[A to Z Mysteries] The Absent Author

행사장에 등장해야 할 어린이 추리 소설 작가(Wallis Wallace)가 불참한다. 어른들은 그가 비행기를 놓쳤거나 다른 문제가 생겨서라고 생각하지만, Dink는 Wallis Wallace가 이전에 자신에게 보냈던 편지의 내용으로 미루어보았을 때 그가 납치되었을 수도 있다고 생각한다. 그리고 행사장에서 만난 한 명의 부인과 자신의 친구들과 함께 Wallis Wallace를 찾기 시작한다. 그리고 아이들은 Wallis Wallace의 itinerary를 따라 그가 공항에 도착했는지, taxi를 탔는지, hotel에 도착했는지를 추적한다. 그리고 자신들과 함께 Wallis Wallace를 찾으러 다녔던 고리타분한 모양을 한 Mavis Green이 바로 Wallis Wallace라는 것을 알게된다. 

등장인물

• Josh Pinto

• Dink(Donald David Duncan)

• Ruth Rose: Mavis Green의 스카프와, Wallis Wallace 책 뒷에 있었던 작가 소개 정보들을 통해 Mavis Green이 Wallis Wallace라고 추리한다. 

• Wallis Wallace: 자신의 사인회에 나타나지 않은 작가. 이름만 보면 남자인것 같지만 책의 후반부에 여성 작가임이 드러난다. 

• Mavis Green: 변장한 Wallis Wallace. 곧 출간할 새 책이 '납치 당한 a children's mystery writer라서 실제 아이들이 어떻게 추리를 하는지를 알아보기 위해 이 모든 일을 꾸몄다.

 

표현 정리

*잘 이해가 안되었던 문장을 붉은 색으로 표시함.

CHAPTER 01.

But no one in Green Lawn ever called him that. Except his mother, when she meant business. Josh Pinto grinned at his best friend.

“Anything?” he raised his mischievous green eyes toward the ceiling of Dink’s bedroom.

* mischievous: /미스취버스/ (눈빛/태도가) 장난기 어린

 

Dink rushed into the bathroom, tucking his shirt into his jeans at the same time.

* tuck sth into/under: 어떤 느슨한 옷이나 물체를 다른 장소로 밀어 넣다.

 

Standing in front of the mirror, Dink yanked a brush through his thick blond hair.

 

Dink charged back into his bedroom. “I told you! He’s coming because I invited him. I’m scared to death to meet someone so famous. I don’t even know what you’re supposed to say to an author!”

* charge: move forward quickly and violently (화가 나서) ~를 향해 돌진하다.

* be scared to death 무서워 죽을 것 같다.

 

“Sure I’ll come, you dope. I’m just trying to make you sweat. Usually you’re so calm!”

*sweat: 땀 흘리다. 괴롭히다.

 

Dink slung his backpack over his shoulder.

* slung his backpack 배낭을 멨다. Sling-slung

 

They headed toward the Book Nook.

*head = go in a particular direction 특정한 방향으로 가다.

 

Short of being kidnapped, nothing will stop me from coming.

* Short of ~을 제외하고

 

The letter was signed Wallis Wallace in loopy letters.

* loopy: 고리가 많은, 이상한, 평범하지 않은,

 

“Come on!” Dink urged as he dragged his friends down the street to the Book Nook.

* urge: 다그치다. 몰아대다. 다른 사람이 특정한 행동을 하도록 강하게 설득하거나 충고하다.

 

CHAPTER 02

Dink plopped his pack on the floor.

* plop = put down w/o taking care 털썩 놓다

 

“Where is he?” Dink whispered to Tommy Tomko. Tommy Tomko turned around. “Beats me. He’s not here yet, and Mr. Paskey looks worried.”

* Beats me = I don’t know.

 

Wallis Wallace should be here any second.

*should be here any second. 금방 도착할거야. 금방 올 거야.

 

“How many of you have books to be autographed?”

*여러분들 중 몇 명이 

 Whenever I’m late, I get grounded! 근거가 있다. 이유가 있다.

Now Dink stared at the clock. The big hand jerked forward, paused, then wobbled forward again.

* jerk 짧고 급하게 움직이다.

 

Suddenly Dink felt his heart skip a beat. THE LETTER! Short of being kidnapped, the letter said, nothing will stop me from coming.

* skip a beat: (주로 심장이) 맥박을 멈추다. 심장이 멈추다.

 

They got up, scraping chairs and bumping knees.

 

“What’s all your fault?” Josh asked. “This!” he said, thrusting the letter into Josh’s hands.

* thrust: 세게 내밀다. = push suddenly and strongly

CHAPTER 03

The woman had brown hair up in a neat bun. Half-glasses perched on her nose.

