Chapter 3
“WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!” shouted Fear as he watched Riley and her mother standing at the pizza counter, staring at a slice covered in broccoli.
“That’s it. I’m done,” said Disgust.
Anger fumed. “Congratulations, San Francisco, you’ve RUINED PIZZA! FIRST THE HAWAIIANS AND NOW YOU!” he shouted, shuddering as he thought about the pineapple that Hawaiians liked to add to their pizza.
As Riley and her mom walked home, the mood was somber. “What kind of a pizza place only serves one kind of pizza?” Mom asked.
Joy sighed as she glanced at the day’s wall of multicolored memories and noticed there were not a whole lot of golden ones.
Then Riley and her mother started to talk about the long car trip to California. “What was your favorite part?” Mom asked Riley.
“Oh! What about the time with the dinosaur?” Joy said as she ran to the console to pull up the memory.
The happy memory was of Riley and her mom posing in front of a big cement dinosaur on the side of the road in Utah. As Dad knelt to get the shot, the car started to roll down the hill behind him! Riley and Mom tried to tell him, but he was too busy trying to take the perfect picture. By the time he finally noticed, it was too late. Dad ran after the car as it rolled in reverse and crashed into the tail of a cement stegosaurus!
“I liked that time at the dinosaur,” Riley said, smiling. “That was pretty funny.”
The Emotions chuckled as Riley enjoyed the memory. But then something strange happened. The memory turned BLUE and Riley’s smile faded.
“Wait. What happened?” Joy asked as she spun around, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Her gaze landed on Sadness, who was standing right next to the memory.
“What did you do?” Joy asked.
“I just touched it,” Sadness said.
Joy tried to rub the memory to see if she could change it back to gold, but the blue color wouldn’t come off!
“Good going, Sadness,” Disgust said. “Now when Riley thinks of that moment with Dad, she’s gonna feel sad. Bravo.”
“I’m—I’m sorry, Joy,” Sadness stammered.
Joy told Sadness not to touch any memories until she figured out what was going on. Then she turned her attention back to Riley.
Riley and her mom were coming up to a set of stairs that led down a hill. The stairs had a railing. “Get ready! This is a monster railing, and we are riding it all the way down!” Joy said as she took control of the console.
Goofball Island, one of Riley’s Islands of Personality, lit up with life as Riley sat on the banister, about to fly down. But then Riley changed her mind. She walked down the stairs instead.
“Wait, what happened?” Joy asked, confused. She gasped as a memory rolled over her feet.
“A core memory!” cried Fear. Core memories powered Riley’s Islands of Personality. If Riley’s core memories weren’t in the core memory holder, what was controlling her personality?
“Oh no,” said Joy, picking up the memory. Everyone looked out the window to see a lifeless Goofball Island, completely dark and still.
Joy rushed to the core memory holder and saw Sadness standing right next to it! “Sadness!” she shouted. “What are you doing?”
“It looked like one was crooked, so I opened it and then it fell out! I…” Sadness said, referring to a core memory.
Joy placed the memory back in the holder and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Goofball Island started running again.
Riley ran up the stairs and jumped back on the railing. “Woo-hoo!” she cried as she slid down.
“I wanted to maybe hold one,” Sadness admitted. She reached toward a core memory and it started to turn BLUE! As the other Emotions gasped, Joy grabbed Sadness’s hand before she could remove it. The memory turned back to gold.
“Sadness!” Joy scolded. “You nearly touched a core memory. And when you touch them, we can’t change them back.”
Sadness felt terrible. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Something’s wrong with me. I, uh… It’s like I’m having a breakdown”
“You are not having a breakdown,” said Joy. “It’s stress.”
Sadness sighed. “I keep making mistakes like that. I’m awful—”
“No, you’re not,” Joy interrupted, but Sadness continued.
“—and annoying.”
Joy wanted Sadness to stop focusing on what was wrong. “There’s always a way to turn things around, to find the fun,” Joy said.
“I don’t know how to do that,” Sadness said.
Joy suggested that Sadness think of something funny, but she couldn’t seem to do it. Sadness constantly focused on the negative. While Joy saw the rain as a fun opportunity for Riley to jump in puddles and carry a cool umbrella, Sadness liked when the rain made Riley feel soggy, droopy, and shivery. Sadness even started to cry as she thought about it.
