Chapter 14
“Bing Bong, we have to get to that station,” Joy said. She couldn’t believe they had lost another island. The train whistled in the distance, which made her feel even more anxious.
“Sure thing,” Bing Bong said. “This way, just past Graham Cracker Castle.” But then he stopped and looked around, confused. The castle was gone. “I wonder why they moved it?” he asked. He walked a bit farther. Suddenly, he realized things didn’t look right.
A giant bulldozer came hurtling toward him and knocked over a pink castle. Bing Bong gasped.
“Princess Dream World!” Glitter flew into the air as the castle disintegrated. All of Preschool World was being torn down!
“My rocket!” Bing Bong screamed as he saw the Forgetters walking by with a red wagon. He ran after it. “Wait!” he yelled as a bulldozer pushed the pile of old memories closer and closer to the cliff edge. “Riley and I were still using that rocket! It still has some song power left!”
He desperately sang the song that powered the rocket and it responded, binging and bonging back at him and firing up. It rocketed into the air, then dove straight over the cliff! “Nooo!” Bing Bong screamed. “You can’t take my rocket to the dump! Riley and I are going to the moon!” He watched in shock as the rocket disappeared into the infinite darkness of the dump below. “Riley can’t be done with me,” he said, feeling heartbroken and falling to his knees.
Joy could think of only one thing: she had to get to the station. So she tried to pep Bing Bong up. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. We can fix this. We just need to get back to Headquarters. Which way to the train station?” Bing Bong had no reaction. He was frozen with grief.
“I had a whole trip planned for us,” he said quietly.
“Here comes the tickle monster,” Joy said, as she tried a different tactic. She tickled him, but he didn’t respond. She even tried making funny faces, but her silliness wasn’t snapping Bing Bong out of his misery. “Oh, here comes a fun game. You point to the train station, and we’ll go there,” Joy said. Bing Bong remained motionless.
Sadness walked over and sat down next to him. “I’m sorry they took your rocket,” she said gently. “They took something that you loved and it’s gone… forever.”
“Sadness, don’t make him feel worse,” Joy said.
“Sorry,” said Sadness.
“It’s all I had left of Riley,” said Bing Bong.
“I bet you and Riley had great adventures,” Sadness said.
“They were wonderful. Once, we flew back in time. We had breakfast twice that day.”
“That sounds amazing. I bet Riley liked it.”
“Oh, she did. We were best friends,” Bing Bong said. He started to cry.
“Yeah,” said Sadness. “It is sad.”
Bing Bong put his head on Sadness’s shoulder and cried candy tears. Sadness put her arm around him and tried to comfort him as he sobbed.
After a good cry, Bing Bong wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m okay now,” he said with a sniffle. He stood up and looked around. “C’mon. The train station is this way.” He started to walk toward it. Joy looked at Sadness in disbelief. “How did you do that?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” said Sadness. “He was sad, so I listened to what—”
“Hey, there’s the train!” Bing Bong called.
The three ran up to the train and climbed aboard just as it was starting up. “We made it!” Joy said. “We’re finally going to get home!”
Back in Headquarters, Anger, Fear, and Disgust ranted about the terrible day they’d had. “On a scale of one to ten, I give this day an F,” said Disgust.
“Well, why don’t we quit standing around and do something,” Anger suggested, dropping his newspaper, which was emblazoned with the headline “Riley Quits Hockey!”
Fear thought they all should quit their jobs as Riley’s Emotions. He knew it was the coward’s way out, but since he was Fear, he was okay with that.
“Emotions don’t quit, genius,” Disgust said.
Suddenly, Anger ran to the back and rummaged through the ideas, looking for something. “Aha!” he shouted, holding up an idea bulb triumphantly. He believed he’d found the solution they needed to fix everything for Riley. “Just the best idea ever!” he announced.
“What?” Disgust asked.
“All the good core memories were made in Minnesota,” Anger said. “Ergo, we go back to Minnesota and make more. Ta-da!”
“Wait, wait, wait. You’re saying we run away?” asked Fear. “You can’t be serious.”
“Our life was perfect until Mom and Dad decided to move to San Fran Stinktown,” said Anger.
“But, I mean, it’s just so… drastic,” said Fear.
