It was the cloud animals that saved the Chosen One when the shadows came in secret to the kingdom of Mimovas to kidnap him. For while Miamas is made of fantasy, Mimovas is made of love. Without love there is no music, and without music there is no Mimovas, and the Chosen One was the most beloved in the whole kingdom. So if the shadows had taken him, it would eventually have led to the downfall of the Land-of-Almost-Awake. If Mimovas falls then Mirevas falls, and if Mirevas falls then Miamas falls, and if Miamas falls then Miaudacas falls, and if Miaudacas falls then Miploris falls. Because without music there can’t be any dreams, and without dreams there can’t be any fairy tales, and without fairy tales there can’t be any courage, and without courage no one would be able to bear any sorrows, and without music and dreams and fairy tales and courage and sorrow there would only be one kingdom left in the Land-of-Almost-Awake: Mibatalos. But Mibatalos can’t live alone, because the warriors there would be worthless without the other kingdoms, because they’d no longer have anything to fight for.
当暗影潜入密莫瓦斯王国，想要绑架天选之子时，是云兽救了他。密阿玛斯由幻想筑成，而密莫瓦斯则由爱建成。没有爱就没有音乐，没有音乐就没有密莫瓦斯，而天选之子是整个王国最受喜爱的人。如果暗影带走了他，就会导致不眠大陆的没落。如果密莫瓦斯陨落则密瑞瓦斯也会陨落，如果密瑞瓦斯陨落则密阿玛斯也会陨落，如果密阿玛斯陨落那么密奥达卡斯就会陨落，如果密奥达卡斯陨落那密普洛瑞斯也会陨落。因为没有音乐就没有梦，没有梦就没有童话故事，而没有童话故事也就没有勇气，没有勇气就无人能承受悲伤，如果没有了音乐、梦、童话故事、勇气和悲伤，不眠大陆就只剩下一个王国：密巴塔洛斯。但密巴塔洛斯不能单独存在，因为没有了其他王国，战士们就一名不值，他们会失去值得为之战斗的东西。
Granny also stole that from Harry Potter, that bit about having something to fight for. But Elsa forgave her because it was quite good. You’re allowed to nick stuff if it’s good.
那当然是外婆从《哈利·波特》里偷来的，值得为之战斗的东西。但爱莎原谅了她，因为这说法真的很酷。如果一件东西确实很好，你还是可以抄它的。
And it was the cloud animals that saw the shadows stealing along between the houses in Mimovas, and they did what cloud animals do: they swept down like arrows and up again like mighty ships, they transformed themselves into dromedaries and apples and old fishermen with cigars, and the shadows threw themselves into the trap. Because soon they didn’t know who or what they were chasing. Then all at once the cloud animals disappeared, and one of them bore away the Chosen One. All the way to Miamas.
云兽看见暗影在密莫瓦斯的房屋间偷偷摸摸，于是它们像箭一般俯冲，又如巨轮般稳健飞过王国上空。它们变形成单峰骆驼、苹果和叼着雪茄的老渔夫。暗影很快中了圈套，搞不清追捕的目标。然后所有的云兽一起消失，其中一只已带走了天选之子，一直带到密阿玛斯。
And that was how the War-Without-End began. And if it hadn’t been for the cloud animals it would have ended there, that day, and the shadows would have won.
那就是无尽战争的开始。如果不是云兽，那时战争就结束了，那一天，暗影就获胜了。
Elsa is in the Land-of-Almost-Awake all night. She can get there whenever she wants now, as if it had never been a problem. She doesn’t know why, but assumes it’s because she has nothing to lose anymore. The shadow is in the real world now, Elsa knows who he is, and she knows who Granny was and who Wolfheart is and how it all hangs together. She’s not frightened anymore. She knows that the war will come, that it’s inevitable, and the mere fact of knowing it makes her strangely calm.
爱莎整晚都待在不眠大陆。她现在能随时想去就去，仿佛从来没出过问题。她不知道为什么，估计是因为她已经没有什么可以失去的东西了。暗影已来到真实世界，爱莎知道他是谁，她知道外婆是谁，狼心是谁，以及一切是如何联系起来的，她不再害怕了。她知道战争即将到来，不可避免，知道这个事实本身就让她坚强地镇定下来。
“What’s the matter? Is Mum ill? Is it Halfie?”
