Chapter 1
On the day Riley was born, Joy found herself inside a strange and beautiful place: Riley’s mind. Joy, a glowing collection of yellow energy particles, was one of the new baby’s Emotions. From inside Headquarters, the control center of Riley’s Mind World, she saw everything through Riley’s eyes.
Joy stepped up to the console, a device the Emotions used to control Riley’s reactions, and watched in awe, as Riley’s parents looked down at their beautiful daughter for the first time. “Hello, Riley,” said Mom, beaming.
“Oh, look at you,” said Dad in amazement. “Aren’t you a little bundle of joy?”
Suddenly, a golden sphere rolled down a track to the right of the console in Headquarters, lighting up the room with its soft glow. Joy picked up the strange globe and held it carefully in her hands. She could see an image of Riley’s parents, smiling inside the sphere. “Aren’t you a little bundle of joy?” said Dad. It was the memory of what Joy had just witnessed! She placed the memory sphere back and watched as it continued rolling down the track to the memory shelves in the back of Headquarters.
Joy instantly fell in love with Riley and devoted herself completely to doing everything she could to help Riley live a happy life. She thought it would just be her and Riley forever… But thirty-three seconds after Riley was born, someone else materialized at the console and started working the controls. Riley began to cry.
“I’m Sadness,” the blue newcomer said to Joy, introducing herself somberly.
“I just want to fix that,” Joy said, gently pushing Sadness off the controls. She pressed a few buttons and Riley stopped crying.
As time went on, more Emotions showed up inside Headquarters, taking control whenever Riley needed them. And with each new Emotion, memories started rolling through in different colors, matching the Emotion that Riley felt about the memory.
Fear’s job was to keep Riley safe. He guided her whenever she encountered something he thought was dangerous, like power cords, roller skates, and dogs. “Look out!” was one of his favorite phrases. All of Riley’s memories associated with fear were stored in purple spheres, the same color as Fear himself.
Disgust was green. She kept her sharp eye out for anything that looked worthy of an “Ew.” She took control whenever something gross came up—like broccoli, bad art, or nasty people. Basically, Disgust kept Riley from being physically or socially poisoned. Riley’s disgusted memories were saved inside green spheres.
When the Emotions saw unfair things happening to Riley as they watched out the view screen in Head-quarters, Anger—who was short, red, and angry—took the reins. Life’s injustices really heated him up! Anger worked hard to even the score, so he was always ready to release a scowl, scream, or growl at any unfair situation. When he got REALLY mad, he would get so hot that his head would light on fire! Riley’s angry memories were saved inside red spheres.
Each Emotion had its own job, but most of the time they were content to let Joy run the console. And Joy could see why all of them were important… except for Sadness. Joy didn’t want Riley to ever feel sad! She wanted Riley to be as happy as she could be, so she tried her best to keep Sadness as far from the controls as possible.
As Riley’s lead Emotion, Joy did an excellent job, and most of Riley’s memories were golden, just like Joy. The most important ones were core memories—these glowed brighter than Riley’s normal memories. They were formed when Riley had big “life moments”, like when she was two and a half and scored her first hockey goal in a game with her parents!
The core memories powered the Islands of Personality with lightlines, which were like electrical cords that stretched over a deep ravine from Headquarters to the actual islands. The islands made Riley who she was, and they each said something different about her. For example, the core memory of Riley’s first goal powered Hockey Island. There were also Goofball, Family, Honesty, and Friendship Islands—they were like mini theme parks. The Emotions loved to watch the islands light up as they looked out the back window of Headquarters.
Riley had a very happy childhood, living with her parents in their small Minnesota town. She loved playing hockey, hanging out with her friends, and ice-skating on the lake. Joy made sure that at the end of each day, most of the memories rolling through Headquarters were golden, happy ones. But when Riley was eleven years old, her parents made a major decision that changed everything.
第 1 章
萊莉出生的那天,樂樂發(fā)現(xiàn)自己身處一個既陌生又美麗的地方:萊莉的大腦中。樂樂由一團發(fā)光的黃色能量粒子組成,是這個新生兒的情緒小人之一。在情緒總部,也就是萊莉大腦的控制中心,樂樂可以通過萊莉的眼睛看到一切。
樂樂走上控制臺,那是情緒小人用來控制萊莉反應的裝置。她驚奇地看著眼前的一幕——萊莉的爸媽第一次低頭看著自己那美麗的女兒,媽媽滿臉笑容地說:“嗨,萊莉!”
