Chapter 11
“Oh, look at you,” the elephant figure cried as he grabbed one particular memory. “You’re a keeper!”
Joy continued to watch him from a distance.
The figure was so intent on picking memories that he didn’t see Joy until she stepped forward. “Hello!” When the elephant locked eyes with Joy, he froze—and then ran. He tried to get away, but Joy chased him until he reached a wall and began frantically to try to climb it. He was a strange-looking pink creature with a long trunk, whiskers, and a fluffy striped tail. He wore a checkered coat that was too small for his body and had a tiny hat perched on top of his head.
“Excuse me,” Joy said, trying not to scare him more than he already was.
The creature jumped, startled, and screamed. “Ahh!” Feeling cornered, he grabbed a random memory off the wall and threw it at Joy. “Ha ha, so long, sucker!” But he ran right into a cart of memories and fell to the ground, taking the memories with him.
“Wait,” said Joy, recognizing his face. “I know you.”
“I get that a lot,” he said nervously. “I look like a lot of people.”
Joy gasped, finally placing his face. “You’re Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend!”
“You do know me!” Bing Bong said, pleasantly surprised.
“Riley loved playing with you!” Joy exclaimed.
“Oh, you would know. We’re trying to get back to Headquarters…”
“You guys are from Headquarters?” Bing Bong asked.
“Well, yeah. I’m Joy. This is Sadness.”
“You’re Joy? The Joy?” Bing Bong gasped. “Without you, Riley won’t ever be happy. And we can’t have that. We gotta get you back. I’ll tell you what, follow me!”
Joy thanked Bing Bong for his help as the three of them walked down a long corridor of memory shelves. “It is so great to see you again,” Joy said.
She remembered how Riley and Bing Bong had held concerts with pots and pans as their instruments; how they had raced each other, with Bing Bong on the ceiling and Riley on the floor; and how Bing Bong’s red rocket ship wagon ran on song power.
Joy even remembered the theme song Riley made up that powered the rocket ship. Bing Bong and Joy sang the happy tune together as Sadness finally took a good look at him. “What exactly are you supposed to be?” she asked.
“You know, it’s unclear,” Bing Bong said. “I’m mostly cotton candy, but shape-wise, I’m part cat, part elephant, and part dolphin.”
“Dolphin?” Joy asked. She didn’t really see much evidence of a dolphin in Bing Bong.
Then he let out a high-pitched noise that sounded just like a dolphin!
Joy asked Bing Bong what he was doing in the memory shelves. Bing Bong explained that there wasn’t much need for an imaginary friend in Riley’s life lately. He thought maybe if he could find a really good memory, Riley would remember him and he could be part of her life again.
“Hey, hey, don’t be sad,” Joy told him. “When I get back to Headquarters, I’ll make sure Riley remembers you.”
Bing Bong was thrilled. He began to dance around in excitement, but ended up tripping over his own feet. “Dooooh!” he cried.
Joy and Sadness watched as pieces of candy fell out of his eyes. “What’s going on?” Sadness asked.
“I cry candy,” Bing Bong said, in tears. “Try the caramel, it’s delicious.”
Joy munched on one of his sweet candy tears as she shifted the core memories around in her arms. The spheres were heavy and slippery, and it was a challenge keeping them all together.
“Oh—here, use this,” Bing Bong said, dumping the contents of his little bag onto the floor. Joy and Sadness watched with amazement as an insanely large pile of random stuff fell out—memories, three boots, a hissing cat, and even a kitchen sink! “What?” Bing Bong shrugged. “It’s imaginary.”
“This’ll make it a lot easier to walk back to Headquarters,” Joy said with relief, putting the core memories safely into the bag.
“We’re not walking. We’re taking the Train of Thought!” Bing Bong led them out onto a cliff edge and pointed at the train speedily chugging toward Headquarters in the distance.
“The train, of course!” Joy exclaimed. “That is so much faster!”
Bing Bong told them about a station in Imagination Land, another part of Riley’s Memory World, where they could catch the train. He said he could take them there. “I know a shortcut,” he said proudly. “Come on, this way!”
“I’m so glad we ran into you,” said Joy.
Bing Bong led the way to a huge bunker—like building. They looked through a window and straight out another window on the opposite side of the building. There was the train station.
Bing Bong opened a large, sturdy hatch door. “After you.”
Joy took her first step into the building but stopped when Sadness called her.
“I read about this place in the manual. We shouldn’t go in there,” Sadness said.
“Bing Bong says it’s the quickest way to Headquarters.”
“But, Joy, this is Abstract Thought,” Sadness explained.
“What’re you talking about?” asked Bing Bong. “I go in here all the time. It’s a shortcut, you see?” Bing Bong pointed to a sign hanging above the door and spelled it aloud: “‘D-A-N-G-E-R.’ That spells ‘SHORTCUT.’ I’ll prove it to you.” Joy and Sadness watched as Bing Bong climbed through the hatch.
