Perhaps the most curious of all the curious creatures in the Land-of-Almost-Awake, even by Granny’s yardstick, are the regretters. They are wild animals living in herds, whose grazing areas are just outside Miamas, where they forage widely, and really nobody knows how they survive, considering the circumstances. At first sight, regretters look more or less like white horses, although they are far more ambivalent and suffer from the biological defect of never being able to make up their minds. This obviously causes certain practical problems, because regretters are flock animals, and one regretter therefore almost always crashes into another when heading off in one direction and then changing its mind. For this reason regretters always have enormous, oblong swellings on their foreheads, which, in various fairy tales from Miamas that have ended up in the real world, has made people consistently get them confused with unicorns. But in Miamas the storytellers learned the hard way not to cut costs by hiring a regretter to do the job of a unicorn, because, whenever they did, the fairy tales had a tendency never to get to the point. And also no one, really no one at all, feels good after standing behind a regretter in the line for the lunch buffet.
也许在不眠大陆所有神奇生物中最神奇的——即使按外婆的标准来看——就是憾马了。它们是成群生活的野生动物，在密阿玛斯城外的草场上自由地觅食，没人知道它们在那样的环境中是怎么生存下来的。乍看之下，憾马有点儿像白马，但它们总是摇摆不定，生理上的缺陷让它们无法做出抉择。这显然造成了一些现实问题，因为憾马是群居动物，一头憾马会因为改变主意换了方向而撞上另一头。所以它们的前额上一直有巨大的、椭圆形的肿块。正因为这种特征，从密阿玛斯传到真实世界的许多童话故事中，人们时常把它们和独角兽搞混。但在密阿玛斯，故事讲述者们吃了很大的亏才学会，绝对不能为了省钱就雇憾马来干独角兽的工作。每次它们干活，童话故事就容易讲不到点子上。而且在自助午餐时，如果不慎排在了憾马后面的队伍里，没有人，真的没有一个人，会有好心情的。
Mum is massaging her temples and swearing repeatedly through gritted teeth. She is obviously regretting speeding away from the hospital like that, since the first thing she has to do after dropping Elsa off at school is drive straight back to the hospital so she can go to work. Elsa pats her on the shoulder.
妈妈按摩着她的太阳穴，反反复复咬牙切齿地骂骂咧咧。她明显是后悔那样从医院跑掉，因为把爱莎送到学校之后，她就不得不第一时间开车回医院上班。爱莎拍拍她的肩膀。
Mum shuts her eyes in resignation. She’s had rather too much baby brain lately. So much so that she could not even find Elsa’s Gryffindor scarf when they looked for it this morning, and so much so that she keeps putting her telephone in strange places. In the refrigerator and in the trash bin and the laundry basket and on one occasion in George’s jogging shoes. This morning Elsa had to call Mum’s telephone three times, which is not entirely uncomplicated as the display on Elsa’s telephone is quite fuzzy after its encounter with the toaster. But in the end they found Mum’s telephone ringing inside Elsa’s backpack. The Gryffindor scarf was also there.
妈妈无奈地闭上眼睛。她最近老犯孕傻。今早她都没能找到爱莎的格兰芬多围巾，还总把自己的手机忘在奇怪的地方。冰箱里、垃圾箱里、脏衣篮里，还有一次在乔治的慢跑鞋里。今天早上，爱莎不得不给妈妈的手机打了三次电话，这可不容易，因为在烤面包机里取过暖后，爱莎的手机屏幕就一直很模糊。最后，大家发现妈妈的手机在爱莎的背包里响了。格兰芬多围巾也在那里。
“Maybe you can blame it on your baby brain?”
“也许你可以怪到孕傻头上。”
“So there’s no point changing your mind, all you get is a headache!” Granny used to say, smacking herself on her forehead. Elsa thinks about that now, sitting in Kia outside school and looking at Mum. She wonders if Granny ever regretted all the times she left Mum. She wonders if Granny’s head was full of bumps. She hopes so.