爸爸驚嘆道:“噢,看看你,你可不就是快樂的小寶貝嘛!”
突然,控制臺右邊的軌道上滾下一個金色圓球,閃著柔和的光芒,照亮了整個空間。樂樂撿起那個奇怪的圓球,小心地拿在手里,她看見圓球里有萊莉父母微笑的畫面,爸爸說道:“你可不就是個快樂的小寶貝嘛!”這是樂樂剛剛見證過的那一幕的記憶!她把記憶球放回軌道,看著它滾向控制室后面的記憶架。
樂樂對萊莉一見鐘情,發(fā)誓要全心全意、竭盡所能地讓萊莉過上快樂的生活。她以為永遠只有她和萊莉……但是,萊莉出生后33秒,情緒總部突然出現(xiàn)了另外一個小人,她開始操縱控制臺,萊莉哭了起來。
通體藍色的新人憂傷地向樂樂介紹自己:“我是憂憂。”
“讓我來處理。”樂樂說著輕輕地把憂憂推離了控制臺,然后按下幾個按鈕,萊莉就不哭了。
隨著時間的推移,情緒總部出現(xiàn)了更多的情緒小人,在萊莉需要的時候控制她的情緒。每出現(xiàn)一種新的情緒便有不同顏色的記憶球滾下,記憶球的顏色和萊莉?qū)υ撚洃浀那榫w一致。
怕怕負責萊莉的安全,每當遇到可能存在危險的事物時,像電源線、溜冰鞋還有狗之類的,怕怕就會保護她。“當心!”是他最喜歡的口頭禪之一。萊莉所有和害怕相關(guān)的記憶存儲在紫色的圓球中,和怕怕身體的顏色一樣。
厭厭是綠色的,她敏銳的眼睛不放過任何令她惡心的東西。一旦看見討厭的東西,如西蘭花、糟糕的藝術(shù)或討厭的人,她就負責控制?;旧?,厭厭保障萊莉既不被討厭的東西也不被討厭的人毒害。萊莉厭惡的記憶存儲在綠色的圓球中。
當情緒總部的情緒小人通過屏幕看到不公之事發(fā)生在萊莉身上時,怒怒——矮個頭、紅色、憤怒的情緒小人——便上場了。生活中的不公常令他怒火沖天!怒怒努力尋求公平,遇到不公之事,他總是怒目而視、尖叫咆哮。當他非常生氣的時候,他整個人都會發(fā)熱變燙,腦袋上甚至會冒火!萊莉憤怒的記憶存儲在紅色圓球中。
每一個情緒小人都有自己負責的事情,但是大多數(shù)時候他們都愿意讓樂樂來控制情緒,而且樂樂也明白每一個情緒小人的重要性……除了憂憂。樂樂希望萊莉永遠不憂傷!她希望萊莉盡可能地快樂,因此她總是盡量讓憂憂離控制臺遠遠的。
作為萊莉的主導情緒,樂樂的工作很出色,萊莉的大多數(shù)記憶都是金色的,正如樂樂的顏色一樣。最重要的記憶是核心記憶——它們比萊莉的普通記憶更加閃亮。它們形成于萊莉重大的“生活時刻”,比如她兩歲半的時候,和父母玩冰球第一次進球得分!
核心記憶球通過光纜給性格島供應能量,光纜從情緒總部延伸到具體的島嶼,就像蔓延在深谷上方的電線。這些島嶼決定了萊莉的性格,每座島嶼代表了她生活的不同方面,比如,萊莉第一次進球得分的核心記憶塑造了冰球島。此外還有耍寶島、家人島、誠實島和友情島——它們就像迷你主題公園。情緒小人喜歡從情緒總部的后窗看著一座座島嶼亮起。
萊莉和父母一起在明尼蘇達州的小鎮(zhèn)度過了自己非??鞓返耐辏矚g打冰球,和伙伴們出去玩耍,在湖面上溜冰。每一天結(jié)束時,樂樂確保滾過情緒總部的記憶球大多是金色的,里面都是快樂的記憶。但是,萊莉11歲的時候,她的父母做了一項重要的決定,一切都變了。