我和“討嫌鬼”做搭檔

Priya+Ann+Mathew

No one sat next to Leon. Not if they could help it. That&apos；s why when I shot into art class just before the bell， the only seat left was beside him.

Ms. Priestley said， "Sit down， Nimmy."

I don&apos；t think Ms. Priestley likes me. I am terrible in art. "Use your imagination，" she&apos；d always say.

I had no imagination.

"Today we&apos；re going to do something exciting，" Ms. Priestley said. "We&apos；ll draw a fantasy landscape."

Leon raised his hand. "Can it be anything we want？"

Leon loved art and loved Ms. Priestley. Ms. Priestley loved art and loved Leon. She beamed1）.

"Anything—as long as it isn&apos；t something from real life. Let&apos；s get started."

"This will be fun！" Leon said.

That&apos；s why no one liked to sit by Leon， especially in art. He was too enthusiastic. He gave his partners suggestions. Sometimes he even added to their drawings！ Plus his nose always dripped2）， and he never used tissues3）.

I drew wild zigzags4） and two lines racing across the page.

"What are you drawing？" Leon asked， sniffing5）.

I sighed. "Mountains and a river."

"That&apos；s not fantasy."

"I&apos；ve never seen mountains and I&apos；ve never seen a river. So I&apos；m fantasizing what they&apos；d look like，" I said.

"But it&apos；s still real."

I ground6） my teeth and scribbled7） in some skinny trees. "Have you seen a mountain range with pointed tips？"

"No， that&apos；s just bad drawing. Why don&apos；t you make it a dragon instead？"

I glared8）.

"The mountains could be the scales9） along its back， the river could be a long tail， and the dragon could be eating the trees." Leon smiled hopefully.

To my surprise， I could see the dragon take shape.

He continued， "So not all of it would be on the page， but that would just tell us how big it is."

I could see why Ms. Priestley loved him. No one else in class thought like that， and most people didn&apos；t care enough to try.

"Dragons don&apos；t eat trees，" I said.

Leon swiped10） his dripping nose with his sleeve. "Some dinosaurs ate trees. So why can&apos；t some dragons？ It&apos；s fantasy."

A sound11） argument， I had to admit.

Leon sniffed again. Ms. Priestley was moving around the room. She looked at everyone&apos；s work and made comments. Usually she&apos；d stop at mine and sigh.

Today I wanted to impress her. But the dragon was Leon&apos；s， not mine.

Then I thought， so what if it was Leon&apos；s idea？ It was still my drawing. I started drawing in the body. Leon would&apos；ve probably drawn a beautiful dragon anyway， nothing like mine with its big body and much-too-small head. I rubbed out the head and drew it in again. It still wasn&apos；t the right shape. I added more trees.

"That&apos；s a very nice idea， Nimmy." Ms. Priestley&apos；s voice made me jump. I looked up. If I hadn&apos；t heard my name at the end， I would&apos；ve thought she was talking to Leon.

She beamed. At me. "You&apos；re being creative， and it&apos；s paying off12）." I smiled shyly， blushing because it wasn&apos；t totally my idea. Leon was beaming， too.

Under the two spotlights13） of approval， I cracked14）. "It was Leon&apos；s idea，" I confessed.

Ms. Priestley&apos；s beam grew wider. "Excellent， Leon. We must always be willing to share our ideas."

I felt relieved. And a little sad.

Then Ms. Priestley said， "Nimmy， why don&apos；t you offer some suggestions on Leon&apos；s drawing."

Leon propped15） his drawing where I could see it. "It&apos；s a space farm，" I said. There was a rocky surface with little domes. The domes had plants and some weird animals in them. In one dome， there was a cow or maybe a big dog.

"Well， Nimmy？" Ms. Priestley said encouragingly.

I stared. What was I supposed to say？ "It&apos；s nice，" I offered.

Leon waited.

I added， "Maybe ... maybe you could add ... bales16） of hay17） ... and make a dome with levels. Each level for something different."

Leon nodded happily. "Like corn on one level and hens on the other. Like a multilayer farm."

"See， it&apos；s not so hard，" Ms. Priestley said， and walked on.

I breathed. I&apos；d just said the first thing that came to me. But Leon liked my idea. Maybe I could be OK in art. I watched Leon adding levels on his farm.

Leon looked up for a moment. "We should be partners in art，" he said. "We give each other good ideas."

I liked that. I penned my name near his space-hens. Leon grinned and signed my dragon.

I smiled. "Now we&apos；re partners in art."

沒有人坐在里昂旁邊，只要能不坐那兒就不坐那兒。這就是為什么當我踩著鈴聲沖進美術課教室時，只剩他身邊的座位是空的了。

普里斯特利夫人說：“尼米，請坐下。”

我覺得普里斯特利夫人不喜歡我。我的美術很差。“發揮你的想象力。”她總是這么說。

我可沒有想象力。

“今天，我們要做些令人興奮的事情，”普里斯特利夫人說，“我們要畫一幅幻想的風景畫。”

里昂舉起了手。“是我們想畫什么就畫什么嗎？”

里昂愛美術課也愛普里斯特利夫人。普里斯特利夫人愛美術課也愛里昂。她燦爛地笑著。

“畫什么都行——只要它不是來自現實生活就行。我們開始畫吧。”

