Chapter 13
“But don’t worry. There’s another station,” said Bing Bong in a comforting voice as they all popped back into their original three-dimensional selves. “If we hurry, we can catch it.”
Joy was skeptical, wondering if they were simply headed on another of Bing Bong’s shortcuts. As he walked ahead, she whispered to Sadness, “Is there really another station?”
“Uh-huh,” Sadness said. “Through there.”
Straight ahead, Bing Bong stood with his arms held wide in front of big, beautiful gates. “Welcome to Imagination Land,” he declared.
“Imagination Land?” Joy asked.
“Sure, I come here all the time. I’m practically the mayor. Hey, you guys hungry?” he asked. “There’s French Fry Forest!”
“No way.” Joy’s eyes grew wide as she looked at the small area filled with giant French fries.
The next area Bing Bong led them to was full of glittering trophies and medals. “Check it out. Trophy Town! Medals, ribbons, certificates… everyone’s a winner,” he said, before kicking a soccer ball into a goal. Mind workers immediately rushed to him and showered him with medals. “I won first place!” he shouted.
Down the way, Joy spotted Cloud Town and got even more excited. “That’s my favorite!” she said, ripping off a small chunk of cloud. She held on as the little piece of cloud floated her up into the air. She quickly let go and ran off to see more of Imagination Land.
Bing Bong stared at the cloud. Then he ripped off a piece, too. But it wasn’t just a random cloud in Cloud Town—it was part of a cloud house. A cloud man stomped angrily from the front door. Startled, Bing Bong took a deep breath and blew out, pushing the cloud man away.
Quickly, the three moved on to the land of Lava! There, Joy and Bing Bong jumped on big couches, moving from cushion to cushion over the lava and having a great time. “Imagination Land is the best!” shouted Bing Bong.
Sadness didn’t agree. “Is it all going to be so interactive?” she asked.
“Wait, wait! Hang on just a minute,” Bing Bong said as he spied a house made of giant playing cards.
Joy and Sadness watched as he rushed into the house and emerged with a red rocket ship wagon. Joy was so excited to see it. “I stashed it in there for safekeeping,” Bing Bong explained. “Now I’m all set to take Riley to the moon!”
Bing Bong flung his arms wide and accidentally hit the house of cards. One by one, the cards collapsed on one another until the house disappeared. Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong quickly moved on to another area.
“Isn’t it great?” asked Bing Bong as he looked around Imagination Land. “And there’s always something new, like… Who the heck is that?” Bing Bong stopped and pointed to a handsome teenage boy leaning against a wall, striking a pose.
A worker passing by answered, “Imaginary Boyfriend.”
“I would die for Riley,” said Imaginary Boyfriend in a dramatic, raspy voice.
“Oh, gaah,” said Joy, her lip curling in disgust.
“I’ve never seen him before,” said Bing Bong.
“I live in Canada,” the boyfriend said quickly.
Joy was anxious to get to the train. “This way, through Preschool World,” Bing Bong said as he guided them.
“Riley, here we come!” Joy exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Riley was inside a local hockey rink. She was sitting on the bleachers next to her mom, getting ready for tryouts. “These kids look pretty good considering they’re from San Francisco,” her mom said jokingly.
“Okay, Anderson, you’re up!” the coach shouted.
“I gotta go,” said Riley as she stood. Then she skated onto the ice.
Inside Headquarters, Disgust, Fear, and Anger were racking their brains, trying to figure out what to do. With the core memories gone, the Islands of Personality were all dark. That meant that when Riley went to use one, she wouldn’t be able to. “If she tries to use Hockey Island, it’s going down,” said Disgust.
“Which is why I’ve recalled every hockey memory I can think of,” said Fear. “One of these has got to work in place of the core memory.”
They started loading the memories into the core memory holder as Riley skated onto the ice. Out the back window, the Emotions could see Hockey Island sputtering, lighting up weakly. “Ha ha!” Fear cried. “We did it! It’s working!”
BOOM! Suddenly, the holder blew out one of the memories like a bullet and took Anger right along with it! “Umph!” Anger groaned as the memory knocked into him.
