Sunday I woke up feeling like I’d been sick with the flu. Like I’d had one of those bad, convoluted, unexplainable fever dreams.
星期天我醒来时感觉自己得了流感。感觉自己做了那些糟糕，复杂而无法解释的发烧梦。
And what I’ve figured out about bad, convoluted, unexplainable dreams of any kind is that you’ve just got to shake them off. Try to forget that they ever happened.
而我关于糟糕，复杂而无法解释的梦的发现是，你得把它们甩掉。试图去忘记它们发生过。
I beat it into the kitchen and poured myself a killer bowl of corn flakes. And I was about to drown it in milk when my mother comes waltzing in and snags it away from me. “You are going to wait, young man,” she says. “This family is going to have Sunday breakfast together.”
我冲进厨房，给自己倒了一碗玉米片，而正当我要倒进牛奶的时候，我妈妈轻快地进来迅速给我抢走了。“你先等等，年轻先生，”她说，“这个家要一起吃周日早餐。”
I shook it off, all right, and got out of bed early ’cause I had eaten almost nothing the night before and I was starving! But as I was trucking into the kitchen, I glanced into the family room and noticed that my dad was sacked out on the couch.
我甩掉了，一切顺利，很早就从床上爬起来，因为我前一天晚上几乎什么都没吃而我快饿死了！但当我溜进厨房时，我瞟了一眼起居室，却发现我爸爸正蜷缩在沙发上。
He rolled over and kind of groaned, then curled up tighter under his skinny little quilt and muttered some pretty unfriendly-sounding stuff into his pillow.
他打了个滚儿呻吟了一会儿，然后紧紧地蜷在微小的被子下，对着他的枕头嘟囔了些听起来并不友好的东西。
This was not good. This was a sign of battles still in progress, and it made me feel like an invader in my own territory.
这可不是好事。这是战争还在发展的迹象，而且这让我觉得自己在自己的领土上是个侵略者。
“But I’m starving!”
“但我饿死了！”
“So are the rest of us. Now go! I’m making pancakes, and you’re taking a shower. Go!” Like a shower’s going to prevent imminent starvation.
“我们其他人也是。走吧！我要做烙饼，你去洗个澡。走吧！”好像洗个澡能预防即将的饿死似的！
At breakfast my father didn’t look like he’d spent the night on the couch. No bags under his eyes, no whiskers on his chin. He was decked out in tennis shorts and a lavender polo shirt, and his hair was all blown dry like it was a workday.
早餐的时候我爸爸看起来不像是整晚都在沙发上度过。他没有眼袋，下巴上也没有胡子。他穿了一条网球短裤和一件淡紫色马球衫，而他的头发被吹得膨胀起来，好像这是个工作日。
But I headed down to the bathroom, and on my way I noticed that the family room was empty. The quilt was folded and back on the armrest, the pillow was gone… it was like I’d imagined the whole thing.
但我还是去了厕所，在路上我注意到起居室已经空了。被子已经叠好回到了扶手上，枕头不见了…好像我想象了整件事似的。
Then my grandfather came in, saying, “Patsy, the house smells wonderful! Good morning, Rick. Hi there, Bryce,” and winked at me as he sat down and put his napkin in his lap.
然后我外公进来，说道：“帕特斯，房子里的味道香极了！早上好，里克。嗨，布莱斯。”然后他坐下时一边朝我眨眼一边把餐布铺在腿上。
Personally I thought the shirt looked kind of girly, but my mom said, “You look very nice this morning, Rick.”
我个人认为那件衬衫看起来有点儿女孩子气，但是我妈妈说：“今天早上你看起来很好，里克。”
My sister appeared in a triple-X miniskirt and platform shoes, with eyes that were definitely of the raccoon variety. My mother gasped, but then took a deep breath and said, “Good morning, honey. You’re… you’re… I thought you were going to church this morning with your friends.”
我姐姐穿着三层超短裙和平底鞋出现了，还有一双能和浣熊媲美的眼睛。妈妈倒抽了口气，但是做了个深呼吸说道：“早上好，亲爱的。你…你…我以为今早你要和你的朋友一起去教会。”
My father just eyed her suspiciously.
我爸爸只是用怀疑的眼光看着她。
“Lyn-et-ta!” my mother sang out. “Break-fast!”