“出什么事了？妈妈病了，还是‘小半’？”
Dad is standing in the doorway of her bedroom. At once she’s wide awake, as if someone had just squirted menthol up her nose. (Which, just as an aside, works insanely well if you want to wake someone up. You’d know that if you have the kind of granny Elsa had.)
爸爸站在她卧室的门口。她立刻彻底清醒，就像有人在她鼻子下喷了薄荷。（作为旁白，如果你想吵醒某人，它的效果非常好。如果你有爱莎奶奶那样的人，你就知道了。）
Dad looks dubious. And slightly nonplussed. Elsa blinks away her sleep and remembers that Mum is at a meeting at the hospital, because she tried to wake Elsa up before she left, but she pretended to be asleep. And George is in the kitchen, because he came in a bit earlier to ask if she wanted any eggs, but she pretended to be asleep. So she looks at her father with confusion.
爸爸看上去犹豫不决，还有点儿不知所措。爱莎眨了眨眼，眨去睡意，想起妈妈正在医院开会，离开前曾想叫醒爱莎，但爱莎装睡没起来。乔治在厨房，她记起他之前进来问过要不要煎蛋，但她还是装睡。所以现在，她困惑地看着爸爸。
The Land-of-Almost-Awake is not burning as it was in the dream. Wherever she rides, it’s as beautiful and tranquil as ever. Only when she wakes up does she realize that she has avoided venturing into Miamas. She rides to all five other kingdoms, even the ruins where Mibatalos used to be before the War-Without-End. But never to Miamas. Because she doesn’t want to know if Granny is there. Doesn’t want to know if Granny isn’t there.
不眠大陆并没有像梦中那般燃烧。不管她去哪里，都和以往一样美丽宁静。只在醒来时，她才意识到自己避开了密阿玛斯。她去了其他五个王国，甚至是密巴塔洛斯经历无尽战争之后的废墟。唯独没有去密阿玛斯，因为她不想知道外婆在那里或者不在那里。
Dad clears his throat. Looks like dads do when it suddenly dawns on them that something they used to do because it was important to their daughters has now become one of those things their daughters do because it’s important to their dads. It’s a very thin line to cross. Neither dads nor their daughters ever forget when they do cross it.
爸爸清了清喉咙。有时爸爸们会突然意识到，以前他们做某件事是因为那对他们的女儿来说很重要，然而现在却变成了他们的女儿做这件事是因为那对爸爸们很重要。这是一条很细的分界线。爸爸们和女儿们都不会忘记他们越过这条线的时刻。
Elsa counts the days in her head, instantly remembers, and instantly apologizes. She was right, it isn’t Dad’s day. But she was wrong, because today’s the day before Christmas Eve, which is a terrible thing to forget. Because the day before Christmas Eve is her and Dad’s day. Christmas-tree day.
爱莎在脑中数了数日子，立刻想起来并马上道歉。她是对的，这不是和爸爸待在一起的日子。但她忘记今天是圣诞夜的前一天，一个不应该忘记的日子。圣诞夜前一天是属于她和爸爸的日子。圣诞树日。
“It’s not your day for you to be with me, is it?”
“今天不应该是你来陪我吧，是吗？”
As the name subtly suggests, this is the day that Elsa and Dad buy their Christmas tree. A plastic one, obviously, because Elsa refuses to buy a real tree. But because Dad enjoys the annual tradition so much, Elsa insists on buying a new plastic tree every year. Some people find it a bit of an odd tradition, but Granny used to say that “every child of divorce has the right to get a bit bloody eccentric now and then.”
正如名字所示，这是爱莎和爸爸一起去买圣诞树的日子。当然是塑料的，爱莎拒绝买真树，但爸爸非常喜欢这一年一度的传统，所以他们每年买一棵新的塑料树。有些人觉得这是个挺奇怪的传统，但外婆说过：“每个离异家庭的小孩都有权力时不时冒冒傻气。”
Mum, of course, was very angry at Granny about the whole plastic tree thing, because she likes the smell of a real spruce tree and always said that the plastic tree was something Granny had duped Elsa about. Because it was Granny who had told Elsa about the Christmas tree dance in Miamas, and no one who’s heard that story wants to have a spruce tree that someone has amputated and sold into slavery. In Miamas, spruce trees are living, thinking creatures with — considering that they’re coniferous trees — an unaccountably strong interest in home design.