 

“Did you say Wallis Wallace has been kidnapped?” The woman poked her glasses nervously.

 

He said something very peculiar in his letter. I didn’t think much of it at the time.

* peculiar: 특이한, 별난 = strange

 

But lately my imagination is playing tricks on me. I keep thinking I’m being followed. Maybe that’s what happens to mystery writers – we start seeing bad guys in the shadows!

*나는 계속 내가 미행당하고 있다는 생각을 해

At any rate, I’m eager to meet you in Green Lawn, and I look forward to our lunch after the meeting.

*at any rate: whatever happens 어쨌든 간에,

*eager: (특히 흥미 있거나 즐길 수 있는 것을) wanting very much to do or have sth

 

“Wow!” said Ruth Rose. “First he says he’s being followed, and then he winds up missing!”

*wind up ~처지가 되다. ~게 끝나다.

 

“Maybe someone kidnapped him for a ransom!”

* ransom: 포획된 사람의 몸값으로 요구하는 거액의 돈

“I wouldn’t worry. Mr. Wallace will turn up. Call me tomorrow if there’s now news, okay?”

* turn up: 나타나다. 도착하다.

 

Crazy thoughts were bouncing around in his head. What if Wallis Wallace really has been kidnapped? It happened because I invited him to Green Lawn. I’m practically an accomplice!

* accomplice: 공범자

 

Dink jerked his thumb over his shoulder. P.25

 

He marched back inside the Book Nook, with the others following.

* march = walk 어딘가로 빠르게 걸어가다.

 

Have you heard from Wallis Wallace?

 

“Now, Joshua, let’s not jump to conclusions. I am sure there’s a rational explanation for his absence.”

* jump to conclusions 속단하다. 성급하게 결론짓다

 

CHAPTER 04

Mr. Paskey shooed them out of the Book Nook and locked the front door. “I have to eat lunch,” he said. He scurried down Main Street.

* shoo- shooed: 억지로 떠나게 하다.

* scurry: 종종 걸음으로 빨리 움직이다. =move quickly

 

Jimmy was working on a triple-decker chocolate cone.

*triple-decker 3층의

 

As usual, her apron was smeared with ketchup, mustard, chocolate, and a lot of stuff Dink didn’t recognize.

*smeared: 오염된

 

When a voice came on, he asked if Wallis Wallace had been aboard Flight 3132 last night.

*그는 Wallis Wallace가 어젯밤 Flight 3132를 타고 있었는지를 물었다.

 

Now we need to find out if a taxi picked him up.

 

“Josh, get real! Why would Mr. Paskey kidnap an author?”

* get real!: 누군가에게 가망 없는 소리 대신에 현실적인 말을 하라고 할 때 하는 말

 

I don’t think Mr. Paskey is the kidnapper.” Dink said. “But in a way, Josh is right. Detectives should consider everyone a suspect, just the way they do in Wallis Wallace’s books.”

* in a way: 어떤 측면에서는, 어떤 측면을 고려한다면,

 

He asked the man behind the counter if one of their drivers had met Flight 3132 at Bradley Airport the previous night.

 

The cut through the building to a grassy area in back

* cut through sth (어딘가를 빨리 가기 위해서) ~를 질러가다. go through

The sun reflected off the water like bright coins. P35

 

Maureen squinted one of her blue eyes. “Why do you want to know?”

* squint 눈을 가늘게 뜨고 보다, 곁눈질로 흘끗 보다.

 

Maureen took a bite out of her sandwich. Mayonnaise oozed onto her fingers.

* May-o-nnaise: 메!이여-네이z

* ooze 새다, 스며나오다.

* pass the time: 기다리면서 무언가를 하다.

 

“I get out of my side, then I open his door. He hops out, hands me a twenty. Last I seen, he’s scooting into the lobby.”

* scoot 빨리 가다, 돌진하다. = go quickly

 

“I just thought of something. When he handed me my fare, this Wallace fella was smiling.”

* fella: 젊은이, 친구

 CHAPTER 5

He was the saddest-looking man Dink had ever seen. He had thin black hair and droopy eyebrows. His skinny mustache looked like a sleeping centipede.

* droopy: 축 처진

* centi-pede: /쎈터피:ㄷ/ 지네

 

He flipped through the hotel register, glanced at it, then quickly shut the book.

* flip through ~을 휙휙 넘기다.

* hotel register 숙박자 목록 (register= list)

 

“He went to his room. We offered to have his suitcase carried, but he preferred to do it himself.”

 

Dink immediately recognized Wallis Wallace’s signature, scrawled in big loopy letters. He had checked in to Room 303 at five after eight last night.

