English Original
"I think I know why the cats don't go in his yard. I might even know what happened when Bingo went to bite Bill."
I propped myself up on my elbow and cast a sceptical gaze through the darkness at him.
"Go on then, what is it?" I asked, and couldn't resist adding, "Summat strange and eerie, summat as will trouble my sleep?"
"Oh forget it, I knew you'd just start making fun..."
"I'm sorry," I put in quickly, knowing that I may have just deprived myself of at least an amusing diversion. Ross could take half an hour to win round from a refusal to spill the beans in cases like this.
"Just don't..." he replied.
After some persuading, Ross, who in fact wanted to get a second opinion on what he had seen, told me of the strange patch on Bill Smith's yard.
"I was round Bill's after school, before Mum got in. It was raining, and Bill didn't mind me waiting there," Ross told me. "When I went into his yard, I saw this... sort of shape on the ground, about two feet from Bill's back door."
"Shape? What sort? Flying saucer shape? Ghost shape?"
Once again, I was pushing it, and I knew it, but Ross was particularly gullible when it came to this sort of thing. He had a huge collection of Ghost Story books, and for a few years read little else.
Ross pressed on; he was in his stride now and wasn't going to be distracted by my poor attempts at humour.
"His yard was all wet, all the slabs. I know how wet, 'cos I nearly slipped as I walked down his path. Then, just a couple of feet from his back door, there's this patch which is completely dry. I stood there and looked at it. The rain was running down my nose, and down the back of my coat and soaking the backs of my legs, but... this patch, about a foot and a half long by about a foot wide—it was dry!"
I thought his story preposterous. I couldn't see his face, but I could imagine it: his eyes staring widely at the ceiling, his mouth slightly agape. I kept my own counsel. I could at this point tell him what I thought, but I had jibed at him enough for one night. I decided to say nothing. A silence passed, and thickened as it did. I decided that if he pursued the matter, I would let him have a ribbing of epic proportions.
中文翻译
"我想我知道为什么那些猫不去他的院子了。我甚至可能知道宾果去咬比尔时发生了什么。"
我用胳膊肘撑起身子，在黑暗中向他投去怀疑的目光。
"那你说说，是什么？"我问道，忍不住又加了一句，"是什么奇怪又诡异的东西，会搅得我睡不着觉？"
"哦，算了，我就知道你会开始取笑……"
"对不起，"我赶紧插话，意识到自己可能刚刚剥夺了一个至少能解闷的乐子。在这种事情上，罗斯一旦拒绝透露，得花上半小时才能让他回心转意。
"只是别……"他回道。
经过一番劝说，罗斯——他其实是想就自己所见征求第二意见——告诉了我比尔·史密斯院子里那块奇怪的印记。
"放学后我去比尔家，在妈妈回来之前。当时下着雨，比尔不介意我在那儿等，"罗斯告诉我。"我走进他的院子时，看到地上有这么个……形状的东西，离比尔的后门大约两英尺。"
"形状？什么样的？飞碟形状？鬼魂形状？"
我又一次在试探了，我知道，但罗斯对这类事情特别容易轻信。他收藏了大量的鬼故事书，有好几年几乎不看别的。
罗斯继续讲下去；他现在正说到兴头上，不会被我不高明的幽默尝试分心。
"他的院子全湿了，所有的石板都湿了。我知道有多湿，因为我走在小路上时差点滑倒。然后，就在离他后门几英尺的地方，有这么一块完全干燥的印记。我站在那儿看着它。雨水顺着我的鼻子流下来，顺着我的外套后背流下来，浸湿了我的腿后侧，但是……这块印记，大约一英尺半长，一英尺宽——它是干的！"
我觉得他的故事荒谬绝伦。我看不见他的脸，但我能想象出来：他的眼睛睁得大大地盯着天花板，嘴巴微微张开。我保持沉默。此刻我本可以告诉他我的想法，但我今晚已经嘲弄他够多了。我决定什么也不说。一阵沉默过去，并且愈发凝重。我决定，如果他再提这件事，我一定要好好取笑他一番。