“琳——内——塔！”妈妈喊道，“早——餐！“
“I am.” Lynetta scowled and sat down.
“是啊。”琳内塔皱着眉坐下。
Mom brought pancakes, fried eggs, and hash browns to the table. My father just sat there stiff as a board for a minute, but finally he shook out his napkin and tucked it into his collar.
妈妈把烙饼，煎鸡蛋和土豆饼端上了桌。我爸爸像纸板似的僵硬地坐了一会儿，但最后他还是抖开了餐巾把它塞进了领子。
“Here it comes…,” my father muttered, but my mother gave him a glare that shut him down cold.
“终于来了…”爸爸咕哝道，但妈妈瞪了他一眼，让他迅速地闭上了嘴。
“The solution is…,” my mom said as she served herself some pancakes, “… we’re going to invite the Bakers over for dinner.”
“解决方案就是…”妈妈一边说一边给自己盛些烙饼，“我们要请贝克一家来吃晚饭。”
“Well,” my mother said as she sat down, “I have come up with a solution to our situation.”
“嗯，”我妈妈一边坐下一边说，“我对我们的情况有了一个解决办法。”
“Thanks, Dad,” she says with a smile, then tells Lynetta and me, “Of course I’m serious, and yes, if Juli and the boys want to come, they’ll be invited.”
“谢谢，爸爸，”她微笑着说道，然后告诉琳内塔和我，“我当然是认真的，而且是的，琳内塔，如果朱莉和男孩们也想来，他们也会被邀请。”
My father blurts out, “What?”; Lynetta asks, “All of them?”; I put in, “Are you serious?”; but my grandfather heaps on another fried egg and says, “That, Patsy, is a marvelous idea.”
我爸爸脱口而出：“什么？”；琳内塔问：“他们全家吗？”；我说：“你是认真的吗？”；但是外公又拿走一个煎鸡蛋说道：“那，帕特斯，是个极好的主意。”
Mom smooths the napkin into her lap. “Maybe it’s about time I found out.”
妈妈把餐巾在腿上摊平：“也许是时候了解他们了。”
My sister starts cracking up. “Do you know what you’re saying?”
琳内塔开始大笑：“你知道你在说什么吗？”
Lynetta turns to me and says, “She’s inviting the core of Piss Poor over for dinner — oh, this is something I really woke up expecting!”
琳内塔转向我说道：“她要邀请神秘尿人的核心成员来吃晚饭——哦，这才是我醒来时想要听到的！”
“No, Rick. A sit-down dinner. Like we have when your clients come over.” He stopped chewing. “You’re expecting them to dress up?”
“不，里克。一顿正式晚餐。就像你的客户来的时候那样。”他停下了咀嚼：“你想让他们都穿正装吗？”
My father shakes his head and says, “Patsy, what purpose does this serve? So I made some stupid cracks last night. Is this the next phase in my punishment?”
我爸爸摇了摇头说道：“你葫芦里卖得什么药？也许我昨晚是说了些蠢话。这是我下个阶段的惩罚吗？”
“It is something we should have done years ago.”
“我们早该邀请他们了。”
“Patsy, please. I know you feel bad about what you found out, but an awkward dinner party isn’t going to change anything!”
“帕特斯，别傻了。我知道你对你的发现感到难过，但是一顿尴尬的晚餐也不会改变任何事。”
My mother ran syrup all over her pancakes, popped the top closed, licked her finger, then locked eyes with my dad. “We are having the Bakers over for dinner.”
妈妈在她的烙饼上淋上糖浆，“啪”地一声合上盖子，打了个响指，然后盯着我爸爸。“我决定了，邀请贝克一家吃晚饭。”
Mom glared at him. “What I’m expecting is for you to behave like the gentleman I always thought you were.”
妈妈对他怒目而视：“我想要你能够表现得像个绅士，就像我一直认为的那样。”
Dad went back to his potatoes. Definitely safer than arguing with Mom.
爸爸继续去吃他的土豆。这比和妈妈吵架安全多了。
And that, she didn’t have to tell him, was that.
然后，她不需要再次告诉他，事情就这样了。
Dad took a deep breath, then sighed and said, “Whatever you want, Patsy. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He took a bite of hash browns and mumbled, “A barbecue, I suppose?”