“所以，改变你的想法是没有意思的，那只会让你头疼！”外婆经常边说边拍打着自己的脑门。现在，爱莎坐在学校外的起亚里，看着妈妈，想到了这件事。她想知道外婆每次离开妈妈时会不会后悔，想知道外婆的头上是不是全是肿块。她希望如此。
“Darling, I don’t think they’ll let me be the head of a hospital if I tell them I had a police escort to the emergency entrance”
“亲爱的，我觉得吧，如果我告诉他们我让个警察护送着去了急诊部，他们就不会再让我当院长了。”
“You see!” Mum tried to say. “Nothing is really gone until your mum can’t find it!” But Elsa rolled her eyes and then Mum looked ashamed of herself and mumbled, “It’s my baby brain, I’m afraid.”
“你看！”妈妈嘴硬地说，“除非你妈妈找不到，不然没什么东西是真的丢了！”但爱莎翻了个白眼，妈妈看上去很羞愧，喃喃自语：“大概是孕傻吧。”
She looks ashamed of herself now as well. And full of regret.
她现在看上去也很羞愧，满心后悔。
Elsa reaches out and pats Mum on the cheek. “It’ll get better, Mum. It’ll be fine.”
爱莎伸出手拍了拍妈妈的脸颊。“会好的，妈妈。没事的。”
Granny used to say that, Elsa realizes as soon as she says it. Mum puts her hand on Halfie and nods with fake self-assurance in order to change the subject.
外婆以前常这么说，爱莎一说出口就意识到这一点。妈妈手覆在“小半”上，心虚地点了点头，想改变话题。
“Your dad will pick you up this afternoon, don’t forget. And George will take you to school on Monday. I have a conference then and –“
“你爸下午会来接你，别忘了。还有，周一乔治会送你来上学。我有个会，还有…”
Mum puts her hand on Elsa’s hand and inhales deeply from the point where they are touching, as if trying to fill her lungs with Elsa. As mums do with daughters who grow up too fast.
妈妈将手放在爱莎的手上，碰到的一瞬间便深深地吸了口气，就像是要把爱莎吸进肺里。妈妈们总是这么对待自己成长得太快的女儿们。
Elsa patiently gives Mum’s head a scratch. “I’m not going to school on Monday, Mum. It’s the Christmas holidays.”
爱莎耐心地挠了挠妈妈的脑袋。“我周一不上学，圣诞假期。”
Even though it does a little.
虽然还是有一点儿关系的。
Mum’s phone vibrates in Elsa’s hand. She sees Dad’s name on the display. And underneath, I UNDERSTAND. Elsa deletes it. And deletes the text she sent to Dad from the outgoing messages. Then stands on the pavement, counting down from twenty. When she’s got to seven, Kia screeches back into the parking area and Mum, slightly out of breath, winds down the window. Elsa gives her the phone. Mum mumbles, “It’s my baby brain.” Elsa kisses her on the cheek.
妈妈的手机在爱莎的手里振动了一下。她看见屏幕上是爸爸的名字，下面写着：我知道了。爱莎删掉了这条短信，也从发件箱里删掉了她发出的那条。她站在人行道上，从二十开始倒数。数到七时，起亚尖叫着回到了停车场，妈妈有点儿上气不接下气地摇下了车窗。爱莎把手机递给她。妈妈小声说：“孕傻啦。”爱莎亲了亲她的脸颊。
“Sorry, darling. I… forget.”
“对不起，宝贝，我…忘记了。”
“It doesn’t matter,” says Elsa.
“没关系。”爱莎说。
They hug each other hard before Elsa hops out of the car. She waits until Kia has disappeared before she opens her backpack and gets out Mum’s cell phone, then scrolls to Dad’s name in the address book and sends him a text: ACTUALLY: THERE IS NO NEED FOR YOU TO PICK UP ELSA THIS AFTERNOON. I CAN MANAGE IT! Elsa knows this is how they talk about her. She is something that needs to be “picked up” or “sorted.” Like doing the laundry. She knows they mean no harm by it, but come on! No seven-year-old who has seen films about the Italian Mafia wants to be “sorted” by her family.
