會變魔術的小兔子

最難忘，是兒時與小伙伴們一起度過的快樂時光。那時的打打鬧鬧、追逐嬉戲是時光里最美的一幅畫，定格在了永遠回不去的小時候。或許，下面這只會變魔術的小兔子可以帶你重返那舊日時光。

"So，" said Maisie as she practiced her baton twirling1） for the school talent show， "do you have all your jokes lined up2）， Marty？"

"I can see you&apos；ve heard all of my jokes，" said Marty. "That&apos；s the problem. So I&apos；m not doing sit-down comedy3） for this talent show. I&apos；ve got a new act4）. I&apos；m a magician."

"Since when？" asked Maisie.

"Since my uncle Bob visited last week and brought me all his old magic stuff that he had as a kid. I have a top hat and a coat to hide things up the sleeves. He even got me a bunny to pull out of the hat. My mom wasn&apos；t too happy about that. His name is Fluffy."

"This summer we can have bunny races with our pet Commander Lapin and Fluffy！" said Maisie. "Well， I&apos；d like to watch your act， but Kavita and I have to practice for the show."

"Aw，" said Deidre. "Everyone is in the show but me."

"You can be my assistant，" said Marty. "I need someone to come out with my top hat and bunny at just the right moment."

"Your beautiful assistant， you mean，" said Deidre. "Sure， that&apos；ll be great."

Mrs. Vandernost， the teacher in charge of the talent show， held rehearsals on the school stage all week.

"Why were those mean twins hanging around at rehearsal？" asked Maisie as the kids all walked home together.

"Mrs. Vandernost made Bob and Rob stagehands5），" said Marty.

"Well， I don&apos；t trust them，" said Kavita.

"Me neither，" said Maisie. "They were spending an awful lot of time around the bunny cage while Marty was onstage."

Marty wasn&apos；t paying attention. He was worried about some of his tricks. "Listen， do you think I should tell jokes after the tricks？"

"Only if they go wrong，" said Deidre. "Then tell a joke—fast."

On the night of the show， the tricks weren&apos；t the only things going wrong. Curtains went down when they should have gone up. Props6） disappeared. No one had time to find out why； they were all too busy getting ready to go on. Then Mrs. Vandernost announced to the audience that the twirling baton girls， Kavita and Maisie， would be going on after Marty the Magician， not before as it said in the program. So Marty had to race onto the stage. The card he was supposed to hide up his sleeve was missing， and his scarfs seemed to be attached to the inside of his pocket as if someone had sewn them there. He ended up telling a lot of jokes. Fast.

"Don&apos；t worry，" he said under his breath to Deidre. "Just bring out the hat and Fluffy for the big finale7）."

Deidre ran to get the hat. Kavita had just come running backstage with it and handed it to her.

"Abracadabra8）！" said Marty. "I now pull out of my hat ... COMMANDER LAPIN？" he shrieked in amazement.

"What are you doing here？"

The audience laughed uproariously9）， and the applause sounded like thunder. Everyone thought it was part of the act. Marty took a quick bow and hurried backstage. "Where&apos；s Fluffy？" he asked frantically10）. "And what is Commander Lapin doing here？"

Maisie and Kavita ran onstage and began twirling， and Deidre took Marty back to Mrs. Vandernost&apos；s art closet， where Fluffy sat safely in his cage.

"I guess you gotta hand it to11） Maisie and Kavita，" Deidre explained. "They didn&apos；t like the way Bob and Rob kept hanging around Fluffy&apos；s cage all week. So Maisie brought Commander Lapin and put his cage in Mrs. Vandernost&apos；s art closet， just in case. Then they asked Mrs. Vandernost to switch the order of the acts so they could keep an eye on the twins. Sure enough， as soon as you went onstage， the boys stole Fluffy and hid him in the janitor&apos；s12） closet. Maisie followed them while Kavita ran for Commander Lapin and got him onstage just in time. Then Maisie rescued Fluffy and hid him in Mrs. Vandernost&apos；s closet—hi， guys！"

Kavita and Maisie had come running up， a little out of breath from all of their twirling.

"Hey， Marty！" Kavita said. "If you think you were surprised to pull the wrong rabbit out of the hat， you should have seen Bob&apos；s and Rob&apos；s faces when they found Fluffy missing from the janitor&apos；s closet！"

Marty laughed. "They must have thought that Fluffy is magic after all，" he said. "Thank goodness for Fluffy the Magnificent， Magical， Disappearing Bunny and his beautiful assistants， Kavita and Maisie！"

They all laughed and were still laughing as they went onstage to take their final bows at the end of the talent show.