妈妈当然因为塑料树的事很生外婆的气，她喜欢真正的云杉的气味，总说塑料树是外婆哄骗爱莎的后果。因为外婆给爱莎讲了密阿玛斯圣诞树舞蹈的故事，而听过那故事的每个人都不会再想要一棵被人锯下并当作奴隶售卖的云杉树。在密阿玛斯，云杉树是有生命、会思考的物种——考虑到它们是松类——对家庭装饰有着不可理解的强烈兴趣。
They don’t live in the forest but in the southern districts of Miamas, which have become quite trendy in recent years, and they often work in the advertising industry and wear scarves indoors. And once every year, soon after the first snow has fallen, all the spruce trees gather in the big square below the castle and compete for the right to stay in someone’s house over Christmas. The spruce trees choose the houses, not the other way round, and the choice is decided by a dance competition. In the olden days they used to have duels about it, but spruce trees are generally such bad shots that it used to take forever. So now they do spruce dancing, which looks a bit unusual, because spruce trees don’t have feet. And if a non-spruce tree wants to imitate a dancing spruce tree, they just jump up and down. It’s quite handy, particularly on a crowded dance floor.
它们不住在森林里，而是住在密阿玛斯的南部——近几年那里变得很现代，它们常在广告行业工作，在室内也喜欢戴着围巾。每年第一场雪降下之后，所有的云杉就会在城堡下的大广场集合，为了去别人的房子里过圣诞的权利而竞争。是云杉选择房子，而不是反过来。选择由一场舞蹈大赛决定，过去是跳双人舞，但云杉通常跳得很糟糕，总是要好久才能决出胜负。于是它们现在改跳云杉舞，这种舞看上去很特别，因为云杉树没有脚。如果其他人想模仿一棵跳舞的云杉树，他们只要上下跳就可以了。这招很实用，特别是在拥挤的舞池里。
Elsa knows that because when Dad drinks a glass and a half of champagne on New Year’s Eve, he sometimes does the spruce dance in the kitchen with Lisette. But for Dad it’s just known as “dancing.”
爸爸在跨年夜喝了一杯半香槟后，有时就会在厨房里和莉丝特一起跳云杉舞，但对爸爸来说，这仅仅就叫“跳舞”。
“Sorry, Dad, I do know what day it is!” Elsa yells, hopping into her jeans, getting into her sweater and jacket, and running into the hall. “I just have to do one thing first!”
“对不起，爸爸，我知道今天是什么日子！”爱莎大喊着，蹦跳着穿好牛仔裤、套头衫和外套，跑向玄关，“我只是要先做一件事情。”
Elsa hid the wurse in Renault last night. She brought it down a bucket of cinnamon buns from Maud and told it to hide under the blankets in the backseat if anyone came down into the garage. “You have to pretend you’re a pile of clothes or a TV or something!” suggested Elsa, though the wurse didn’t look entirely convinced. So Elsa had to go and get a sack of dreams from Maud, after which the wurse gave in and crept under the blankets. It didn’t look much like a TV, though.
爱莎昨晚将呜嘶藏在雷诺里。她从莫德家带给它一桶肉桂卷，告诉它，如果有人进车库的话，就躲在后排的毯子下面。“你要假装自己是一堆衣服或者一台电视机或是其他什么东西！”爱莎觉得呜嘶看起来并没有被完全说服，所以不得不从莫德那里又拿了一大袋“梦想”饼干，之后呜嘶就屈服了，钻进了毯子下面。虽然那样看起来并不像一台电视机。
Elsa said good night, sneaked back up the stairs, and stood in the dark outside the flat where the mother and the boy with a syndrome live. She was going to ring at the door, but she couldn’t quite make herself do it. Didn’t want to hear any more stories. Didn’t want to know about shadows and darkness. So she just put the letter in the slot in the door and ran away.
爱莎说了晚安，溜回楼上，在黑暗中站在生病男孩和他妈妈的公寓外面。她本要按门铃的，但没能做到。她不想再听更多的故事了，不想知道暗影的事情。所以她只把信塞进门缝，然后就跑了。
“What are you doing?” asks Elsa suspiciously.