爱莎跳下车前，她俩用力地拥抱了彼此。她一直等到起亚消失，才打开背包，拿出了妈妈的手机，在通讯录里翻到爸爸的名字，给他发了条短信：今天下午不用你来捎上爱莎，我有空了！爱莎知道这就是他们谈论她的方式。她就是需要“捎上”或者“解决”的东西，就像待洗的脏衣服。她知道他们没有恶意，但是拜托好吗！没有一个看过意大利黑手党电影的七岁小孩，是想被他的家里人“解决”掉的。
“Nothing is really gone until your daughter can’t find it,” she whispers into Mum’s ear.
“除非你女儿找不到，不然没什么东西是真的丢了！”她冲着妈妈耳语。
“In your right-hand coat pocket,” says Elsa.
“在你外套的右口袋里。”爱莎说。
Mum touches her throat and asks if Elsa has seen her scarf.
妈妈摸着脖子，问爱莎是否见过她的围巾。
Elsa doesn’t answer. She just stands there waving as Kia drives off. She couldn’t answer because she doesn’t want Mum to know that she doesn’t want to be a big sister. Doesn’t want anyone to know that she is this horrible person who hates her own half sibling, just because Halfie is going to be more loved by them than Elsa. Doesn’t want anyone to know she’s afraid they’ll abandon her.
爱莎没有回答。她只是站在原地，挥手看起亚离开。她没法回答，她不想让妈妈知道她不愿当姐姐。不想让任何人知道她是一个厌恶自己同母异父弟弟或者妹妹的坏蛋，只因为“小半”会比爱莎得到他们更多的爱。不想让任何人知道，她怕他们会抛弃她。
Mum pulls the scarf out. Takes Elsa’s head in her hands and pulls her closer and kisses her forehead very hard. Elsa closes her eyes.
妈妈拉出围巾，双手捧起爱莎的脑袋，将她拉近，用力亲了亲爱莎的前额。爱莎闭上眼。
“You’re going to be a fantastic big sister,” Mum whispers back.
“你会成为一个很好的姐姐。”妈妈低声回答。
She turns around and looks into the playground. No one has seen her yet. She reaches into her backpack and gets out the letter she found in Renault. She doesn’t recognize the address, and Granny was always terrible at giving directions. Elsa isn’t even sure this address exists in real life, because quite often when Granny was explaining where things were, she used landmarks that were no longer there. “It’s right by where those morons with the budgerigars lived, past the old tennis club down where the old rubber factory or whatever it was used to be,” she’d ramble on, and when people didn’t get exactly what she was talking about, Granny got so frustrated that she had to smoke two cigarettes one after the other, lighting the second by the embers of the first. And then when someone said she couldn’t do that indoors, she got so angry that it was utterly impossible after that to get any decent directions out of her, impossible in fact to get anything except her expletive middle finger.
她转过身看向操场。没有人看见她。她把手伸进背包，拿出她在雷诺里找到的那封信。她不认识上面的地址，外婆一向不擅长指方向。爱莎甚至不确定这个地址是否存在于现实世界里，因为外婆指路时经常会用到已经不存在的地标。“就在那些和虎皮鹦鹉住在一块儿的蠢货家旁边，经过那个老网球俱乐部，一直走到老橡胶厂或者它的旧厂址那儿。”她就这么东拉西扯，而当人们不明白她说的话时，外婆会很沮丧，不得不连抽两支烟，用前一根的烟屁股点着下一根。而当有人说她不能在室内抽烟时，她会非常生气，之后就绝不可能再从她这儿得到任何靠谱的路线了，事实上除了她的中指啥都得不到了。
She looks at the playground again. And at the precise moment when the bell goes and everyone turns away from the street, she runs past the fence towards the bus stop. Gets off a few stops later, runs into the shop, and goes straight to the ice cream counter, then back to the house, where she sneaks into the cellar storage unit and buries her face in the wurse’s fur. It’s her new favorite place on earth.