“Need I remind you how great things were there? Our room? Our backyard? Our friends?” Anger punched up a memory, playing it on the screen.
The Tripledent gum commercial song played throughout Headquarters. “Did I ask for the gum commercial?” Annoyed, Anger slapped his hand against the console, ejecting the memory. “Anyway, it was better. That’s my point.”
“Yeah, Riley was happier in Minnesota… ,” said Disgust, nodding her head.
“Shouldn’t we just sleep on it or something?” asked Fear.
“Fine. Let’s sleep on it,” Anger said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Because hey—I’m sure jolly, fun-filled times are just around the corner.”
Inside her bedroom, Riley drifted off to sleep.
With Riley asleep, day turned to night in Mind World and the Train of Thought came to a screeching halt. “Huh?” Joy was confused. “Hey! Why aren’t we moving?”
“Riley’s gone to sleep,” the train engineer said. “We’re all on break.”
“You mean we’re stuck here until morning?” asked Sadness.
“Yeah, the Train of Thought doesn’t run while she’s asleep,” answered Bing Bong.
“Oh, we can’t wait that long!” groaned Joy.
第 14 章
“兵兵,我們必須到達(dá)那個(gè)火車站。”樂樂說道,她不敢相信她們又失去了一座島嶼?;疖嚨钠崖晱倪h(yuǎn)處傳來,這讓她感到更加焦慮。
“當(dāng)然。”兵兵說道,“這邊走,過了前面的全麥餅干城堡就到了。”但是他停了下來,環(huán)顧四周,滿臉茫然。城堡不見了。“他們?cè)趺窗殉潜ぐ嶙吡耍?rdquo;他一邊問一邊繼續(xù)往前走,突然發(fā)現(xiàn)事情有些不對(duì)勁。
一輛巨型推土機(jī)朝他猛沖過來,推倒一座粉色城堡,兵兵倒抽了一口氣。
“公主夢(mèng)世界!”城堡崩塌的瞬間空中亮晶晶的一片。整個(gè)童年世界正在被摧毀。
“我的火箭!”看到路過的遺忘小人手里抓著的紅色火箭,兵兵叫了起來,他追過去。“等等!”推土機(jī)將一堆舊的記憶球朝懸崖邊緣越推越近。兵兵喊道:“我和萊莉還要用到火箭哪!火箭里還剩一些歌聲能量!”
他絕望地唱起那首可以發(fā)動(dòng)火箭的歌曲,火箭動(dòng)了動(dòng),朝他發(fā)出乒乒乓乓的聲音,發(fā)動(dòng)了?;鸺罩酗w去,接著筆直地墜入懸崖!“不——!”兵兵叫道,“不要奪走我的火箭,不要把它扔進(jìn)清理庫(kù)!我和萊莉還要飛到月球上去呢!”他驚愕地看著火箭消失在下方清理庫(kù)無邊的黑暗中。“萊莉不需要我了。”他心碎了,跪倒在地。
樂樂只想著一件事:她必須到火車站去。于是她試著給兵兵打氣:“嘿,一切都會(huì)好起來的。只要我們能回情緒總部,一定能解決這件事。哪條路可以去火車站?”兵兵沒有反應(yīng),他由于過度悲傷,已經(jīng)呆住了。
“我本來計(jì)劃好了整個(gè)行程。”他靜靜地回答。
“撓癢癢怪獸來啦。”樂樂試著改變戰(zhàn)術(shù),開始撓兵兵癢癢,但是他沒什么反應(yīng)。樂樂甚至開始做鬼臉,但是裝傻的樂樂也沒能將兵兵從痛苦中喚醒。樂樂說:“噢,要不我們玩?zhèn)€好玩的游戲,你指著火車站,然后我們到那兒去。”但是兵兵仍然一動(dòng)不動(dòng)。
憂憂走上前,坐在他旁邊。“他們拿走了你的火箭,我也很難過。”她溫和地說,“他們奪走了你心愛的東西,而且它沒了……永遠(yuǎn)沒了。”
“憂憂,你這樣只會(huì)讓他更難過。”樂樂說。
“對(duì)不起。”憂憂說。
“那是萊莉留給我的唯一一樣?xùn)|西。”兵兵說。
“我敢打賭你和萊莉以前有過很多偉大的冒險(xiǎn)經(jīng)歷。”憂憂說。
“棒極了。有一次我們還回到過去,所以那天我們吃了兩頓早餐。”
“聽起來很不錯(cuò)啊,我相信萊莉一定很喜歡。”
“噢,當(dāng)然,我們是最好的朋友。”兵兵說著說著開始哭了起來。
“是啊,”憂憂說道,“是很令人難過。”
兵兵把頭靠在憂憂肩膀上,糖果眼淚掉了下來。憂憂伸出手抱著他,努力在他哭泣的時(shí)候安慰他。
大哭了一場(chǎng)之后,兵兵擦干眼淚,深吸了一口氣,他擤了一下鼻子說:“我沒事了。”他站起來,看看四周。“來吧,火車站往這邊走。”他開始朝火車站走去。樂樂難以置信地看著憂憂,問:“你是怎么做到的?”
