six

‘sponge! sponge! come here at once and look at this!’

‘at what?’

‘it’s a peach!’ aunt spiker was shouting.

‘a what?’

‘a peach! right up there on the highest branch! can’t you see it?’

‘i think you must be mistaken, my dear spiker. that miserable tree never has any peaches on it.’

‘there’s one on it now, sponge! you look for yourself!’

‘you’re teasing me, spiker. you’re making my mouth water on purpose when there’s nothing to putinto it. why, that tree’s never even had a blossom on it, let alone a peach. right up on the highestbranch, you say? i can’t see a thing. very funny… ha, ha… good gracious me! well, i’ll be blowed!

there really is a peach up there!’

‘a nice big one, too!’ aunt spiker said.

‘a beauty, a beauty!’ aunt sponge cried out.

at this point, james slowly put down his chopper and turned and looked across at the two womenwho were standing underneath the peach tree.

something is about to happen, he told himself. some thing peculiar is about to happen any moment.

he hadn’t the faintest idea what it might be, but he could feel it in his bones that something was goingto happen soon. he could feel it in the air around him… in the sudden stillness that had fallen upon thegarden…

james tiptoed a little closer to the tree. the aunts were not talking now. they were just standingthere, staring at the peach. there was not a sound anywhere, not even a breath of wind, and overheadthe sun blazed down upon them out of a deep blue sky.

‘it looks ripe to me,’ aunt spiker said, breaking the silence.

‘then why don’t we eat it?’ aunt sponge suggested, licking her thick lips. ‘we can have half each.

hey, you! james! come over here at once and climb this tree!’

james came running over.

‘i want you to pick that peach up there on the highest branch,’ aunt sponge went on. ‘can you seeit?’

‘yes, auntie sponge, i can see it!’

‘and don’t you dare eat any of it yourself. your aunt spiker and i are going to have it between usright here and now, half each. get on with you! up you go!’

james crossed over to the tree trunk.

‘stop!’ aunt spiker said quickly. ‘hold everything!’ she was staring up into the branches with hermouth wide open and her eyes bulging as though she had seen a ghost. ‘look!’ she said. ‘look, sponge,look!’

‘what’s the matter with you?’ aunt sponge demanded.

‘it’s growing!’ aunt spiker cried. ‘it’s getting bigger and bigger!’

‘what is?’

‘the peach, of course!’

‘you’re joking!’

‘well, look for yourself!’

‘but my dear spiker, that’s perfectly ridiculous. that’s impossible. that’s – that’s – that’s – now,wait just a minute – no – no that can’t be right – no – yes – great scott! the thing really is growing!’

‘it’s nearly twice as big already!’ aunt spiker shouted.

‘it can’t be true!’

‘it is true!’

‘it must be a miracle!’

‘watch it! watch it!’

‘i am watching it!’

‘great heavens alive!’ aunt spiker yelled. ‘i can actually see the thing bulging and swelling beforemy very eyes!’

六

“海绵团！海绵团！快来看哪！”

“看什么？”

“一只桃子！”大头钉姨妈嚷嚷着。

“一只什么？”

“一只桃子！就在那最高的树枝上！你看不见吗？”

“我看你弄错了，亲爱的大头钉。那棵可怜的桃树，从来没结过果子。”

“可这会儿就结了一只，海绵团！你自个儿瞧瞧！”

“别作弄我啦，大头钉。你故意叫我嘴里流出口水，可什么好吃的东西也没有。哼，树上连朵花儿都没开过，别提结果子啦。你是说，在最高的树枝上吗？我可一样东西都看不见。

也真滑稽……啊哈……哎唷……我的天哪！哦，竟然有这样的事儿！树上当真还有只桃子！”

“而且，还是只漂亮的大桃子！”大头钉姨妈说。

“长得真漂亮，真漂亮。”海绵团姨妈大声说。

就在这当儿，詹姆斯放下斧头，转过身望着站在桃树底下的两个女人。

就要发生什么事情了，他心里想，随时随地都会发生古怪事情的。虽说他一点儿也不知道是什么事情，但从骨子里感觉到，马上就要发生什么事情了。就是从周围空气里，从园子里突然降临的静谧之中，他也能感觉得出来。

詹姆斯踮着脚，朝桃树走近了一点。这会儿，两个姨妈不再说话，只是站在那里，盯着那只桃子。到处，一点动静都没有，连一丝风儿也不刮。湛蓝的天空，烈日当头，热辣辣地照射在他们身上。

“我看是熟了。”大头钉姨妈说，打破了沉默。

“那么，咱们怎么不吃呢？”海绵团姨妈舔着嘴唇，试探地说，“咱们一个人吃一半呀。

嘿，你，詹姆斯！马上过来，给我爬到树上去！”

詹姆斯跑了过来。

“你把最高的树枝上的桃子给我摘下来。”海绵团姨妈接着说，“看得见吗？”

“是啊，海绵团姨妈，我看得见。”

“你自个儿要是吃一丁点儿，那你可得当心！这会儿，你大头钉姨妈跟我两个，想当场吃了它，一人一半。来呀，上去吧！”

詹姆斯走到了树干那里。

“别，别！”大头钉姨妈匆忙说，“什么也别动！”她张大了嘴，仰望着桃树枝桠，眼睛睁得鼓溜溜的，仿佛看见了鬼魂似的。“瞧！”她说，“瞧，海绵团，你瞧瞧！”

“你怎么啦？”海绵团姨妈问。

“它正在长哩！”大头钉姨妈大叫起来，“它越来越大了！”

“什么正在长啊？”

“当然是桃子呀！”

“你别开玩笑啦！”

“喏，你自个儿看吧！”

“可是，我亲爱的大头钉，那太不可思议了，根本不可能的。那—那—那—喏，等一下，不—不—这不对头—不—是啊—我的老天！那东西当真在长哩！”

“已经大了一倍啦！”大头钉姨妈嚷着说。

“这是做梦！”

“可这是真的！”

“这想必是个奇迹！”

“看哪！看哪！”

“我这不是看着了嘛！”

“我的老天哪！”大头钉姨妈吼叫起来，“眼见着那东西长大，变鼓溜，一点儿都不错！”