On the ice, Riley struggled to control the puck. She went to slap it but missed and fell flat on her back.
Inside Headquarters, Fear tried to jam the memory back into the holder, but it shot out again and blew him back. Then the holder spun like a top and blasted all the memories out, spitting them at Fear! He collapsed to the ground, in pain.
Riley continued to fumble on the ice. She looked like she had never played hockey before. She tried to slap the puck and fell down again.
“That’s it!” Anger said, pushing Fear off the controls.
“Wait,” Fear said. “No, no, no! Use your words.”
“GrrraaaAAHHH!” Anger screamed.
Riley snapped. She threw down her hockey stick. The other players stopped in their tracks to watch as she rushed offthe ice, back to the bleachers.
“Riley, what’s wrong?” Mom asked.
“Let’s go,” Riley said, taking off her skates.
“You’re not going to finish tryouts?”
“What’s the point?”
“Hey, it’ll be all right,” Mom said. “Let’s just—”
Riley exploded. “Stop saying everything will be all right!” she yelled. Then she dashed toward the exit.
Back in Imagination Land, Joy heard a deafening BOOM! She turned to watch Hockey Island crumble like an iceberg. Another island was gone.
第 13 章
“不過別擔(dān)心,還有另外一個(gè)車站。”兵兵安慰樂樂道,他們都重新變回了原先三維的樣子。“只要抓緊時(shí)間,我們還能趕得上。”
樂樂對(duì)他的話表示懷疑,她在想他們是不是又走上了另一條所謂的“捷徑”。兵兵走在前面的時(shí)候,樂樂問憂憂:“是不是真的還有一個(gè)車站?”
“呃——啊,”憂憂回答,“穿過那里就是。”
走在正前方的兵兵張開雙臂,站在一排巨大的、漂亮的門前,大聲宣布:“歡迎來到想象之境。”
“想象之境?”樂樂問道。
“當(dāng)然,我經(jīng)常來這里。事實(shí)上,我就是這里的主宰。嘿,你們餓了嗎?”他說道,“那邊有薯?xiàng)l森林!”
“不是吧?”看著那塊小地方堆滿巨型薯?xiàng)l,樂樂瞪大了眼睛。
兵兵帶她們?nèi)サ牡诙€(gè)地方堆滿亮閃閃的獎(jiǎng)杯和獎(jiǎng)牌。“來看看,這是獎(jiǎng)杯之城!獎(jiǎng)牌、彩帶、證書……每個(gè)人都是贏家。”接著,他將一個(gè)足球踢進(jìn)球門。大腦工人立即奔向他,向他拋灑獎(jiǎng)牌。“我得了第一!”他叫道。
一直往里走,樂樂發(fā)現(xiàn)了云之城,更加激動(dòng)了。“那是我的最愛!”她邊說邊撕下一小片云朵。她抓住小云朵,隨之浮到空中。接著她迅速放手,繼續(xù)往前跑,想看看想象之境的其他地方。
兵兵盯著云朵,也撕下一片。但是這一片云卻不是云之城里隨隨便便的一片——而是云之屋的一部分。一個(gè)住在云上的小人氣得在門前跺腳。驚呆了的兵兵深吸一口氣,將云上小人吹走了。
他們?nèi)丝焖傧蚯白?,來到熔巖之地!在那兒,樂樂和兵兵踩著大沙發(fā)跳過熔巖,從一塊坐墊跳到另一塊上,玩得很開心。兵兵大叫道:“想象之境最棒了!”
憂憂卻不同意,她問:“是不是接下來都能這樣互動(dòng)?”
