圣休伯特打定主意不交朋友，她从来没想过，罗克韦尔一开始为什么那么想当她的学习伙伴。 她突然反应过来，那是因为他很孤单。 罗克韦尔足够聪明，配得上圣休伯特，但他和花生一样，都没法和其他孩子合得来。 她笑了。 罗克韦尔。 我们现在就是朋友了。 不管我们以后去哪所学校，这点都不会变。 而且呀，世事难料呢。 说不定哪天你也会决定来读梅洛迪高中呀。 我觉得你会喜欢那里的。