Chapter 12
Mike stared into the crowd, hoping someone — anyone — might want to join Oozma Kappa. Finally, the Greek Council president looked at Mike and said, “Yeah, sorry, doesn’t look good. We have to move on. Your team doesn’t qualify.”
Suddenly, a voice rang out, “Yes, it does!” A large figure stepped through the crowd and climbed on top of the car with Mike. It was Sulley, who had followed Mike and watched the whole display. “The star player has just arrived,” he said.
“You?” Mike said, staring at Sulley. “No way!” He turned back to the crowd. “Someone else, please! Anyone else!”
The Greek Council president was losing patience. “We’re shutting down the sign-ups,” she said. “Is he on your team or not?”
Mike threw his little green arms up in surrender and yelled, “Gaah! Fine, yes. He’s on my team.”
Dean Hardscrabble smiled coldly at Mike. “Good luck,” she said, and walked of f.
Sulley just shrugged. “All right, Wazowski, what’s the plan?”
That evening, Mike and Sulley headed over to the Oozma Kappa house, carrying their suitcases. Soon, they reached a prim little house with a covered porch and lace curtains hanging in the windows. “This is a frat house?” Sulley asked.
A balding middle-aged monster opened the door and greeted them warmly. “Hey there, team-mateys!” he said, waving a tentacle. “Come on aboard! It is my honor to welcome you to your new home!”
Mike and Sulley exchanged a dubious look as the fellow ushered them into a house that looked like it belonged to somebody’s grandmother. The place was f illed with knickknacks and needlepoint pillows. “We call this room ‘Party Central,’” a little blobby monster said with a grin.
“Technically, we haven’t had a party here yet,” one part of the two-headed monster explained.
“But when we do,” the other head added, “we’ll be ready!” He f lipped a switch on a remote, and a disco ball dropped from the ceiling — and crashed to the f loor.
The older monster handed Mike a mug. “Whoo! Hot-cocoa train is coming through. Whoa ... next stop ... you!”
Mike tried to get things back on track by addressing his team firmly. “I would like to start us of f f irst by —”
But Sulley interrupted. “So ...,” he said, eyeing the Oozma Kappa crew skeptically, “you guys are in the Scaring Program?”
“We wish!” the balding monster replied. “None of us lasted very long. Guess we just weren’t what old Hardscrabble was looking for.” He handed Sulley his business card. “Don Carlton, ‘mature’ student,” he said with a sigh. “Thirty years in the textile industry and then ol’ dandy Don got downsized. Figured I could throw myself a pity party or go back to school and learn the computers.”
Mike and Sulley nodded blankly, then turned to the yellow two-headed monster. “Hi, I’m Terry with a ‘Y’!” one of the heads said.
“And I’m Terri with an ‘I’!” the shorter but almost-identical head said. “My brother may have gotten the height, but I got —”
“The good looks!” they exclaimed at the same time. The two heads turned to each other and smiled.
Then a big burly monster who was mostly two huge legs and purple fur gruff ly introduced himself. “Hey! I’m Art. New Age philosophy major. Excited to live with you and laugh with you ... and cry with you,” he f inished emotionally, wiping his eyes. He handed Mike and Sulley each a journal with a unicorn on the cover. Sulley looked at it like it was diseased. “I thought you might like to keep a dream journal,” Art explained.
Suddenly, the little blobby monster popped up behind Sulley. Sulley jumped and yelled.
“My name’s Scott Squibbles,” the blob said, blinking his five eyes. “My friends call me Squishy. I’m undeclared, unattached, and pretty much unwelcome anywhere but here.”
Mike tried to take control of the group again. “Well, now that we’ve been introduced, as captain of our team —” he began, but Sulley interrupted once more.
“So basically, you guys have no scaring experience?” Sulley asked.
All the Oozma Kappas began to laugh. “Not a lot!” Squishy said. “But now we’ve got you!”
Don nodded enthusiastically. “You’re about the scariest feller I’ve ever seen, even with them pink polka-dots.”
