第74天
Chapter Nine
Grandpa Joe Takes a Gamble
The next day, when Charlie came home from school and went in to see his grandparents, he found that only Grandpa Joe was awake. The other three were all snoring loudly.
'Ssshh!' whispered Grandpa Joe, and he beckoned Charlie to come closer. Charlie tiptoed over and stood beside the bed. The old man gave Charlie a sly grin, and then he started rummaging under his pillow with one hand; and when the hand came out again, there was an ancient leather purse clutched in the fingers. Under cover of the bedclothes, the old man opened the purse and tipped it upside down. Out fell a single silver sixpence. 'It's my secret hoard,' he whispered. 'The others don't know I've got it. And now, you and I are going to have one more fling at finding that last ticket. How about it, eh? But you'll have to help me.'
'Are you sure you want to spend your money on that, Grandpa?' Charlie whispered.
'Of course I'm sure!' spluttered the old man excitedly. 'Don't stand there arguing! I'm as keen as you are to find that ticket! Here — take the money and run down the street to the nearest shop and buy the first Wonka bar you see and bring it straight back to me, and we'll open it together.'
Charlie took the little silver coin, and slipped quickly out of the room. In five minutes, he was back.
'Have you got it?' whispered Grandpa Joe, his eyes shining with excitement.
Charlie nodded and held out the bar of chocolate. WONKA'S NUTTY CRUNCH SURPRISE, it said on the wrapper.
'Good!' the old man whispered, sitting up in the bed and rubbing his hands. 'Now — come over here and sit close to me and we'll open it together. Are you ready?'? 'Yes,' Charlie said. 'I'm ready.'
'All right. You tear off the first bit.'
'No,' Charlie said, 'you paid for it. You do it all.'
The old man's fingers were trembling most terribly as they fumbled with the wrapper. 'We don't have a hope, really,' he whispered, giggling a bit. 'You do know we don't have a hope, don't you?'
'Yes,' Charlie said. 'I know that.'
They looked at each other, and both started giggling nervously.
'Mind you,' said Grandpa Joe, 'there is just that tiny chance that it might be the one, don't you agree?'
'Yes,' Charlie said. 'Of course. Why don't you open it, Grandpa?'
'All in good time, my boy, all in good time. Which end do you think I ought to open first?'
'That corner. The one furthest from you. Just tear off a tiny bit, but not quite ? ? ?enough for us to see anything.'
'Like that?' said the old man.
'Yes. Now a little bit more.'
'You finish it,' said Grandpa Joe. 'I'm too nervous.'
'No, Grandpa. You must do it yourself.'
'Very well, then. Here goes.' He tore off the wrapper.
They both stared at what lay underneath. It was a bar of chocolate — nothing more.
All at once, they both saw the funny side of the whole thing, and they burst into ? ? peals of laughter.
'What on earth's going on!' cried Grandma Josephine, waking up suddenly.
'Nothing,' said Grandpa Joe. 'You go on back to sleep.'
第九章
喬爺爺?shù)囊淮钨€博
第二天，查理放學(xué)一回家就去看她的祖父母們，他發(fā)現(xiàn)只有喬爺爺一個人醒著，其余三位老人睡得正香呢。查理踮起腳走到床邊。這位老人狡黠地朝查理咧嘴一笑，然后用一只手在枕頭底下仔細摸索著，他把手伸出來時，手里抓著一只非常老式的皮餞包。他用睡衣遮著錢包，打開把錢包翻了個底朝天，里面掉出了一枚六便士的硬幣，“這是我的秘密寶藏，”他悄聲說道，“別人都不知道?，F(xiàn)在你我還有個機會去試試，看能否找到最后那張參觀券。怎么樣，呃？可你得幫我一把?！?/p>
“你真的要用你的錢去試一下嗎，爺爺？”查理低聲問道。
“當(dāng)然是真的。”老人激動得唾沫四濺地說道，“別站著爭論了，我跟你一樣向往能找到那張參觀券！拿著這錢，到街上最近的商店去買下你第一眼看到的巧克力，然后立刻拿著它回到這兒來，我們一起來打開它?！?/p>
查理接過這枚小銀幣，一溜煙出了房間。五分鐘后他回來了。
“買來了嗎？”喬爺爺輕聲問道，眼睛里閃爍著興奮的光芒。
查理點點頭，拿出了那塊巧克力。包裝紙上寫著旺卡的令人驚異的繃脆果仁巧克力。
“好！”老人在床上坐起身；搓著手低語道，“好——坐在我身邊，讓我們一起來打開它。準(zhǔn)備好了嗎？”
“好了，”查理說，“準(zhǔn)備好了?！?/p>
“很好，你先撕第一下?！?/p>
“不，是你出的錢，該你來撕?！?/p>
老人用手摸索著這塊巧克力，手直打哆嗦，“說真的，我們不會有什么希望的?！彼洁熘?，格格笑了兩聲，“我們不會有什么希望的，是嗎？”
“是的，”查理說，“我明白?！?/p>
他們互相望望，一起神經(jīng)質(zhì)地格格笑了起來。
“別忘了，”喬爺爺說，“還有一絲希望，里面或許就有那參觀券，你說是嗎？”
“是的，”查理說，“當(dāng)然啰。為什么你不把它撕開，爺爺？”
“很快就會見分曉的，我的孩子，馬上就會的，你覺得我該先撕哪一頭？”
“那一角，離你遠的那一角。不過別撕開太多，別讓我們一下看到里面的一切?！?/p>
“就這點行嗎？”老人問。
“對。好，再撕開一點?！?/p>
“你來撕吧，”喬爺爺說，“我太緊張了。”
“不，爺爺。得由你親手撕開。”
“那么好吧全撕開啦。”他一下把全部包裝紙都撕去。
他們兩人一起瞪大眼盯著看里面是什么。
就是一塊巧克力，別的什么也沒有。
頓時他們覺得這事太可笑了，兩人一起放聲大笑起來。
“出什么事啦！”約瑟芬奶奶突然驚醒，大聲叫起來。
“沒什么，”喬爺爺說，“睡你的吧?！?/p>