爸爸做了个深呼吸，然后叹了口气说：“随便你吧，帕特斯。只是别说我没提醒过你。”他拿了一小块土豆饼，嘟囔道：“吃烧烤吗？”
Granddad ate plenty, even for him, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He was back to looking more granite than human. Me, I’d started tuning in to the fact that this dinner could be more than awkward — it could be trouble. Those rotten eggs were back from the grave, looming large and smelly right over my head.
外公吃了很多，这很正常，但是我猜不出他在想什么。他看起来比一般人类更加刚硬。而我，我开始不得不面对那顿晚餐将不仅仅是尴尬——这可能是麻烦。那些讨厌的鸡蛋又会从坟墓里回来，在我的头顶笼罩地更大更臭。
Sure, Granddad knew, but no one else in my family did. What if it came up at dinner? I’d be dead, fried, cluck-faced meat.
当然，外公知道，但是我们家其他人都不知道。如果这在晚餐期间被提及呢？我会死掉，油煎，变成烧焦的肉。
Lynetta wound up eating the entire white of a fried egg and almost a whole pancake besides. Plain, of course, but from the way she was glutting and giggling as she ate, it was obvious that at least she was in a good mood.
琳内塔居然吃下了整个煎蛋的蛋白和将近一块烙饼。她面色如常，但是从她狼吞虎咽和边吃边傻笑的方式来看，很明显能看出至少她心情很好。
Later, as I was brushing my teeth, I considered bribing Juli. Getting her on board so that nobody brought up the subject of eggs. Or maybe I could sabotage the dinner somehow. Make it not happen. Yeah, I could — I stopped myself and looked in the mirror. What kind of wimp was I, anyway? I spit and headed back to find my mom.
后来，刷牙的时候，我考虑到贿赂朱莉。把她拖下水这样就没人会说关于蛋的事。或者也许我能设计破坏掉晚餐，让它不要发生。是的，我可以——我停下来看着镜子。无论如何我是个多么懦弱的人啊？我吐掉泡沫，回去找到了妈妈。
“What is it, honey?” she asked me as she wiped off the griddle. “You look worried.”
“怎么了，亲爱的？”她一边问一边擦干煎锅，“你看起来很担心。”
“About her… eggs?”
“关于她的…蛋？”
“What can be…,” she said, then looked at me and stopped cleaning. “Oh, it is serious. Honey, what’s wrong?”
“会是什么呢…”她说，然后看着我停下清洁，“哦，是认真的。亲爱的，怎么了？”
It had been ages since I’d voluntarily fessed up about something to my mom. It just didn’t seem necessary anymore; I’d learned to deal with things on my own. At least, that’s what I’d thought. Until now.
我已经有很多年没有向妈妈主动坦白一件事。这似乎已经不再有必要；我学会了自己处理事情。至少，我是这么想的。直到现在。
She touched my arm and said, “Bryce, tell me. What is it?”
她碰了碰我的胳膊说道：“布莱斯，告诉我。怎么了？”
I hopped up to sit on the counter, then took a deep breath and said, “It’s about Juli’s eggs.”
我跳起来坐在吧台上，然后做了个深呼吸说道：“是关于朱莉的蛋。”
She laughed. “I don’t know about that.” I just waited.
她笑了，“我不知道我需要啊。”我只是等着。
“Yeah. Remember that whole chicken-hen-salmonella disaster?”
“对。记得那个小鸡——母鸡——沙门氏菌灾难吗？”
“Well, what you don’t know is that Juli didn’t bring eggs over just that once. She’s been bringing them over every week… or about that, anyway.”
“唉，你不知道的是朱莉不仅仅送来了鸡蛋一次。她每一周都送来…差不多是那样。”
“That was quite a while ago, but sure…”
“那是挺久之前了，但是当然…”
I double-checked to make sure my dad or Lynetta wasn’t lurking around somewhere, then whispered, “Will you swear to secrecy?”
我又检查了一遍，确定我爸爸或琳内塔没有潜伏在附近，然后低声道：“你发誓会保密吗？”
“Well, I was afraid Dad would get mad at me for not telling her we didn’t want them, so I started intercepting them. I’d see her coming, get to her before she rang the bell, and then I’d toss them in the trash before anyone knew she’d been here.”