Mike looked at them all in disbelief. “Well, actually,” he said, “I think I bring the whole package.” But no one seemed to be listening. Squishy had already taken Sulley’s huge hand and was holding it up to his head.
“Your hand is bigger than my whole face!” Squishy said, starstruck.
“He’s like a mountain with fur!” Terri added.
“We thought our dreams were over, but Mike said if we win, they’re letting us in the Scaring Program!” Don called out.
“We’re gonna be real Scarers!” Terry yelled excitedly.
“Yeah, right,” Sulley said doubtfully. He shot Mike a nervous, suspicious look. But Mike just smiled and nodded, as if anything was possible.
第 12 章
麥克盯著人群,希望能有人愿意加入OK會(huì),不管是誰(shuí)都行。最終,希臘議會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)看著麥克說(shuō)道:“哎,抱歉,看來(lái)希望不大。那我們只好繼續(xù)了,你的團(tuán)隊(duì)沒(méi)有資格參賽。”
突然,一個(gè)聲音響了起來(lái):“不,有資格!”只見(jiàn)一個(gè)大個(gè)子穿過(guò)人群,爬上車頂,和麥克站到了一起。是毛怪!他一直跟在麥克后面,看到了整個(gè)過(guò)程。“大牌明星才剛到。”他說(shuō)道。
“你?”麥克盯著毛怪說(shuō),“不行!”說(shuō)完又轉(zhuǎn)向人群喊道:“換一個(gè)人,拜托了!除了他誰(shuí)都行!”
希臘議會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)已經(jīng)快沒(méi)有耐心了,她問(wèn)麥克:“報(bào)名要截止了,他到底算不算你們團(tuán)隊(duì)的?”
麥克投降了,無(wú)奈地舉起他的小綠胳膊喊道:“好吧!就算他一個(gè)。”
郝刻薄院長(zhǎng)對(duì)著麥克冷笑道:“祝你好運(yùn)了。”說(shuō)完就走開了。
而毛怪只是聳聳肩,說(shuō)道:“好了,華斯基,有什么計(jì)劃嗎?”
當(dāng)晚,麥克和毛怪就拉著行李箱前往OK會(huì)的會(huì)所。沒(méi)過(guò)多久,他們來(lái)到了一所整潔的小房子前,房子的門廊種滿了植物,窗戶上還掛著花邊窗簾。“這就是我們的會(huì)所?”毛怪問(wèn)道。
正說(shuō)著,一位禿頂?shù)闹心旯肢F打開了門,熱情地招呼他們進(jìn)去:“嘿,同志們,到家啦!”他一邊說(shuō),一邊揮舞著他的觸手,“快進(jìn)來(lái)!能歡迎你們來(lái)到這個(gè)新家,我很榮幸!”
這位怪獸招待他們進(jìn)屋時(shí),麥克和毛怪交換了一下半信半疑的眼神,因?yàn)檫@里看起來(lái)似乎是哪位老祖母的屋子,堆滿了小擺設(shè)和繡花枕頭。“我們管這兒叫‘派對(duì)中心’。”一個(gè)胖乎乎的小怪獸笑笑說(shuō)。
“但其實(shí),我們從沒(méi)在這里開過(guò)派對(duì)。”雙頭怪獸的其中一個(gè)頭解釋道。
“但是要辦,隨時(shí)都可以!”另一個(gè)頭補(bǔ)充道,接著他按了一下遙控開關(guān),一個(gè)迪斯科球從天花板上落下,但沒(méi)想到直接就砸到了地板上。
中年怪獸遞給麥克一個(gè)杯子說(shuō)道:“嗚嗚!熱可可火車進(jìn)站啦!哦……下一站到你這兒!”
麥克試圖讓他的團(tuán)隊(duì)回到正軌,于是堅(jiān)定地對(duì)大家說(shuō):“我呢,打算先……”
但毛怪卻打斷了他:“難道……”他疑惑地看著OK會(huì)的全體成員說(shuō)道:“你們都是驚嚇學(xué)院的?”