“你在干什么？”爱莎怀疑地问。
Kent asks Klaus to hold the line, as you do when there is actually no Klaus at all on the line. He is wearing a rugby shirt with numbers and a little man on a horse on his chest. Kent has told Elsa that this sort of shirt costs more than a thousand kronor, and Granny always used to say that those sorts of shirts were a good thing, because the horse functioned as a sort of manufacturer’s warning that the shirt was highly likely to be transporting a muppet.
肯特叫克鲁兹别挂，笨拙的样子就好像电话那头根本没有克鲁兹的存在。他穿着件英式橄榄球衫，胸前有号码和一个骑在马上的小人。肯特告诉过爱莎，这样一件衣服价值超过一千克朗，而外婆以前常说这种衣服挺不错的，那匹马是制造商用来警告人们，穿着这衣服的人很可能是个蠢货。
Their door is locked and shut today. All the other doors too. Anyone who’s awake has left the house; everyone else is still asleep. So Elsa hears Kent’s voice several floors up, even though he’s whispering, because that’s how the acoustics of stairwells work. Elsa knows that because “acoustics” is a word for the word jar. She hears Kent whispering, “Yes, I promise I’ll be back tonight.” But when he comes down the last flight of stairs, past the wurse’s and Wolfheart’s flats and the boy and the mother’s flat, Kent suddenly starts talking in a loud voice and calling out, “Yes, Klaus! In Frankfurt! Yez, yez, yez!” And then he turns around and pretends that he’s only just noticed Elsa standing behind him.
今天他们的门锁着，就和其他家的门一样。起床的人都已离开房子，其他人都还在睡觉。爱莎听见楼下肯特的声音，虽然他说得很小声，但楼梯间的音响效果就是这么棒。爱莎知道“音响效果”，因为它是生词罐里的一个词。她听见肯特小声说：“是的，我保证今晚我会回来的。”然而，当她下到最后几级楼梯，经过呜嘶、狼心和那对母子的公寓时，肯特突然开始用响亮的声音喊道：“呀（好的），克鲁兹！法兰克福见！呀，呀，呀！”然后他转过身，装作刚刚注意到身后的爱莎。
Elsa stares at him. Then at the small red bowls of meat that he’s distributing down the stairwell.
爱莎盯着他，然后又盯着他分散放在楼梯下的几个装着肉的小红碗。
“What do you want?” sneers Kent.
“你想干什么？”肯特冷笑道。
“That hound is still running around here, it reduces the value of the leasehold conversion!”
“那猎狗还在附近，这影响到了房价。”
“What are those?”
“那是什么？”
Kent throws out his hands so quickly that he almost throws Klaus into the wall.
肯特甩了甩手，快得差点儿把克鲁兹甩到墙上。
Elsa backs away watchfully, without taking her eyes off the bowls of meat. Kent seems to realize that he has expressed himself a little clumsily, so he makes another attempt, in the sort of voice that men of Kent’s age think one must put on when talking to girls of Elsa’s age, so they’ll understand: “Britt-Marie found dog hairs on the stairs, you understand, darling? We can’t have wild animals roving around the building — it reduces the value of the leasehold conversion, you see?” He smiles condescendingly; she can see that he’s glancing insecurely at his telephone. “It’s not like we’re going to kill it! It’ll just go to sleep for a bit, okay? Now, why don’t you be a good girl and go home to your mummy?”
爱莎警惕地后退，目光没有从小碗肉上移开。肯特似乎意识到他表达得有点儿笨拙，所以又试了一次，用像肯特这个年纪的男人自以为应该对爱莎这个年纪的女孩说话的口气：“布里特—玛丽在楼梯上发现了狗毛，你知道吗，亲爱的？我们不能让野生动物在这房子里到处跑——这会损害租赁权转换的价值，明白吧？”他屈尊笑了笑，她看出他不安地瞥着他的电话。“我们不是要杀了它！它只需要睡一会儿，明白吗？现在你为什么不做个乖孩子，回家找妈妈呢？”
Elsa doesn’t feel so very good. And she doesn’t like the way Ken makes quotation marks in the air when he says “go to sleep.” “Who are you talking to on the phone?”
爱莎感觉不太好。她不喜欢肯特说“睡一会儿”时，两手凭空做引号的样子。“你在跟谁讲电话？”
“Klaus, a business contact from Germany,” answers Kent as one does when doing no such thing.