“這肯定很有趣！”里昂說。

這就是為什么沒有人愿意坐在里昂旁邊，特別是在美術課上。他太熱情了。他給同桌提各種建議，有時候甚至還幫別人畫幾筆！此外，他總是淌著鼻涕，還從來不用面巾紙擦。

我胡亂地畫了一些鋸齒狀線條，還畫了兩條貫穿畫紙的直線。

“你在畫什么呢？”里昂邊問我，邊吸溜著鼻涕。

我嘆了口氣，說：“群山和一條河。”

“這不是幻想的啊。”

“我從來沒有見過山脈，也沒見過河流。所以我在幻想著它們的樣子。”我說。

“但這還是真實的啊。”

我把牙齒磨得嘎嘎響，胡亂地畫了幾棵瘦不拉幾的樹。“你見過尖頂的連綿大山嗎？”

“沒有，可這就是沒畫好。你為什么不把它改畫成一條龍呢？”

我生氣地瞪起了眼睛。

“這些山脈可以是它背上的鱗片，河流可以是個長尾巴，這條龍可以正在吃著那些樹。”里昂滿懷希望地笑著。

令我驚奇的是，我能夠看到那條龍開始成形了。

他繼續說著：“盡管它不會完整地出現在紙上，但這可以告訴我們它有多大。”

我能明白為什么普里斯特利夫人喜歡他了。班里其他人都不會那樣去思考，大多數人對畫畫這件事不夠在乎，因此也不愿去嘗試。

“龍是不吃樹的。”我說。

里昂用袖子抹去流下來的鼻涕，說：“有些恐龍是吃樹的。那為什么有些龍不能吃樹呢？這就是幻想啊。”

很合理的論證，我不得不承認。

里昂又吸溜了下鼻子。普里斯特利夫人在教室里來回巡視。她檢查每個人的畫并給些評語。通常，她停在我身邊的時候都會嘆氣。

今天我想給她留個好印象。但這條龍是里昂的，不是我的。

然后，我轉念一想，這是里昂的想法又怎樣？它仍然是我的畫。我開始畫龍的身子。不管怎樣，里昂可能會畫一條漂亮的龍，不會像我這條龍一樣身體龐大，腦袋卻極小。我把龍頭擦掉，重新畫了起來。它的形狀還是不對。我又多畫了些樹。

“這個想法非常棒，尼米。” 普里斯特利夫人的聲音嚇了我一跳。我抬起頭來。如果不是聽到她在最后說了我的名字，我還以為她是在和里昂說話呢。

她笑容滿面。是沖著我笑的。“你現在變得很有創造力，它正給你帶來好處呢。”我害羞地笑笑，臉都紅了，因為這完全不是我的想法。里昂也笑得很開心。

在他們倆認可的關注下，我繃不住了。“這是里昂的想法。”我坦白了。

普里斯特利夫人笑得更開心了。“太棒了，里昂，我們必須總是樂于分享自己的想法。”

我感到如釋重負，還有一點點難過。

普里斯特利夫人接著說：“尼米，你為什么不給里昂的畫也提一些建議呢？”

里昂把他的畫架起來，放在了我能看到的地方。“這是一個太空農場，”我說。畫中布滿巖石的地面上有一些小小的圓頂屋。圓頂屋里有許多植物和一些奇怪的動物。其中一個圓頂屋里還住著一頭奶牛，要么是一只大狗。

“嗯，尼米？” 普里斯特利夫人鼓勵地問道。

我盯著它。我該說些什么呢？“這很好啊。”我說。

里昂等待著。

我補充道：“或許……或許你可以增添……大捆的干草……還可以畫一個分層的圓頂屋，每一層放一些不同的東西。”

里昂高興地點頭：“比如一層種玉米，另一層養母雞。就像一個多層農場。”

“看到了吧，這并沒那么難。”普里斯特利夫人說完便繼續巡視去了。

我舒了一口氣。我只是說了腦子里閃現的第一個想法。但里昂喜歡我的想法。或許我美術能學得不錯。我看著里昂在他的農場里加了幾層。

里昂抬頭看了一下。“我們應該在美術課上做搭檔，”他說，“我們能給對方好點子。”

我喜歡這個提議。我把自己的名字寫在了他的太空母雞旁邊。里昂咧嘴笑著把名字署在了我的龍旁邊。

我笑著說：“現在我們是美術課搭檔啦。”

1. beam [bi?m] vi. 眉開眼笑；笑容滿面

2. drip [dr?p] vi. 滴下。這里指流鼻涕。

3. tissue [?t??u?] n. 面巾紙；手巾紙

4. zigzag [?z?ɡz?ɡ] n. 之字形；鋸齒形線條

5. sniff [sn?f] vi. 抽鼻子

6. grind [ɡra?nd] vt. 磨（牙齒）

7. scribble [?skr?bl] vi. 亂涂；亂畫

8. glare [ɡle?（r）] vi. 怒目而視；瞪眼

9. scale [ske?l] n. 魚鱗；（爬行動物的）鱗片

10. swipe [swa?p] vt. 碰擦，擦過

11. sound [sa?nd] adj. （建議、推理或證據）正確的，合理的，可靠的，明智的

12. pay off： 成功；贏利

13. spotlight [?sp?tla?t] n. 聚光燈；焦點

14. crack [kr?k] vi. （因壓力大而）失控，崩潰，瓦解

15. prop [pr?p] vt. 架；擱；靠

16. bale [be?l] n. 大包，大捆

17. hay [he?] n. （作飼料用的）干草