“唉，因为我害怕爸爸会因为我没告诉她我们不想要而生我的气，所以我就开始拦截它们。我会等她来，在她按铃之前开门，然后我会在所有人知道她来过之前把它们扔进垃圾箱。”
“She has? Why didn’t I know about this?”
“她送过？为什么我不知道这些？”
“Yeah. As of last week. Because Juli caught me chucking a carton in the trash outside.”
“对啊。上个星期。因为朱莉撞见我把一盒扔在了外面的垃圾箱。”
“Oh, dear.”
“哦，天哪。”
“But I take it they have stopped?”
“但是我认为他们已经停下了？”
I whispered, “You’re sworn to secrecy on this whole egg thing, right? I mean, Juli told Granddad, so he knows, but I don’t want this to spread to, you know, Dad.”
我低语道：“你发誓对整个蛋的事保密，对吗？我的意思是，朱莉告诉了外公，所以他知道，但是我不想让这个泄露给，你知道，爸爸。”
“Exactly.”
“一点不错。”
She studied me a minute, then said, “Tell me you’ve learned your lesson, honey.”
她盯着我研究了一会儿，然后说：“告诉我你又上了一课，亲爱的。”
I looked down and mumbled, “I told her that we were afraid of salmonella poisoning because their yard was such a mess. She ran off crying, and the next thing I know, she’s starting to fix up their yard.”
我往下看然后咕哝道：“我告诉她我们害怕沙门氏菌中毒因为他们的院子是一团糟。她哭着跑走了，我知道的下一件事就是，她开始修理他们的院子。”
“Oh, Bryce!”
“哦，布莱斯！”
“Exactly.”
“正是如此。”
“Oh, Bryce!”
“哦，布莱斯！”
She was dead quiet for a minute; then very softly she said, “Thank you for your honesty, Bryce. It does help to explain a lot.” She shook her head and said, “What that family must think of us,” and got back to cleaning the griddle. “All the more reason to have them over for dinner, if you ask me.”
她沉寂了一会儿；然后她非常温柔地说：“谢谢你的诚实，布莱斯。这的确解释了很多事。”然后她摇了摇头道：“那个家庭会怎么想我们啊，”借着又继续清洁煎锅，“这有了更好的理由请他们来吃饭，如果你问我的话。”
“Well, I kept thinking they’d stop! How long can a stupid chicken lay eggs?”
“唉，我一直认为他们会停下！一直蠢鸡能下多久的蛋呢？”
“So what did you tell her?”
“所以你告诉她什么了？”
“Okay, then.” I let out a big sigh of relief. “Thanks.”
“那好吧。”我宽慰地叹了口气，“谢谢。”
“I have, Mom.”
“是的，妈妈。”
“Oh, and Bryce?”
“哦，还有，布莱斯。”
“Right,” I said, and headed outside to trim the turf.
“对。”我说，然后到了外面修剪草皮。
“I’m very glad you told me about it.” She kissed me on the cheek, then smiled and said, “Now, didn’t I hear you promise you’d mow the lawn today?”
“我很高兴你告诉了我。”她吻了我的脸颊，然后微笑着说：“现在，我昨天是不是听见你保证今天割草？”
That evening my mother announced that the Bakers would be over Friday night at six o’clock; that the menu included poached salmon, crab risotto, and fresh steamed vegetables; and that none of us had better weasel out of being there. My dad muttered that if we were really going to do this, it would be a whole lot better to barbecue because at least that way he’d have something to do, but my mom positively smoked him with her eyes and he dropped it.
那天晚上我妈妈宣布贝克一家会在星期五晚上六点过来；菜单包括了煮三文鱼，意式调味饭，还有新鲜蒸蔬菜；而我们无人能逃过参加晚餐。我爸爸咕哝说如果我们真的要这么做，吃烧烤会好很多因为那样至少他有些事可做，而妈妈用眼睛放了颗烟雾弹，让他放弃了。
“Yeah?”
“什么？”
So. They were coming. And it made seeing Juli at school even more uncomfortable than usual. Not because she gushed about it or even waved and winked or something. No, she was back to avoiding me. She’d say hi if we happened to run into each other, but instead of being, like, right over my shoulder anytime I looked, she was nowhere. She must have ducked out back doors and taken roundabout ways through campus. She was, I don’t know, scarce.