“克鲁兹，一个德国的工作联系人。”肯特回答，明显没有这回事。
“Sure,” says Elsa.
“是啊。”爱莎说。
Kent’s eyebrows sink.
肯特皱起眉。
“Are you giving me attitude?”
“你这是什么态度？”
Elsa points at the bowls. “Is there poison in them?”
爱莎指着碗。“里面有毒药吗？”
Elsa shrugs.
爱莎耸耸肩。
But Elsa hears something ominous in his voice when he says “rust-heaps,” so she pushes past him and charges down the cellar stairs. Throws open the door to the garage and stands there with her hands shaking and her heartbeat thumping through her body. She knocks her knees against every step on the way back up.
在他说“破烂车”时，爱莎在他的声音里听出了一丝不祥，所以她推开他，冲下地下室楼梯。她用力撞开车库门，双手发抖地站在那儿，心脏猛烈地跳动。她跌跌撞撞地跑回楼上。
“I think you should run home to your mummy now,” Kent repeats, a touch more menacingly.
“我觉得你现在应该回家找妈妈了。”肯特凶巴巴地重复道。
“Listen, girlie, stray dogs are vermin. We can’t have vermin running about here, and rust-heaps down in the garage, and all kinds of crap. It’ll lower the value, don’t you understand? It’s better for everyone this way.”
“听着，小丫头，流浪狗是有害动物，我们不能放任它们在这里出没，包括车库里的破烂车，还有其他所有这些垃圾。这会让房价下跌的，你明白吗？这对所有人来说都没好处。”
“WHERE’S RENAULT! WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE WITH RENAULT!?” she yells at Kent. She waves her fists at him, but only manages to grab hold of Klaus, so she throws Klaus down the cellar stairs so the glass display and plastic cover are smashed and tumble down in a miniature electronic avalanche towards the storage units.
“雷诺在哪里？你他妈的对雷诺干了什么？！”她冲肯特大喊，朝他挥舞拳头，但只抓住了克鲁兹，所以她把克鲁兹扔下楼梯，玻璃显示屏和塑料壳子被砸烂，小块电子碎片纷纷滚向储藏间。
She runs up the stairs to fetch Dad, but stops abruptly on the penultimate floor. Britt-Marie is standing in her doorway. She’s clasping her hands over her stomach, and Elsa can see that she’s sweating. The kitchen behind her smells of Christmas food, and she’s wearing her flower-print jacket with her large brooch. The pink paintball stain is hardly visible at all.
她跑上楼去找爸爸，但猛地停在了倒数第二层楼。布里特—玛丽站在她家门口，双手交叠在腹部，爱莎看见她在冒汗。她穿着印花外套，别着大胸针，粉色的彩弹印记几乎看不见了，身后的厨房传来圣诞食物的香味。
“Are you out of your fu — bloody… out of your bloody mind, you stupid kid? You know what that telephone cost?” yells Kent, and then he tells her it bloody cost eight thousand kronor.
“你他妈——你这该死的…你疯了吗，熊孩子？你知道那手机值多少钱吗？”肯特大叫，然后告诉她这该死的手机值八千克朗。
Elsa informs him that she couldn’t give a damn what it cost. And then Kent informs her with a sadistic gleam in his eye exactly what he did with Renault.
爱莎告诉他，她才不关心这玩意儿多少钱。肯特的眼中闪着暴虐，告诉了她他对雷诺干了什么。
Britt-Marie meets her eyes, and for a single fleeting second there’s some humanity in them. Elsa can see that. But then Kent’s voice can be heard, calling to Britt-Marie from the stairwell that she has to bring more poison, and then the normal Britt-Marie is back.
布里特—玛丽看着爱莎的眼睛，那一秒她的眼睛里透露出一些仁慈，爱莎能看出来。但随后肯特的声音响起，在楼梯间冲布里特—玛丽说，她得再拿些毒药，然后平时的布里特—玛丽就回来了。
“You mustn’t let Kent kill it,” pleads Elsa, wide-eyed. “Please, Britt-Marie, it’s my friend…”
“你不能让肯特杀了它。”爱莎睁着大眼睛恳求，“求求你了，布里特—玛丽，它是我的朋友…”
“Kent’s children are coming here tomorrow. They’re afraid of dogs,” she explains firmly.