她又看了看操场。在铃声响起、没人看向大街的那一刻，她跑过围栏，冲向公交车站。她在一站后下车，进入商店，直奔冰激凌柜台，然后回家，悄悄潜入地下储藏室，将脸埋在呜嘶的毛里。这是最近一段时间全世界她最喜欢的地方。
First of all she’s going to need a computer.
首先，她需要一台电脑。
“I’ve got ice cream in the bag,” she says at last when she lifts her head.
“我包里有冰激凌。”她终于抬起头说。
Really what Elsa wanted to do was rip the letter into ten thousand pieces and let the wind blow it all away. That was what she had decided last night. Because she was angry at Granny. But now, after Mum has told her the whole story and Elsa has seen all that brokenness in Mum’s eyes, she’s made the decision not to do that. Elsa is going to deliver the letter, this and all the other letters Granny has left for her. This is going to be a grand adventure and a monstrous fairy tale, just as Granny planned it. But Elsa isn’t doing it for Granny’s sake.
说实话，爱莎想将信撕成一万片，让风把它吹散。她昨晚就是这么决定的。她还在生外婆的气。但现在，在妈妈把整个故事告诉她之后，在爱莎从妈妈的眼睛里看见那些心碎之后，她放弃了这个念头。爱莎打算把信送到，这封以及所有外婆留给她的信。这将是一场伟大的冒险和一个惊奇的故事，正如外婆计划的那般。但爱莎不是为了外婆才这么做的。
“I know you’re there!” she calls out.
“我知道你在里面！”她喊了出来。
The wurse looks at her like a very big wurse that has just been told to behave like a considerably smaller wurse.
呜嘶看着她，像是一头巨大的猛兽被命令要表现得有如一只宠物狗。
“It’s Ben and Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk — my favorite,” Elsa elaborates. The wurse has eaten more than half the ice cream before she reaches the end of that sentence. She caresses its ears. “I just have to get hold of a computer. Stay here and… you know… try to stay out of sight!”
“是BEN&JERRY’S的纽约超级软糖块口味——我的最爱。”爱莎进一步说明。她这句话还没讲完，呜嘶已经吃掉了大半盒。她抚摸着它的耳朵。“我得去找台电脑。你待在这儿，还有…你明白的…别让人看见你！”
Elsa promises to find it a much better hiding place. Soon.
爱莎保证会替它找个更好的藏身之地。很快。
The wurse points its nose with interest.
呜嘶充满兴趣地嗅了嗅。
No one answers. Elsa takes a deep breath.
没有人回答。爱莎深吸一口气。
She runs up the stairs. Checks carefully that Britt-Marie is not lurking anywhere, and once she’s sure she’s not, rings The Monster’s doorbell. He doesn’t open. She rings the bell again. Everything is silent. She groans and opens his mail slot and peers inside. All of the lights are out, but that doesn’t dissuade her.
她跑上楼，先仔细观察一番，确保布里特—玛丽没有潜伏在附近。确认这点后，她飞快按响了怪物家的门铃。没人开门。她又按了按门铃。没有任何声音。她发了句牢骚，推开他的投信口，朝里头张望。所有灯都黑着，但这并没有使她放弃。
“If you don’t open, I’ll sneeze right inside! And I’ve got a mega-col –” she starts to say threateningly, before from behind her interrupts a hiss, like someone trying to make a cat jump down from a table.
“如果你不开门，我就朝里面打喷嚏！我感冒得可严…”她开始威胁，身后一声“嘘——”打断了她的话，就像有人想让一只猫从桌上跳下来。
She spins around. The Monster steps out of the shadows on the stairs. She can’t understand how such a huge person can make himself invisible all the time. He’s rubbing his hands together, turning the skin around his knuckles red.