所以，他们要来了。而且这让在学校里见到朱莉比平常更不舒服。并不是因为她滔滔不绝地谈论或挥手或眨眼。不，她又开始躲避我。如果我们面对面的时候她会打招呼，但是每次我回头的时候不会像以前一样看见她。她肯定从后门溜走或是在学校里绕道而行。她简直，十分罕见。
Making that connection sent a chill down my spine. And I wondered — what was she thinking? Could she really be that interested in root derivations?
得到这个结论让我的脊椎一阵颤抖。而我想知道——她当时在想什么？她真的对根部起源这么感兴趣吗？
I found myself looking at her in class. The teacher’d be talking and all eyes would be up front… except mine. They kept wandering over to Juli. It was weird. One minute I’d be listening to the teacher, and the next I’d be completely tuned out, looking at Juli.
我发现自己在上课时看着她。老师在讲话时所有的眼睛都会看着前方…除了我的。它们不停地在朱莉身上徘徊。这很奇怪。前一分钟我会听老师讲，但下一分钟我会完完全全地分心，盯着朱莉。
It wasn’t until Wednesday in math that I figured it out. With the way her hair fell back over her shoulders and her head was tilted, she looked like the picture in the paper. Not just like it — the angle was different, and the wind wasn’t blowing through her hair — but she did look like the picture. A lot like the picture.
直到星期三我才得到了答案。她的头发披在肩上和头微微倾斜的样子，让她看起来就像报纸上的照片。并不是完全相同——角度是不同的，而风也没有吹起她的头发——但她就像照片一样。与照片及其相像。
Darla Tressler caught me watching, and man, she gave me the world’s wickedest smile. If I didn’t do something fast, this was going to spread like wildfire, so I squinted at her and whispered, “There’s a bee in her hair, stupid,” then pointed around in the air like, There it goes, see?
达拉·特雷斯勒抓到了我的注视，天哪，她给了我世界上最邪恶的笑容。如果我没迅速做出反应，绯闻会像野火一般蔓延开来，所以我眯着眼睛看着她低语道：“有只蜜蜂在她头发里，笨蛋。”然后指着空气道，它飞走了，看到吗？
“Give me your sharpener and I’m history,” she said with her hand out.
“给我你的卷笔刀这就完了，”她伸出手说道。
That night I was doing my homework, and just to prove to myself that I’d been wrong, I pulled that newspaper article out of my trash can. And as I’m flipping it over, I’m telling myself, It’s a distortion of reality; it’s my imagination; she doesn’t really look like that…
那天晚上做回家作业的时候，只是为了证明我自己错了，我从垃圾箱里抽出了那张报纸。而当我翻页的时候，我告诉自己，它扭曲了真相；是我的想象；她并不是真的看起来像那样…
Darla’s neck whipped around searching for the bee, and I straightened out my focus for the rest of the day. The last thing I needed was to be scorched by the likes of Darla Tressler.
达拉的脖子扭来扭去寻找这蜜蜂，然后我在这天剩下的时间里都集中了注意力。我最不需要的事就是被达拉这种人烧焦。
But there she was. The girl in my math class, two rows over and one seat up, glowing through newsprint.
但是她就在那儿了。和我一起上数学课的女生，两列过去再往前一排，印在报纸上。
“Nothing, and stop calling me that! And don’t barge into my room anymore!”
“没什么，而且别那么叫我！别再闯进我的房间！”
Lynetta barged in. “I need your sharpener,” she said.
琳内塔闯进来。“我要用你的卷笔刀，”她说。
I slammed my binder closed over the paper and said, “You’re supposed to knock!” And then, since she was zooming in and the paper was still sticking out, I crammed the binder into my backpack as fast as I could. “What are you trying to hide there, baby brother?”
我砰地合上文件夹盖住报纸，说道：“你应该敲门！”然后，因为她正走过来而报纸还露在外面，我用最快的速度把文件夹塞进了背包。“你想藏什么呢，小弟弟？”
Until first period the next morning, that is. Man! What was I supposed to do with it? I couldn’t get up and throw it out; Garrett was right there. Besides that, Darla Tressler’s in that class, and I could tell — she was keeping an eye out for wayward bees. If she caught wind of this, I’d be the one stung.
