(an extract from Probuditi!)
Calvin waited outside Trudy's bedroom. Then it happened—a scream, a very loud scream. Calvin ran to his room and dived into bed.
He heard Mama coming down the hall.
"Did you do this?" his mother asked. Calvin looked out from under the covers. His mother stood over him, holding a rubber spider.
"Do what?" he asked.
"You put that thing in my bed," Trudy told him, stepping out from behind Mama.
"Don't think that just because it's your birthday you can get away with something like this," Mama scolded (责骂).
"You do want your present, don't you?" That wiped the smile off Calvin's face.
"Course I do," he said.
"Then you apologize (道歉)."
Calvin dropped his head. "Sorry Trudy," he muttered (嘟囔).
"Here," Mama said. "Happy birthday." At the breakfast table she handed Calvin an envelope. Inside were tickets to the matinee show of Lomax the Magnificent, the world-famous magician and hypnotist. "You've got two tickets there," Mama said, "and I know someone who'd really love to go along." She smiled at Trudy.
"You don't mean here, do you?" Calvin asked, eyeing his little sister.
"Well, that would be really nice. But those tickets are yours. If you want to ask somebody—" Calvin didn't wait for his mother to finish. He rushed out of the house to cell Rodney, his pal next door, that the two of them were going to see Lomax the Magnificent.