* scrawl: 휘갈겨 쓰다. 글씨를 단정하거나 알아보기 쉽게 쓰려는 노력 없이 재빨리 쓰다.

* checked in: 투숙했다. 등록했다.

 

Josh dug his elbow into Dink’s side.

*dig-dug one’s elbow 팔꿈치로 찌르다. 

But the signature is all smudged.

* smudged: dirty or not clear 얼룩진

CHAPTER 6

“Excuse me, but I overheard you talking to my boss, Mr. Linkletter. Maybe I can help you find Wallis Wallace. My kids love his books.”

* overhear – overheard: 다른 사람들이 말하는 것을 우연히 듣다.

 

With his back to Mr. Linkletter, the man scribbled a few words on a pad and handed the page to Dink.

*등을 돌린 채

 

What’d he write?

What’d: 왓!티드 / 와디드

 

They all shoved through the revolving door.

* shove /셔:v/ - shoved

 

Olivia stared at Ruth Rose, then broke into a grin.

*break into sth: ~하기 시작하다. =begin to do

 

“Ruth Rose, you’re so big! What are you up to these days?” 요즘에는 뭐하고 지내?

 

“No, nobody slept in that room. The bed was still made this morning. The towels were still clean and dry.”

* The bed was made: 침대가 정돈되어 있다.

 

“Not the Wallis Wallace? The mystery writer? My kid sister devours his books!”

*devour 책이나 문학작품을 빠르고 열정적으로 읽다.

 

Livvy’s eyes bugged. “Kidnapped! Geez, Mr. Linkletter will have a fit.”

*/버ㄱ드/ ~의 눈이 휘둥그레졌다.

* have a fit = become very angry 매우 화가 나다.

 

Suddenly a crash came from inside the apartment.

* a crash: 요란한 소리

 

“Oops, gotta run, Randy is playing bulldozer with his baby sister’s stroller again. I hope you find Wallis Wallace. My kid sister will die if he doesn’t write another book!”

 

“Guys, I’m feeling confused,” he said. “Can we just sit somewhere and go over the facts again?”

* go over ~을 잘 살펴보다, 검토하다. = examine

 

“I’m feeling a bit peckish, too”

* peckish: slightly hungry (영국) 약간 배가 고픈

CHAPTER 7

 “You know, something is bugging me, but I can’t figure out what it is.”

* is bugging me 나를 괴롭히고 있다.

 

Dink blotted his jeans with a handful of paper napkins.

*blot: 물기를 없애다. 액체를 빨아들이다. 닦아내다. = dry a wet surface by pressing sth soft against it.

CHAPTER 8

For the second time, they all trooped into the hotel lobby.
* troop 군대 / 떼를 지어 어디론가 걸어가다 = walk somewhere in a large group, usually with one person behind another

 

He swallowed and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

* Adam's apple: 남자의 목에서 튀어나온 부분, 말/삼킬 때 위아래로 움직임

* bob: move up and down

 

“Just to be on the safe side, perhaps we should check both rooms, Mr. Linkletter.”

* to be on the safe side: 만일을 위해서, 안전하게

 

The room was empty and spotlessly clean. 티끌 하나 없이 깨끗했다.  

 

The voice was muffled, but it was definitely yelling, “HELP” 소리가 새나가지 않도록 감싸졌다.

*muffle = make less clear

 CHAPTER 9

 Ruth Rose was staring at the red scarf draped around Mavis’s neck.

* draped: 걸쳐진, / drape 덮어주다, 감싸다, 가리다.

 

CHAPTER 10

“The cat’s out of the bag now, sis,” he said.

*let the cat out of the bag: (의도치 않게) 비밀을 누설하다.

 

She took off her glasses and pulled the barrettes out of her hair. She shook her hair until it puffed out in a mass of wild curls.

* barrettes: 머리핀들

* puff sth out ~이 불룩하게 부풀다.

 

“Thank goodness I can be myself now! All day I’ve had to act like timid Mavis Green. I can’t wait to get out of the fuddy-duddy dress and into my jeans again!”

* fuddy-duddy: 구식의, 시대에 뒤떨어진

 

“Then my nutty sister dragged me into her plan. I should be home checking my lobster pots.”

*nutty 재치 있는 = crazy, silly, strange

 

“Well, I’m always teasing Walker about smelling fishy from handling his lobster bait. So when you said something was fishy in the hotel, I had to pretend to cough so you wouldn’t know I was really laughing.”

* lobster bait: 미끼

 

Mr. Paskey was in on it. I had to tell him the truth.

* was in on it. ~는 내부공모자였어. 여기에 속해 있었어