9 Officially Nine

CHAPTER 9 Officially Nine I woke up in the middle of the night. "Mom?" I said. But Mom wasn't there. The chair beside my bed was empty. The big lights were off. There was light coming in through the window, and also from down the hall, so I could see a little bit around me. I could see Mom's purse on the chair, and the blanket scrunched up on the footstool. She wouldn't have left her purse if she

第九章 正式九岁啦 我半夜醒了过来。 “妈妈？”我喊了一声。 可是妈妈不在那儿。 我床边的椅子是空的。 大灯都关了。 有光从窗户照进来，还有走廊那头的亮光，所以我能勉强看清周围的东西。 我能看见妈妈的钱包放在椅子上，还有脚凳上揉成一团的毯子。 她要是打算丢下我走的话，

was leaving me. Maybe she was just in the bathroom. I started to count in my head as I waited for her. I counted all the way up to three hundred. It takes about three hundred seconds to count up to the number three hundred. That equals five minutes. What was taking Mom so long? I started to cry a little bit, but not too hard, because I heard footsteps coming closer, which meant Mom was coming back. "Where were you?" I started to say. But then I stopped myself, because it wasn't Mom who came around from the other side of the curtain. It was Camille. "Does your leg hurt?" she asked. "No," I said. "Oh," she said. "I heard you crying, so I thought maybe it was hurting you. I could call a nurse, if you want."

肯定不会落下钱包的。 说不定她只是去洗手间了。 我等她的时候，开始在心里数数。 我一直数到了三百。 数到三百大概要花三百秒。 也就是五分钟。 妈妈怎么去了这么久啊？ 我有点想哭，但没哭出声，因为我听见有脚步声越来越近，说明妈妈要回来了。 “你刚才去哪儿啦？” 我刚要开口问。 可我马上停住了，因为从帘子另一边走过来的不是妈妈。 是卡米尔。 “你腿疼吗？” 她问。 “不疼。”我说。 “哦。”她说道。 “我听见你在哭，还以为是腿疼得难受呢。 要是你需要的话，我可以叫护士过来。”

"It's okay," I said. I sniffled and wiped my eyes with my hand that didn't have the IV in it. "I just don't know where my mom went. I'm sorry if I woke you up." "Oh, don't worry. I was awake anyway," Camille said. "It's hard to sleep in here." "Yeah," I said. "It's okay when my mom is here—or my dad." "My dad has to be home at night for my sister," Camille said. "You have a sister?" "Yeah, her name is Lexi. She's three." "So you, your dad, and your sister live in California," I said. "Yup," Camille said. "And my mom lives in Pennsylvania, which is two thousand and eight hundred miles away. I looked it up." "I was supposed to take a plane to Penn- sylvania today," I said. "Tomorrow is my

“没关系的。”我说。 我抽了抽鼻子，用没插输液管的那只手擦了擦眼睛。 “我就是不知道我妈妈去哪儿了。 要是我把你吵醒了，真对不起。” “哎呀，别担心。 我本来就醒着。”卡米尔说。 “在这儿本来就很难睡着。” “是啊。”我说道， “我妈妈在的时候还好——我爸爸在也行。” “我爸爸晚上得回家陪我妹妹。”卡米尔说。 “你有妹妹呀？” “对呀，她叫莱克西。 才三岁。” “所以你、你爸爸还有你妹妹住在加利福尼亚对吧？”我说。 “没错。”卡米尔说。 “我妈妈住在宾夕法尼亚，离这儿有两千八百英里远呢。 我特意查过的。” “我本来今天要坐飞机去宾夕法尼亚的。”我说， “明天是我的

birthday, so that's why. I wonder if my friend Willa knows your mom." "Maybe," Camille said. "What's her name?" "Tabitha," Camille said. "Why?" "I'm going to ask Willa if she knows her," I said. "There are a lot of people who live there," Camille said. "I bet she doesn't." "Yeah," I said. "You're probably right." We were both quiet, and the quiet part

生日，所以才要去那儿。 不知道我的朋友薇拉认不认识你妈妈。” “说不定哦。”卡米尔说。 “她叫什么名字呀？” “塔比莎。”卡米尔说。 “怎么啦？” “我要问问薇拉认不认识她。”我说。 “那儿住了好多人呢。”卡米尔说， “我觉得她肯定不认识。” “也是哦。”我说， “你说得大概率没错。” 我们俩都没说话，安静的感觉

seemed to go on for a long time. It was Camille's turn to talk, but she didn't say anything. She just watched me, and I watched her. Finally I said something. "You can go back to bed if you're tired," I told her. "I'm not tired," she said. "But I'll go back if you are." I shook my head. "I'm not tired, either," I said. "Do you still have those games from the playroom? I'll play with you now, if you want." "No," Camille said. "But I do have some- thing. I'll be right back." She went around the curtain to her side of the room, and came back with a plain deck of cards, which is all you need to play the best game in the world. If you've read my other books, you can probably guess what it is. But

好像持续了好久。 本来该卡米尔说话的，可她什么也没说。 她就看着我，我也看着她。 最后我先开口了。 “你要是困了就回床上睡吧。”我跟她说。 “我不困。”她说， “不过你要是困的话我就回去。” 我摇了摇头。 “我也不困。”我说， “你还有游戏室拿来的那些游戏吗？ 要是你想的话，我现在可以陪你玩。” “不用啦。”卡米尔说， “不过我确实有个好东西。 我马上回来。” 她绕过帘子走到她那侧的病房，回来的时候拿了一副普通的扑克牌，要玩世界上最棒的游戏，有这副牌就够了。 要是你看过我其他的书，说不定能猜到是什么游戏。 不过