“肯特的孩子们明天要来。他们怕狗。”她态度坚决地解释说。
She has been banging on the door for more than a minute before she hears Alf’s dragging footsteps. He opens it with a cup of coffee in his hand that smells so strong that she’s sure a spoon would get stuck in it.
她足足敲了超过一分钟的门，才听见阿尔夫拖着地板的脚步声。他打开门，手里端着一杯咖啡，咖啡浓得都快成糊状了。
She straightens out a wrinkle that isn’t there on her skirt, and brushes something invisible off her floral-print jacket.
她抹平了一道裙子上并不存在的皱褶，然后掸了掸印花外套上不存在的灰尘。
“We’re having a traditional Christmas dinner here tomorrow. With some normal Christmas food. Like a civilized family. We’re not barbarians, you know.”
“我们明天要吃传统的圣诞晚餐。正常的圣诞食物。就像任何有教养的家庭。你看，我们可不是野蛮人。”
Then she slams the door. Elsa stays where she is and realizes that Dad is not going to be able to solve this, because tentativeness is not a very useful superpower in this type of emergency situation. She needs reinforcements.
然后她重重地关上了门。爱莎站在原地，意识到爸爸无法解决这件事，因为在紧急情况下，犹豫不决可不是一项很有用的超能力。她需要支援。
“He’s killing Renault!” sobs Elsa.
“他要杀了雷诺！”爱莎啜泣着说。
“Killing? Nothing’s going to be killed around here. It’s only a bloody car,” says Alf, swallows a mouthful of coffee and yawns.
“杀？不会发生这回事的，那不过就是辆该死的车。”阿尔夫吞下一口咖啡，打了个哈欠。
“It’s not just a car! It’s RENAULT!”
“那不只是一辆车！那是雷诺！”
“I’m sleeping,” he grunts.
“我在睡觉。”他抱怨道。
“Who the hell has told you he’s going to kill Renault?”
“谁告诉你要杀了雷诺的？”
Elsa hasn’t even had time to explain what’s in Renault’s backseat before Alf has put down the coffee cup, stepped into his shoes, and set off down the stairs. She hears Alf and Kent roaring at each other so terribly that she has to cover her ears. She can’t hear what they’re saying, except that it’s a lot of swearwords, and Kent shouts something about leaseholds and how one can’t have “rust-heaps” parked in the garage because then people will think the house is full of “socialists.” Which is Kent’s way of saying “bloody idiots,” Elsa understands. And then Alf shouts, “Bloody idiot,” which is his way of saying exactly that, because Alf is not big on complicating things.
爱莎还没来得及解释雷诺的后座上有什么，阿尔夫就已经放下咖啡杯，穿上鞋，走下楼梯。她听见阿尔夫和肯特互相冲着对方怒吼，内容可怕得让她不得不捂上耳朵。她听不清他们在说什么，除了一堆脏话，肯特吼着什么租赁所有权，什么“破烂玩意儿”不能停在车库，因为那样人们会觉得房子里都是无业游民。那是肯特说“该死的蠢货”的方式，爱莎知道。然后阿尔夫怒吼“该死的蠢货”，那是他表达的方式，因为阿尔夫不喜欢把事情搞得太复杂。
“Kent!”
“肯特！”
And then Alf comes stamping up the stairs again, wild-eyed, muttering: “The bastard got someone to tow the car away. Is your dad here?”
随后，阿尔夫重新上楼来，瞪大眼睛，喃喃道：“那杂种让人把车给拖走了。你爸爸在吗？”
“I’m not sure I want to do this,” says Dad.
“我不太想这么做。”爸爸说。
Elsa nods. Alf storms up the stairs without a word, and a few moments later Elsa and Dad are sitting in Taxi, even though Dad doesn’t want to at all.
爱莎点点头。阿尔夫不发一言，冲上楼，过了一会儿，爱莎和爸爸就坐在出租车里了，虽然爸爸其实并不情愿。
Twenty minutes later they’re standing in a scrapyard outside the city, and Elsa is hugging the hood of Renault in the exact same way you hug a cloud animal: with your whole body. She can see that the TV in the backseat is shuffling about, fairly displeased about not being the first to be hugged, but if you’re almost eight and forget to hug a wurse in a Renault, it’s because you’re less worried about the wurse than the poor scrapyard worker who happens to find it.