她转过身。怪物从楼道的阴影中走出。她不明白这么巨大的一个人是怎么让自己一直隐身的。他搓着手，指关节周围的皮肤都搓红了。
“Don’t sneeze, don’t sneeze,” he implores anxiously.
“别打喷嚏，别打喷嚏。”他焦虑地恳求。
“I need to borrow your computer, because I think George could be at home and I can’t surf on my cell phone because the display is screwed because Granny had a Fanta-and-toaster-related incident with it…”
“我要借用一下你的电脑。乔治可能在家，我也不能用我的手机上网，显示屏毁了，这涉及某次外婆的芬达和烤面包机引发的意外…”
The Monster shakes his head again.
怪物又摇了摇头。
The hood over The Monster’s head moves slowly from side to side. “No computer.”
怪物脑袋上的兜帽慢慢地左右摇晃。“没电脑。”
“Just let me borrow it so I can check the address!” Elsa whines, waving Granny’s letter in the air.
“我就借一下，查个地址！”爱莎一边抱怨，一边在空中挥舞着外婆的信。
“Fine, just give me your Wi-Fi password, then, so I can connect my iPad!” she manages to say, rolling her eyes until it feels as if her pupils are out of position when she stops. “I don’t have 3G on the iPad, because Dad bought the iPad and Mum got pissed because she didn’t want me to have such expensive stuff, and she doesn’t like Apple, so it was a compromise! It’s complicated, okay? I only need to borrow your Wi-Fi, that’s all! Good God!”
“好吧，要不然就给我你的Wi—Fi密码，让我连一下平板电脑！”她翻着白眼，感觉整个瞳孔都要翻移位了，“我的平板电脑没3G功能，因为这是爸爸买的，妈妈气坏了，她不想让我拥有这么贵的东西，而且她还不喜欢苹果公司，所以这是一种折中方案！一时说不清的，好吗？我只是想借你的Wi—Fi，就只是这样啦！天啊！”
“No computer,” repeats The Monster.
“没电脑。”怪物重复道。
“No… computer?” Elsa repeats with extreme disbelief.
“没…电脑？”爱莎不敢置信地重复。
The Monster shakes his head.
怪物摇着头。
“How can you not have a COMPUTER?”
“你怎么会没有电脑？！”
“You don’t have a computer?”
“你没有电脑？”
The hood moves from side to side. Elsa peers at him as if he’s having her on, is clinically insane, or both.
兜帽左右晃了晃。爱莎看着他，好像他在说胡话，或者是有精神病，或者两者皆是。
The Monster produces a small sealed plastic bag from one of his jacket pockets, and inside it is a small bottle of alcogel. Carefully he squeezes out some of its contents and starts rubbing it into his palms and skin.
怪物从他的上衣口袋里拿出一个小密封袋，里面装着一小瓶免洗洗手液。他小心翼翼地挤出一些凝胶，揉进手心和皮肤。
Which doesn’t exactly leave a wealth of possibilities. Elsa collects herself and tries to think about how a knight of Miamas is never afraid of a treasure hunt, even if it’s difficult. And then she goes up the stairs.
她没有什么选择余地。爱莎收拾情绪，想着密阿玛斯的骑士从来不畏惧寻宝，即使困难重重。然后她走上楼梯。
Elsa takes a deep, irritated breath and takes a look around the stairs. George may still be at home so she can’t go inside, because then he’ll ask why she’s not at school. And she can’t go to Maud and Lennart, because they’re too kind to lie, so if Mum asks if they’ve seen Elsa they’ll tell her the truth. The boy with a syndrome and his mum aren’t here in the daytime. And forget Britt-Marie.
爱莎深吸了一口气，环顾四周的楼梯。乔治可能还在家里，所以她不能进去，不然他一定会问她为什么不在学校。她不能去找莫德和莱纳特，他们太善良不会说谎，如果妈妈问他们是否见过爱莎，他们会告诉她真相。生病男孩和他的妈妈白天不在家。布里特—玛丽就别提了。
“Don’t need computer,” he growls.
