5 The Disappearance

5 The Disappearance It had been baffling when Dad had left. Peanut, her mum, her brother and her sister had all been to visit Auntie Jean. Dad had decided to stay at home and finish a particularly tricky painting of a sausage dog playing the violin. "You lot leave me to it," he'd said, "To be honest, I don't particularly feel the need to be told what Jean's friend Jackie's brother's boss's aunt's plumber's sister's dog has been up to in the local park. I'm happy for you to fill me in on the details when you get home." When they'd got home, however, all they'd found was a note on the dining table. Straight away, Peanut's older brother Leo had tried to

5 离奇失踪 爸爸的离开让大家一头雾水。 花生和妈妈、哥哥、姐姐一起去看望琼阿姨。 爸爸决定留在家，完成一幅很难画的画：一只拉小提琴的腊肠狗。 “你们去吧，这儿交给我，”他说，“说实话，我真不想听你们说琼阿姨朋友杰基哥哥老板的姨妈家水管工妹妹的狗，最近在公园干了啥。 你们回家再跟我说细节就好啦。” 可等他们回到家，只在餐桌上发现了一张纸条。 花生的哥哥利奥立刻试着

call him, but when he'd rung Dad's phone, Mum had found it buzzing away in the hallway. She'd then got in touch with everybody she could think of: his friends; Granny; Uncle Ed; but no one had seen or heard anything of Dad. Everyone agreed that it was very out of character, and not one person had seen anything to indicate that this was something he'd been planning. It was all very strange. Peanut had known straight away that it didn't add up. Firstly, Dad had seemed perfectly happy when they'd left that morning. He'd even joked about how boring it would be at Auntie Jean's! Secondly, why would he leave forever and not take anything (except his passport that was missing) with him? Surely, he would've at least grabbed his phone, his wallet and a change of clothes? It didn't make any sense.

给爸爸打电话，可拨通号码后，妈妈发现爸爸的手机就在玄关嗡嗡震着。 接着她联系了所有能想到的人：爸爸的朋友、奶奶、埃德叔叔，可没人见过爸爸，也没听到他的消息。 大家都说这完全不像爸爸会做的事，没人发现爸爸之前有预谋出走的迹象。 整件事都透着古怪。 花生一下子就觉得这事说不通。 首先，那天早上他们出门的时候，爸爸明明心情好得很。 他还开玩笑说去琼阿姨家肯定无聊透顶！ 其次，他怎么会一声不响走掉，除了不见的护照，什么都不带呢？ 他至少总该带上手机、钱包和换洗衣物吧？ 这完全说不通啊。

But more than anything, she just didn't believe he would leave them like that. Not without explaining why. Not without saying goodbye. He was such a great dad— always interested in what his kids were up to, always happy to talk through any problems, always putting on silly voices and telling terrible dad jokes. Also, as far as she could tell, he and Mum were really happy. They held hands at every opportunity, and hardly ever argued about whose turn it was to put the bins out, unlike Mr and Mrs Herbert from next door. Initially, Mum must have felt the same way, because that evening she'd called the police. Peanut heard her tell them over the phone that, yes, he had been acting slightly strangely for the last couple of months. He'd seemed a bit preoccupied with something and had taken to nipping out for an hour or two without telling her where he was going. She'd told them that she'd assumed it was because Dad hadn't sold a painting for a long time and he'd felt a bit down about it. After a day or so of investigating, a police check with passport control revealed that he had boarded a flight to Mexico on the day of his disappearance. The police had told Mum that, in their opinion, there was no suspicion of any foul play, and it seemed to be a simple case of someone running away from his responsibilities. Dad would get in contact with them when he was ready, they'd said.

但最重要的是，花生不相信爸爸会就这样抛下他们。 不会不解释一句原因就走的。 不会不道别就离开的。 他是个超好的爸爸——永远关心孩子们在做什么，乐意帮我们解决任何问题，还总捏着嗓子搞怪，讲冷得要命的老爸笑话。 而且，在花生看来，爸爸和妈妈感情一直很好。 他们一有空就牵着手，几乎从来不会像隔壁赫伯特夫妇那样，争论该谁扔垃圾。 最开始妈妈肯定也是这么想的，所以那天晚上她报了警。 花生听到妈妈在电话里说，没错，最近几个月爸爸确实有点不对劲。 他好像总在想什么心事，还经常突然出门一两个小时，不说自己去哪儿。 妈妈告诉警察，她本来以为是爸爸好久没卖出画，心情有点低落。 调查了一天左右，警方出入境检查发现，爸爸在失踪当天登上了飞往墨西哥的航班。 警方告诉妈妈，他们认为不存在刑事案件，这看起来就是一个男人逃避责任的简单案子。 他们说，等爸爸准备好了自然会联系家人。

And, apparently, they were right. Two days later, Mum received this postcard from Mexico City: I AM FINE. PLEASE DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME. THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO IS TO FORGET I EVER EXISTED. That was the moment that Mum switched from feeling worried to feeling angry. Very angry. "How could he do this to us? So selfish!" She shook her head. "How could I not have noticed that something was wrong? I know I've been working a lot lately, but still Peanut wasn't having it. She'd been certain that there was something fishy going on. For a start, why would he travel all the way to Mexico without any money? Also, it was obvious to her that the handwriting on the note wasn't quite right. Dad never wrote in capital letters. Surely this was enough evidence to arouse at least a tiny bit of suspicion? Why weren't the police and, more importantly, Mum doing more to find him?