二十分钟之后，他们站在城外的一个废品堆放场里，爱莎抱着雷诺的引擎盖，正如抱着一头云兽：用整个身体。她看见后座的电视机在挪动，对于自己没有被第一个拥抱十分不满。如果你即将八岁，忘记拥抱一只在雷诺里的呜嘶，那是因为比起呜嘶，你更担心不小心发现它的可怜的废品场工人。
“How do we find out where Kent sent it, then?” asks Elsa, at the same time that Dad does his best not to look completely tentative.
“我们怎么知道肯特把它送哪儿去了？”爱莎问，爸爸则尽可能地让自己看上去不那么迟疑。
“Someone has to bloody drive the damned Renault home,” grunts Alf.
“总得有人把那该死的雷诺开回家。”阿尔夫发着牢骚。
“And?” hisses Elsa.
“所以呢？”爱莎哼哼道。
“I’ve been driving a damned taxi for thirty years,” says Alf.
“我已经开了三十年的出租车。”阿尔夫说。
Alf and the fairly fat foreman argue for a short while about what it’s going to cost to take Renault away. And then Alf and Elsa argue for a fairly long time about why she never mentioned that she didn’t have a key to Renault. And then the fat man walks around mumbling that he was sure he left his moped here earlier and where the hell was it now? And then Alf and the fat man negotiate about what it’ll cost to tow Renault back to the house. And then Dad has to pay for it all.
阿尔夫和胖子领班对于花多少钱才能开走雷诺争执了一小会儿。然后阿尔夫和爱莎对于为什么她没提到她没有雷诺的钥匙争执了好一会儿。那个胖子在旁边转悠着，念叨说他早些时候肯定把外卖放这儿了，现在它到底上哪儿去了。然后阿尔夫和那个胖子又协商了一下，把雷诺拖回公寓要花多少钱。爸爸不得不掏钱。
“And so I bloody know how to find a Renault that’s been towed away!”
“所以我当然知道怎么找一辆被拖走的雷诺！”
Alf ensures that Renault is parked in Granny’s slot in the garage, not in Britt-Marie’s. When Elsa introduces them to each other, Dad stares at the wurse with the expression of someone preparing for a root canal. The wurse glares back, a bit cocky. Too cocky, thinks Elsa, so she hauls it over the coals about whether it ate the scrapyard foreman’s moped. Whereupon the wurse stops looking cocky and goes to lie down under the blankets and looks a bit as if it’s thinking that if people don’t want it to eat mopeds, then people should be more generous with the cinnamon buns.
阿尔夫确认雷诺停在了车库里外婆的车位上，而不是布里特—玛丽的。爱莎介绍他们认识时，爸爸盯着呜嘶，表情就像他马上要接受根管治疗。呜嘶回应着他的注视，带着点儿狂妄。爱莎觉得那有点儿太狂妄了，所以质问它是不是吃了废品场领班的外卖。于是呜嘶不再扬扬得意，缩进毯子下面，看上去像是在琢磨，如果人们不想它吃外卖，那就应该更加大方地给它肉桂卷的嘛。
She tells Dad, to his immense relief, that he can go and wait in Audi. Then Elsa and Alf gather all the red food bowls from the stairwell and put them in a big black trash bag. Kent catches them and fumes that the poison bloody cost him six hundred kronor. Britt-Marie just stands there.
她告诉爸爸，他可以坐在奥迪里等，这让他大大松了一口气。然后爱莎和阿尔夫把楼梯间所有的红色小碗收起来，放进一个黑色的大垃圾袋。肯特逮住他们，怒气冲冲地说这些毒药花了他六百克朗。布里特—玛丽就只是站在门口。
It’s the best present he’s ever given Elsa. Even better than the red felt-tip pen.
这是他给爱莎最好的礼物，比红色记号笔还好。
And then Elsa goes with Dad to buy a plastic tree. Because Britt-Marie is wrong, Elsa’s family are no barbarians. Anyway the proper term is “baa-baa-rians,” because in Miamas that is what the spruce trees call those dumb sheep in the real world who chop down living trees, then carry them off and sell them into slavery.
之后，爱莎跟爸爸一起去买塑料树。布里特—玛丽错了，爱莎的家庭不是野蛮人。其实真正的词语应该是“野蛮羊”。因为在密阿玛斯，这是云杉们对真实世界那些砍下活生生树木、把它们运走当奴隶贩卖的蠢羊的称呼。
“I’ll give you two fifty.”