直到第二天的第一堂课。天！我应该怎么做？我不能站起来把它扔了；加瑞特就在那儿。除此之外，达拉·特雷斯勒也在这堂课上，我也知道——她对顽皮的蜜蜂有所怀疑。如果她发现了一点风声，我会被蛰伤。
But two seconds later my mom was calling for me, and after that, well, I forgot that the paper was in my binder.
但是两秒后我妈妈在叫我，那以后，唉，我忘了那张报纸还在文件夹里。
“Dude!” he says. “What’s your problem?”
“兄弟！”他说，“你是怎么回事？”
Then Garrett reaches over to snag a piece of paper like he does about fourteen times a day, only I have a complete mental spaz and slam down on his hand with mine.
然后加瑞特伸过来拿一张纸，像他每天做十四次的那样，只是我完全被吓到，拍掉了他的手。
I dug it out of my drawer and tossed it at her, and sure enough, she disappeared.
我从抽屉里翻出来扔给她，然后没错，她消失了。
“Sorry,” I say, tuning in to the fact that he was only going for lined paper, not newspaper.
“对不起。”我说，发现他实际上只是要拿作文纸而不是报纸。
“Dude,” he says again. “You know you’ve been really spaced lately? Anyone else tell you that?” He rips a piece of paper out of my binder, then notices the edges of the newspaper. He eyes me, and before I can stop him, he whips it out.
“兄弟，”他又说了一遍，“你知道你最近很心不在焉吗？有人告诉过你吗？”然后从我的文件夹里扯出一张纸，接着注意到了报纸的一边。他看着我，在我能阻止他之前，他抽了出来。
I pounce on him and tear it out of his hands, but it’s too late. He’s seen her picture.
我扑向他，从他手里抢过来，但是已经太晚了。他看见了她的照片。
Before he can say a word, I get in his face and say, “You shut up, you hear me? This is not what you think.”
在他能够说一个字之前，我面对着他说道：“闭上你的嘴，听见没？这不是你想的那样。”
The way he said it scared me. Like he was playing with the idea of roasting me in front of the whole class. I leaned over and said, “Zip it, would you?”
他说话的方式吓到了我。好像他正想在全班面前嘲笑我。我俯向他说道：“保密，行吗？”
The teacher hammered on us to be quiet, but it didn’t stop Garrett from smirking at me or doing the double-eyebrow wiggle in the direction of my binder. After class Darla tried to act all cool and preoccupied, but she had her radar up and pointed our way. She shadowed me practically all day, so there was no real window of opportunity to explain things to Garrett.
老师锤着桌子让我们安静，但这没有停止加瑞特对着我傻笑，或者冲着我文件夹的方向挑眉。下课后达拉试图表现得很冷静和全神贯注，但她伸长了她的雷达指着我们的方向。她几乎笼罩了我一整天，所以那里没什么真正的机会去向加瑞特解释。
“Whoa, kick back, will ya? I wasn’t thinking anything…” But I could see the little gears go click-click-click in his brain. Then he smirks at me and says, “I’m sure you’ve got a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you’re carrying a picture of Juli Baker around with you.”
“喔，放轻松点，行吗？我没在乱想…”但我能看见小齿轮在他的脑子里转转转。然后他得意地对我笑着说：“我肯定你对为什么拿着朱莉·贝克的照片有个完美合理的解释。”
What was I going to tell him, anyway? That the paper was in my binder because I was trying to hide it from my sister? That would help.
无论如何，我该告诉他什么呢？那张纸在我的文件夹里因为我想不让姐姐发现？那也许会有所帮助。
Besides, I didn’t want to make up some lame lie about it. I actually wanted to talk to Garrett. I mean, he was my friend, and a lot had happened in the last couple of months that was weighing on me. I thought that if I talked to him, maybe he’d help get me back on track. Help me to stop thinking about everything. Garrett was real reliable in that arena.
除此之外，我也不想造出蹩脚的谎话。我实际上想要和加瑞特谈谈。我的意思是，他是我的朋友，前几个月发生了很多事压在我身上。我想如果我和他谈谈，也许他能让我回归正轨。帮我停止想所有的事。加瑞特在这方面很值得信赖。
Luckily, in social studies our class got library time to do research for our famous historical figure report. Darla and Juli were both in that class, but I managed to drag Garrett into a back corner of the library without either of them noticing.