显然，他们说对了。 两天后，妈妈收到了这张从墨西哥城寄来的明信片：我很好。 请不要担心我。 你最好就当我从来没有存在过。 就在这一刻，妈妈从担心变成了愤怒。 怒不可遏。 “他怎么能这么对我们？ 太自私了！” 她摇着头。 “我怎么会没发现不对劲呢？ 我知道我最近工作太忙了，但还是……”花生不认同这套说法。 花生敢肯定这里面有猫腻。 首先，他一分钱都没带，怎么可能千里迢迢跑到墨西哥去？ 还有，她一眼就看出明信片上的字迹不对。 爸爸从来不用全大写写字。 这总该足够引起哪怕一点点怀疑了吧？ 为什么警方，更重要的是妈妈，不多做点事去找爸爸呢？

"In the last forty-eight hours I've learned a lot about your father," Mum had explained to Peanut and Leo, after she'd put their sister to bed. "Yesterday, I went through the browser history on his laptop and it's quite obvious that he's been planning this for months. Look. She'd shown them several web pages with headlines like How to start a new life and Ten signs that it's time to leave your wife and family. "NO!" Peanut had shouted. "That's just not true. He wouldn't. Not Dad!" At that point, Leo had left the room without saying a word and disappeared upstairs. "Face it, Peanut," said Mum sadly. "Your father just isn't the person we thought he was. We've all been living a lie for months, maybe even years. "Well, I don't believe it." Peanut was crying by then. "My dad would never, EVER leave us. He just wouldn't! We need to find him. Oh sweetheart, I don't know what to think any more, Mum had said, pulling Peanut in for a cuddle. "I really don't. Two months passed with no word from Dad, and each week Mum's anger levels had gone up a notch. Then, one day, she'd

“过去这四十八小时，我搞清楚了好多关于你爸爸的事，” 妈妈哄睡妹妹后，对皮纳特和里奥说道。 “昨天我查了他笔记本电脑的浏览记录，很明显，他筹划这件事已经好几个月了。 你看。 她给他们看了好几个网页，标题都是《如何开启新生活》《该离开妻子和家庭的十个信号》这类。 “不！” 皮纳特大喊。 “这根本不是真的。 他才不会这么做。 爸爸才不会！” 就在这时，里奥一言不发地走出房间，转身上楼不见了。 “面对现实吧，皮纳特，”妈妈难过地说。 “你爸爸早就不是我们当初认识的那个样子了。 我们所有人都活在谎言里好几个月了，搞不好都好几年了。 “哼，我才不信。” 这时候皮纳特已经哭了。 “我爸爸永远、永远都不会离开我们。 他才不会呢！ 我们必须找到他。 哦宝贝，我现在也不知道该怎么想了，妈妈一边说，一边把皮纳特拉进怀里抱住。 “我真的不知道。” 两个月过去了，爸爸还是杳无音信，妈妈的怒火每周都往上添一分。 后来，有一天，她

decided to put all of Dad's painting paraphernalia in the shed. "Time to get rid of this rubbish!" she'd said. "He's obviously not coming back. We might as well make proper use of the conservatory. Another few months went by before Mum had dropped the bombshell. "Peanut, I've decided to take you out of Melody High and send you to St Hubert's. "What? Why?!" Peanut had shouted. Her school was the one thing that had kept her going through the trauma of Dad disappearing. "I love it at Melody and I'm doing really well. My art teacher says I'm starting to show some real promise. Drawing and painting are all well and good, Peanut, snapped Mum. "It's a nice thing to do as a hobby, but you can't make a career out of it. Look at your dad. All that creativity ruined him. It sucked the ambition and the drive out of him. In the end, he had absolutely no get up and go. Well, not until he got up and went, at least. "But Mum. "Look, people at work tell me that they've heard good things about St Hubert's maths department," said Mum, looking determined. "And the science faculty is second to none in terms of results. That's the area you should be concentrating on. "That's so unfair! What about Leo?"

决定把爸爸所有画画的家当都搬进储物棚。 “是时候把这些破烂清走了！” 她说道。 “他肯定不会回来了。 我们还不如好好利用这间阳光房。 又过了好几个月，妈妈才扔出这个重磅消息。 “皮纳特，我决定把你从旋律高中转去圣于贝尔学校读书。” “什么？为什么？！” 皮纳特大喊。 爸爸失踪后，学校是唯一支撑她撑过痛苦的事了。 “我超喜欢旋律高中，我在这里学得也很好。 我的美术老师说，我已经开始展现出真正的天赋了。 画画玩玩挺好的，皮纳特，妈妈厉声说。 “当个爱好不错，但你不能靠这个谋生啊。 看看你爸爸。 满脑子的创造力毁了他。 把他的野心和冲劲全都吸光了。 到最后，他一点上进心都没有了。 哼，要说干劲，他最后倒是攒够了，起身走掉了。 “可是妈妈。 “你听我说，我同事都说圣于贝尔的数学系口碑很好，”妈妈一脸坚定地说。 “而且理科部的成绩是整个地区数一数二的。 这才是你应该专心努力的方向。 “这太不公平了！ 那里奥呢？”