“不需要电脑。”他低吼道。
“Were you still sleeping?”
“你还在睡觉？”
Alf opens the door after the seventh ring. His flat smells of wood shavings. He’s wearing a sorry excuse for a dressing gown, and the remaining hairs on his head look like the last tottering bits of buildings after a hurricane. He’s holding a large white cup on which it says “Juventus” and there’s a smell of coffee, strong like Granny always drank it. “After Alf has made coffee, you have to drive standing up all morning,” she used to say, and Elsa didn’t quite know what she meant, although she understood what she was saying.
阿尔夫在门铃响了七声之后开门。他的公寓闻上去有股木屑的气味。他穿着一条很烂的睡袍，脑袋上仅剩的头发看起来像飓风过后摇摇欲坠的建筑残骸。他手捧一个白色大杯子，上面印着“尤文图斯”，闻上去一股浓烈的咖啡味，像外婆常喝的那种。“阿尔夫煮的咖啡会让你整个早上不得不站着开车。”她以前这么说过，爱莎不太明白她的意思，但听得懂她说的句子。
“You know where this is?” says Elsa, and holds out the envelope with Granny’s handwriting on it.
“你知道这是哪里吗？”爱莎举着外婆手写的信封。
“Yes?” he grunts.
“嗯？”他咕哝道。
“I drive the late shift. This is nighttime for me. Do I come to your flat in the middle of the night to ask you random questions?”
“我开的是晚班。现在对我来说是晚上。你见过我半夜去你家问些乱七八糟的问题吗？”
“Are you waking me up to ask about a bloody address?” answers Alf in every way inhospitably before taking a big gulp of coffee.
“你叫醒我，就为了问个该死的地址？”阿尔夫怒气冲冲地问，然后喝了一大口咖啡。
Elsa looks at the cup. Looks at Alf.
爱莎看看杯子，看看阿尔夫。
Alf takes another mouthful and nods at his wristwatch.
阿尔夫又喝了一大口，冲他的手表点了点头。
Alf looks a little as if he’s repeating her question to himself inside his head, in a very exaggerated and contemptuous tone. Has another sip of coffee.
阿尔夫的表情像是用一种轻蔑和夸张的语气，在脑海中重复了一遍爱莎的问题。他又喝了一口咖啡。
Alf looks resigned. “Young people and their lack of history, I tell you. Where the rubber factory was until they moved it again. And the brickyard.”
阿尔夫一脸无奈。“年轻人啊，太缺乏历史知识了，我跟你说，就是橡胶厂搬迁前的地方。还有砖厂。”
“What?”
“什么？”
“And?” wonders Elsa.
“所以呢？”爱莎不明白。
“I’ve been a taxi driver for more than thirty years.”
“我当出租车司机已经三十多年了。”
“And so of course I bloody know where that is. It’s by the old waterworks,” he says, then drains his cup.
“我当然知道这是哪里。这地方在旧水厂旁边。”他喝完了杯中的咖啡。
“If you’re asleep, why are you drinking coffee?”
“如果你在睡觉，那你为什么喝咖啡？”
“Do you know where this is or not?” she asks and points at the envelope.
“你到底知不知道这是哪里？”她指着信封问。
Alf looks at the cup. Looks at Elsa. Looks totally puzzled. Elsa shrugs.
阿尔夫看看杯子，看看爱莎，一脸茫然。爱莎耸了耸肩。
Elsa’s expression gives away the possibility that she doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.
爱莎的表情暴露了她完全不知道他在说什么。
Alf claws at the remains of his hair and disappears into the flat. Comes back with a topped-up cup of coffee and a map. Puts down the coffee cup with a slam on a shelf in the hall and marks the map with a thick ring using a ballpoint pen.
