seven

the two women and the small boy stood absolutely still on the grass underneath the tree, gazing up atthis extraordinary fruit. james’s little face was glowing with excitement, his eyes were as big and brightas two stars. he could see the peach swelling larger and larger as clearly as if it were a balloon beingblown up.

in half a minute, it was the size of a melon!

in another half-minute, it was twice as big again!

‘just look at it growing!’ aunt spiker cried.

‘will it ever stop!’ aunt sponge shouted, waving her fat arms and starting to dance around in circles.

and now it was so big it looked like an enormous butter-coloured pumpkin dangling from the top ofthe tree.

‘get away from that tree trunk, you stupid boy!’ aunt spiker yelled. ‘the slightest shake and i‘msure it’ll fall off! it must weigh twenty or thirty pounds at least!’

the branch that the peach was growing upon was beginning to bend over further and further becauseof the weight.

‘stand back!’ aunt sponge shouted. ‘it’s coming down! the branch is going to break!’

but the branch didn’t break. it simply bent over more and more as the peach got heavier and heavier.

and still it went on growing.

in another minute, this mammoth fruit was as large and round and fat as aunt sponge herself, andprobably just as heavy.

‘it has to stop now!’ aunt spiker yelled. ‘it can’t go on for ever!’

but it didn’t stop.

soon it was the size of a small car, and reached halfway to the ground.

both aunts were now hopping round and round the tree, clapping their hands and shouting all sorts ofsilly things in their excitement.

‘hallelujah!’ aunt spiker shouted. ‘what a peach! what a peach!’

‘terrifico!’ aunt sponge cried out, ‘magnifico! splendifico! and what a meal!’

‘it’s still growing.’

‘i know! i know!’

as for james, he was so spellbound by the whole thing that he could only stand and stare andmurmur quietly to himself, ‘oh, isn’t it beautiful. it’s the most beautiful thing i‘ve ever seen.’

‘shut up, you little twerp!’ aunt spiker snapped, happening to overhear him. ‘it’s none of yourbusiness!’

‘that’s right,’ aunt sponge declared. ‘it’s got nothing to do with you whatsoever! keep out of it.’

‘look!’ aunt spiker shouted. ‘it’s growing faster than ever now! it’s speeding up!’

‘i see it, spiker! i do! i do!’

bigger and bigger grew the peach, bigger and bigger and bigger.

then at last, when it had become nearly as tall as the tree that it was growing on, as tall and wide, infact, as a small house, the bottom part of it gently touched the ground – and there it rested.

‘it can’t fall off now!’ aunt sponge shouted.

‘it’s stopped growing!’ aunt spiker cried.

‘no, it hasn‘t!’

‘yes, it has!’

‘it’s slowing down, spiker, it’s slowing down! but it hasn’t stopped yet! you watch it!’

there was a pause.

‘it has now!’

‘i believe you’re right.’

‘do you think it’s safe to touch it?’

‘i don’t know. we’d better be careful.’

aunt sponge and aunt spiker began walking slowly round the peach, inspecting it very cautiouslyfrom all sides. they were like a couple of hunters who had just shot an elephant and were not quite surewhether it was dead or alive. and the massive round fruit towered over them so high that they lookedlike midgets from another world beside it.

the skin of the peach was very beautiful – a rich buttery yellow with patches of brilliant pink andred. aunt sponge advanced cautiously and touched it with the tip of one finger. ‘it’s ripe!’ she cried.

‘it’s just perfect! now, look here, spiker. why don’t we go and get a shovel right away and dig out agreat big chunk of it for you and me to eat?’

‘no,’ aunt spiker said. ‘not yet.’

‘why ever not?’

‘because i say so.’

‘but i can’t wait to eat some!’ aunt sponge cried out. she was watering at the mouth now and a thintrickle of spit was running down one side of her chin.

‘my dear sponge,’ aunt spiker said slowly, winking at her sister and smiling a sly, thin-lippedsmile. ‘there’s a pile of money to be made out of this if only we can handle it right. you wait and see.’