“我也不知道,”憂憂回答,“他很難過,因此我聽——”
“嘿,火車在那兒!”兵兵叫道。
他們?nèi)讼蚯芭埽诨疖囌霭l(fā)的那一刻爬了上去。“我們成功了!”樂樂說道,“總算可以回家了!”
情緒總部里,怒怒、怕怕和厭厭為經(jīng)歷了糟糕的一天而大喊大叫。厭厭說:“如果要從一到十給今天打分,我會(huì)打不及格。”
“我說,大家別光站著不動(dòng),做點(diǎn)什么吧。”怒怒提議道。他扔下手里的報(bào)紙,報(bào)紙上印有“萊莉放棄冰球比賽!”的大標(biāo)題。
怕怕認(rèn)為他們都應(yīng)該放棄擔(dān)任萊莉的情緒小人,雖然這是懦夫才會(huì)有的膽怯心理,但是因?yàn)樗强謶中∪?,他可以有這種想法。
“天才,情緒小人可不能卸任。”厭厭說道。
突然,怒怒跑到后面,將點(diǎn)子球翻來翻去,搜尋著什么。“啊哈!”他叫著,得意地舉起一個(gè)點(diǎn)子球。他覺得自己找到了為萊莉解決一切問題的方法,于是大聲宣布:“這是有史以來最好的點(diǎn)子!”
“什么點(diǎn)子?”厭厭問他。
“所有美好的核心記憶球都是在明尼蘇達(dá)州產(chǎn)生的。”怒怒說,“因此呢,我們回明尼蘇達(dá)州去,創(chuàng)造更多美好的記憶,嗒——噠!”
“等等,等等,等等。你是說我們離家出走?”怕怕問,“你不是認(rèn)真的吧?”
“在爸爸和媽媽決定搬來這個(gè)糟透了的圣弗朗西“死”科之前,我們擁有完美的生活。”怒怒說道。
“但是,我的意思是,這樣有點(diǎn)太……極端了。”怕怕說。
“需要我提醒你那兒有多么美好嗎?我們的臥室?我們的后院?我們的朋友?”怒怒擊起一個(gè)記憶球,在屏幕上播放起來。
Tripledent口香糖的廣告曲在情緒總部里響了起來。“我要求放口香糖廣告曲了嗎?”怒怒生氣了,伸手拍在控制臺(tái)上,記憶球彈了出來。“不管怎樣,在那兒更好。我就是這個(gè)意思。”
“沒錯(cuò),萊莉在明尼蘇達(dá)州確實(shí)更快樂……”厭厭點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭說。
“難道我們不能把問題留到明天再解決?”怕怕問道。
“好啊,明天再解決吧。”怒怒雙臂交叉放在胸前,“因?yàn)?,?mdash;—我相信愉快的、充滿樂趣的時(shí)光就要到來了。”
萊莉在自己的臥室里慢慢進(jìn)入夢(mèng)鄉(xiāng)。
萊莉睡著后,大腦世界由白天變成黑夜,思想火車也戛然而止。“哈?”樂樂疑惑不解,“嘿!火車怎么不動(dòng)了?”
“萊莉睡覺了。”火車司機(jī)說,“我們也該休息了。”
“你的意思是說明早之前我們都得困在這兒?”憂憂問道。
“是的,她睡覺的時(shí)候思想火車是不運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的。”兵兵回答。
“噢,我們可等不了那么久!”樂樂抱怨道。