A Kid and a Thief

By Huo Huo

Translation by Yu Lan

A Kid and a Thief

By Huo Huo

Translation by Yu Lan

A thief pried off the bars on a window while sneaking in a house. He turned on his flashlight and glanced around the room. Then, he walked to a closet. Suddenly, he noticed a note stuck on the closet with crooked handwriting on it:

“Mr. Thief,” the thief read the words with the light of the flashlight. “I’ve watched on TV and also heard from my parents that there are lots of cases of theft in this area recently. I think you might come to this house one day. I want to make a request: please do not take my plush bear. I’m sick right now and the bear is my only friend because I cannot go outside to play with other kids. There is a change jar in the second drawer on the right. I keep some gift money in it. You can have it if you like. Louis.”

After reading the note, the thief’s eyes filled with tears. He opened the second drawer carefully and reached for the jar. He cried again. However, this time, he cried in pain. A mousetrap clamped his hand tightly. At the same time, the light and alarm turned on.?

(From The First Bucket of Gold, Jilin Publishing Group)

一個小偷撬開窗戶，潛入房間，用手電筒向地上掃了一下，向一個衣柜走去，忽然看見衣柜上面貼著一張字條，字跡歪歪扭扭，是小孩寫的：

“小偷先生，”小偷借助手電光，看著字條上的字，“我看了電視新聞節(jié)目，又聽爸爸、媽媽說過，近來本市這個地區(qū)發(fā)生了許多偷盜事件，您很可能會在某個晚上光臨我們家。我想請您千萬別拿走我的長絨毛小熊，我在生病，它是日夜陪伴我的小伙伴，因為我既不能去公園，也不能上街跟其他小朋友一塊玩。右邊第二個抽屜有我的儲錢罐，罐里一直存放著別人給我的禮物錢。如果您喜歡，就把它拿去吧。小路易斯?！?/p>

看完字條，小偷的雙眼被淚水濕透了。他小心翼翼地打開右邊第二個抽屜，把手伸進去尋找錢罐……他再次哭了，不過這次哭是一陣劇痛引起的：一個彈簧捕鼠器狠狠夾住了他的手指。這時，燈自動亮了，報警器也響了。?

（摘自《第一桶金》吉林人民出版社）

小孩與小偷

文/火火 譯/于蘭