“我给你两百五。”
He pauses. “No.”
他停顿了一下，说道：“不开门。”
Elsa shrugs. “What time do you close today?”
爱莎耸耸肩。“你今天什么时候关门？”
“My dear, there’s no bargaining in this shop,” says the man in the shop in exactly the sort of tone one might expect of men in shops. “It costs four hundred and ninety-five.”
“亲爱的，我们店里不能还价。”店员用生意人特有的口气说，“要四百九十五。”
“I was just wondering.”
“我就只是好奇。”
The man arranges his face into something that’s probably supposed to look like an expression of how you look at children when they’re cute but stupid.
那男人露出一副“啊，这孩子真可爱但是很蠢”的表情。
“This is not how it works, my dear.”
“买东西不是这么买的，亲爱的。”
Elsa pouts her lips with pretend surprise. “So you have a tree here. And no warehouse. And what day is it tomorrow, again?”
爱莎装作惊讶地噘起嘴说：“所以你这里有棵树。没有仓库。我再问一句，明天是什么日子？”
“In five minutes,” sighs the man.
“还有五分钟。”男人叹了口气。
“And do you have a big warehouse space here?”
“你这儿有大仓库吗？”
The man looks at Elsa’s dad. Dad looks at his shoes. Elsa looks at the man and shakes her head seriously. “My dad is not going to help you. I’ll give you two hundred.”
那人看着爱莎的爸爸。爸爸看着自己的鞋子。爱莎看着那人，摇着头说：“我爸爸不会帮你的。我出两百。”
“Now I’ll only give you two hundred,” Elsa informs him.
“现在我只准备给你两百了。”爱莎对他宣布。
“What’s that got to do with it?”
“这有什么关系？”
“No. We don’t have any warehouse space at all.”
“没有，我们这里没有仓库。”
The man smiles mockingly.
那人嘲讽地笑了。
“And are you open on Christmas Eve?”
“你圣诞夜还开门吗？”
“I’ll give you three hundred,” says Elsa to the man in the shop.
“我给你三百。”爱莎对店员说。
“You MUSTN’T go back in and give him any extra money!” Elsa warns Dad while he’s loading it all into Audi. Dad sighs.
“你不许回去再给他钱了！”爱莎在爸爸把东西装上奥迪时警告他。爸爸叹了口气。
Elsa gets the tree for two hundred. She gets a box of balcony lights and an insanely big Christmas elk thrown in for the same price.
爱莎用两百买下了这棵树。价格还包括了一盒装饰灯和一头巨大的圣诞麋鹿。
“You have to negotiate!”
“你必须得讨价还价！”
Because no one gets upset if you don’t say anything. All almost-eight-year-olds know that.
因为如果你什么都不说，就没有人会不开心。所有即将八岁的小孩都知道。
Audi stops outside the house. As usual, Dad has turned down the volume of the stereo so Elsa doesn’t have to listen to his music. Alf comes out to help Dad carry up the box, but Dad insists on carrying it himself. Because it’s a tradition that he brings the tree home for his daughter. Before he leaves, Elsa wants to tell him that she’d like to stay with him more after Halfie’s been born. But she doesn’t want to upset him, so in the end she says nothing. She just whispers, “Thanks for the tree, Dad,” and he’s happy and then he goes home to Lisette and her children. And Elsa stands there watching as he leaves.
奥迪停在屋外。跟往常一样，爸爸调低了音响音量，让爱莎不必听他的音乐。阿尔夫出来帮爸爸搬盒子，但爸爸坚持要自己来，因为这是传统，他为女儿带圣诞树回家。在他走之前，爱莎想告诉他，等“小半”出生，自己想和他多待一些时间。但她不想让他不开心，所以最后什么也没说。她只是小声说：“谢谢你的树，爸爸。”他开心地走了，回家和莉丝特还有她的孩子们在一起。爱莎站在原地，目送他离开。
“I only did it once, Elsa. On one occasion. And that time you were actually exceptionally unpleasant to the salesman.”
“我只干过一次，爱莎。就一次。而且那次你真的惹得那个销售员很不开心。”
Granny taught Elsa to do that. Dad also used to hate going to the shops with her.
外婆教爱莎这么做的。爸爸也讨厌和外婆一起去商店。
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