第 11 章
“噢,看看你,”那個(gè)像大象的家伙拿起一個(gè)特別的記憶球叫道,“你是記憶守護(hù)者啊。”
樂樂繼續(xù)從遠(yuǎn)處看著他。
那家伙專心致志地挑著記憶球,沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)樂樂,直到樂樂走到他面前。“你好!”大象盯著樂樂,僵住了——然后跑了起來。他想逃,但是樂樂追著他直到一堵墻邊,他開始瘋了似的想要爬上去。他是個(gè)長相奇怪的粉色物種,長著長長的鼻子和胡須,還有一條毛茸茸的條紋尾巴。他穿著一件格子外套,外套又窄又小,顯然裹不住他的身軀。他頭上還戴著一頂極小的帽子。
“不好意思。”樂樂試著盡量不嚇到他,因?yàn)樗雌饋硪呀?jīng)被嚇得不輕。
那家伙還是嚇了一跳,尖叫起來:“啊——!”發(fā)現(xiàn)自己無路可走之后,他隨手從墻上抓起一個(gè)記憶球朝樂樂扔去。“哈哈,再見了,傻瓜!”但是他卻正好撞上一輛裝滿記憶球的推車,倒在了地上,記憶球也散落一地。
“等等,”樂樂好像認(rèn)出了他,“我認(rèn)識你。”
“我經(jīng)常聽到這樣的話,”他緊張地說,“我長了一張大眾臉。”
樂樂總算想起來了,她倒抽一口氣:“你是兵兵,萊莉想象中的朋友!”
“看來你是真的認(rèn)識我!”兵兵雖然有些驚訝,但是挺高興的。
“萊莉以前很喜歡和你玩耍!”樂樂大聲說道。
“噢,你知道嗎,我們努力想回情緒總部……”
“你們來自情緒總部?”兵兵問道。
“嗯,是的。我是樂樂,這位是憂憂。”
“樂樂?你就是那個(gè)樂樂?”兵兵喘著氣,“沒有你,萊莉肯定再也快樂不起來了,這可不行。得把你們送回去,我會告訴你們怎么走,跟我來!”
樂樂感謝兵兵的幫助,于是他們?nèi)艘黄鹱呦麻L長的記憶架通道。樂樂說道:“很高興再見到你。”
她想起萊莉和兵兵曾經(jīng)把鍋碗瓢盆當(dāng)樂器開演唱會;他們曾經(jīng)一起奔跑嬉戲,兵兵在天花板上跑,萊莉在地板上跑;兵兵的紅色火箭船可以依靠歌聲的力量飛行。
樂樂甚至想起萊莉創(chuàng)作的那首驅(qū)動(dòng)火箭船的主題曲,兵兵和樂樂一起唱起那首快樂的歌曲。憂憂總算有機(jī)會看清楚兵兵的樣子,她問:“你到底是什么呢?”
“知道嗎,其實(shí)我也不清楚。”兵兵答道,“我的主要形態(tài)是棉花糖,不過是有特定形狀的棉花糖,有一部分是貓,一部分是大象,還有一部分是海豚。”
“海豚?”樂樂問道,因?yàn)樗床怀霰砩夏囊徊糠窒窈k唷?br />
于是兵兵發(fā)出聲調(diào)很高的聲音,聽起來就像海豚一樣!
樂樂問兵兵他剛才在記憶架里做什么,兵兵解釋說是因?yàn)槿R莉最近已經(jīng)不怎么需要他這位想象中的朋友了。他想著如果自己能夠找到一個(gè)足夠美好的記憶球,萊莉或許會記起他,而他可以重新回到萊莉的生活中。
“嘿,嘿,別難過,”樂樂告訴他,“等我回到情緒總部后,我保證會讓萊莉記起你的。”
聽到這話兵兵開心極了,他高興得手舞足蹈,最后卻被自己的雙腳絆倒了。“痛——!”他哭了起來。
樂樂和憂憂看著他眼中掉落出了一顆顆的糖果。憂憂問道:“這是怎么回事?”
“只要我一哭,眼睛里就冒糖果。”兵兵含淚說道,“嘗嘗這種焦糖,味道不錯(cuò)。”
樂樂津津有味地嚼著甜滋滋的糖果“眼淚”,整理了一下懷里的核心記憶球。記憶球又重又滑,要把它們一起抱住很有挑戰(zhàn)性。
“噢——這兒,用這個(gè)。”兵兵將自己小包里的東西一股腦地倒在地上,樂樂和憂憂驚訝地看著他倒出一大堆各式各樣離奇的東西——有記憶球,三雙靴子,一只嘶嘶叫的貓,甚至還有廚房洗碗池!“干嗎?”兵兵聳聳肩,“都是想象出來的嘛。”
“這樣走回情緒總部應(yīng)該就簡單多了。”樂樂松了一口氣,小心地將核心記憶球放入包里。
“我們不走路,我們乘思想火車去!”兵兵帶他們走到懸崖邊,指著一輛正咔嚓咔嚓快速前行的火車,火車駛向遠(yuǎn)處的情緒總部。
“火車,對?。?rdquo;樂樂叫了起來,“坐火車可快多了!”
兵兵告訴她們想象之境有一個(gè)火車站,那也是萊莉記憶世界的一部分,她們可以從那兒乘上火車。他表示可以帶她們過去。“我知道一條捷徑,”他驕傲地說,“跟我來,這邊走!”
“真高興能遇到你。”樂樂說。
兵兵把她們帶到一棟像巨大的地堡一樣的建筑前,建筑前后各有一扇窗戶,可以一望到底。那邊有一個(gè)火車站。
兵兵打開一扇巨大而又堅(jiān)固的艙門:“你們先走。”
樂樂跨進(jìn)建筑,但是身后的憂憂叫住了她。
“我在指南里讀到過這個(gè)地方,我們不應(yīng)該進(jìn)去。”憂憂說道。
“兵兵說這是回情緒總部最快的方式。”
“但是,樂樂,這里可是抽象思維之境。”憂憂解釋道。
“你們在說什么?”兵兵問道,“我一直是走這里的。這是一條捷徑,看到?jīng)]?”兵兵指著門上的一塊牌子,并且將上面的字大聲拼了出來:“‘D-A-N-G-E-R’也就意味著‘捷徑’,我這就證明給你們看。”樂樂和憂憂看著兵兵爬進(jìn)艙口。