有點(diǎn)禿頂?shù)墓肢F回答說(shuō):“曾經(jīng)是,但誰(shuí)都沒(méi)撐太久。估計(jì)是我們?nèi)氩涣撕驴瘫〉难邸?rdquo;說(shuō)著,他遞給毛怪一張名片,“叫我老唐吧,我是工作之后又讀的大學(xué)。”說(shuō)著他嘆了一口氣,“我在紡織業(yè)干了30年,突然就被公司裁員了。我想了想,要不然就破罐子破摔,要不然就回學(xué)校學(xué)學(xué)電腦。”
麥克和毛怪茫然地點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭,然后朝兩只頭的黃色怪獸看去。其中一只頭說(shuō)道:“你們好!我叫泰銳,尖銳的銳!”
另一只長(zhǎng)得矮一點(diǎn)但幾乎一模一樣的頭說(shuō)道:“我叫泰瑞,瑞雪的瑞!我哥哥可能長(zhǎng)得比我高一點(diǎn),但我……”
“長(zhǎng)得好看!”兩只頭幾乎同時(shí)喊道。然后他們互相看了看,笑了。
接著,一只壯碩的大怪獸開始粗聲粗氣地介紹自己,他看起來(lái)就是紫色皮毛和兩個(gè)大手臂的結(jié)合體。“嗨!我叫阿拱,新時(shí)代哲學(xué)專業(yè)的。很高興能和你們一同生活,一同歡笑,還有……一同哭泣。”他充滿激情地說(shuō)完,擦了擦眼淚。阿拱遞給麥克和毛怪一人一個(gè)日記本,封面上都有獨(dú)角獸的圖案。毛怪嫌棄地看著本子,好像它有傳染病似的。阿拱解釋說(shuō):“我覺(jué)得也許你們想寫寫夢(mèng)想日記吧。”
說(shuō)話間,那個(gè)胖胖的小怪獸突然出現(xiàn)在毛怪身后。毛怪嚇了一跳,大叫一聲。
“我叫史卡特·史乖寶,”他眨了眨自己那五只眼睛說(shuō)道,“朋友們都叫我史乖寶。我沒(méi)有專業(yè),沒(méi)有學(xué)院,所以,除了這兒,沒(méi)有社團(tuán)歡迎我。”
麥克試圖重新掌控談話,說(shuō)道:“好,現(xiàn)在既然大家都互相介紹完了,作為隊(duì)長(zhǎng),我……”
但毛怪又一次打斷了他:“這么說(shuō),你們都沒(méi)有嚇過(guò)人?”
OK會(huì)的成員們哄笑起來(lái)。“確實(shí)沒(méi)怎么有過(guò)!”史乖寶說(shuō)道,“可是現(xiàn)在有你了!”
老唐熱情地點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭說(shuō)道:“雖然你身上有這些粉色小圓點(diǎn),但你是我見(jiàn)過(guò)的最嚇人的怪獸了。”
麥克難以置信地看著他們,說(shuō)道:“那個(gè),事實(shí)上,我才是你們的主心骨。”但似乎并沒(méi)有人在聽。史乖寶早拿起毛怪的大手舉到了自己頭頂。
“你的手比我整個(gè)臉還大呢!”史乖寶激動(dòng)地說(shuō)著,就像追星族似的。
“他就像一座長(zhǎng)了毛的山!”泰瑞補(bǔ)充道。
老唐也喊著:“我們以為夢(mèng)想破滅了,但麥克說(shuō),如果我們贏了,他們就讓我們回驚嚇學(xué)院!”
“我們就能當(dāng)真正的驚嚇專員了!”泰銳興奮地喊道。
毛怪含糊地附和:“是,沒(méi)錯(cuò)。”他緊張而又懷疑地看著麥克,但麥克只是笑著點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭,仿佛沒(méi)有什么是不可能的。