幸运的是，在社会课上我们得到了图书馆学习时间，搜索最著名的历史人物报告。达拉和朱莉都在那个班上，但是我在她们都没发现的情况下，设法拉着加瑞特到了图书馆角落。
And the minute we were by ourselves, I found myself laying into Garrett about chickens.
然后当只剩下我们俩时，我发现自己向加瑞特说了关于蛋的事。
He shakes his head at me and says, “Dude! What are you talking about?”
他对我摇了摇头说道：“兄弟！你在讲什么呢？”
“Back in the sixth grade?”
“六年级？”
“Yeah. Remember how you were down on me for wondering what a hen was?”
“对啊。记得你对我想知道什么是母鸡很不满吗？”
He rolled his eyes. “Not this again…”
他转了转眼珠：“别再来一次…”
“Man, you didn’t know jack-diddly-squat about chickens. I put my life in your hands and you dumped me in a bucket of bull.”
“天，你一点儿都不知道鸡的事。我把我的命运交在你手里，你却把我抛在了危险地带。”
“Remember when we went and looked over her fence?”
“记得当时我们去偷窥她的院子吗？”
So I told him about my dad and the eggs and salmonella and how I’d been intercepting eggs for nearly two years.
所以我告诉他关于我爸爸和蛋和沙门氏菌，还有我怎样用了近两年扔掉鸡蛋。
“You know,” he says, still grinning, “about Juli.”
“你知道，”他说，还在露齿而笑，“关于朱莉。”
“Man, she caught me!”
“天，她逮到我了！”
He just shrugged and said, “Makes sense to me.”
他只是耸了耸肩说，“这有点道理。”
Garrett gives me a real chumpy grin and says, “A retard? Well, that explains a lot, doesn’t it?”
加瑞特给了我一个真正的傻笑，说道：“一个智障？嗯，那就好解释了，对吗？”
But we were in the library. And besides, it flashed through my mind that if I decked him for what he’d said, he’d turn around and tell everyone that I was hot for Juli Baker, and I was not hot for Juli Baker!
但是我们在图书馆里。除此之外，我脑海里闪过如果我为他所说的起了冲突，他会转过身告诉所有人我迷上了朱莉·贝克，而我并没有迷上朱莉·贝克！
“Whoa, dude!”
“哦，兄弟！”
I told him about what I’d said, and how almost right after that she was out playing weed warrior in her front yard.
我告诉他我说了什么，然后几乎在那之后她就开始在前院里玩儿“种子战士”。
“But then I found out that they don’t even own that house. They’re all poor because her dad’s got a retarded brother that they’re, you know, paying for.”
“但之后我发现房子的所有权不是他们家的。他们贫穷是因为她爸爸有一个智障弟弟，他们需要，你知道，付账。”
“Juli!”
“朱莉！”
“Who?”
“谁？”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “What?”
我不敢相信自己的耳朵：“什么？”
My heart started pounding and my hands clenched up. And for the first time since I’d learned to dive away from trouble, I wanted to deck somebody.
我的心开始狂跳，而拳头开始握紧。从第一次我学会潜入水下避开麻烦以来，我想要和人发生冲突。
“Well, so? It’s not your fault her yard’s a mess.”
“嗯，所以呢？她的院子一团糟又不是你的错。”
I tried to talk myself down from feeling that way, but in my gut I was flaming mad at the guy. He’d crossed the line, man. He’d crossed it big-time.
我试着不要有那种想法，但心里对他非常生气。他太不礼貌了，天哪。他太过分了
After school Garrett asked me to come to his house and hang for a while, but I had zero interest in that. I still wanted to slug him.
放学后加瑞特邀请我去他家玩一会儿，但是我对此一点儿不感兴趣。我还是想揍他。
And what made the whole thing so stinking hard to ignore was the fact that standing right next to him, on the other side of the line, was my father.
而整件事最无法忽略的事实是，站在他那边的，和他一样过分的，是我的爸爸。
So I made myself laugh and say, “Oh, right,” and then came up with an excuse to put some distance between him and me.
所以我让自己大笑着说，“哦，对啦。”然后找了个借口拉开我们的距离。
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