“等等,等等!先等一下。”兵兵發(fā)現(xiàn)了一座由一張張巨型紙牌造成的房子。
樂樂和憂憂看著兵兵跑進(jìn)屋子,出來的時(shí)候手里拿著紅色火箭船,樂樂高興極了。兵兵解釋道:“我把它藏在里面是為了妥善保管?,F(xiàn)在我可以帶著萊莉飛向月球了。”
兵兵張開雙臂,不小心碰到了紙牌屋,一張張紙牌接連倒了下去,房子消失了。樂樂、憂憂和兵兵趕緊走到了下一個(gè)地方。
“這兒是不是很棒?”兵兵環(huán)顧想象之境問道,“而且一直有新東西出現(xiàn),比如……那家伙到底是誰?”兵兵停了下來,指著倚靠在墻邊的一位帥氣少年問道,那個(gè)少年正在擺造型。
一位路過的大腦工人答道:“想象中的男朋友。”
“我愿為萊莉獻(xiàn)出生命。”想象中的男友用夸張而又嘶啞的聲音說道。
“噢,好惡心。”樂樂厭惡地嘟起嘴唇。
“我以前從沒見過他。”兵兵說道。
“我住在加拿大。”想象中的男友趕緊補(bǔ)充道。
樂樂焦急地只想盡快到達(dá)車站。“這邊走,穿過童年世界。”兵兵一邊說一邊引導(dǎo)她們。
“萊莉,我們來了!”樂樂喊道。
與此同時(shí),萊莉正在當(dāng)?shù)匾粋€(gè)冰球場(chǎng)里,和媽媽一起坐在露天看臺(tái)上,為預(yù)選賽做準(zhǔn)備。“考慮到她們是舊金山人,這些小孩看上去打得還算是不錯(cuò)。”媽媽開玩笑地說。
“好了,安德森,輪到你了!”教練叫道。
“我上場(chǎng)了。”萊莉說著站了起來,滑到冰上。
情緒總部里,厭厭、怕怕和怒怒正絞盡腦汁,想著該怎么辦。核心記憶球丟了之后,性格島嶼全部漆黑一片,也就意味著萊莉沒辦法使用其中任何一座島嶼。厭厭說:“如果萊莉要用冰球島,這場(chǎng)比賽必輸無疑。”
“這就是為什么我在努力回想一切與冰球有關(guān)的記憶。”怕怕說,“相應(yīng)的記憶球中肯定有一個(gè)能代替原來的核心記憶球起作用。”
萊莉滑到冰上的時(shí)候,情緒小人們開始將記憶球安裝到核心記憶裝置上,他們看著后窗,發(fā)現(xiàn)冰球島噼里啪啦閃了幾下,微微地亮了起來。“哈哈!”怕怕叫道,“我們成功了!起作用了!”
嘣!突然,記憶裝置將一個(gè)記憶球像子彈一樣射出,正好擊中怒怒,一起飛了出去!“啊——!”記憶球撞上怒怒的那一刻,他發(fā)起火來。
萊莉在冰面上努力控制冰球。她準(zhǔn)備擊球,卻失手了,直挺挺地向后倒了下去。
情緒總部中,怕怕試著將記憶球重新塞回記憶裝置,但是記憶球又被彈了出來,把他也撞了回去。接著,記憶裝置像陀螺一樣旋轉(zhuǎn)起來,所有的記憶球往外飛濺,朝怕怕砸過來!他跌坐在地,渾身疼痛。
萊莉仍在冰上笨拙地移動(dòng)著,像從來沒打過冰球似的。她試著擊球,卻再一次摔倒在地。
“我受夠了!”怒怒一邊說,一邊將怕怕推下控制臺(tái)。
“等等,”怕怕說道,“不,不,不!動(dòng)口別動(dòng)手。”
“哼啊啊啊——!”怒怒吼了起來。
萊莉一下子崩潰了,她扔下球桿。其他正在滑行的球員停下來看著她沖出球場(chǎng),回到看臺(tái)。
“萊莉,怎么了?”媽媽問道。
“我們走吧。”萊莉一邊說一邊脫下溜冰鞋。
“你不想打完預(yù)備賽嗎?”
“又有什么意義呢?”
“嘿,一切都會(huì)好的,”媽媽說,“我們只要——”
萊莉發(fā)怒了,喊道:“不要再說什么一切都會(huì)好的!”她朝出口沖去。
還在想象之境的樂樂聽到震耳欲聾的一聲巨響,嘣!她轉(zhuǎn)過頭,看著冰球島像冰山一樣崩塌,又一座性格島嶼消失了。