七

这时，两个女人和小詹姆斯，一动不动地站在树下草丛里，抬头凝视着那只非同寻常的桃子。詹姆斯兴奋得小脸通红，眼睛像两颗星星，硕大而明亮。他看得十分清楚，桃子在不断长大，就仿佛正在吹气的气球一样。

不出半分钟，桃子长得就跟西瓜一般大小了。

又过了半分钟，桃子又长了一倍。

“瞧哇，它还在长哪！”大头钉姨妈叫了起来。

“它压根儿就止不住吗？”海绵团姨妈喊叫着，一边伸出胖胖的胳膊，绕着圈子跳起舞来。

这会儿，桃子大得仿佛一个奶油色的大南瓜，从枝头耷拉下来。

“离开树干，你这个傻小子！”大头钉姨妈嚎叫着，“我敢说，只要稍微晃荡一下，桃子就会掉下来。起码得有二三十磅重哪！”

结桃子的树枝，由于桃子十分沉重，也被坠得越来越弯了。

“靠后站！”海绵团姨妈嚷道，“桃子快掉下来了，树枝也要断了！”

然而树枝并没有折断，只不过是随着桃子越来越重、越来越弯罢了。

桃子还在长大着。

一分钟后，巨大的桃子眼看着长得跟海绵团姨妈一样滚圆肥大，也许也跟她一样重哩！

“现在得停下来别长啦！”大头钉姨妈叫道，“不能没个头哇！”

可是，桃子并没有停下不长的意思。

不一会儿工夫，桃子就跟小轿车那么大了，悬在半空中。

现在，两个姨妈都绕着桃树一圈一圈地跳着，一边激动地拍着巴掌，一边嘴里喊着能想起来的傻话。

“赞美上帝！”大头钉姨妈喊道，“多大的桃子！多好的桃子呀！”

“了不起！”海绵团姨妈叫道，“真是棒极了！妙极了！这是多么好的一顿美餐呀！”

“还在长哪！”

“我知道！这我知道！”

再看詹姆斯呢，所有这一切都让他入迷，他只能站在那里望着，一边自言自语地说：“哦，真美呀。这是我生来所见到的最美的东西。”

“给我闭嘴，你这个小蠢货！”大头钉姨妈凑巧听到了他的话，便抢白道，“这不关你的事儿！”

“对呀，”海绵团姨妈郑重其事地说，“不管怎么样，都跟你没关系！给我滚到一边去！”

“瞧啊！”大头钉姨妈喊了起来，“比刚才长得更快啦！越来越快啦！”

越长越大，越长越大。

后来，桃子终于长得几乎跟桃树一样高，说实在的，就跟一座小房子一样高大。它下边轻轻地触到地面，倚在那里一动不动。

“这会儿，它可掉不下来啦！”海绵团姨妈叫道。

“它不长啦！”大头钉姨妈也喊起来。

“没有，还长哪！”

“不，不长啦！”

“它长得慢了，大头钉，长得慢啦！可还长着哪！你瞧！”

接着，她们停顿了一下。

“这会儿不长啦！”

“依我看，你说对啦。”

“动动它没有事吧，你看？”

“我说不上，不过，还是小心一点好。”

海绵团姨妈和大头钉姨妈围着桃子慢慢地走起来，小心翼翼地从四面八方端详着。她们就像一对刚刚捕获了一只大象的猎人，说不准大象是死了还是活着。圆圆的硕大无比的桃子，高高在上，一副耸耸然的样子。她们站在旁边，倒仿佛是从小人国里来的一样。

桃子皮儿非常漂亮—浓浓的奶黄色的斑斑点点，点缀着亮丽的粉色和红色。海绵团姨妈小心翼翼地走上前去，用一根指头尖儿碰了碰桃子。“桃子熟了！”她叫道，“熟得正好！喏，你瞧这儿，大头钉，干吗不马上拿一把大铁锹，铲下一大块咱们俩吃呢？”

“不行，”大头钉姨妈说，“还不能吃。”

“怎么不能吃？”

“我说不能吃，就不能吃。”

“可我等不及了，得吃一点儿！”海绵团姨妈叫道。这会儿，一股细细的口水正顺着她的下巴往下流。

“我亲爱的海绵团，”大头钉姨妈慢条斯理地说，她冲姐姐眨巴着眼睛，嘴唇上露出了一丝狡狯的微笑，“要是干得好，咱们能赚一大笔钱。你就等着瞧吧。”