“Oh, hey, hey… easy. Why are you crying?” Joy asked softly.
“Crying helps me slow down and obsess over the weight of life’s problems,” she said.
Joy put her head in her hands to think of a way to keep Sadness out of trouble. “Let’s think about something else,” she said, leading her over to the manual shelf. “How about we read some mind manuals, huh? Sounds fun.”
Joy left Sadness among the stacks of books and marched back to work.
第 3 章
“這是什么鬼東西?!” 萊莉和媽媽站在比薩店柜臺(tái)前時(shí),怕怕盯著那塊鋪滿(mǎn)西蘭花的比薩喊了起來(lái)。
“夠了,我受不了了。” 厭厭說(shuō)道。
怒怒生氣了,大叫道:“恭喜你,舊金山,你把比薩給毀了!先是夏威夷,然后就是你!”一想起喜歡在比薩上加菠蘿的夏威夷人,他就氣得渾身發(fā)抖。
萊莉和媽媽走路回家,兩人都挺沮喪。媽媽說(shuō):“什么樣的比薩店才會(huì)只賣(mài)一種比薩?”
樂(lè)樂(lè)看著情緒總部墻上記錄萊莉當(dāng)天情緒的各色記憶球,金色的并不多,她嘆了口氣。
接著,萊莉和媽媽聊起了來(lái)加利福尼亞州的漫長(zhǎng)旅程,媽媽問(wèn):“你最喜歡的是哪段旅程?”
“噢!和恐龍一起的那段時(shí)光怎么樣?”樂(lè)樂(lè)跑向控制臺(tái),取出相應(yīng)的記憶球。
那是一段開(kāi)心的記憶,猶他州的公路邊有一只大型水泥恐龍,萊莉和媽媽站在恐龍前擺姿勢(shì)拍照。爸爸蹲下給她們照相的時(shí)候,身后的車(chē)子開(kāi)始從山坡上滑下去!萊莉和媽媽想要告訴他,但是他正忙著試圖拍出完美的照片。等他發(fā)現(xiàn)時(shí),已經(jīng)太晚了。爸爸追著車(chē)子跑,車(chē)子卻向后撞上了一只水泥劍龍的尾巴!
“我喜歡在恐龍雕塑那里的時(shí)光,”萊莉笑著說(shuō),“很搞笑。”
萊莉享受回憶的同時(shí),情緒小人們也咯咯地笑了起來(lái)。但是奇怪的事情發(fā)生了,記憶球變成了藍(lán)色,萊莉的笑容也消失了。
“等等,怎么了?” 樂(lè)樂(lè)轉(zhuǎn)身問(wèn)道。她試著去搞清楚是什么地方出了錯(cuò)。她的目光落在正站在記憶球旁邊的憂(yōu)憂(yōu)身上。
“你做了什么?”樂(lè)樂(lè)問(wèn)道。
“我只是碰了它一下。”憂(yōu)憂(yōu)回答。
樂(lè)樂(lè)趕緊擦了擦記憶球,看是否能變回原來(lái)的金色,但是藍(lán)色根本擦不掉!
“憂(yōu)憂(yōu),瞧你干的好事,”厭厭說(shuō),“現(xiàn)在只要萊莉想起和爸爸的那段記憶,她就會(huì)難過(guò)。干得好。”
“我——我錯(cuò)了,樂(lè)樂(lè)。”憂(yōu)憂(yōu)結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說(shuō)。
樂(lè)樂(lè)警告憂(yōu)憂(yōu)在她弄清楚發(fā)生了什么之前不準(zhǔn)再碰任何記憶球,接著,她把注意力又轉(zhuǎn)回萊莉身上。
萊莉和媽媽來(lái)到一個(gè)有臺(tái)階的山坡,臺(tái)階一側(cè)有欄桿,“準(zhǔn)備好啦!這是一個(gè)怪獸欄桿,讓我們騎著它一路向下!”樂(lè)樂(lè)一邊說(shuō),一邊操縱控制臺(tái)。
當(dāng)萊莉坐在扶欄上準(zhǔn)備滑下去的時(shí)候,耍寶島——萊莉的性格島嶼之一亮了起來(lái)。但是萊莉突然改變主意,走下了臺(tái)階。
“等等,怎么回事?”樂(lè)樂(lè)被弄糊涂了。這時(shí)一個(gè)記憶球滾到她腳邊,她倒抽了一口氣。
“核心記憶球!”怕怕叫了起來(lái)。核心記憶球給萊莉的性格島提供能量,如果萊莉的核心記憶球不在核心記憶裝置上,那是什么在控制她的性格?