“那么，”梅茜一邊為參加學校才藝表演練習巴東棍韻律操一邊說，“你把所有笑話都串起來了嗎，馬蒂？”

“我知道你已經(jīng)聽過我所有的笑話了，”馬蒂說，“這就是問題。所以這次才藝表演我不坐著演單口喜劇了。我想到個新節(jié)目，我要變魔術。”

“什么時候想到的？”梅茜問。

“我叔叔鮑勃上周來看我，還把他小時候變魔術的那些舊玩意兒全都給我?guī)砹耍褪菑哪菚r候開始的。我現(xiàn)在有一頂高頂禮帽和一件袖子里可以藏東西的外套。他甚至還給我弄來了一只可以從帽子里拽出來的兔子。我媽媽對我要養(yǎng)兔子這事可不是很高興。這只兔子叫絨絨。”

“今年暑假可以讓我們的寵物兔司令和絨絨來一場兔子賽跑！”梅茜說，“好吧，我很想看你的表演，但卡維塔和我得為演出排練。”

“噢，”戴德麗說，“每個人都要演節(jié)目，除了我。”

“你可以做我的助手，”馬蒂說，“我需要一個人剛好在恰當?shù)臅r刻帶著我的高頂禮帽和兔子出現(xiàn)。”

“你的意思是，當你的美女助手？” 戴德麗說，“當然，那可太好了。”

范德諾斯特太太是負責這次才藝表演的老師，她整個星期都在學校舞臺上組織彩排。

“那對一肚子壞水的雙胞胎為什么總在彩排時瞎轉悠啊？”所有孩子一起走路回家的時候梅茜問道。

“范德諾斯特太太讓鮑勃和羅布做舞臺管理員。”馬蒂說。

“好吧，我不信任他們。”卡維塔說。

“我也不信任他們，”梅茜說，“馬蒂在臺上的時候他們繞著兔籠子轉悠了好大工夫。”

馬蒂并沒注意聽，他在擔心他的一些戲法。“聽著，你們覺得我是不是應該變完魔術之后講幾個笑話？”

“除非你的魔術出岔子了，”戴德麗說，“那樣的話就講一個笑話——要快。”

演出當晚，馬蒂的魔術并不是唯一出岔子的。幕布該升上去的時候落了下來，好幾樣道具不見了。誰都沒時間去找原因，他們都忙著準備上場。接著范德諾斯特太太向觀眾宣布：巴東棍韻律操姐妹卡維塔和梅茜將在魔術師馬蒂之后出場，而不是像在節(jié)目單里寫的那樣在魔術節(jié)目之前。因此馬蒂不得不快速跑上舞臺。他本來應該藏在袖子里的卡片不見了，他變魔術用的幾條絲巾好像也粘在了口袋里，就好像是有人把它們縫在那兒一樣。結果他講了好多笑話來收場，講得還很快。

“別擔心，”他小聲對戴德麗說，“只管把帽子和絨絨拿上來演壓軸大戲就行。”

戴德麗跑去拿帽子。卡維塔剛好從后臺拿著帽子跑過來，把帽子交給了她。

“變變變！”馬蒂念起咒語，“現(xiàn)在我從帽子里拽出來的是……兔司令？”他驚訝地尖叫道。

“你怎么會在這兒？”

觀眾哄然大笑，掌聲如雷。每個人都以為這是表演的一部分。馬蒂快速地鞠了個躬，匆匆忙忙回到后臺。“絨絨在哪兒呢？”他抓狂地問，“還有，兔司令怎么會在這里？”

梅茜和卡維塔跑上舞臺開始她們的巴東棍韻律操表演，戴德麗領著馬蒂回到范德諾斯特太太的道具柜，柜子里絨絨平安無事地待在籠子里。

“我覺得你得好好表揚表揚梅茜和卡維塔，”戴德麗解釋道，“她們看不慣鮑勃和羅布整個星期一直圍著絨絨的籠子轉悠。所以梅茜就把兔司令帶來了，并把它的兔籠子放進了范德諾斯特太太的道具柜，就為了以防萬一。然后她們請范德諾斯特太太調換了節(jié)目順序，這樣她們就能盯著這對雙胞胎。果然，你一上臺，那倆男孩就偷走了絨絨，把它藏到了門衛(wèi)的壁櫥里。梅茜跟著他們，而卡維塔就跑去拿兔司令，及時把它送到了臺上。然后梅茜救出了絨絨，把它藏進了范德諾斯特太太的柜子里——嗨，你們好！”

卡維塔和梅茜跑了過來，剛才表演的那些旋轉動作讓她們有一點上氣不接下氣。

“嗨，馬蒂！”卡維塔說，“如果從帽子里拎出的兔子錯了你就大吃一驚，那你真應該看看鮑勃和羅布發(fā)現(xiàn)絨絨從門衛(wèi)壁櫥里消失時的表情！”

馬蒂大笑起來。“他們肯定以為絨絨也會變魔術呢，”他說，“感謝偉大、神奇、會失蹤術的兔子魔術師絨絨和它美麗的助手，卡維塔和梅茜！”

他們?nèi)即笮ζ饋恚钡阶詈笱莩鼋Y束他們上臺謝幕時還笑個不停。