twenty-nine

it seemed like a long time before the seagulls were able to pull the peach away from that horriblerainbow- cloud. but they managed it at last, and then everybody gathered around the wretchedcentipede and began arguing about the best way to get the paint off his body.

he really did look a sight. he was purple all over, and now that the paint was beginning to dry andharden, he was forced to sit very stiff and upright, as though he were encased in cement. and all forty-two of his legs were sticking out straight in front of him, like rods. he tried to say something, but hislips wouldn’t move. all he could do now was to make gurgling noises in his throat.

the old-green-grasshopper reached out and touched him carefully on the stomach. ‘but how couldit possibly have dried so quickly?’ he asked.

‘it’s rainbow-paint,’ james answered. ‘rainbow-paint dries very quick and very hard.’

‘i detest paint,’ miss spider announced. ‘it frightens me. it reminds me of aunt spiker – the lateaunt spiker, i mean – because the last time she painted her kitchen ceiling my poor darlinggrandmother stepped into it by mistake when it was still wet, and there she stuck. and all through thenight we could hear her calling to us, saying “help! help! help!” and it was heartbreaking to listen toher. but what could we do? not a thing until the next day when the paint had dried, and then of coursewe all rushed over to her and calmed her down and gave her some food. believe it or not, she lived forsix months like that, upside down on the ceiling with her legs stuck permanently in the paint. she reallydid. we fed her every day. we brought her fresh flies straight from the web. but then on the twenty-sixth of april last, aunt sponge – the late aunt sponge, i mean – happened to glance up at the ceiling,and she spotted her. “a spider!” she cried. “a disgusting spider! quick! fetch me the mop with thelong handle!” and then – oh, it was so awful i can’t bear to think of it…’ miss spider wiped away atear and looked sadly at the centipede. ‘you poor thing,’ she murmured. ‘i do feel sorry for you.’

‘it’ll never come off,’ the earthworm said brightly. ‘our centipede will never move again. he willturn into a statue and we shall be able to put him in the middle of the lawn with a bird-bath on the topof his head.’

‘we could try peeling him like a banana,’ the old-green-grasshopper suggested.

‘or rubbing him with sandpaper,’ the ladybird said.

‘now if he stuck out his tongue,’ the earthworm said, smiling a little for perhaps the first time in hislife, ‘if he stuck it out really far, then we could all catch hold of it and start pulling. and if we pulledhard enough, we could turn him inside out and he would have a new skin!’

there was a pause while the others considered this interesting proposal.

‘i think,’ james said slowly, ‘i think that the best thing to do…’ then he stopped. ‘what was that?’

he asked quickly. ‘i heard a voice! i heard someone shouting!’

二十九

好像过了很久，海鸥才把仙桃拖得离开了那片彩虹云，不过，他们到头来总算躲开了身。于是，便聚拢在倒霉的蜈蚣周围，争论着除去蜈蚣身上油漆的最好办法。

的确，蜈蚣那副尊容也够叫人瞧的。他浑身上下一片紫色，而且，这会儿油漆开始变干发硬，不得不直挺挺地坐着，仿佛浇注在了水泥里面。所有的四十二条腿也像木棒一样，直竖在面前。他想说什么，可嘴唇不能动弹，只能从嗓子眼里发出叽里咕噜的声音。

绿色老蚱蜢伸出手，小心翼翼地碰了碰他的肚子。“怎么可能干得这么快呢？”他问。

“这是彩虹油漆啊。”詹姆斯说，“彩虹油漆干得特别快，变得特别硬。”

“我可不喜欢油漆哪。”蜘蛛小姐宣布道，“提起油漆，我就害怕，就会想起大头钉姨妈，我是说，想起已故的大头钉姨妈。上一回，她油漆厨房天花板，漆还没有干的时候，我那可怜的、亲爱的奶奶，就犯了个错儿，走了进去，给粘在里面。整整一夜，都能听到她呼唤我们的声音：‘救命啊！救命啊！救命啊！’听起来，真叫人心碎。可我们又能帮什么忙呢？什么忙也帮不上。当然啦，第二天，油漆一干，我们便冲到她身边，劝她安静下来，给了她些食物吃。她就那样活了六个月，这信不信由你。她倒吊在天花板上，腿也永远粘在了油漆里。

当真是这个样子的。我们每天喂她饭，直接从网子上给她活苍蝇吃。可后来，就在去年4月26号那天，海绵团姨妈，我是说已故的海绵团姨妈，凑巧朝天花板上瞅了瞅，这下看见了奶奶。‘一只蜘蛛！’她喊道，‘一只叫人讨厌的蜘蛛！’于是—唉，真可怕呀，简直连想都不敢想……”蜘蛛小姐擦去一滴眼泪，凄惨地望着蜈蚣。“你这个可怜的家伙，”她说，“我可真是替你难过呀。”

“多会儿也掉不下来了！”蚯蚓幸灾乐祸地说，“咱们的蜈蚣永远动不了啦。他会变成一尊雕像，那样，就能把他放到园子中央，再在他脑袋上方放一盆水。”

“咱们可以像剥香蕉那样，把他的皮剥下来呀。”绿色老蚱蜢提议道。

“要不就用砂纸擦。”瓢虫说。

“喏，要是他伸出舌头来，”蚯蚓也许是生平头一回微笑着说，“要是他伸得长长的，咱们就能抓住舌头，动手往外拉了。只要使劲拉，那咱们就能把他翻过来，那他就有一张新皮儿了！”

别的人考虑这个有趣的建议的时候，大家沉默了一会儿。

“依我看，”詹姆斯慢条斯理地说，“依我看，最好还是……”接着，他不说话了。“那是什么？”詹姆斯又急忙问道，“我听到了一个声音！听到了有谁正在喊叫哪！”