“哦,不。”樂(lè)樂(lè)拾起記憶球。情緒小人們看向窗外,耍寶島毫無(wú)生機(jī),一片黑暗,全然不動(dòng)。
樂(lè)樂(lè)沖向核心記憶裝置,發(fā)現(xiàn)憂(yōu)憂(yōu)正站在旁邊!“憂(yōu)憂(yōu)!”她叫道,“你在做什么?”
“有一個(gè)記憶球好像變形了,因此我打開(kāi)了它,然后它就掉了出來(lái)!我……”憂(yōu)憂(yōu)指著一個(gè)核心記憶球說(shuō)。
樂(lè)樂(lè)把記憶球放回架子上,耍寶島重新啟動(dòng)了,所有人都松了一口氣。
萊莉跑上臺(tái)階,坐上扶欄。“唔——哈!”她大叫著滑了下去。
“我本來(lái)是想,也許,我可以拿一個(gè)。”憂(yōu)憂(yōu)承認(rèn)了。她朝一個(gè)核心記憶球伸出手,記憶球開(kāi)始變成藍(lán)色!其他情緒小人倒抽了一口氣,樂(lè)樂(lè)趕在憂(yōu)憂(yōu)移動(dòng)記憶球之前抓住了她的手,記憶球重新變?yōu)榻鹕?br />
“憂(yōu)憂(yōu)!”樂(lè)樂(lè)罵道,“你差一點(diǎn)就碰到核心記憶球了,只要你一碰它們,我們就沒(méi)辦法讓它們變回原樣了。”
憂(yōu)憂(yōu)難過(guò)極了。“對(duì)不起。”她說(shuō)道。
“我有些不對(duì)勁。我,呃……我好像要崩潰了。”
“你不會(huì)崩潰的,”樂(lè)樂(lè)說(shuō)道,“是壓力太大了。”
憂(yōu)憂(yōu)嘆了一口氣:“我總是犯這樣那樣的錯(cuò)誤,我壞透了——”
“不,你沒(méi)有。”樂(lè)樂(lè)打斷她,但是憂(yōu)憂(yōu)繼續(xù)往下說(shuō)。
“——而且遭人厭。”
樂(lè)樂(lè)希望憂(yōu)憂(yōu)不要揪著過(guò)去的錯(cuò)誤不放,她說(shuō):“總有辦法解決的,總有辦法找到快樂(lè)。”
“我不知道該怎么辦。”憂(yōu)憂(yōu)說(shuō)。
樂(lè)樂(lè)建議憂(yōu)憂(yōu)想一些開(kāi)心的事,但是憂(yōu)憂(yōu)似乎做不到,她總是悲觀地看待問(wèn)題。樂(lè)樂(lè)覺(jué)得下雨是個(gè)尋找樂(lè)趣的機(jī)會(huì),萊莉可以跳進(jìn)地上的水坑,撐一把酷酷的雨傘;憂(yōu)憂(yōu)卻覺(jué)得下雨會(huì)讓萊莉渾身濕淋淋,會(huì)讓她無(wú)精打采,會(huì)讓她冷得發(fā)抖。想著想著她甚至哭了起來(lái)。
“噢,嘿,嘿……放松點(diǎn),你怎么哭了?”樂(lè)樂(lè)問(wèn)道。
“哭泣能讓我平靜下來(lái),專(zhuān)注于生活中的難題。”她答道。
樂(lè)樂(lè)雙手掩面,思考著如何才能讓?xiě)n憂(yōu)遠(yuǎn)離煩惱。“我們想點(diǎn)別的吧,”說(shuō)著她把憂(yōu)憂(yōu)帶到指南書(shū)架旁,“我們來(lái)讀讀大腦指南怎么樣?哈?聽(tīng)起來(lái)挺有趣的。”
樂(lè)樂(lè)讓?xiě)n憂(yōu)待在書(shū)堆里,然后回到了工作崗位。