阿尔夫挠了挠他仅剩的头发，消失在房间里。回来时带着一杯盛满的咖啡和一张地图。他将咖啡杯放在玄关的一个架子上，发出“砰”的一声，用圆珠笔在地图上重重画了一个圈。
“I’ll keep the map!” Elsa hollers cheerfully into his mail slot.
“地图我留下了！”爱莎高兴地冲他的投信口里喊。
“Oh, theeere! That’s where the shopping center is. Why didn’t you just say?”
“哦！原来如此！购物中心那儿。你怎么不早说？”
He doesn’t answer.
他没有回答。
He doesn’t answer that either.
他仍然没有回答。
Alf says something that Elsa can’t quite make out and closes the door in her face.
阿尔夫说了一些爱莎不太明白的话，冲着她的脸关上了房门。
“It’s the Christmas holidays, if you’re wondering! That’s why I’m not at school!” she calls out.
“现在是圣诞假期，如果你想知道的话！这就是为什么我没去上学。”她又嚷道。
The wurse is lying on its side with two legs comfortably stretched up into the air when Elsa walks into the storage unit, as if it has very gravely misunderstood a Pilates exercise. The Monster is standing in the passage outside, rubbing his hands. He looks very uncomfortable.
爱莎走进储藏室时，呜嘶正侧躺在地上，双腿舒舒服服地朝上伸展，像在做普拉提（虽然它对普拉提这项运动有很严重的误解）。怪物站在外面的走廊上，搓着手，看上去很不自在。
The Monster nods. The hood glides away a few inches from his face, and the big scar gleams momentarily in the fluorescent light. He doesn’t even ask where they’re going. It’s difficult not to feel a pang of affection for him.
怪物点点头。兜帽向后滑下几英寸，露出了他的脸，那条大伤疤在荧光灯下时不时地反着光。他甚至没问他们要去哪儿。这让人很难不喜欢他。
Elsa looks first at him and then at the wurse. She knows that Mum is going to be angry with her for playing hooky and going off without permission, but when Elsa asks her why she’s always so worried about her, Mum always says, “Because I’m so bloody afraid something may happen to you.” But Elsa is having a pretty hard time thinking that anything can happen to you when you have a monster and a wurse tagging along. So she feels it should be okay, given the circumstances.
爱莎先看了看他，又看了看呜嘶。她知道妈妈会因为逃课和偷溜出去冲她大发雷霆，但当爱莎问妈妈为什么总是那么担心她时，妈妈就会说：“因为我担心你遇上危险。”但爱莎很难想象，有一个怪物和一只呜嘶同行，她还能遇上什么危险。鉴于现在的情况，她觉得肯定没问题。
Elsa holds up the envelope to him. “Are you coming?”
爱莎冲他举起信封。“你来吗？”
The Monster holds out the broom like a lance and tries to force the wurse back by pushing the bristles into its nose.
怪物举着扫帚，像举着一支长矛，用扫帚毛戳着呜嘶的鼻孔，想要迫使它后退。
The wurse tries to lick The Monster when it walks out of the storage unit. The Monster jumps in terror and snatches back his hand and grabs a broom leaning up against another storage unit. The wurse, as if it’s teasing and having a bit of a laugh, sweeps its tongue back and forth in long, provocative movements.
呜嘶走出储藏室时想要舔怪物。怪物惊恐地跳了起来，猛地收回手，抓起一把扫帚，紧靠着另一间储藏室。呜嘶似乎在故意捉弄他，淘气地来回吐着舌头。
“I said stop it!” Elsa snaps at both of them.
“我说别闹了！”爱莎冲他俩呵斥道。
“Stop i –” Elsa begins but doesn’t have time to finish the last “it” before The Monster has thrown both broom and wurse across the cellar with all his might, sending the heavy animal crashing hard into the wall several yards away.
“别闹——”爱莎还没来得及说完这句话，怪物就用力将扫帚和呜嘶一起扔了出去，这巨大的动物摔过地下室，重重撞在了几米之外的墙上。
“Stop it!” Elsa tells it.
“别闹！”爱莎对它说。
The wurse closes its jaws around the broom and crunches it to smithereens.
呜嘶合上嘴，把扫帚咬得粉碎。
The wurse rolls up and flexes its body in one movement, and is in the middle of a terrifying spring before it has even landed. Its jaws are open, and rows of kitchen knife-size teeth exposed. The Monster faces it with a broad chest and the blood pumping in his fists.
在这可怕的过程中，呜嘶一瞬间翻转并蜷起了身体，在即将落地时一跃而起。它张开大嘴，露出两排切菜刀那么大的牙齿。怪物挺起宽阔的胸膛面向它，握紧的拳头血脉偾张。
The wurse stops itself midleap and lands softly beside her. The Monster takes a few steps back. Slowly, muscles relax and lungs release air. Neither of them meets her gaze.
呜嘶正准备往前冲，但中途停下了，轻轻地在她身旁蹲下。怪物退后了几步，肌肉慢慢放松，呼出一大口气。他们俩都没有正视她的眼睛。
“CUT IT OUT, I SAID!” Elsa roars, throwing her little body right between the two furious creatures, unprotected between claws as sharp as spears and fists probably big enough to separate her head from her shoulders. She stands her ground, armed with nothing but the indifference of an almost-eight-year-old to her own physical shortcomings. Which goes a long way.
“我、说、别、再、闹、了！”爱莎咆哮着，用她小小的身躯挡在两只愤怒的生物之间——一边是长矛般锋利的爪子，一边是大得可以把她的脑袋从肩上扯下来的拳头。她毫无防御却坚守阵地，无视自己不到八岁的柔弱体格，也没有任何武器。这一举动很奏效。
“The idea here is that you’re supposed to protect me,” Elsa says in a quieter voice, trying not to cry, which doesn’t go so terrifically well. “I’ve never had any friends and now you two try to kill the only two I’ve ever had, just after I’ve found you!”
“你们要明白，你们在这儿是来保护我的。”爱莎稍稍放低了音量，努力不哭出来，但不怎么奏效，“我从来没有朋友，而现在你们俩想杀死我仅有的两个朋友，就在我刚刚找到你们之后！”
The wurse lowers its nose. The Monster rubs his hands, disappears into his hood, and makes a rocking motion towards the wurse.
呜嘶低下头。怪物搓着手，用兜帽遮住脸，冲呜嘶晃了晃头。
The wurse growls back.
呜嘶怒吼回应。
“Started it,” The Monster manages to say.
“是它先。”怪物犹犹豫豫地说。
“Stop it!” She tries to sound angry but realizes she mainly just sounds as if she’s crying.
“够了！”她想让自己的声音显得愤怒，但意识到那听起来只是哭腔。
“We have an important mission here, so you can’t keep messing about. We have to deliver this letter because I think Granny wants to say sorry to someone else. And there are more letters. This is our fairy tale: to deliver every single one of Granny’s sorries.”
“我们现在有一项重要的任务，所以你们不能胡闹。我们要去送信，我觉得外婆想跟别的什么人说抱歉。还有更多的信。这是我们的童话故事：送去外婆的每一份歉意。”
“Sor… ry,” he mumbles. The wurse buffets her shoulder. She rests her forehead against its nose.
“对…不起。”他咕哝。呜嘶推推她的肩膀。她用前额抵在它的鼻子上。
With her face in the wurse’s fur, she inhales deeply and closes her eyes.
她的脸埋在呜嘶的毛里，深深地吸了口气，闭上眼睛。
The Monster, concerned, moves the palm of his hand up and down along her side, as close as possible without actually touching her.
怪物担心地抬起手掌，在她身侧放下，尽可能靠近但没有实际碰到她。
“We have to do it for my mum’s sake. Because I’m hoping that the last sorry will be to her.”
“为了妈妈，我们必须这么做。因为我希望最后一份歉意是给她的。”
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